Gabriel's revelation

Gabriel's Revelation refers to a stone tablet published by Ada Yardeni, possibly from the first century B.C.^ [1]^ The name, Gabriel's Revelation, was given to it by Yardeni because of a character named "Gabriel" who speaks in the first person.

Multimedia

History of the tablet

Source

The tablet was purchased by a Jordanian antiquities dealer by an Israeli-Swiss collector. David Jeselsohn, the owner, who is himself an expert in antiquities showed it to Ada Yardeni, who specializes in Hebrew writing. Yardeni and her colleague, Binyamin Elitzur published a long analysis of the text in “Cathedra” the Hebrew-language history and archaeology quarterly.Analysis of the lettering and language indicates that the words on the tablet were written sometime in the late first century BCE. The ancient source of this tablet is of yet unknown. Ada Yardeni states, "Where did this stone come from? I wish we knew. Chances are it came from Jordan. It simply appeared on the antiquities market, however, and was acquired by Zurich collector David Jeselsohn, who has kindly permitted me to publish it."^[1]^ Retired professor, Stan Seidner contends that it reflects the Apocalyptic beliefs of the day, many which are found in the Dead Sea Scrolls, as antecedent and predictive writings of Christianity. He also suggested the use of infra-red technological applications, similar to what had been utilized on Dead Sea Scroll Material in the recent past. Yehezkel Kaufman Professor of Biblical Studies at Hebrew University originally translated the tablet, and declared the text “revolutionary,” during a cconference onducted at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.

Date

Ada Yardeni states, "It is clearly dated by the shape and form of the letters (paleography) to sometime between the late first century B.C.E. and early first century C.E.—around the turn of the era, the same period as the scrolls. This dating is confirmed by the Hebrew of the text (post-Biblical and pre-Mishnaic)."^ [1]^

Names

Ada Yardeni has given the tablet the name Gabriel's Revelation, but it has also gone by other names such as The Dead Sea Scroll Stone (for its similarity to the Dead Sea scrolls that were found), The Vision of Gabriel, and Hazon Gabriel.

Issues

Potential Effects on Apologetics

Similarities to Hosea 6

A Suffering Messiah

Israel Knohl's Interpretation of the Tablet

Similarities to Biblical Prophetic Books

Notes

  1. ? ^1.0^ ^ 1.1^ ^1.2^ A New Dead Sea Scroll in Stone?: Bible-like Prophecy Was Mounted in a Wall 2,000 Years Ago, by Ada Yardeni of Biblical Archaeological Review

External links

In the News: (newer items at the top)

Blogosphere: