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The Garden Tomb The Garden Tomb is one of the two tombs
that are thought to be the burial place of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Various peoples believe in the two different places as being the actual
tomb. The other tomb in question is
called the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.
The location of the Garden Tomb is where we
would picture in our minds for the burial place of our Lord.
Its simplicity can easily be imagined as the location of Joseph of
Armithea’s tomb, which Matthew says was where Jesus was buried.
I think that looking to the Bible can help give us some information as to
the whereabouts of the tomb of Christ, but archaeology also helps to illuminate
it. Matthew, Luke and John specifically say
that the tomb that Jesus was buried in was a new tomb, in which no one had yet
been buried (see Matthew 27: 50-60, Luke 23: 50-53 and John 19:41). They add that the tomb was sealed with a huge rolling stone.
The Garden Tomb does indeed have a groove
for a large stone. We have seen
other tombs of the first century with large, rolling stones.
The groove across the entrance is usually just wide enough for the stone
to fit in. The Garden Tomb groove,
however, is not like this. It is
larger. It has been suggested, and
I agree with the idea, that the ‘groove for the rolling stone’ is actually a
drainage ditch. There are numerous other differences with
the Garden Tomb and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, but since this is a report
of the Garden Tomb, I won’t go into them all.
The very way the tomb was made suggests a
later date than a first century one for the Garden Tomb.
There is absolutely no evidence for the Garden Tomb having been made in
the first century. There is,
however, quite a bit of evidence that does point to it being made in the
Monarchial times. For instance, the Church of the Holy
Sepulcher has on the walls something called “stone chiseling.”
This is very normal for a tomb in the time of the first century; quite
typical, actually. The Garden Tomb
has nothing of the like. Also, the way the chambers are situated
makes a difference. As was normal
for tombs in the time of the first century, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher’s
two chambers were side by side. The
Garden Tomb’s chambers were back to back; meaning you walked into one, then
walked on through into the other. This
is what the tombs of the Monarchial period looked like.
I personally believe that the Garden Tomb
is not the place where our Lord Jesus Christ was buried.
I think that the Church of the Holy Sepulcher is a much more probable
place as the tomb of Christ.
© 2003 by Terra A. Mandrell ~ Please do not reprint or duplicate without permission.
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