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Joseph's Tomb
 Joseph's Tomb in Nablus | |
  Shown within the West Bank | |
| Location | Nablus, West Bank |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 32°12′48″N 35°17′06″E / 32.21328°N 35.28506°E |
| Type | tomb |
| History | |
| Material | local stone |
| Associated with | Joseph (son of Jacob) (?) |
| Site notes | |
| Condition | reconstructed |
| Public access | limited |
Joseph's Tomb (Hebrew: קבר יוסף, Qever Yosef; Arabic: قبر يوسف, Qabr Yūsuf) is a funerary monument located in Balata village at the eastern entrance to the valley that separates Mounts Gerizim and Ebal, 300 metres northwest of Jacob's Well, on the outskirts of the West Bank city of Nablus.[1] It has been venerated throughout the ages by Samaritans, for whom it is the second holiest site; by Jews; by Christians; and by Muslims, some of whom view it as the location of a local sheikh, Yusef al-Dwaik[2][3][4][5][6][7] or Dawiqat, who died in the 18th century.
The site is near Tell Balata, the site of Shakmu in the Late Bronze Age and later biblical Shechem.[5][8] One biblical tradition identifies the general area of Shechem as the resting-place of the biblical patriarch Joseph and his two sons Ephraim and Manasseh. Multiple locations over the years have been viewed as the legendary burial place of Joseph.[9] Post-biblical records regarding the location of Joseph's Tomb somewhere around this area date from the beginning of the 4th century CE. The present structure, a small rectangular room with a cenotaph, is the result of an 1868 rebuilding action, and does not contain any architectural elements older than that.[10][11] While some scholars, such as Kenneth Kitchen and James K. Hoffmeier affirm the essential historicity of the biblical account of Joseph, others, such as Donald B. Redford, argue that the story itself has "no basis in fact".[12]
There is no archaeological evidence establishing the tomb as Joseph's,[13] and modern scholarship has yet to determine whether or not the present cenotaph is to be identified with the ancient biblical gravesite.[14] The lack of Jewish or Christian sources prior to the 5th century that mention the tomb indicates that prior to the 4th century it was a Samaritan site. Samaritan sources tell of struggles between Samaritans and Christians who wished to remove Joseph's bones.[15]
At key points in its long history, a site thought to be Joseph's Tomb in this area witnessed intense sectarian conflict. Samaritans and Christians disputing access and title to the site in the early Byzantine period often engaged in violent clashes.[15][16][17] After Israel captured the West Bank in 1967, Muslims were prohibited from worship at the shrine and it was gradually turned into a Jewish prayer room. Interreligious friction and conflict from competing Jewish and Muslim claims over the tomb became frequent. Though it fell under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) following the signing of the Oslo Accords, it remained under IDF guard with Muslims prohibited from praying there.[18][19] At the beginning of the Al-Aqsa Intifada in 2000, just after being handed over to the PNA, it was looted and razed by rioting Palestinians.[20][21] Following the reoccupation of Nablus during Israel's Operation Defensive Shield in 2002, Jewish groups returned there intermittently.[22] Between 2009 and 2010 the structure was refurbished, with a new cupola installed, and visits by Jewish worshippers have resumed.[23] The tomb was vandalized by Palestinian rioters in 2015 and again in 2022.[24][25]
- ^ Bruce 1994, p. 102
- ^ Hackett 1863, pp. 1239–1240
- ^ Lidman 2015.
- ^ Conder 1878, p. 74: "venerated by the members of every religious community in Palestine."
- ^ a b Pummer 1993, p. 139.
- ^ Mark Twain (1869). The Innocents Abroad. Hartford, Connecticut: American Publishing Company. p. 553. Retrieved 15 August 2022.
Few tombs on earth command the veneration of so many races and men of diverse creeds as that of Joseph. "Samaritan and Jew, Moslem and Christian alike, revere it, and honor it with their visits."
- ^ "At Joseph's Tomb, a microcosm of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict". The Times of Israel. Archived from the original on 2017-03-13. Retrieved 2017-02-19.
- ^ Zangenberg 2006, p. 415
- ^ Rothman 2015
- ^ Pringle 1998, p. 94.
- ^ Schenke 1967, p. 174: "der Gebäudekomplex über und um ein Kenotaph herum, der heute als Josephsgrab gilt, ist ganz modern und enthält nicht einmal alte Bauelemente." - "... the compund, built over and around a cenotaph, which nowadays is considered to be the tomb of Joseph, is entirely of modern date and doesn't even contain old architectural elements."
- ^ Redford 1993, p. 429.
- ^ Freund 2009, pp. 28–29: "The problem is that no archaeological evidence specifically makes them historical, so we refer to them as 'relic' sites."
- ^ Pummer 1987, p. 12: "Whether today's cenotaph and its site are identical with the ancient one can presently not be decided."
- ^ a b Pummer 1987, pp. 11–12
- ^ Kohen 2007, p. 24.
- ^ Sivan 2008, pp. 114–117
- ^ Hayden 2002, p. 167: "Of course, the contestation is still two-way, with Palestinians (re)converting or destroying Jewish shrines that come under their control. Thus in Nablus, following the capture of the town in 1967, Jews began to visit a Muslim shrine which, they claimed, was on the site of the Tomb of Joseph; increasingly frequent visits by Jewish settlers after 1975 led to a prohibition of Muslim worship there and, in 1992, the installation of Torah scrolls and the covering of the prayer niche indicating Mecca (Philps 2001). With Israeli withdrawal from Nablus in 1995, clashes between Palestinians and the Israeli soldiers who were still guarding the tomb and letting Jews but not Muslims worship there, led finally to a battle that forced the military to withdraw. The Palestinians, again in control of the site, removed all signs of its use as a synagogue and uncovered the prayer niche again. There is no other religious symbol in the now restored building. However, ‘the Palestinians painted the dome Islamic green, but after Israeli protests it reverted to neutral white’(ibid.). A more clear instance of contest, if not exactly tolerance, is hard to find." Hayden quotes: Philps, Alan (2001) The day the dream died’, Telegraph, 3 February, colour supplement.
- ^ Hassner 2009, p. 87.
- ^ Dor 2004, p. 45.
- ^ Abu El Haj 2001, p. 281.
- ^ Dumper 2007, p. 267.
- ^ Nahshoni 2010.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
CNNwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Ben Kimon, Elisha (2022-04-10). "Palestinians vandalize Joseph's Tomb amid security tensions". Ynetnews. Retrieved 2022-04-10.
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