Biblical archaeology is one of those fields that has great opportunities for incredible discoveries. After all, a single artifact can potentially upset the applecart in a variety of fields -- history and theology being the two major areas.

That is why the discovery -- and subsequent study of -- Gabriel's Revelation is very exciting. It leaves room for a change in the understanding of Judaism at the time of Christ, not t mention revolutionizing our understanding of the origin of early Christian beliefs.

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.

If such a messianic description really is there, it will contribute to a developing re-evaluation of both popular and scholarly views of Jesus, since it suggests that the story of his death and resurrection was not unique but part of a recognized Jewish tradition at the time.

Here's the interesting part.

The slaying of Simon, or any case of the suffering messiah, is seen as a necessary step toward national salvation, he says, pointing to lines 19 through 21 of the tablet — “In three days you will know that evil will be defeated by justice” — and other lines that speak of blood and slaughter as pathways to justice.

To make his case about the importance of the stone, Mr. Knohl focuses especially on line 80, which begins clearly with the words “L’shloshet yamin,” meaning “in three days.” The next word of the line was deemed partially illegible by Ms. Yardeni and Mr. Elitzur, but Mr. Knohl, who is an expert on the language of the Bible and Talmud, says the word is “hayeh,” or “live” in the imperative. It has an unusual spelling, but it is one in keeping with the era.

Two more hard-to-read words come later, and Mr. Knohl said he believed that he had deciphered them as well, so that the line reads, “In three days you shall live, I, Gabriel, command you.”

To whom is the archangel speaking? The next line says “Sar hasarin,” or prince of princes. Since the Book of Daniel, one of the primary sources for the Gabriel text, speaks of Gabriel and of “a prince of princes,” Mr. Knohl contends that the stone’s writings are about the death of a leader of the Jews who will be resurrected in three days.

Now there are two ways of looking at this. One would argue that the ideas contained here constitute evidence that the supposedly unique views about Jesus' death and resurrection were really not so unique after all -- and in the eyes of some this means that we need to reassess the entire understanding of Jesus and the early Christian community. On the other hand, it could be just as easily argued that the Gabriel Revelation is yet one more foreshadowing -- this one extra-biblical -- that the death and resurrection of the Messiah was something foretold and expected by Jews of the period around the time of Jesus, and that said expectation was fulfilled by Jesus.

Frankly, I suspect that this discovery will be fodder for discussion for some time.