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3F Faith Forensic File: The Brother of Jesus

By The James ossuary was on display at the Royal Ontario Museum from November 15, 2002 to January 5, 2003., Attribution, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4358131

The Testimony of the Times In 2002, an artifact emerged from the private collection of Oded Golan that sent shockwaves through the secular and theological worlds. It was an ossuary—a burial box used by Jews in Jerusalem between 20 BC and 70 AD. While thousands of such boxes exist, the inscription on this one specifically named the three most central figures of the New Testament. The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) immediately declared the “brother of Jesus” portion a modern forgery, leading to a “Trial of the Century” in Jerusalem.

The Scriptural Exhibit The New Testament clearly identifies the family bond: “Is not this the carpenter’s son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas?” (Matthew 13:55, KJV). The forensic weight of the ossuary lies in the rarity of mentioning a brother; typically, only the father’s name was included unless the brother was a person of immense public significance.

The Forensic Analysis

  • The Inscription: The box reads Ya’akov bar Yosef akhui di Yeshua (James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus).
  • The Patina Controversy: Forgers often use “fake patina” (chalk and water) to age new carvings. The IAA claimed the “Jesus” portion was cut through the natural patina. However, later independent tests by the Royal Ontario Museum and experts like Dr. AndrĂ© Lemaire found traces of ancient biological patina even within the “Jesus” strokes, suggesting the entire phrase is ancient.
  • The Legal Verdict: After a seven-year criminal trial ending in 2012, the Israeli court acquitted Oded Golan of forgery. While the judge did not “prove” the box was authentic, he ruled that the state failed to prove it was a fake.

The Verdict The James Ossuary remains a “stone of stumbling” for those who wish to relegate Jesus to the realm of myth. Statistically, the combination of these three names—James, Joseph, and Jesus—in a single family in 1st-century Jerusalem is extremely rare. As a piece of evidence, it stands as a silent witness to the earthly family of our Lord, preserved in the very dust of Jerusalem.