Why the Moabite Stone Was Blown to Pieces, God will redeem Israel as a people for himself Isaiah 43:1-7, Scholars Identify Biblical King Balak on the Mesha Stele - Biblical Archaeology Society, How much evidence is there for King David? The Mesha Stele in its current location, the brown fragments are pieces of the original stele, whereas the smoother black material is Garneau's reconstruction from the 1870s. In his stele Mesha boasted of having defeated the king of Israel, even saying that Israel had thoroughly perished forever (l. 7). The stone's inscription tells the story of the. The Bible records a similar episode in 2 Kings 3, but not surprisingly, each account is much more flattering to its own author than the other. I rebuilt its gates, and I rebuilt its towers. The find is especially significant since in recent years several scholars have questioned the existence of David. 1. Scholars have dated their culture from about the late 14th century BC to 582 BC, when they were conquered by the Babylonians, according to the Jewish historian Josephus (1st century AD). (NKJ), Isa 25:10-12 "For on this mountain the hand of the LORD will rest, and Moab shall be trampled down under Him, as straw is trampled down for the refuse heap. Privacy Policy, Drive Thru History The Gospels (Special Edition), Drive Thru History Acts to Revelation (Special Edition), Drive Thru History America: Columbus to the Constitution (Special Edition), Drive Thru History: "Ends of the Earth" (Special Edition). Once interpreted, the stele became the main secular source of history for the Moabite people. | May 18, 2019 | Evidence SYNOPSIS: A recent study has come up with a new interpretation for one of the oldest and most important ancient inscriptions related to biblical history. Klein was led to the stele by Sattam Al-Fayez, son of King Bani Sakhr Fendi Al-Fayez, although no one knew how to interpret the text at the time. But it happened, when Ahab died, that the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel.". The History of Rome - Brief Overview Of Roman History from Her Dawn to the First Punic War. 10 Qir-yaten. Though one letter of DVD is not complete, Lemaire stated that any other reading than David would be an awkward fit. To read his inscription one could think that his campaign(s) had more of the nature of a royal processional than a serious military under . from there [?] 22 place. Klein, a German missionary who had heard rumors of this stone while visiting the area. 2 Kings 3:5 (cf. The Mesha Stele or Moab Stone is one of the most important relics of the ancient Middle East because it testifies of the interaction between two Biblical groups - the Israelites and the Moabites. It would not be surprising if Mesha took advantage of the situation and overran parts of the same area. Before it could be seen by another European, the next year it was smashed bylocal villagersduring a dispute over its ownership. Now Chemosh said to me, Go seize Nebo from Israel. So I This mid-ninth century BC inscription provided the first mention of David in a contemporary text outside the Bible. interior of the wall in Karchah. Moabite King Mesha. What Happened to the Moabites?Exactly as the Bible had predicted the Moabites were conquered. 19 Yahatz, and he occupied it while he was fighting against me. At the battle of Qarqar in 854 BC, when the Syrian kings were defeated by Shalmaneser II, no mention is made of Moab, as it was included in Israel. The Moabites were a West-Semitic people who lived in the mountains east of the Dead Sea, Trans-Jordan (now considered west- central Jordan) and they flourished in the 9th century BC. 23:3-4) it seems to show that both Moab and Edom utterly refused. I am Mesha, son of Chemosh-gad,[22] king of Moab, the Dibonite. This is not simply because the Mesha Stone is the first important Canaanite epigraphic inscription found in the region of Palestine (and the longest Iron Age inscription ever found in the region), but because the story it tells runs parallel to a Biblical episode from the Book of Kings (2 Kings 3: 4-28). (NKJ). Sign up to receive our email newsletter and never miss an update. Moabite Stone, c. 840 BCE : Center for Online Judaic Studies The Moabite Stone - Bible History It was written about 860B.C. Similarly, although the Bible records Meshas revolt, it gives no details on his successes. Italian I built Bezer for it was cut down by the armedmen of Daybon, for all Daybon was now loyal; and I reigned from Bikran,which I added to my land. And I built Baal-meonand made therein the ditch, and I built Kiriathaim. I brought back from there the altar hearth of its spoil and Moab had become a tributary of Assyria by the late 8th century BC and was conquered by the Babylonians in 582 BC, upon which the Moabites disappeared from history. By subscribing to the newsletter, you will have direct access to the ASH portal for any clarification, The goddess Astarte was probably the cult partner of Chemosh.". 853 BC, so Meshas revolt must have taken place some time after 853 BC. Maulana Mohammed Al (d. 1951) has Read more , al-alata the prayer Read more , mulina reformers ; pace-makers Read more , yunfiqna they spend Read more , mittahat below Read more , Abrahamic Study Hall 2015-2023 - Terms and Conditions - Privacy Policy - About Us. 18 sels of YHWH and dragged them before Chemosh. He names specifically the Israelite King Omri (2 Kings 1, 3-4); the Israelite God yhwh, the earliest absolute reference to Him; the tribe of Gad, dwelling in ancient Moabite territory (Joshua 13); and he confirms Chemosh as the main god of the Moabite people. Stele - New World Encyclopedia King Mesha of Moab details his victories over Israeland seemingly the "House of David"in this ninth-century stela. And from there, I took the vessels of YHWH, and I hauled them before the face of Kemo. The Mesha Stele / Moabite Stone The next year some local Arabs, realizing all that was at stake, laboriously hoisted it out of the earth and lit a fire around it, and after pouring cold water on it they chipped away several large pieces which they distributed among a few of them. The Meaning of Life: What is our purpose on Earth? A paper imprint (called a squeeze) that had been taken of the intact inscription allowed scholars to fill in the missing text.*. The next section of the text describes various things Mesha claims to have accomplished for the common good: rebuilding cities, building water cisterns, repairing roads, and providing land for shepherds (lines 22-31). This find sheds light on the history of the Holy Land, its traditions, its domestic and foreign policies of the time. The great King Solomon was led astray by taking Moabite princesses for his harem (1 Kings 11:1-8) and erecting near Jerusalem a shrine dedicated to Chemosh. It is known today as "The Mesha Stele" or the more popular designation "The Moabite Stone." Lemaire was able to identify a previously indistinguishable letter as a d in the phrase House of David. This phrase is used a number of times in the Old Testament for the Davidic dynasty. 20:17) was permitted IF they would cross the territory of Edom by the royal highway.The Moabite LanguageThe language of Moab was merely a dialect of Hebrew, differing from biblical Hebrew only in some minor details. 11:24; 1 Kin. Are you trusting in high places, and in treasures such as Mesha? The story refers to the place corresponds to a kingdom located in modern Jordan, and the stele tells of how Chemosh, the . Dodah appears to have been a female divinity worshipped by the side of Yahweh; the root of the name is the same as that of David and the Carthaginian Dido. About two-thirds of the pieces were recovered and those, along with an impression made before the stela was destroyed, allowed all but the last line to be reconstructed. Rumors about the stele being in the possession of local Bedouin people reached French archaeologist Charles Clermont-Ganneau in 1868. The fortress of the high fort of your walls he will bring down, lay low, and bring to the ground, down to the dust. Biblical Archaeology - Significant Discoveries from Ancient Empires. In my days he said, Let us go, and I will see my desireupon him and his house, and Israel said, I shall destroy it for ever. It appears that king Mesha knew about the Israleite God Yahweh and says he took "the vessels of Yahweh and presented them before the face of Chemosh" his god. And Chemosh said to me, Go take Nebo against Israel, and I went in the night and I fought against it from the break of day till noon, and I took it: and I killed in all 7,000 men, but I did not kill the women and maidens, for I devoted them to Ashtar-Chemosh; and I took from it the vessels of yhwh, and offered them before Chemosh . You can do things that I cannot do, Water flowed down the next morning (2 Kings 3:20); to the Moabites it appeared as blood when the sun shone upon the water, and imagining the allies had fought against each other, attacked the Israelite camp (2 Kings 3:21-23). And I have taken it in order to add it to Dibon. There are a total of 34 lines, written in Moabite,a language almost identical to Hebrew. The stele of King Mesha constitutes one of the most important direct accounts of the history of the world that is related in the Bible. More on the Paleo-Hebrew script: and the Mon., p. 364). The Mesha Stele provides another witness to the events of 2 Kings 3:1-27 and supports the general portrayal of the time period as reflected in 2 Kings. Photo: Mbzt 2012 / CC by 3.0. In this inscription he calls himself "Mesha, son of Kemosh- [. Gerald R. Flurry, All Rights Reserved. The last and most definitive edition of the text was published by Professors Smend and Socin in 1886 from a comparison of the fragments of the original (now in the Louvre) with the squeezes (in Paris and Bale) and photographsThe Biblical character of the language of the inscription will be noticed as well as the use of "forty" to signify an indefinite period of time. Both documents, 2 Kings 3 and the Mesha Inscription, describe the same event, the revolt of Mesha, but from entirely different perspectives. The Israelites may have killed many Moabites and won the battle, but the great wrath meant that Israel could not make good on their initial success (perhaps because the king of Edom left the alliance? Now the men of Gad had lived in the land of Atarot forever, and the king of Israel built The 34 lines on the Mesha Stele . If its genuine it should be very informative! The inscription pays tribute to the sovereign, celebrating his great building works and victories over the kingdom of Israel during the reign of Ahab, son of Omri. The inscription includes three versions of the same text, written in three different cuneiform script languages: Old Persian, Elamite, and Babylonian(a later form of Akkadian) Babylonian being a Semitic language. Search the Bible - Commentaries, Various Translations, and More! The Moabite Stone is housed in the Lourve Museum of Paris (France). Omri was king of Israel, and oppressed Moab during many days, and Chemosh was angry with his aggressions. F. Klein, of the Church Missionary Society at Jerusalem, found at Dhiban (the biblical Dibon), in Moab, a remarkable stone, since called the Moabite Stone. Full Article, The Bible Mentions the "Moabites" and "Moab", Deuteronomy 23:3 - An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD; even to their tenth generation shall they not enter into the congregation of the LORD for ever:Nehemiah 13:1 - On that day they read in the book of Moses in the audience of the people; and therein was found written, that the Ammonite and the Moabite should not come into the congregation of God for ever;1 Chronicles 11:46 - Eliel the Mahavite, and Jeribai, and Joshaviah, the sons of Elnaam, and Ithmah the Moabite. Isa 15:1-3 "The burden against Moab. This 3-foot-high 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. Jeremiah also predicted that the fortified cities of Dibon would be ruined (48:18 cf. . "The art of writing and reading can have been no new thing. "Chemosh"Chemosh, the national deity of Moab, is mentioned throughout the Mesha Stele inscription. I have built Bezer, for it lay in ruins. As the Christian New Testament, which cannot be proven to be an accurate record of the historical Jesus character and apostolic age or not, so it is with the Old Testament. 2 Kings 3 - Wikipedia And there were no wells in the It is the longest Iron Age inscription ever found in the region, constitutes the significant evidence for the Moabite language and history. AndChemosh said to me, Go down, make war against Horonaim, and take it. And He will spread out His hands in their midst as a swimmer reaches out to swim, and He will bring down their pride together with the trickery of their hands. [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. Omri was king of Israel, and oppressed Moab during many days, andChemosh was angry with his aggressions. It is also one of four known contemporary inscriptions containing the name of Israel, the others being theMerneptah Stele, theTel Dan Stele, and theKurkh Monolith. Or will you place your trust in the one, true God the Maker of the heavens and the earth? A product of archaeological looting, the Mesha Stele, or Moabite Stone, provides another instance of the value of unprovenanced Biblical artifacts, that is, Bible artifacts found outside of a professional excavation. Our mission is to share spiritual understanding with everyone, regardless of their religious tradition. Its language, terminology and phraseology are exactly the same as what we find in the Bible. 32-34). And Chemosh said to me, 'Go, take Nebo against Israel.' Has the Real Mount Sinai Been Discovered? Although the Archaeological Institute of America (AIA) and the American Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR) have strict policies regarding the publication of articles and the presentation of papers about unprovenanced objects and Biblical artifacts in an attempt to curb archaeological looting and forgery of Bible artifacts found in Israel and Jordan, other scholars believe that Biblical artifacts found without a stratified context still merit scholarly study. And yet a most extraordinary artifact was discovered in the nineteenth century: the Mesha Stele, also called the Moabite Stone, attesting to the existence of Moab and of realities described in the pages of 1 and 2 Kings. 15 went at night and fought against it from the break of dawn until noon. fought against them, David's great grandmother Ruth was from Moab (Ruth 4:17-22), and it was in Moab that David sought refuge from King Saul (1 Samuel 22:3-4). The Moabite Stone in Smith's Bible Dictionary, Moabite Stone, The In the year 1868 Rev. The Mesha Stele, also known as the Moabite Stone, is a black basalt monument bearing an inscription by the ninth century B.C.E. [11] And the men of Dibon stood in battle-order, for all Dibon, they were in subjection. 24 the city. translation is listed line by line. Line 31 of the Mesha Stele is perhaps the most significant line in the entire inscription. The historical accounts preserved in the Old Testament, or Hebrew Bible, attest to the existence and activity of not only Israel but also many other nation-states of the early Iron Age. They attacked from the south and were successful in routing the Moabite forces and destroying many towns (2 Kgs 3:2425). The inscription on the Mesha Stele (Mesha Inscription or "MI") verifies certain things recorded in 2 Kings 3 and makes other things in the biblical text more understandable:. My father was king over Moab for thirty years, and I was king after my father. We aspire to create a virtual portal where knowledge, freedom, and peace are interconnected. I The stone somewhat confirms the historicity of the account of the battle from the Bible from2 Kings 3:4- 27. But He has not left us alone. . Louvre museum. Co-hosts Chris McKinny and Mary Buck discuss the wild discovery of this text in the 1800s, read the text itself, and discuss what we learn about the Bible and about history from . When it was found the Berlin Museum negotiated for it while the French Consulate at Jerusalem offered more money. and I can do things that you cannot do, This 3-foot-tall basalt stone holds 34 lines of Phoenician script, or paleo-Hebrew, recording the victories of the Moabite King Mesha. T he Moabite Stone is an smooth ancient basalt stone, bearing an inscription by King Mesha, which was discovered at Dibon by Frederick Augustus Klein (F.A. Language Who were the Hypsistarians: Inner life requires attention to the world, How to be happy: Happiness is a choice, not a genetic factor, Believe in yourself: keep pushing, every answer is inside you, Words of wisdom: Epicurus letter on happiness, Vav-Consecutive: Decoding Biblical Hebrew Grammar, Who was Qoelet in the Book of Ecclesiastes, Temple Mount: the Sacreds space and location for the encounter of realities, GODS son: What the Scriptures really tells us, In Praise of Folly (Erasmus of Rotterdam), Epiphany: meaning and what people actually celebrate, Who is Satan: Why (sadly) it is important to know the Devil, Eid al-Adha: The remembrance in Islam of Abrahams faith, Sufism: what it is, and who the Sufis really are, Mohammed meaning of Seal of the Prophets, Timeline of Important milestones in Islamic history. Dr. Titus Kennedy is a field archaeologist working primarily with sites and materials related to the Bible. The Christian and Violence, II: Violence for Protection? They were a common, though independent, cultural manifestation in all the ancient civilizations of the world, particularly in the Ancient . The Bible indicates that the retaliation by Joram recorded in 2 Kings 3 took place immediately upon Meshas revolt (verses 57), or 846 BC. https://historyofinformation.com/detail.php?id=5053 The Mesha Stele, or Moabite Stone, a Non-Biblical Text, Confirms Some Events in the Biblical Book of Kings 8 nd of Mehadaba. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Mesha - Wikipedia --(See Rawlinson's "Historical Illustrations;" American Cyclopedia; and Bibliotheca Sacra, Oct. 20, 1870. The stone is also called the Mesha Stele, as it names Mesha as the king of Moab who ruled around 840 B.C. Archaeologists were, and still are, very busy looking for evidence to prove the historicity of the Bible, and then the news of the discovery has sparked a race between France, Britain and Germany to acquire the find. that Mesha rebelled against Israel upon the death of Ahab (2 Kgs 1:1, 3:5). And Chemosh said to me, Go takeNebo against Israel, and I went in the night and I fought against it from thebreak of day till noon, and I took it: and I killed in all seven thousand men, butI did not kill the women and maidens, for I devoted them to Ashtar-Chemosh;and I took from it the vessels of Jehovah [YHVH], and offered them before Chemosh. Why not ask God to reveal Himself to you? Omri is also mentioned in the Bible in 1 Kings 16:16-30 and in Neo-Assyrian inscriptions, Rollston stated. Welcome to ASH, Abrahamic Study Hall. Because in the night Ar of Moab is laid waste and destroyed, because in the night Kir of Moab is laid waste and destroyed, He has gone up to the temple and Dibon, to the high places to weep.