Non è una vera novità. Ma, forse, i non addetti ai lavori non ne avevano sentito mai parlare prima. La scoperta risale ad una decina di anni fa e l’articolo scientifico fu pubblicato sulla rivista «Cathedra» (vol. 123, 2007) da Ada Yardeni e Binyamin Elitzur: A First-Century BCE Prophetic Text Written on a Stone, First Publication:

1. This is the first publication of a Hebrew inscription of 87 lines, written in ink on a large stone. Its precise provenance is unknown. The text is arranged in two columns, similar to the columns in a Torah scroll, and is written in a ‘Jewish’ script of the late first century BCE resembling the script evidenced in Qumran scrolls; however, its contents and style are different. The text contains a verse from the biblical book of Haggai, with minor changes, and expressions from Zechariah and Daniel. It also contains expressions from later Jewish literary sources, such as Hechalot literature, Piyyut, Talmud, and Midrash, as well as some that have no parallels elsewhere. Due to its bad condition, the inscription is difficult to interpret, but the expression which may be translated as ‘thus said YHWH, the God of armies, the God of Israel’ appears many times, with slight variations, similarly to expressions in biblical prophecies, and the name Jerusalem is mentioned several times.
   

Si tratta di un testo profetico scritto in ebraico che riferisce della morte del messia e della sua risurrezione dopo tre giorni dalla morte. Ne parla oggi un articolo uscito sul New York Times. Interessante notare come il testo sia stato datato a quale decennio prima della nascita di Gesù:

1. A three-foot-tall tablet with 87 lines of Hebrew that scholars believe dates from the decades just before the birth of Jesus is causing a quiet stir in biblical and archaeological circles, especially because it may speak of a messiah who will rise from the dead after three days.
   

Grazie a Jim West che ha visto per primo la notizia.