In Biblical times, the location, Dibon, was the capital of Moab. Jehosophat was king of Judah from the house of David, while Joram was the king of Israel, according to 2Kings chapter 3. The account inscribed in the stele parallels, with some differences, an episode in the Books of Kings (2 Kings 3:428) which describes the king of Mesha in Moab rebelling against paying a tribute to the king of Israel. Exciting new technology is allowing re-examination of ancient artifacts uncovering even more information than before. They published their findings in a late-2022 article entitled Meshas Stele and the House of David in the winter issue of Biblical Archeology Review. Milestone: Joseph Aviram (19152022) 5 below), which they differentiate from the straight diagonal downstroke. The following is a translation of the text taken from the Mesha stone: 1) I Mesha, son of Chemosh, Meshas king, the, 2) Dibonite. Numbers 32:33.
With only eight dalets attested in the entire stela, the comparative data are rather limited but still of some use. Test Kitchen: Roman French Toast Journal of The Economic and Social History of The Orient 43(3): 221-256, Alphabets, Texts and Artefacts in the Ancient Near East, Studies Presented to Benjamin Sass, The Books of Kings: Sources, Composition, Historiography and Reception. "The Birth of Israelite Historiography: A Comparative Study of 2 Kings 1314 and NinthEighth-Century Bce Levantine Historiographies." 28) And the men of Dibon were loyal to my rule. The stele, inscribed with 34 lines of text in the Moabite language, glorifies the military victories of King Mesha, including vanquishing Israel and possibly Judah, referred to as the House of David and also refers to the Altar of David.. Drawing on theoretical tools from postcolonial and feminist critics on the role of gender in the discursive construction of political communities, this study offers a fresh historical interpretation of the religious politics of Meshas literary portrayal of rem-warfare by analyzing the gendered dimensions of the Mesha Steles rem-list (ll. An Early Israelite Curse Inscription from Mt. The stele contains several lines of Aramaic referring to an individual who killed Jehoram of Israel, the son of Ahab and king of the house of David. For a full translation of the Mesha Stela, as read by scholar Andr Lemaire, please see here. 200-224. "On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets." Gap discernible among the dark marks noted by Richelle and Burlingame. Omride Architecture in Moab - Jahaz and Ataroth. It was found at Dibon, Moab's capital, and dated to the ninth century B.C.E. Attack Horonaim." Now Mesha king of Moab was a sheep breeder, and he had to deliver to the king of Israel 100,000 lambs and the wool of 100,000 rams. Yet not everyone agreed. The Mesha Stele, also known as the Moabite Stone, is one of the oldest and most remarkable artifacts connecting biblical history to the ancient world, but there have been long standing arguments over the possible misidentification of the phrase House of David. The area of the inscription that features Davids name is damaged and partly unreadable. Omri occupied, And he lived in it during his time and in the days of his sons; 40 years, 9) reinstalled it in my days. 3) after my father. {amount} donation plus {fee_amount} to help cover fees. Arch-Tech: Reading Invisible Dead Sea Scrolls And I established the, 17) and maidservants, because I dedicated them to. 15) So I went by night and fought from sunrise until noon. Omri's son Ahab (873-852) brought the kingdom to even greater prominence. The archaeological world is generally skeptical about David many saying he never existed as the king of a powerful Israel like the Bible describes, making this discovery so important.
Mesha Stele | Encyclopedia.com Although they analyze the same photographic evidence of the Mesha Stele as Lemaire and Delorme, they come to a very different conclusion about the possible reference to the dynasty of King David of the Bible. The stele was erected by Mesha circa 850 B.C.E . Another Look at the Mesha Stele, published in the Spring 2023 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review. Another Look at the Mesha Stele, published in the Spring 2023 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review. ." The reconstructed taw from line 31 (red) compared to the size and orientation of the taw in line 19 (blue) and line 21 (green) of the Mesha Stele. //]]>. ), The Fall of Jerusalem and the Rise of the Torah, Tubingen 2016: 3-18. 125-145. Isaiah 15:2, . As is well known, the local Bedouin of Dhiban (ancient Dibon) preferred to shatter the stone into pieces rather than give it to German authorities. Tutankhamun: Excavating the Archive I. Finkelstein, Historical-Geographical Observations on the Ehud-Eglon Tale in Judges, in I. Finkelstein, T. Romer and C. Robin (eds. Comparison of dalet-waw-dalet sequence found in line 31 (red) and line 12 (green) of the inscription. . The condition of the squeeze is also problematic in certain places. (e in b.c))if(0>=c.offsetWidth&&0>=c.offsetHeight)a=!1;else{d=c.getBoundingClientRect();var f=document.body;a=d.top+("pageYOffset"in window?window.pageYOffset:(document.documentElement||f.parentNode||f).scrollTop);d=d.left+("pageXOffset"in window?window.pageXOffset:(document.documentElement||f.parentNode||f).scrollLeft);f=a.toString()+","+d;b.b.hasOwnProperty(f)?a=!1:(b.b[f]=!0,a=a<=b.g.height&&d<=b.g.width)}a&&(b.a.push(e),b.c[e]=!0)}y.prototype.checkImageForCriticality=function(b){b.getBoundingClientRect&&z(this,b)};u("pagespeed.CriticalImages.checkImageForCriticality",function(b){x.checkImageForCriticality(b)});u("pagespeed.CriticalImages.checkCriticalImages",function(){A(x)});function A(b){b.b={};for(var c=["IMG","INPUT"],a=[],d=0;d
Mesha Stele - Biblical Archaeology Society 14) And Chemosh said to me: "Go! The first and fourth letters, bet and waw, were visible beforehand. Milestone: Claus-Hunno Hunzinger (19292021) Originally this town was controlled by the tribe of Reuben according to. Its king Omri (884-873) owned at least two thousand chariots and even king almaneser of Assyria admitted that Israel was a powerful enemy. And I reigned, 29) over hundreds of villages which I added to my country. How might these sacrifices shed light on the lands and people of the Bible? 19) Jahaz, and settled there while he did battle with me; but Chemosh drove him out before my eyes. Lora Gilb | January 27, 2023 | Evidence Summary: A new digital photography method confirms written records of biblical King David on Mesha Stele. by S. Schroer and S. Mnger (Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis 282). Caption Contest, Looking to the Future The Mesha stele and the House of David - Bible History FREE ebook: Jerusalem Archaeology: Exposing the Biblical City Read about some of the citys most groundbreaking excavations. Similarly, the writing on the recently profiled lice comb labeled Canaanite is consistent with the other Semitic alphabetic writing that emerged in Egypt and migrated to Canaan at the time of the ancient Israelites. I built Aroer and a roadway through the Arnon. Another Look at the Mesha Stele, Bible Artifacts Found Outside the Trench: The Moabite Stone, Your email address will not be published. The Mesha Stele, also known as the Moabite Stone, was discovered intact in Jordan roughly 15 miles east of the Dead Sea in 1868. This is the second clear reference to the House of David from the era of Israelite monarchy. The Moabite phrase House of David consists of five letters but only the first and fourth letters of the series, bet and waw were completely clear. Omri ruled for twelve years, six of those years he co-reined with Tibni. Thus it is very possible that the events mentioned on the Mesha stone may have occurred during Jehu's rule as king. Archaeologists dated the inscription to around 840 BCE. Mesha also makes a distinction between the men of Israel and the House of David. It is now clear that the name of the monarch mentioned there included three consonants, starting with a beth. . The Mesha Stele and King David of the Bible 7). Sorry, preview is currently unavailable. T. Rmer, L'nigme de Ashtar-Kemosh dans la stle de Msha , in I. Finkelstein, C. J. Robin et T. Rmer (ed. See how the latest updates in Jerusalem and the world are connected to the prophecies we read in the Bible. Studying new photographs of the Mesha Stele and the stele's squeeze, prepared before the stone was broken, we dismiss Lemaires proposal to read [] ("House of David") in Line 31. Richelle and Burlingame further consider the marks on the squeeze as too tiny to be convincing (p. 54). by Omer Sergi et al., ORA 20, Tbingen, Phonix [Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brasil], Restoring Line 31 in the Mesha Stele: The 'House of David' or Biblical Balak? Photo of the paper squeeze of the Mesha Stele under regular light. Readers only have to compare this photograph to Fig. 26) of Israel. [iii] See Mark Lidzbarski, Eine Nachprfung der Mesainschrift, Ephemeris fr semitische epigraphik. "This is the first and great commandment. Scholars Identify Biblical King Balak on the Mesha Stele In: Dubovsk, P., Markl, D. and Sonnet, J.P. Though the biblical text provides the most direct and extensive source for this period, no single passage provides a detailed account of the Aramean oppression. []. The Mesha Stele was discovered intact in Jordan, roughly 15 miles east of the Dead Sea, the biblical site of Moab, in 1868 by Anglican missionary Frederick Augustus Klein. 23) I built the house of the king; and its water reservoirs for inside, 24) the city; for there was no water inside the town of Qarhoh, so I said to the residents: "Make for yourself, 25) a cistern in every house"; I cut trees for use in Qarhoh with the prisoners. Will you go with me to battle against Moab? And he said, I will go. 100-108. 2011. [i] See Siegfried H. Horn, Why the Moabite Stone Was Blown to Pieces, BAR, May/June 1986. E) LINE 9 says that after Omri and his sons were in the land for 40 years, the territory was restored to him. [ii] Admittedly, the traces of the taw are eroded and not obvious at first glance. T. Rmer, Khirbet Qeiyafa Some Thoughts of a Biblical Scholar. ; Heshbon and all its cities that are in the plain: Omri and his sons (bloodline relatives) ruled for 40 years. Neighbours, Hebrew Bible and Ancient Israel 6 (2017), 308-328. It is now clear that there are three consonants in the name of the monarch mentioned there, and that the first is a beth. However, it is clear that here the stone is highly deteriorated (see fragment 20 in Bonora-Andjar 2018). In ancient Judah, seal impressions stamped onto storage jars supported a centuries-long administrative system designed to collect and store agricultural products to pay the kingdoms annual tribute to its foreign overlords. THE BIBLE says: "Then the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served the Baals and the Ashtoreths, the gods of Syria, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab . In a late-2022 article titled "Mesha's Stele and the House of David" published in the Biblical Archeology Review, researchers Andre Lemaire and Jean-Philippe Delorme re-examined the evidence,. Edited by Mahri Leonard-Fleckman, Lauren A. S. Monroe, Michael J. Stahl, and Dylan R. Johnson. They concluded that the Mesha Stele is indeed referring to the house of David.The historicity of Biblical King David as referred to in the Mesha Stele was corroborated by the Tel Dan Stele discovered in 1993 and is believed to have been created in 870750 BCE. We cautiously propose to read Balak the king of Moab who is referred to in the Balaam story in Numbers 22-24. Using new advanced photographic techniques, the 2,800-year-old Mesha Stele was recently determined to contain clear references to King David that before were highly debated. O) LINE 30 speaks of the temples of Medeba, Diblaten, and Baal-meon, which were built by this Moabite king. The Genesis of Judaism examines the latest archaeological and historical evidence to determine when early Jews first began to observe the laws of the Torah. Before the Mesha Stele was damaged in 1869, a squeeze (paper-mache impression) of the inscription was made. Does the Mesha Stele Really Reference the Dynasty of King David of the Bible? Summary: A new digital photography method confirms written records of biblical King David on Mesha Stele. Lod Mosaic Center Opens I. Finkelstein, Jerusalem and Judah 600-200 BCE: Implications for Understanding Pentateuchal Texts. TOP PHOTO: Mesha Stele (credit: Louvre Museum, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons). It is interesting to note that during the reign of the following king of Israel, Jehu, "In those days the LORD began to cut off parts of Israel; and Hazael conquered them in all the territory of. Response to Yosef Garfinkel and Aren Maeir, in: S. Schroer et S. Mnger (d), Khirbet Qeiyafa in the Shephelah (OBO 282), Fribourg , 2017, p. 2010 Officialdom and Society in the Book of Kings: The Social Relevance of the State, Memories of Monarchical Israel in the Narratives of Davids Wars with Israels It is uncertain whether the victories on the stone were recorded before or after the kings of Israel and Judah fought against king Mesha as recorded in 2 Kings 3:4-26, in which Israel, with God, As for Omri king of Israel, he oppressed Moab, for many years, for Chemosh was furious with his, And his son followed in his footsteps, and he also said: "I will cast down Moab. This stele contains several lines of Aramaic referring to an individual who killed Jehoram of Israel, the son of Ahab and king of the house of David. 20) I took with me two hundred men from Moab, all chief warriors, and sent them to Jahaz; and I, 21) added it to Dibon. In the Winter 2022 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review, Andr Lemaire and Jean-Philippe [] Jan 11 The Mesha Stele and King David of the Bible By: Megan Sauter Does the Mesha Stele mention King David of the Bible? Linear Elamite Deciphered! Home Mesha Stele Mystery solved: King David was real, researchers say. The next year, the stele was smashed into several fragments by the Bani Hamida tribe as an act of defiance against the Ottoman authorities. 1, Image C (above)the first is mostly illegible. While the orientation of the dalet is indeed slightly different, small variations are often observed in the same inscription, as even Richelle and Burlingame note (p. 55). forecast the destruction of these pagan temples: "He has gone up to the temple and Dibon, to the high places to weep. says the same thing starting in 1 Kings 16:23. ", Jesus said to him," 'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' The Aramean Oppression of Israel in the Reign of Jehu, A Voice from Across the Jordan: Royal Ideology as Implied in the Moabite Stela, in: R. Mller und C. Levin (eds), Herrschaftslegitimation in vorderorientalischen Reichen der Eisenzeit (ORA 21), Tbingen 2017, pp. . And I established the men of Sharon and the men of Maharith in it. ), Alphabets, Texts and Artefacts in the Ancient Near East, Studies Presented to Benjamin Sass, Paris 2016, pp. Researchers have only. 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. A response to critiques of btdwd in the Mesha Stele. 6. Conclusion: Once again the Bible has been proven to be 100% reliable. Psalms 68:4 says "Sing to God, sing praises to His name; Extol Him who rides on the clouds, By His name, mentions this Moabite city in Isaiah 15:4: "Heshbon and Elealeh will cry out, Their voice shall be heard as far as, "And this land, which we possessed at that time, from, . "The Tribe of Manasseh and the Jordan River: Geography, Society, History, and Biblical Memory" (PhD Dissertation, Bar-Ilan University; Ramat Gan: 2017). 31) [. Signs of Poetry Past: Literariness in Pre-Biblical Hebrew Literature, O MONUMENTO DO REI MEA DE MABA: O LIAME DOS FATOS ENVOLVENDO MOABITAS E ISRAELITAS DO NORTE NA IDADE DO FERRO II / THE MONUMENT OF THE KING MEA OF MABA: THE ENTANGLEMENT OF THE FACTS INVOLVING MOABITES AND ISRAELITES OF THE NORTH IN THE IRON AGE II, Source and Composition in the Story of Shebas Revolt (2 Samuel 20), Revue Mesha Stele Mystery solved: King David was real, researchers say Omri ruled for twelve years, six of those years he co-reined with Tibni. It contains 34 lines of text, with the possible "House of David" reference appearing on its 31st line. Battles between Israel and this same Mesha are also recorded in the Bible. The Winter 2022 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review celebrates the latest discoveries that continue to shape our understanding of the biblical world. 3a). the temple of Medeba and the temple of Diblaten and the temple of Baal-meon; and I introduced there, who ruled over Moab. Here is found one of the first references outside the Bible to King David and his descendants, who were from the tribe of Judah. Richard C. Steiner, The Book of the Wars of the Lord (Num. And explore the evidence for yourself in Matthieu Richelle and Andrew Burlingames article, Set in Stone? He also worshiped a Moabite god called. 2 and 4), as we have already discussed. Leviticus 19:18, Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law? mentions one of the twelve tribes of Israel, , and says that they dwelt in the land of, "So Moses gave to the children of Gad . Researchers Andr Lemaire and Jean-Philippe Delorme examined the squeeze to determine if the reference to the House of David referred to the Biblical king. And Israel has passed away forever. COPYRIGHT 2023 BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY SOCIETY 5614 Connecticut Ave NW #343, Washington DC 20015-2604, Sacred Souvenirs: Remembering Holy Land Places, Milestone: Claus-Hunno Hunzinger (19292021), Going, Going, Gone: Iraqs Capital Catastrophe, 5 Questions: Preserving the Dead Sea Scrolls, Arch-Tech: Reading Invisible Dead Sea Scrolls, Century Mark: The Discovery of King Tuts Tomb, Book Review: The Destruction of the Canaanites. Finally, a comparison of the sequence dalet-waw-daletin line 31 and line 12 (dwdh) validates our reading (Fig. They agree that the fifth letter is best read as a dalet. ), Ahab Agonistes: The Rise and Fall of the Omri Dynasty (Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies 421), London and New York 2007, pp. Given these conditions, we did not judge it appropriate to extend the right diagonal of the taw above the nose of the bet, which contrasts with the form we reconstructed on the squeeze (compare Fig. I built, 30) the temple of Medeba and the temple of Diblaten and the temple of Baal-meon; and I introduced there. Careful examination of the squeeze actually reveals a small gap between the end of our reading and the series of marks noted by Richelle and Burlingame (see nos. In our article " Mesha's Stele and the House of David " ( Biblical Archaeology Review, Winter 2022 ), we showed that new photographs of the stone and the paper squeeze of the ninth-century BCE Mesha Stele confirm the reading of btdwd ("House of David") in line 31 of the inscription. Israels king built. Rather, the best proposal thus far for the controversial line is the recently posited restoration, And as for wrnn, there dwelt Ba[lak]. . 1, Images B and D). Enemies and Friends of the State: Saul, Benjamin, and the Emergence of Monarchy in Israel. Image courtesy Matthieu Richelle and Andrew Burlingame. 6). And his son followed in his footsteps, and he also said: "I will cast down Moab." Thousands of Mummified Rams Heads Found in Temple of Ramesses, Israel six times (This is the third oldest known use of the name Israel in an inscription, behind the Berlin Pedestal and the Merneptah Stele. I. Finkelstein, Omride Architecture, ZDPV 116 (2000), pp. Nevertheless, they were already detected more than a century ago by Mark Lidzbarski and Ren Dussaud.[iii]. Regarding this downstroke, Richelle and Burlingame claim that it extends farther down on the right, noticing a long series of dark traces, which may be the continuation of this downstroke. Thus it is very possible that the events mentioned on the Mesha stone may have occurred during Jehu's rule as king. This is exactly how the Bible states Israel was divided as a kingdom during this time. FREE ebook: Ten Top Biblical Archaeology Discoveries. The shape of the stele, with a flat base and rounded top, is characteristic of those erected by kings of that period. By submitting above, you agree to our privacy policy. Assyrian inscriptions, including the depiction of Jehu on the Black Obelisk, provide a historical frame around the years of the Aram-Israel conflict. is also mentioned in Jeremiah 48:3-7: "A voice of crying shall be from, shall go forth into captivity, His priests and his princes together. Whereas Lemaire and Delorme think that the damaged letters taw (second letter), dalet (third letter), and dalet (fifth letter) can be reconstructed thanks to the new photographic evidence, Richelle and Burlingame are less certain. Dig into the illuminating world of the Bible with a BAS All-Access membership. The work of an epigrapher does not stop at identifying clear and complete letters. The dalet of mgdlth in line 22 corresponds to the expected form of the first dalet in btdwd, as the measurements for both letters are very similar (Fig. King Mesha and the Foundation of the Moabite Monarchy, Israel Exploration Journal 37 (1997), pp. The house of David inhabited Horonaim. Examine the different impressions, attested from the eighth to second centuries B.C.E., that evidence this longlived, centrally organized system. Biblical and Archaeological Perspectives, ed. The stone contains a possible reference to the House of David as Judahs rulers, which seems to support King David as a historical figure. Three letters completing the reference to David were assumed to be taw (like modern Hebrew tav), dalet, and dalet. In the Mesha Stele, the letters bet (first letter) and waw (fourth letter) are clearly visible on the inscription. Ahab's last son Jehoram, ruled. Academia.edu no longer supports Internet Explorer. as a city in the hands of Mesha. Investigate the early church fathers calendrical calculations that resulted in this date. He claimed the letters had been misidentified. Pregnant with Meaning: The Politics of Gender Violence in the Mesha Steles rem-Warfare List (KAI 181:1617). Pp. We cautiously propose that the name on Line 31 be read as Balak, the king of Moab . It is now clear that there are three consonants in the name of the monarch mentioned there, and that the first is a beth.We cautiously propose that the name on Line 31 be read as Balak, the king of Moab . Shechem of the Amarna Period and the Rise of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, IEJ 55 (2005), pp. 2 Kings 3:4. In particular, I argue on contextual, etymological, literary, and conceptual grounds that the rem-inventorys final, emphasized term, rmt (l. 17)commonly translated by scholars as female slaves, maidservants, concubines, or the likemost likely refers to pregnant women. In its culmination with pregnant women, the Mesha Steles rem-list rhetorically demonstrates the kings complete fulfillment of his religious obligations to the Moabite god Kemosh, as well as Moab and Kemoshs political dominance over Israel and its god YHWH. It details his victories over his neighbors, including possibly the House of Davidreferencing the dynasty of King David of the Biblein its 31st line. Sacred Souvenirs: Remembering Holy Land Places ), The men of Gad (Gad was one of the Israelite tribes that settled east of the Jordan River, north of Moab. Mesha's Stele and the House of David Andr Lemaire and Jean-Philippe Delorme The Mesha Stele details the victories of King Mesha of Moab over the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. King Mesha set up the victory stela in his capital, Dibon (modern Dhiban in Jordan). Biblical Profile: The Riddle of the Rephaim. THE BIBLE mentions this Moabite city in Isaiah 15:4: "Heshbon and Elealeh will cry out, Their voice shall be heard as far as Jahaz; Therefore, the armed soldiers of Moab will cry out", L) LINE 21 mentions the city of Dibon. Schmidt Keywords: Mesha Stele, Mesha, Moab, Beit David, Balak, Horonaim, Horon, The Alleged Beth David in the Mesha Stele: The Case Against it, The article examines the validity of the rendering in Line 31 of the Mesha Stele (And as for wrnn, dwelt in it). Psalms 68:4 says "Sing to God, sing praises to His name; Extol Him who rides on the clouds, By His name YHWH (YAHH), And rejoice before Him. 515, Publisher: Zedcor Inc. Set in Stone? Image courtesy of Jean-Philippe Delorme. 140, no. . In the Winter 2022 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review, Andr Lemaire and Jean-Philippe Delorme examined the possible reference to the dynasty of King David of the Bible in the Mesha Stele, a Moabite inscription from the ninth century BCE. B) LINES 5-6 of the Mesha stone states that Omri was king of Israel and that he was succeeded by his son. Strata highlights the latest in Dead Sea Scrolls research, with an article on the incredible technology that allows scholars to digitally unwrap and read the interiors of rolled-up scrolls.