“Gabriel’s Revelation” stone, revealing the resurrection of Ephraim, not Messiah!

Gabriel's Revelation (also named Hazon Gabriel or the Vision of Gabriel) is a 3 ft tall tablet with 87 lines of Hebrew containing what appears to be a prophecy written in the first person and dated to the late First Century BCE. It is being hailed by some to be a "Dead Sea scroll in stone".

• English translation of Gabriel's Revelation tablet
• Original Hebrew text of the stone (at the end of the pdf)
• Time Magazine: Was Jesus' Resurrection a Sequel? (with photo)
• Ancient Hebrew tablet sparks debate on Messiah (with photo)

"The ink-on-stone document, which is owned by a Swiss-Israeli antiques collector and reportedly came to light about a decade ago, has been dated by manuscript and chemical experts to a period just before Jesus' birth. Some scholars think it may originally have been part of the Dead Sea Scrolls, a trove of religious texts found in caves on the West Bank that were possibly associated with John the Baptist. The tablet is written in the form of an end-of-the-world prediction in the voice of the angel Gabriel; one line, for instance, predicts that 'in three days you will know evil will be defeated by justice.'" - Time/CNN

I read through the translation and repeatedly thought of "Ephraim" and his third day resurrection prophesied by Hosea (Chapter 6:2) and Ezekiel's "dry bones" (Chapter 37).

He will revive us after two days; He will raise us up on the third day, that we may live before Him. - Hosea 6:2

He said to me, "Son of man, can these bones live?" And I answered, "O Master יהוה, You know." - Ezekiel 37:3

The context of Hosea 6 points to Ephraim, the House of Joseph (10-Israel). In fact, the entire book of Hosea predominantly regards the Northern Kingdom and her spiritual adultery. And Hosea 6:2 plainly says Ephraim will be resurrected on the third day. It doesn't mention nor even allude to Messiah's resurrection. Messiah Yeshua was actually raised after the completion of three days and three nights of death. Ephraim, having been figuratively dead for 2,700 years, will likely be revived during the third day following his death as "a people" in 722 BC (note: interpreting a single day as a thousand years is common in Eschatology). We do not deny that Yeshua's death and resurrection will play an important part in Ephraim's redemption and revival, but Hosea 6:2 is simply giving us clues in the timing of Ephraim's eventual resurrection and Gabriel's Stone is likely alluding to the same.

Lines 80 and 81 of the tablet read something like "In three days, live, I Gabriel command you, (81) prince of the princes, the dung of the rocky crevices..."

Line 81 alone should indicate to any Christian and/or Messianic believer that Gabriel was not talking to or referring to Messiah Yeshua. Our Messiah was a pure Lamb, having nothing to do with dung, but the House of Joseph (Ephraim) was prophesied to be cast into the nations/goyim where he would become unclean (Hosea 9:3; Ezekiel 4:13) and later be hunted from "the crevices of the rocks" (Jeremiah 16:16). I'm surprised a Talmudic scholar like Israel Knohl didn't make the connection. To be completely honest, I think the temptation to use something like this to discredit Messiah Yeshua is too great for it to be interpreted in any different light. For the anti-missionary and/or Marxist-Atheist-Darwinist types, they find jubilation whenever they discover such "weapons" to use against Christians. Yet, if the majority of Christians were not ignorant of the Two-House reality, this particular archaeological discovery wouldn't be an easy weapon to employ against them.

Furthermore, line 22's "wicked branch, plastered white" could be pointing to the wild and crooked branch of Ephraim and the many nations (goyim) that descend from him, who have been "plastered white" after trusting in Messiah Yeshua as Savior.

I wouldn't be quite so dogmatic about my interpretation had the tablet not actually convicted "Ephraim" by NAME. Consider lines 16 and 17: "My servant David, ask of Ephraim, place the sign; I ask of you." Of course "my servant David" points to Messiah ben David, but it is Messiah who is to be a sign or ensign setup to draw Ephraim's goyim to return to the Land of Israel (Isaiah 11:10-11; Genesis 48:19).

Lines 19 through 21 "By three days you shall know...the evil has been broken before righteousness" could be referring to the three day sign of Jonah, which Yeshua's death was to represent, but it could also be describing the three days of Hosea 6:2, just as line 80 likely alludes to.

Personally, I find this tablet to be yet one more proof that Ephraim (10-Israel) had not rejoined the Jews in the Land by the First Century era, just as Flavius Joseph, R. Akiva, and R. Eliezer later confirm (see 10 Reasons the Jews are from Judah).