Here is a little extra-Biblical history many may not know. The "tomb" in which Jesus was placed was not a permanent grave. In fact, one could argue that the tomb was a rough, ancient equivalent to the modern-day morgue. It was simply a holding place for bodies.
You see, land was very valuable to the inhabitants of Isreal. It is a very small country, and if the people who could afford it took permanent tombs, the land would diminish greatly over time. Instead, they had another practice.
They took the body of a person who could afford the luxury of being put to rest respectably, and place it in a temporary tomb meant to hold it while it decomposed. After it decomposed, the tomb would be opened and the bones would be gathered into what was called an ossuary, or bone box, which was a little bigger than a bread box. The bones would be buried in a communal graveyard. These sites are all over Palestine. Then, the tomb could be used over and over again. That would explain why Joseph of Arimathea could lend his own tomb to Jesus. And he did only lend it.
What specific importance may this have? Well, for one, it changes the paradigm that many people have of Jesus being laid somewhere where He is supposed to be forever. The body would have been visited by the women for further cleaning, according to the Gospels, and then again to move the bones somewhere else. He was never laid to an "eternal rest." He rose from the dead, but not from the grave. You can join Unsolved Mysteries and post your own mysteries or
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