Gabriel's Revelation

Dated to the late first century BCE, a stone slab with ancient writing, probably from the Dead Sea area, includes an intriguing passage. It may douse more cold water on New Testament claims. Thought to have been addressed to a fallen Jewish rebel leader c 4 BCE, the passage has been translated as "In three days live, I, Gabriel, command you, prince of princes." This order to return to life in three days preceeded the Gospel accounts by decades. It suggests the story of Jesus rising on the third day after he died was not based on a genuine report but, like so much else, on previous Jewish writings. The case for copying is not as convincing as it is elsewhere, however. While "angels" are associated with the resurrection story, the gospels do not portray the putative event as the result of an angelic order. There is no claim that the rebel actually came back to life, so the idea probably wasn't emulated. Its resemblance to the disciples's report may be just coincidence. Gabriel's Revelation wasn't part of established Jewish scripture, so few may have even heard of it.