12 November 2009
More Media PaleoBabble on the Gabriel Stone
Posted by MSH under: Apocryphal Literature; Bible; Inscriptions; Jesus .
Sometimes I come across something that makes me wish I’d named this blog PaleoDiarrhea. I usually have that thought when the popular media dips its toe into archaeology and biblical studies (or ancient astronauts). Here’s another example brought to my attention by April DeConick over at Forbidden Gospels.1
It seems that the media is hyping the Gabriel Stone (“Apocalypse of Gabriel”) again. Now National Geographic (NG) is at the helm. The same people (ask April) who screwed up the Gospel of Judas. Now the claim is that the Gabriel Stone will destroy the heart of Christianity since it is an earlier reference to a third day resurrection.2 Let’s tip a glass of Kaopectate to NG for that one.
Guess what, NG? There’s an even earlier reference to a third day resurrection than the Gabriel Stone. Ha! Scooped you, did I? I’ll try and write in a whisper . . . it’s . . . in . . . the Old Testament . . . yeah, over at Hosea 6:1-3 . . . April found it too . . . drat!
So, let me see if I understand your claim, NG. The fact that there is an earlier reference to a third day resurrection undermines Christian theology . . . when that same idea is in the Old Testament . . . which is the Jewish Bible . . . and Christianity came out of Judaism . . . huh?
What dopes.
It’s easy (for anyone who isn’t an NG journalist) how Hosea 6:1-3 and its third day resurrection would be applied to the messiah. In Hosea, the thrid day resurrection is corporate, speaking of national Israel. Israel in the Old Testament is at times referred to as the son of God (Exod 4:23; Hosea 11:1). The messiah has a variety of titles in the OT, one of which is “the Servant.” The Servant is one who would redeem Israel. This is where the idea of a suffering messiah comes from — Isaiah 53, the description of the “Suffering Servant.” But in that same book of Isaiah, most of the time the Servant is actually corporate Israel! My point: the messiah (in the OLD Testament – that thing that is earlier than the Gabriel Stone and the NT) and national Israel are identified with each other. A third day resurrection of the nation could easily be applied (and was, in the NT) to the personal messiah, the son of God.
But never mind all that factual detail from the text, NG. Just go your merry way and unleash more verbal diarrhea on the public.
Cheers!
3 Comments so far...
Gabriel Stone Nonsense, Just in Time for Christmas! | The Naked Bible Says:
12 November 2009 at 11:57 AM.
[...] blogged about the upcoming National Geographic nonsense on the Gabriel Stone over at PaleoBabble for those interested. NG thinks it will destroy the uniqueness of Christianity. [...]
clayboy » Biblical Studies Carnival XLVIII Says:
30 November 2009 at 5:18 PM.
[...] with National Geographic, this time over the “Gabriel stone”. PaleoBabble follows up here and [...]
The Jesus Plan - Christian Forums Says:
29 January 2010 at 12:46 PM.
[...] Gospels: National Geographic and the Apocalypse of Gabriel and Dr. Michael Heiser have to say: More Media PaleoBabble on the Gabriel Stone | PaleoBabble It’s pretty much what I just said. __________________ To view links or images in signatures your [...]
