And there were no wells in the interior of the wall in Karchah. I am sorry to find that I was also the last European who had the privilege of seeing this monument of Hebrew antiquity in its perfect state of preservation. "Moabite Stone [Mesha Stele]." Its king Omri (884-873) owned at least two thousand chariots and even king almaneser of Assyria admitted that Israel was a powerful enemy. Identifying Biblical Persons in Northwest Semitic Inscriptions of 1200 -539 BCE; p. 99; Brill, Leiden, the Netherlands, Norman Karol Gottwald (2001). Mesha's Kingdom A map of Moab's territory near the time of Mesha's Rebellion. Prior to its acquisition by the Louvre, it was smashed by Bedouins, who . Unfortunately, poorly planned archaeological digs at Dhibn, along with the problematic recovery of the Moabite Stone, make it difficult to identify how the Moabite Stone functioned in the broader, archaeological context. In 1868, a stone was uncovered in the Biblical city of Dibon which recorded victories by Mesha, the king of Moab, over the Israelites. My father was king over Moab for thirty years, and I was king after my father. [1] It is written in a variant of the Phoenician alphabet, closely related to the Paleo-Hebrew script. Moabite stele commemorating Mesha's victory over Israel (c. 840 BCE), | , [ | | [ , , | | , [ | [, | , | , | , [ | | [, [ | [, | , | | , | , [ | | [ , | , [ | [ , | , | , | | , [ ] , | , | , ] | ], | , | . The Moabite Stone - Bible History My father ruled over Moab for thirty years, A "squeeze" (a papier-mch impression) had been obtained by a local Arab on behalf of Charles Simon Clermont-Ganneau, an archaeologist based in the French consulate in Jerusalem. Full translation of the Mesha Stele, an ancient Moabite inscription that might reference the House of David. In the 1870s several of the fragments were recovered by scholars and reconstructedcomprising only two-thirds of the original Moabite Stone. Stele - New World Encyclopedia MESHA STELEMESHA STELE , an inscribed basalt stele, measuring about 40 inches (one meter) high and about 28 inches (70 centimeters) wide, erected by *Mesha, king of Moab, at Dibon (today, Dhbn), probably in the third quarter of the ninth century, b.c.e. And a group of Moabites regularly invaded the land in the spring of that year. If Elisha died around the beginning of the 8th century BCE, it suggests that Mesha successfully annexed certain regions of Israel during his reign, sometime between 840 BCE and 800 BCE; however, Moabite incursions into Israelite territory after the reign of Mesha were smaller in nature (i.e. [1] I am Mesha, the son of Kemo-yatti, the king of Moab, from Dibon. (6) his country. 8 years of Archaeology Odyssey online, exploring the ancient roots of the Western world in a scholarly and entertaining way, The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land. As such, it demonstrates how returning religious materials to their proper place was a way of demonstrating political might. In my days he did so, but I looked down on him and on his house, and Israel has gone to ruin, yes, it has gone to ruin for ever! 24 (1870), "The Moabite Stone, With An Illustration", https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Inscription_on_the_Stele_of_M%C3%A9%C5%A1a%CA%BF/The_Moabite_Text_in_Ph%C5%93nician_Script, https://www.jstor.org/stable/43076168?read-now=1&refreqid=excelsior%3A54c8fd0364c06eb40a10c02adb319296&seq=2#page_scan_tab_contents, A neglected phonetic law: The assimilation of pretonic yod to a following coronal in North-West Semitic, https://www.livius.org/sources/content/anet/320-the-stela-of-mesha/, "Restoring Line 31 in the Mesha Stele: The 'House of David' or Biblical Balak? Importantly, though, this interpretation is subject to change, as the studies on ancient Moabite archaeology are problematic and few in number. Mesha also describes his many building projects. The phrase "Omri, king of Israel," eponym of the highland patronate Bit Humri, belongs to a theological world of Narnia. At Tel Dan, as in the Mesha stela, an adversary of the king of Israel and of the House of David describes on a stone monument his victories over Israel and the House of David, Judah. Dating to the ninth century B.C.E., the Mesha Stele describes how King Mesha rescued the Moabites from Israelite rule. The dots between brackets indicate places where text is missing. In 1994, Andr Lemaire reconstructed BT[D]WD as "House of David", meaning Judah,[9] in line 31. Translation of the Mesha Stele - lloydthomas.org [9] I have built Karchoh, the wall of the woods and the wall of the citadel, and I have built its gates, and I have built its towers, and I have built the house of the king, and I have made the double reservoir for the spring, in the innermost of the city. wynw.t.mb.ymn.rbn. His son succeeded him, and he too said, I will oppress Moab (Gibson 1971). Biblical Archaeology Review is the guide on that fascinating journey. And his son succeeded him, and he said - he too - "I will oppress Moab!" So, though Chemosh is particularly significant to Moab in the 9th century BCE, he functioned in many cultures throughout the Levant prior to Moab. King Mesha set up the victory stela in his capital, Dibon (modern Dhiban in Jordan). [56][57][58], Thomas L. Thompson, a former professor of theology at the University of Copenhagen, closely associated with the Biblical minimalism movement known as the Copenhagen School, which holds that "Israel" is a problematic concept, believes that the inscription on the Mesha stele is not historical, but an allegory. I made this high-place for Chemosh in Qerihoh, high-pl[ace of sal-], (4) vation, for he saved me from all the kings and made me enjoy the sight of my enemies. As described in Bible History Daily: [The] black basalt Moabite Stone was first brought to the attention of scholars in 1868 by Bedouin living east of the Jordan River and just north of the Arnon River. Chemosh is credited with an important role in the victories of Mesha, but is not mentioned in connection with his building activities, reflecting the crucial need to give recognition to the nation's god in the life-and-death national struggle. [12] And I have built the House of Medeba and the House of Diblathaim, and the House of Ba'al Meon, and I brought there [] the flocks of the land. The stone is, as appears from the accompanying sketch, rounded on both sides, and not only at the upper end as mentioned by Monsieur Ganneau. While it was damaged in 1869, a paper-mache impression of. Last modified February 11, 2019. "Moabite Stone [Mesha Stele]." This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon this content non-commercially, as long as they credit the author and license their new creations under the identical terms. King David from the Bible in Mesha Stele, Moabite Stone - TheBlaze "An inscribed altar from the Khirbat Ataruz Moabite sanctuary"; Levant; vol.50, no.2, pp. It was found intact in 1868 among the ruins of Dibon, the ancient capital of Moab, the country on the other side of the Dead Sea from Israel (Map 1). Mesha ruled from about 850 BCE until the late 9th century BCE. That is to say, the Moabite Stone and its inscription are essentially a form of propaganda by Mesha, intended to justify his actions to both deities and people. (28) The men of Dibon (were) fitted out for war because all Dibon (is my) guard. Andr Lemaire and Jean-Philippe Delorme examine the evidence for the House of David in the Mesha Stele in their article, Meshas Stele and the House of David, published in the Winter 2022 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review. 211-236; Routledge; UK, Lawrence Mykytiuk (2004). Specifically, the kingdom of Israel and the Name of GOD, the tetragrammaton, are manuscripted. I have built Bezer, for it lay in ruins. Mesha | Encyclopedia.com To understand the purpose of the text, we will briefly consider the function of the Moabite Stone. The Mesha Stele, one of the most valuable Biblical artifacts found due to archaeological looting, also helped scholars clarify the tribal land allotments among the northern tribes of Israel. Now Omri took the land of Madeba, and occupied it in his day, and in the days of his son, forty years. Moabite King Mesha, discovered in 1868. 61, pp.23-47; Peeters, Paris, France, Friedrich Wilhelm Schultz, Professor of Theology at the University of Breslau, wrote in the 1877, Adam L. Bean; Christopher A. Rollston; P. Kyle McCarter; Stefan J. Wimmer (2018). In doing so, Mesha ritually subordinated Yahweh to Chemosh. In Numbers 32, we read a long and detailed story of negotiations meant to secure the region of the Transjordan (the area to the east of the Jordan river) for the tribes of Reuben and Gad. (1) I am Mesha, son of Chemosh[t], king of Moab, the Di-, (2) bonite. Baruch Margalit, Why King Mesha of Moab Sacrificed His Oldest Son, Biblical Archaeology Review, November/December 1986. Ebal? [19] Caravacca was injured by the local Bedouin while obtaining the squeeze, and one of his two accompanying horsemen protected the squeeze by tearing it still damp from the stone in seven fragments before escaping. We want people all over the world to learn about history. [3] It is the most extensive inscription ever recovered that refers to the kingdom of Israel (the "House of Omri");[8] it bears the earliest certain extrabiblical reference to the Israelite god Yahweh. World History Encyclopedia. A proper translation is a word by word translation based upon a multi-text lexicon, following common grammatical rules, and using letter assignments valid for all texts of that time and place. [55] The authenticity of the stele is held as wholly established and undisputed by biblical archaeologists today. Subsequently, a brief summary of the Moabite stone, along with a full translation, will be presented. For unknown reasons, his second intermediary aroused the anger of villagers. The king of Israel had built. Rather than just defeat a nation through reclaiming their cities and killing inhabitants, Mesha confirmed his success by bringing Yahweh's religious items before Chemosh. The Moabite Stone was discovered 1868 CE at Dhibn, amidst a time in which scholars sought for any inscriptions and other proofs for the historicity of the Bible. [54], The discovery of the Khirbat Ataruz Inscribed Altar inscriptions by archaeologist Chang-ho Ji at an ancient Moabite sanctuary site in Jordan in 2010, provided evidence for the Mesha Stele's authenticity. An Early Israelite Curse Inscription from Mt. Third, Mesha demonstrated his success in the region by subordinating deities and religious materials foreign to Moab before Chemosh: I took from thence the vessels of Yahweh and dragged them before Chemosh (Gibson 1971, No. As a chthonic (underworld) deity, Chemosh shows up in texts as early as the late 3rd millennium BCE in Ebla, Syria. In 2001, Anson Rainey proposed that a two-word phrase in line 12'R'L DWDHshould be read as a reference an "altar hearth of David" at Ataroth, one of the towns captured by Mesha. [7] And Kemo said to me: "Go, take Nebo from Israel!" Currently, the original Moabite Stone is housed at the Louvre Museum in Paris. This story first appeared in Bible History Daily in May, 2019. A variety of names might fit here (e.g., Bedad, Bedan, Becher, Bela, Baal, Barak), but one name stands as the most likely candidate, i.e., Balak. Does the Mesha Stele mention King David of the Bible? Before the Mesha Stele was damaged in 1869, a squeeze (paper-mache impression) of the inscription was made. [1] The italicized portions of the text, though likely, are not certain. 1. Lemaire and Delorme describe the new images: In 2015, a team from the West Semitic Research Project of the University of Southern California took new digital photographs of both the restored stela and the paper squeeze. Clermont-Ganneau later managed to acquire the fragments and piece them together thanks to the impression made before the stele's destruction. [10][11][12] Its authenticity has been disputed over the years, and some biblical minimalists suggest the text was not historical, but a biblical allegory. Words in parentheses have been added for clarity but do not appear in the original text. (PDF) The Mesha Stele: a Reappraisal of a Forgery - ResearchGate It was found at Dibon in 1868 by F.A. [1] See Andr Lemaire, The Mesha Stele: Revisited Text and Translation, in Meir and Edith Lubetski, eds., Epigraphy, Iconography, and the Bible(Sheffield: Sheffield Press, 2022), pp. It was the most spectacular artifact ever found in Palestine, and the European powers . https://www.worldhistory.org/Moabite_Stone_[Mesha_Stele]/. The written language is most likely Moabite. , | , [ | | [ , | , , | | , [ | [, | , | , | , [ | | [, [ | [, | , | | , | , [ [] | [, [ | | [ , | , [ | [ , | , | , | | , [ ] , | , | , ] | ], | , | , .. | , [ ] [] | , | ., | ., ] ].., Here is the beginning of a relatively recent transliteration and translation by Alviero Niccacci from his article "The Stele of Mesha and the Bible: Verbal System and Narrativity" in Orientalia NOVA SERIES, Vol. groups of Moabites as opposed to the Moabite political entity). Such an action illustrates how his attempt to establish political rule over ancient Israel was accomplished through means of subordinating the primary deity of ancient Israel to the primary deity of Moab. It is believed to be the largest known source of Moabite writings. The Mesha Stele details the victories of King Mesha of Moab over the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. This altar was found at Khirbat Ataruz, the site of ancient Ataroth, in 2010. Scholars Identify Biblical King Balak on the Mesha Stele In the Moabite Stone, Mesha accomplishes this by noting that Israel had suppressed Moab. Could there not have been a later Balak, perhaps from the same location, who is not mentioned in the Bible?, Regarding the observation, before the waw of [- -] a vertical stroke appears, one could wish that the apparent vertical stroke were clearer, Mykytiuk added. Second, one of the ways that Mesha established his political rule over ancient Israel was through employing symbolic, religious actions. The first three lines of the inscription mention that Mesha's father Chemoshyat, whose name is known from a stele found in Kerak (Kir of Moab; W.L. Does the Mesha Stele Really Reference the Dynasty of King David of the [8] And the king of Israel had built Jahaz, and he stayed there during his campaigns against me, and Kemo drove him away before my face, and I took two hundred men from Moab, all its division, and I led it up to Jahaz. The next year, the stele was smashed into several fragments by the Bani Hamida tribe, seen as an act of defiance against the Ottoman authorities who had pressured the Bedouins to hand over the stele so that it could be given to Germany. The Mesha Stele - Drive Thru History: 'Bible Unearthed' Our latest articles delivered to your inbox, once a week: Numerous educational institutions recommend us, including Oxford University. It was the first "Canaanite inscription found in the region of Palestine, and the longest Iron Age inscription ever found in the region, constitutes the major evidence for the Moabite language, and is a "corner-stone of Semitic epigraphy", and history. Pieces of the original stele containing most of the inscription, 613 letters out of about a thousand, were later recovered and pieced together. In 2018, the Louvre Museum also took new, high-resolution backlit pictures of the squeeze, where light was projected directly through the 150-year-old paper to provide a clearer view of the ancient letters it records. and he also said: "I will oppress Moab." [20], In November 1869 the stele was broken by the local Bedouin tribe (the Bani Hamida) after the Ottoman government became involved in the ownership dispute. Andr Lemaire November 18, 2022 0 Comments 7496 views Share Mesha Stele. Review Andr Lemaire and Jean-Philippe Delormes detailed evidence in their article Meshas Stele and the House of David, published in the Winter 2022 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review. In the text of the Moabite Stone, he is mentioned ten times as the primary Moabite deity. No doubt the vertical-stroke transition marker, if correctly perceived and interpreted, is the most decisive element in this new reading.. And the king of Israel fortified Jahaz, and occupied it, when he made war against me, and Chemosh drove him out before me, and I took from Moab two hundred men in all, and placed them in Jahaz, and took it to annex it to Dibon. To the south of Moab was Edom and to the north of Moab was Ammon. This massive stone monument from the 9th century BC was inscribed in an ancient language called Moabite, very similar to Hebrew, and it tells the story of 2 Kings 3 from the perspective of King . The inscription of 34 lines, the most extensive inscription ever recovered from ancient Israel, was written in Paleo-Hebrew alphabet. Maggie Atlas on Twitter: "https://historyofinformation.com/detail.php The Mesha Stele, or Moabite Stone | Evidence To Believe I went down [] and Kemo restored it in my days. Pauls dual roles as a Christian missionary and a Pharisee. Access to 50+ curated Special Collections. Photo: Mbzt 2012 / CC by 3.0. One line of thought sees 'R'L as the name of a man (literally "El is my light") and translates DWD as "defender", so that the sense of the passage is that Mesha, having conquered Ataroth, dragged its "defender", whose name was "El is my light", to the altar of Chemosh, where he was presumably sacrificed. [24]: .mw-parser-output .script-phoenician{font-family:"ALPHABETUM Unicode","MPH 2B Damase",Aegean,Code2001,"Noto Sans Phoenician",FreeSans,"Segoe UI Historic",sans-serif} ? It was during my days that he said th(is), Proposed references to David and "House of David", Compston, H.F.B. Moab was located east of ancient Israel and Judah across the Dead Sea. Currently, the original Moabite Stone is housed at the Louvre Museum in Paris. The Mesha Stele, or Moabite Stone, a Non-Biblical Text, Confirms Some This apparent correspondence is the basis of the usual dating of the inscription to about 840 BCE, but Andr Lemaire has cautioned that the identification is not certain and the stele may be as late as 810 BCE.[32]. The king of Israel instructs the king of Judah to attack the king of Moab by going through the wilderness of Edom (2 Kings 3:8) because apparently it was an area controlled by the kingdom of Judah. A copy is on display at the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago. When republishing on the web a hyperlink back to the original content source URL must be included. Similar sentiments are expressed throughout the Hebrew Bible, Assyrian inscriptions, and Babylonian inscriptions. The team used a method called Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI), in which numerous digital images are taken of an artifact from different angles and then combined to create a precise, three-dimensional digital rendering of the piece. Wikimedia adapted. [2] Jordan has been demanding its return to its place of origin since 2014. Mesha Stele (Moabite Stone) The king also claims to be acting in the national interest by removing Israelite oppression and restoring lost lands, but a close reading of the narrative leaves it unclear whether all the conquered territories were previously Moabite in three campaign stories, no explicit reference is made to prior Moabite control. He also appears as a chthonic deity in Neo-Assyrian texts (c. 8th century BCE). Your email address will not be published. In the first half of the ninth century BCE, Israel was a mighty kingdom. The scholars deserve credit for their use of high-resolution photography to bring attention to a potential new reading of this important stele, notable among Northwest Semitic inscriptions for its unusual length and connection with the biblical text. [9] At that time, amateur explorers and archaeologists were scouring the Levant for evidence proving the historicity of the Bible. This is especially true because of the claim to have found a previously overlooked transition marker between putative sentences, in a crucial place. Mesha tells how Chemosh, the god of Moab, had been angry with his people and had allowed them to be subjugated to the Kingdom of Israel, but at length, Chemosh returned and assisted Mesha to throw off the yoke of Israel and restore the lands of Moab.
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