HEBREW INSCRIPTIONS FOUND IN CAVE

Southland Times, Issue 25795, 5 October 1945, Page 5

HEBREW INSCRIPTIONS FOUND IN CAVE

Lamentation On Death Of Christ

(Rec. 8 p.m.) JERUSALEM, October 4. Inscriptions and smybols on several ossuaries found in a tomb on the road to Bethlehem indicate that some members of the family to whom the cave belonged were probably personal followers of Jesus Christ. This is the opinion of Professor E. L. Sukenik, director of the Museum of Jewish Antiquities of the Hebrew University at Jerusalem, and other authorities, expressed in a Hebrew University report. One of the ossuaries bears the earliest known use of the cross, and in tire accompanying text in Greek Christ is specially mentioned as “Master Jesus.” The rest of the inscription is not a direct description of the Crucifixion, but is a moving lamentation on Christ’s death, with expressions of woe. Repeatedly vised, this family vault near the Allenby Barracks was underground and digging was necessary to reach it. The Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek ossuary inscriptions were cut into stone — possibly- only a few days after the Crucifixion.