Physical Evidence Unearthed for First
Century Crucifixion

So much of what occurred in the life and times of Jesus was not recorded in
detail. As a matter of fact John declared that if everything that Jesus did had
been written, perhaps the world could not contain the books and only enough was
written "that we might believe" (John 20:30,31).

For more than a hundred years, however, opponents of Biblical
inspiration--most notably the liberal German schools of higher criticism, led by
men like Julius Wellhausen--have sought to "demythologize" the scriptures. They
have argued that much, if not most, of that which is written in the New
Testament is merely commentary in which church leaders and theologians read
their theologies into the text by inventing stories and words that they placed
in the mouths of Jesus and the apostles. These events did not actually occur,
these liberal scholars have maintained. With little external corroborating
evidence at the turn of this century, the Biblical narratives were vulnerable to
the challenges of those who argued that they could not be considered to be
accurate historical records and at best were merely documents of faith.

It has remained, therefore, for scholars of many disciplines to search for
clues to fill in the gaps and give greater details of people, places, and events
of antiquity that have been lost or obscured in the centuries that have passed
since Jesus lived the life of an ordinary Jewish man while fulfilling his divine
mission as the incarnate Son of God.

The field of archaeology has added much to the understanding of the Bible
narratives of ancient events, both those of the Hebrew scriptures and the
Apostolic writings (New Testament). Archaeologists' discoveries in recent times
have helped destroy many of the higher critics' arguments against the
reliability of the historical information contained in Holy Scripture. They have
both validated the record of scripture and made it more clearly understood. The
books, Jesus Within Judaism and The Old Testament
Pseudepigrapha by James H. Charlesworth, along with Archaeology and the
New Testament by John McRay, offer much information concerning these recent
archaeological discoveries.

One of the assertions of critics was that there was no physical evidence that
crucifixion was used by the Romans as capital punishment in the time of the
early first century; therefore, the story of the crucifixion of Jesus was
probably myth. In l968 however, an ossuary was found in a Herodian tomb that
contained the bones of a young man who had been crucified during the first half
of the first century. According to McRay, "the man's kokhlim-type tomb
was typical of those used by Jews in the Holy Land between the end of the second
century B.C. and the fall of Jerusalem in A.D. 70."

The young man's name was inscribed on the ossuary as "Yehohanan, ben
Hagakol." The proof that he had died by crucifixion was unique and absolutely
certain. Apparently when the nail had been driven through the man's heel into
the cross, it had entered a knot in the wood. When the family attempted to
retrieve the body from the cross for interment, the nail could not be removed
from the cross. The problem was resolved when the family took the nail and a
part of the wooden cross with the body. There are differences of opinion among
archaeologists as to the position of this man during his crucifixion. Nico Haas
wrote: "The feet were joined almost parallel, both transfixed by the same nail
at the heels, with the legs adjacent; the knees were doubled, the right one
overlapping the left; the trunk was contorted; the upper limbs were stretched
out, each stabbed by a nail in the forearm."

Joseph Zias and Eliezer Kekelas argued that the victim's arms were tied to
the crossbeam and that each foot was nailed to a separate side of the vertical
part of the cross. Yigael Yadin believed that the victim was crucified "in an
open position, with knees apart," a view which he supports by arguing that the
inscription should be read as "Son of the one hanged with his knees apart,"
instead of "Son of Hagakol."

The important thing about this discovery, however, is the fact that there is
actually a 2,000 year old nail embedded in a piece of a wooden cross and the
victim's foot. And, there is evidence that this crucifixion occurred in the
early part of the first century around or before the time of the crucifixion of
Jesus. This proves that crucifixion was actually used in Judaea at the time of
Christ so that the story of his crucifixion is actual historical fact, not
theological speculation. Once again, archaeology has succeeded in digging up the
Word, confirming and illuminating the record of Holy Scripture.

Suggested positions for the crucifixion of Yehohanan, ben
Haggakol.

A: Open position Crucifixion (Yadin), B: Crucifixon with legs adjacent (Haas,
Tsaferis), C: Zias, Sekeles. Sketch: Courtesy of the Israel
Exploration Society in Jerusalem.

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