Tomb of Jesus Christ

QUESTION: What did the tomb of Jesus Christ look like?

ANSWER:

The tomb of Jesus was in a garden, near the place of crucifixion (John 19:41). Overwhelming evidence supports that the newly carved tomb was somewhere near the Damascus Gate (on Jerusalem’s northern perimeter), outside the city (Matthew 28:1, 11).

The tombs of Hebrews were generally excavated in the solid rock or were natural caves. A kok was a burial tunnel vertically cut into a chamber wall, set back over projected rock ledges. The kok was the only possible resting place for the smaller, less elaborate tombs. The tomb contained one or more chambers with a low square entry, requiring one to crawl through.

Such a tomb -- which one must stoop to enter -- contained a niche for the body containing a long shelf carved into the stone. The mouths of such rocky tombs were closed by a large stone (Hebrew golal) which could only be removed by the unified efforts of several men (Matthew 28:2; Mark 16:3-4).