In order to properly introduce the subject, I would have
to repeat the 12 pages of data already sent you. But, in brief, Oded Golan,
52, a soft-spoken engineer who lives in Tel Aviv, Israel, has for decades
privately collected antiquities. In the 1970s, he purchased an ossuary from
an antiquities dealer for a few hundred dollars.
In the time of Christ, when a Jew in Palestine died, he
was placed in a burial cave until the flesh rotted away. Then the bones were
taken and placed in a retangular stone box (an ossuary) with a stone lid on
top. The name of the person was then scratched on the side of the box.
In some instances, the bones of several family members
were placed in the box. In 1990, the box of family members of "Joseph son of
Caiaphas" was found. The older bones were assumed to be those of the same
Caiaphas before whom Jesus stood during His first of three trials early
Friday morning, on the day He was crucified.
Not knowing the Hebrew script, after purchasing it, Golan
stored the box among his collection and forgot it. In April 2002, André
Lemaire, one of the world’s leading epigraphers, flew from the Sorbonne, in
Paris, to Tel Aviv, and then drove to Jerusalem where he worked for over
five months at Hebrew University’s Institute for Advanced Studies. Scholars
from all over the world go there to consult with other scholars and work on
projects. (Epigraphy is the study of ancient inscriptions. Lemaire’s
field of expertise is Old Testament Hebrew and Aramaic inscriptions on
stonework and monuments from the Babylonian captivity on down through the
first several centuries A.D.)
On each of his trips to Jerusalem, Lemaire learns of
important new finds and he is asked to analyze the writing on various
objects. New discoveries are continually coming to light, either through
archaeological studies or the antiquities market.
One day during his 2002 stay in Jerusalem, Lemaire met a
collector, Oded Golan, who asked him to examine some objects he had. One was
an ancient stone box—an ossuary. Golan had no idea whether the box had any
significance or value.
Before being shown the actual box, Lemaire was shown
photographs of it. The inscription was easy to read and the writing expert
immediately recognized its tremendous importance.
After very carefully examining the actual burial box,
Lemaire concluded that, due to the spelling, shape, and slant of
Herodian-era letter forms—the inscription was genuine.
Lemaire has examined purported finds for so many years
that he can sense when he is examining a fake; that is, an inscription and
object that is declared to be genuine and/or ancient, but is not. He
concluded that this burial box was fully genuine in every detail.
Although Lemaire was an expert on handwriting, he wanted
experts on stonework to closely examine the box before he, Lemaire, issued a
report.
I will not here repeat the initial investigations, except
to say that they all confirmed Lemaire’s findings—that the inscription, the
patina (the thin aging discoloration on the surface of the inscription and
the box), and even the type of limestone in the box—all came from the first
century A.D.
This initial investigation included a careful analysis by
the Geological Survey of Israel, a department of the Israeli Ministry of
Infrastructures, which carefully examined the box itself and its patina.
When it was completed, they privately handed Lemaire a copy of their report.
—Nether the Israeli government, nor the general public, had, as of yet,
learned of this astonishing discovery. Orthodox Jews in Israel, who hold
a pivotal vote in the Keneset (the Israeli Congress), were unaware of the
find.
The official report of the Geological Survey concluded
that the box was about 2,000 years old and that the one-line inscription
etched into its side was of the same age.
This type of burial box is generally dated between about
20 B.C. and A.D. 70; and the practice of placing remains in stone boxes was
widespread among the Jews of Judaea, from about A.D. 1 to A.D. 70.
Here is additional information about the lettering—the
inscription—scratched on the side of the box:
Not only do the letter shapes have to fit into the time
period, but the spelling should also match. In order to confirm that fact,
it must be compared with every other inscription from that period. The
language and historical context are also important.
Lemaire found that the distinctive shape (orthography) of
the Aramaic letters, engraved on the box, closely agreed with this time
period. None of these letters have any of the characteristics of lettering
in a later period of time.
However, three letters on the inscription were unique:
These are the dalet, yod, and aleph. (See the top of the
next page.) On the James box, all three are somewhat slanted (cursive).
As a result, these special letters and the overall pattern of the sentence
date this inscription to the last few decades prior to A.D. 70, when
Jerusalem was destroyed—and to no other time period in history.
After careful examination and later confirmed by other
writing experts, in his report Lamaire dated this burial box to A.D. 63. As
explained in the previous tract (Battle over the James Box
[WM–1169-1170]) there is evidence that James, the brother of Jesus, died
only one year earlier.
Hershel Shanks, publisher of Biblical Archaeology
Review, the largest popular journal dealing with matters relating to
Biblical archaeological studies, announced the discovery in the November /
December 2002 issue of that publication. News of the find created a
sensation throughout the world.
Recognizing that it would bring immense numbers of
tourists to Canada, the Toronto Museum asked to have the box shipped there;
so that, for three months, it could be examined by experts from America and
Canada, and also displayed to the general public.
However, because it had not been packed well, when the
box was shipped in November, it was cracked in transit. After being
carefully repaired, thousands of tourists came to see it. All the experts
which examined the box pronounced it to be genuine.
One new and highly significant test, done at Toronto, was
the ultraviolet light test. It showed the box and inscription to be very
ancient. In February, the James box was shipped back to Golan, in Tel Aviv.
When Shanks, in a November 2003 interview with
Christianity Today, declared the ossuary to be "the most important find
in the history of New Testament archaeology," public excitement increased
even more.
Thoroughly enraged, the Israeli government stepped into
the picture as soon as the box was shipped back from Toronto. First, they
had been told nothing about the box’s existence until Shanks in America
published an article on it. Second, if genuine, the box would provide
evidence that Jesus actually existed and the New Testament was true!
Something had to be done.
To begin with, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA)
declared that the box belonged to them! Back in the 1980s, a law had been
enacted that all finds within the borders of Israel must be turned over to
the government.
But Golan stood firm in his contention that he had
purchased the box in the 1970s, before that law went into effect.
Many feared that if the IAA gained permanent possession
of the box, it would be hidden somewhere and never seen again.
Within a few days, Shuka Dorfman, Director-General of the
IAA, notified Golan that he must let IAA experts carefully examine this
purported "box of Jesus’ brother" for themselves. Only then, Dorfman said,
could an official decision be made.
Press reports were immediately issued by the IAA that, at
last, an accurate investigation of the box would be made. It would be
followed by an exhaustive report.
Only a few weeks had passed since the totally favorable
press conference by scientists at Toronto.
The thoroughly flawed, and essentially useless, IAA
summary report was issued on June 20, 2003. It is discussed in Battle
Over the James Box [WM–1169-1170].
It is now December 2004, and the IAA investigation has
continued for over two years! Yet during that time they have been unable to
produce any evidence sustaining their charge that the box is a fake, so
Golan could be charged in court with a criminal act of some kind.
More than a hundred potential witnesses have been
interrogated and thousands of documents collected. But no charges have been
filed against Golan.
Yet IAA deputy director Uzi Dahari has repeatedly
declared that the IAA is not 99 percent certain—but 100 percent certain—that
the ossuary (the James box) and its inscription constitutes a gigantic hoax.
The IAA and Israeli police have confiscated hundreds of
antiquities from Golan’s collection, including the James box. Because,
according to Israeli law, the government was only permitted to keep them
three months, it repeatedly asked the court for extensions so it could
examine the box still more.
Finally, Golan filed a legal paper opposing any more
applications for extensions, claiming that the government should either
charge him so that he can clear his name or return the confiscated items,
including the ossuary.
Pleading for still more time, on January 11, 2004, the
head of the police investigation told the court that "the investigation is
close to completion and the authorities require several weeks before a
charge is made." Another extension was granted, and the weeks turned into
months.
At the May 10 hearing, the judge was becoming upset over
the repeated delays. The government told the court it wanted to keep the
box, and all the other antiquities, for an unlimited amount of time,
until it had completed its investigation. The judge refused this request.
In response, the government asked for a six-month
extension. But the judge said it could only have three months—and only
because it was claimed that the police had opened up new avenues of
investigation" which were "of significant international importance."
With such a dramatic announcement, what judge could
refuse such a request? Later that same month, IAA deputy director Uzi Dahari
announced that an indictment against Golan would be filed within three or
four months."
The three and four months passed, and still there was no
indictment. And still the antiquities were not returned to Golan.
In early August 2004, once again the government appeared
before the judge and asked for another time extension. Quite angry, the
judge said he found the government’s position "on its face unreasonable." He
also said this:
"It is not possible that the state should hold the rope
from both ends, on one hand making serious allegations against the
respondant [Oded Golan], and on the other hand preventing Golan from facing
the charges in court as part of a legal proceeding . . Therefore I instruct
the release of the confiscated items, unless the applicant [the Israeli
government] files an indictment by September 1, 2004."
The judge also ruled that no further extensions would be
granted.
The IAA and Israeli government were now under severe
pressure to do something: either issue an indictment or return all the
antiquities. By issuing the indictment, it could continue the investigation.
But no indictment was issued. More time passed and then,
a few days before the first of September, the government suddenly appealed
the district court’s ruling to a higher court. Why did the government take a
chance of losing the case in the appeals court, when all it had to do was
bring an indictment?
There could be only one solution to this puzzle: The
IAA and police knew that they had absolutely no evidence that either the box
or its inscription were not genuine, so they could charge Golan with a
fraudulent act.
At the appeals hearing, once again the government asked
for an unlimited extension of time. Golan, who was present, declared through
his attorney that this was a totally unreasonable request.
Finally, both parties agreed that, if the government was
given just one more extension—to January 1, 2005, it would ask for no more
extensions.
So we wait until the January 1 deadline. What will it
bring?
Some fear that the IAA is so desperate that it might put
the box in a nearly empty building,—and then secretly burn it down and
afterward say it happened by accident.
Or perhaps it will have carefully cleaned off the patina
and placed other, newer substances on the surface. The problem with this
latter sabotage is that so many experts had previously photographed the box
and taken patina samples. They knew the exact positioning and spelling of
the inscription.
When asked what the charges are that will be brought
against Golan, Police Major Yonatan Pagis —who is in charge of the ossuary
investigation—freely says they will include fraud, interfering with the
investigation, money laundering, trading in antiquities without a license,
selling property illegally, and exporting antiquities without a permit.
The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) had a problem on
its hands: The whole world knew about the so-called "James Box"—and all the
experts outside of Israel declared the writing on it to be genuine.
As discussed in the last update, the problem was that the
small stone burial box (called an "ossuary," or bone box) had that one-line
inscription, "James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus."
How unfortunate! Evidence of Jesus! Something had to be
done!
So "Shuka" Dorfman, a retired Israeli general without a
job and any background in archaeology, was hired as head of the IAA for this
project, to destroy confidence in the James Box and to obtain a court
conviction, entitling Israeli police to seize and destroy it.
When one senior IAA archaeologist on staff objected,
saying that a highly experienced archaeologist should be appointed to that
position, instead of Dorfman, that archaeologist was summarily fired and
told he would not be given excavation permits for any future digs.
A tough, battle-hardened veteran of many years, Shuka, it
turned out, was just the man for the job. Cooperating fully with Yuval
Goren, he set to work with a vengeance to discover all kinds of "frauds"
which could help the case against the James Box.
Yuval Goren has been the key Israeli archaeologist
willing to unswervingly label the James Box as a fake—in defiance of the
authoritative conclusions of inscription experts in Israel and throughout
the world. Goren is a professor at Tel Aviv University and chairman of its
department of archaeology.
It was decided by Shuka and Goren that, in order to make
the case against the James Box stronger, they would also declare an
astonishing number of other archaeological finds to be fakes! This would
give the impression that some kind of grand conspiracy was taking place.
And, they would charge the private collector who owned the James Box as
being at the center of it!
Goren needed such diversionary tactics, since, after
months of examination and discussion, he and his associates could produce
little evidence against the authenticity of the James Box inscription, other
than something he called "a coating."
That coating happened to be oxide traces of a cleaner
which the mother of the box’s owner, Oded Golan, had earlier used to clean
the inscription. Of course, she should not have done that; but, in her
ignorance, she did. Those traces of cleaning solution are all that Goren and
Shuka can find as "evidence" that the James Box is a fake. They can find
nothing else on the box or inscription, absolutely nothing.
And that brings us to Oded Golan, the man who owns the
humble appearing stone box, which once contained the bones of the older
brother of Jesus Christ. He has one of the largest, if not the largest,
private collections of antiquities in Israel. He has been collecting them
since he was a youth. He buys them, but does not sell them.
But in order to make the case strong against the James
Box, Goren and Shuka have trumped up a charge that Golan is the head of a
forgery ring, responsible for a number of attempts to sell fraudulent
antiquities.
In late December 2004, four Israelis, including Golan,
and one Palestinian Arab were indicted in Jerusalem on charges of running a
massive forgery ring over several decades.
The IAA and the Israeli police claim the ring has created
a large number of Biblically related fakes, involving millions of dollars;
some of these are currently on exhibit in the prestigious Israel Museum.
One of the many, so-called "fakes" is a piece of ivory
carved in the shape of a pomegranate fruit, which has the inscription,
"Holy to the priests, the Temple of [Yahwe]h" (with "Yahwe"
missing). This was once thought to be the only relic from Solomon’s Temple,
and was purchased by the Israel Museum in 1988 for $550,000.
But now, on little evidence, it has also been declared to
be a fake—in order to bolster evidence of a conspiracy ring charge, which is
supposed to involve the James Box.
Men are becoming so desperate, they are willing to
condemn a major antiquity owned by their own national museum!
The other indicted Israelis are Robert Deutsch, Rafael
Brown, and Shlomo Cohen.
Deutsch is an antiquities dealer who has shops in Jaffa
and in two hotels in downtown Tel Aviv. Since becoming an antiquities
dealer, he has obtained a master’s degree from Tel Aviv University and is
studying for two Ph.D.s, one at Tel Aviv University and the other at Haifa
University, where he teaches while continuing to operate his antiquities
shops, which hold twice-yearly auctions of important antiquities. Deutsch
has written scholarly books and articles on epigraphy (ancient writing) and
archaeology.
Rafael Brown was the chief conservator at the Israel
Museum for years; and he left to become a licensed antiquities dealer in
Jerusalem. He is no longer a dealer. In recent years, he sold his business
and retired to Switzerland.
Shlomo Cohen purchased Brown’s dealership, when he
retired to Switzerland. But Cohen later closed the shop and retired to
Switzerland.
As of this date, no specific charges have been brought
against Deutsch, Brown, or Cohen. None of these men are specifically charged
with being involved in the James Box forgery, but only in other alleged
antiquities frauds as part of the general "conspiracy."
Oded Golan, the owner of the James Box, is charged with
tampering with that box and destroying a seal. What seal?
Fayez al-Amaleh (the only Arab charged in the indictment)
is a West Bank Palestinian who brought the Menashe (Manasseh) seal and 17
bullae to Oded Golan. The seal had the name of King Manasseh on it. But
neither Golan nor any of his wealthy friends purchased the bulla, fearing it
might be a forgery. Because the bulla later disappeared, Golan is charged
with having destroyed it!
(A bulla [plural, bullae] is a small lump
of wet clay that is impressed with a seal and is usually placed over string
that has been tied around a document. Once the bulla hardens, it serves to
seal the document—until the bulla is broken and the document opened.)
The official Israeli indictment involves four counts
(four criminal acts). The indictment begins with Count No. 1, which concerns
the James Box. Only Oded Golan (Defendant No. 1) is named as the forger in
Count No. 1. The other four defendants are only named in one or more of the
other counts.
The forgery on the James Box is said to have been done by
Golan "alone or with the assistance of others." But no one else is named in
this count.
There are several strange things about this official
indictment about the James Box.
First, although it has involved an investigation lasting
two years, costing thousands of dollars, and involving hundreds of
witnesses,—the government cannot produce a single co-conspirator with Golan
on the supposed James Box forgery.
Second, all sides agree that the box itself is authentic
and dates to the first century, A.D; it is the inscription on the box which
is being called in question by the government. Yet there is even official
confusion over that.
At first, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA)
committee that studied it declared that the entire inscription was a
forgery. Yuval Goren and Avner Ayalon, his associate, said that both the
first part of the inscription ("James, son of Joseph") and the second
part ("brother of Jesus") were both etched on the box recently.
But in the indictment, filed in late December, only the
last part of the inscription is alleged to be fraudulent! Here is the
wording on this part of the indictment:
"To execute [produce] his scheme, Defendant No. 1 [Oded
Golan] used an ancient ossuary from the Second Temple period that bore an
engraved inscription of ‘James, son of Joseph.’ Defendant No. 1 added
to the ossuary, either alone or with the assistance of others, the words
‘brother of Jesus.’ "
Let us examine all the "evidence" against Golan more
closely:
The first "evidence": There is the "forged
inscription." Not one experienced paleographer (expert on ancient writing),
who has studied inscriptions from the first century A.D. has questioned the
genuineness of that engraved sentence on the James Box. Not one.
André Lemaire, at the Sorbonne in Paris, is one of the
world’s leading paleographers. The first to carefully study the James
inscription, he stedfastly maintains it is genuine.
Ada Yardeni, a prominent Israeli paleographer, firmly
declares the writing to be a genuine first century A.D. inscription.
The only other leading Israeli paleographer, Joseph Naveh,
who in the past has often spoken loudly against fraudulent inscriptions, has
thought it best to remain publicly silent on the James Box.
Two geologists of the Geological Survey of Israel (Shimon
Ilani and Amnon Rosenfeld) also carefully analyzed the James Box and its
inscription. They continue to maintain that the inscription and box are
authentic and date back to the first century A.D.
Edward Keall of the Royal Ontario Museum, in Toronto,
Canada, who had several months to study the inscription, carefully agrees
with that assessment.
James Harrell, an officer with the ASMOSIA (Association
for the Study of Marble and Other Stones in Antiquity), is in full agreement
with the other authorities.
All unite in declaring that the efforts of Goren and
Ayalon, to disprove the genuineness of the inscription, are deeply flawed.
Indeed, not one other scientist, inside or outside Israel, has expressed
agreement with the work performed by Goren and Ayalon or their announced
conclusions.
The second "evidence": There is the so-called
"inscription coating." The IAA declares that it was placed there in order to
conceal a modern forgery. But, of course, it could have been applied to
clean the inscription (although they admit that it may be a possibility).
Independent groups tested several cleansers and found
that any of them could be the cause of the oxide evidence for the "coating."
It is known that, without his consent, Golan’s mother cleaned the
inscription one day on the balcony of the family apartment in Tel Aviv.
The IAA’s Goren and Ayalon have been unable to
satisfactorily explain what purpose such a coating would accomplish in
producing a forgery! Nor have they even shown how the coating was applied.
They have given several successive explanations, but all have proven
incorrect.
Goren and Ayalon have even admitted that the "inscription
coating" can be removed by a toothpick! Any real "coating" would require
special solvents or a metal scalpel.
The third "evidence": At an earlier time, the IAA
brought forth two scholars, Joe Zias and Emile Puech, who said that they
thought they had seen that same ossuary in Mahmoud Abushakra’s antiquities
shop in the mid-1990s—without the last part of the inscription on it. If
true, that would be significant evidence.
In response, careful analysis of interviews with both men
revealed that their reports conflicted with one another and with their own
statements.
Since then, both men have backed away from these claims,
have gone to the Israeli police, and have retracted their statements.
Puech told the police, "I am not sure I saw the ossuary
in Mahmoud’s shop. I remember it had a rosette on it. I did not see any
inscription on it."
There are, not one, but two rosettes on the James Box,
but both are on the back side where the inscription is not located; and they
can only be seen close-up and in excellent, contrast lighting because both
are barely visible. Zias also has expressed strong doubts about having seen
the ossuary.
As for Mahmoud Abushakra, who has moved to Germany: He
told the police the James Box was never in his shop.
In summary, there is no evidence of any kind of forgery.
But there is some interesting evidence on the other side:
Two different lady friends of Golan have affirmed that, about 20 years ago,
they saw the inscription with three names on it. Their memories are quite
clear about the details; and they identify other oddities about the ossuary.
If the inscription was on the box that long ago, it must
be authentic. A forger would not wait 20 years to try to sell it. Indeed,
Golan has never tried to sell the box at any time.
Do not imagine that the IAA has just sat around for two
years, during the time that they are supposed to have been investigating the
James Box. They have paid the salaries of several men to search for evidence
in the box, on the box, and away from the box—which would show the
inscription to be a forgery.
For example, Amir Ganor is a 36-year-old graduate student
at Hebrew University, where he has been studying for a master’s degree in
his spare time. But, as head of the IAA’s Fraud Unit, he has spent the last
two years trying to figure out ways that the James Box is a fraud. With this
purpose in mind, he has made one raid after another on antiquities dealer
shops and files.
The name of Christ must be declared fraudulent!
Then there is Yonatan (Yoni) Pagis of the Jerusalem
police. A hard man to deal with, he has questioned more than a hundred
people and compiled thousands of pages of reports, transcripts, interviews,
etc.
He and Ganor have interrogated Golan more than 50 hours!
They have taken him to police headquarters in shackles to question him. Then
they have released him. Apparently, in Israel, people are assumed guilty
until proven innocent. And this includes their best citizens, such as Oded
Golan, who is a prosperous engineer living in Tel Aviv.
When one arrest does not shake Golan into confessing,
they arrest him again and again. Hoping to get a confession of guilt, on one
occasion they jailed him for four days. When that accomplished nothing, they
released him without charging him.
The fact is that they have no evidence to charge him with
anything. Yet in late December, they did anyway.
Then there is Dan Bahat, a lawyer assigned to the case,
who has helped guide its legal aspects throughout all the years of hopeless
efforts to prove the inscription to be a fraud. Bahat would supply the IAA
and police interrogators with questions, and try to keep everything looking
like a good case when it arrived in court. He will lead the prosecution, in
an attempt to jail Golan and possibly others.
Keep in mind that Golan is charged with being the
ringleader in a fraud conspiracy, involving other antiquities—most of which
he has never had anything to do with.
On the other side stand the antiquities and handwriting
(paleography and epigraphy) experts.
André Lemaire is recognized as one of the world’s leading
specialists in ancient Semitic writing (which includes Hebrew script of the
first century A.D.). He is an expert in epigraphy, paleography, linguistics
and philology, and is a professor at the Sorbonne in Paris, France.
Lemaire was the first one to examine the ivory
pomegranate inscription, declare it genuine, and write a report published in
French in the Revue Biblique. That is the pomegranate which, in an
effort to bolster their case against the James Box, the IAA now declares to
be a forgery.
Ada Yardeni is one of the top two or three paleographers
in Israel. She studied the James Box inscription carefully and made the
initial drawing of it. She continues to be adamant that the inscription is
authentic. The IAA has been unable to shake her decision.
Amnon Rosenfeld and Shimon Ilani are two geologists with
the Geological Survey of Israel. They were first from that department
assigned by its director, Amos Bien, to examine the James Box inscription.
Rosenfeld and Ilani found nothing suspicious about the inscription; and both
continue to maintain its genuineness, in spite of the allegations of fraud
since brought forward by the IAA. The two men also authenticated two other
antiquities, now declared forgeries by the IAA.
Do not forget Edward Keall, senior curator at Toronto’s
Royal Ontario Museum. He studied the James Box and its inscription during
the lengthy time it was on exhibit there.
Keall was also the only person who was able to study a
cross section of the inscription! This is because the box cracked in transit
to Canada; and, before it was patched, Keall was able to closely examine the
inscription from the side, at the place the break went through it. Keall has
never wavered in his conclusion that the inscription is genuine.
Two sets of attorneys represent the defense. Lior Bringer
is Oded Golan’s attorney. Arnold Spaer and Haggai Sitton represent the
defendants Deutsch and Brown. All three are excellent attorneys, well-versed
in antiquities cases.
Although an indictment is simply an accusation. The proof
must still be presented. Yet, whether or not it wins its case in court, the
IAA is causing many people to think that the James Box must be a hoax.
And this must certainly be a cause for rejoicing among
certain people in Israel.
All the while, innocent men are being slandered and
accused of criminal activity.
