Where did Joseph of Arimathea get Jesus' tomb from?

Answer 1

Helena, mother of the fourth-century Christian emperor, Constantine, located, to her own satisfaction all the places where every important event in the recorded career of Jesus at Jerusalem supposedly took place. She arranged for each of these places to be dug up, and promptly identified what was found there to her own satisfaction. She claimed to have personally found the tomb, the place of the crucifixion, the True Cross and the locations where Jesus was born and ascended to heaven. Somewhat conveniently, if improbably, the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea and the hill on which the Romans crucified the worst of criminals were so adjacent that she was able to order a magnificent church to be built across both sites. In Jerusalem, the Church of the Anastasis or the Holy Sepulchre is now at the very place where Jesus met his death and was buried - on Mount Golgotha.

Answer 2

Another answer from our community:

The tomb was Joseph's to begin with; he had prepared it in advance for himself.

Matthew 27:59, 60 - When Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and laid it in his new tomb which he had hewn out of the rock; and he rolled a large stone against the door of the tomb, and departed. [NKJV]

Answer 3

A:Yes, the gospels do say that Jesus was buried in the tomb that Joseph of Arimathea had prepared for his own burial. However, many scholars find reason to doubt the historicity of Joseph of Arimathea. Perhaps the most compelling reason for the ahistoricity of Joseph and even of the town of Arimathea, is that 'Arimathea' could mean 'Best disciple town' in Greek. In Mark's Gospel, all the disciples had deserted Jesus and only Joseph of Arimathea stood by him. Joseph, the 'best disciple', was symbolic of the failure of the twelve disciples but he and Arimathea never really existed. On this view, Jesus was not buried in the sepulcher of Joseph of Arimathea, because there was never such a person.

Answer 4

The gospels tell us that Joseph of Arimathea owned the tomb, a burial cave, for his own use when he died, so he would probably have had it excavated. The surprising thing is that Helena, mother of Constantine, decided that the tomb was in quite close proximity to the place where Jesus was crucified. It seems improbable beyond belief that a wealthy or influential man would own a tomb so close to where the Romans were in the habit of executing criminals.