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Cool Bible Archeology


ElfLord

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The tomb of Zecheriah... who was stoned in the temple courts for calling Israel to repentance.

2 Chronicles 24

19Yet he sent prophets to them, to bring them again unto the Lord; and they testified against them: but they would not give ear.

20And the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest, which stood above the people, and said unto them, Thus saith God, Why transgress ye the commandments of the Lord, that ye cannot prosper? because ye have forsaken the Lord, he hath also forsaken you.

21And they conspired against him, and stoned him with stones at the commandment of the king in the court of the house of the Lord.

Luke 5

5 In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron.

http://www.biblewalk...hariahTomb.html

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I'm pretty positive that's not the same Zechariah, there's a few hundred years of difference between the one in 2 Chronicles and the one in Luke.

From the linked site:

According to tradition, this tomb is named after Zecharia the prophet. Who was Zecharia

* Zechariah, son of Jehodia the priest

Zechariah was the son of Jehoiada the priest, who lived in the 9th C BC during the period of the first temple. He was a priest and a prophet who delivered God's message against the deviation from the Lord's commandments. The Bible tells us (2 Chronicles 24) that he was killed, stoned to death, in the temple by the orders of King Yoash (King of Judah, son of Ahaziah).

There is no certainty, nor documentation, that certifies that this monumental tomb is indeed the tomb of Zechariah son of Jehodia. The Jewish tradition of the name of the tomb is from the middle ages; it is first described in 1215 AD by Menachem Hachevroni (according to Z. Vilani).

The tomb was a site of Jewish prayers, especially in 9th of the month of Av - the day of the destruction of the temple. There were some documented stories that told of prayers for rain on dry winters (such as in years 1651 and 1690) which succeeded and stopped the drought.

* Prophet Zecharia (son of Berechiah)

There is another prophet Zecharia who lived 300 years later - a prophet in Judea in the second temple period (6th C BC), the son of Berechiah. According to the Biblical dating his prophets were from 520-518BC at the time Darius, as described in the book of Zechariah. This book was written by the prophet, although the second part of the book (Chapters 9-14) may have been compiled earlier.

The place of the prophet's tomb is not known and is not linked to this site. According to tradition, he is buried on Mount of Olives, in the nearby cluster called the tombs of the Prophets.

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I'm probably missing something ,but it seems to me that a man who was so hated by the king and the masses that they stoned him in the temple yard, would not them be given such a fancy tomb. Unless he was buried there much later when he was restored to prominence because the new generation had repented or something.

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Folks,

Go to Wikipedia and get a more correct view. Type in "Absalom's tomb". This is a first century tomb that is supposed to contain the remains of Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist. An interesting question to me is, where did all the money come from to build this tomb. Was Zechariah rich? Did he have some very wealthy associates?

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This tomb--known as "Absalom's Tomb" by the Jews in fact dates to Hasmonean or Herodian times, 1st century BC or AD (This is clear from the Hellenistic architectural style) It is also very similar to the rock cuts tombs of Petra from the same period. There are a number of other remains of similar tombs in various states of preservation in the area around Jerusalem.

The Greek inscription on the tomb reads: "This is the tomb of Zachariah, the martyr, the holy priest, the father of John." The inscription dates to the fourth century AD, and was added later by Byzantine monks or priests as part of the creation of Christian pilgrim itineraries in the fourth century. If it were the tomb of Zachariah father of John, it would almost certainly have been written in Aramaic, as were most funerary inscriptions from the first century AD.

It is very unlikely that this is the tomb of Zachariah father of John, and impossible that it could be the tomb of Zachariah son of Jehodia or Zechariah son of Berechiah, or of Absalom, since the tomb was built over half a millennia after either of this men were buried.

It should be noted that many ancient tombs around Jerusalem are legendarily associated with various biblical figures; most of these attributions are quite dubious.

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This tomb--known as "Absalom's Tomb" by the Jews in fact dates to Hasmonean or Herodian times, 1st century BC or AD (This is clear from the Hellenistic architectural style) It is also very similar to the rock cuts tombs of Petra from the same period. There are a number of other remains of similar tombs in various states of preservation in the area around Jerusalem.

The Greek inscription on the tomb reads: "This is the tomb of Zachariah, the martyr, the holy priest, the father of John." The inscription dates to the fourth century AD, and was added later by Byzantine monks or priests as part of the creation of Christian pilgrim itineraries in the fourth century. If it were the tomb of Zachariah father of John, it would almost certainly have been written in Aramaic, as were most funerary inscriptions from the first century AD.

It is very unlikely that this is the tomb of Zachariah father of John, and impossible that it could be the tomb of Zachariah son of Jehodia or Zechariah son of Berechiah, or of Absalom, since the tomb was built over half a millennia after either of this men were buried.

It should be noted that many ancient tombs around Jerusalem are legendarily associated with various biblical figures; most of these attributions are quite dubious.

Just to appease my curiosity and my morbid fascination with this subject, would you mind terribly producing a google map of the various tombs that are attributed to biblical figures? I would assume that the figures that did not receive a nice welcome (like the Zacharia that was stoned) would be buried in the trash heap... or would that be a later invention from the Romans?
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So from what Im gathering from the responses and reading about this tomb. It seems that this might have been a prayer shrine (ie a popular tourist attraction for pilgrims) that was built latter from legends in honor of the Prophet. Like what they did with the "real" wood from Jesus cross that Constantines Mom supposedly found and took home to Europe.

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So from what Im gathering from the responses and reading about this tomb. It seems that this might have been a prayer shrine (ie a popular tourist attraction for pilgrims) that was built latter from legends in honor of the Prophet. Like what they did with the "real" wood from Jesus cross that Constantines Mom supposedly found and took home to Europe.

Not quite. The tomb was there, but later pilgrims attached legends to it.

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Just to appease my curiosity and my morbid fascination with this subject, would you mind terribly producing a google map of the various tombs that are attributed to biblical figures? I would assume that the figures that did not receive a nice welcome (like the Zacharia that was stoned) would be buried in the trash heap... or would that be a later invention from the Romans?

Sorry, I lack technical skills to do this. But you got get a copy of J. Murphy-O'Connor's Holy Land, which identifies major tombs around Jerusalem and their traditional legends.

Vilnay's Legend's of Jerusalem that Volgodon mentioned is great on the Jewish legends, but not for Christian or Muslim.

My photos of the tomb.

My link

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Would there have been a name on the tomb when it was first used that got erased? Or was that not a practice in 1st century Israel?

It's possible. Some Jewish tombs from the period have inscriptions, some don't.

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Sorry, I lack technical skills to do this. But you got get a copy of J. Murphy-O'Connor's Holy Land, which identifies major tombs around Jerusalem and their traditional legends.

That is a good one. We have an old, wornout copy at home.

Vilnay's Legend's of Jerusalem that Volgodon mentioned is great on the Jewish legends, but not for Christian or Muslim.

Actually, I was thinking more along the lines of his Ariel encyclopedia, but the Legends book does have a fair amount of Muslim legends, less so Christian.

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