Moabite King Mesha, discovered in 1868. Now as for Omri, King of Israel, he oppressed Moab for many days The Mesha Stele: a Reappraisal of a Forgery - Academia.edu (6) his country. The stele was found in the 19th century among the ruins of the ancient town of Dibon in Moab, located in today's Jordan, east of the Dead Sea. The world of the Bible is knowable. 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. Does the ninth-century Mesha Stele mention King David of the Bible? It is the longest monumental inscription yet found in Palestine. Stele - New World Encyclopedia [7] And Kemo said to me: "Go, take Nebo from Israel!" 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. In 1994, Andr Lemaire reconstructed BT[D]WD as "House of David", meaning Judah,[9] in line 31. 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 https://www.worldhistory.org/Moabite_Stone_[Mesha_Stele]/. In the text of the Moabite Stone, he is mentioned ten times as the primary Moabite deity. King Mesha set up the victory stela in his capital, Dibon (modern Dhiban in Jordan). Instead, the Moabite Stone needs to be corroborated with other historical texts, inscriptions, and archaeological data in order to identify the degree to which the Moabite stone reflects broader regional conflicts and the degree to which the Moabite stone reflects personal biases. Although Moabite leaders are mentioned in Neo-Assyrian documents in the 8th and 7th centuries BCE after the reign of Mesha, the strong, independent, political entity imaged in the Moabite stele failed to materialize nonetheless. The Mesha Stele (popularized in the nineteenth century as the Moabite Stone) is a black basalt stone, bearing an inscription by the ninth century B.C.E. 3 (1994), pp. Moabite stele commemorating Mesha's victory over Israel (c. 840 BCE), | , [ | | [ , , | | , [ | [, | , | , | , [ | | [, [ | [, | , | | , | , [ | | [ , | , [ | [ , | , | , | | , [ ] , | , | , ] | ], | , | . The inscription opens by describing who Mesha is. My father ruled over Moab thirty years, and I ruled, (3) after my father. His son succeeded him, and he too said, I will oppress Moab (Gibson 1971). The stele is on display at the Louvre Museum. Scholars Identify Biblical King Balak on the Mesha Stele Biblical Archaeology Review is the guide on that fascinating journey. (19) Yahaz, and he lived there while fighting against me, but Chemosh drove him out before me; (20) I took two hundred men of Moab, all its divisions, and I led them against Yahaz; I took it, (21) to add it to Dibon. Our publication has been reviewed for educational use by Common Sense Education, Internet Scout (University of Wisconsin), Merlot (California State University), OER Commons and the School Library Journal. Omri is also mentioned in the Bible in 1 Kings 16:16-30 and in Neo-Assyrian inscriptions, Rollston stated. Andr Lemaire, House of David Restored in Moabite Inscription, Biblical Archaeology Review, May/June 1994. [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. Based on references within the text, Lemaire and Delorme believe that King Mesha commissioned the stone around 810 BCE, toward the end of his reign. When republishing on the web a hyperlink back to the original content source URL must be included. 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. The letter after the waw is indeed a dalet, the left side of which is slightly damaged. Ebal? 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! [31], The inscription seems to parallel an episode in 2 Kings 3: Jehoram of Israel makes an alliance with Jehoshaphat king of Judah and an unnamed king of Edom (south of Judah) to put down his rebellious vassal Mesha; the three kings have the best of the campaign until Mesha, in desperation, sacrifices to his god Chemosh either his eldest son or the eldest son of the king of Edom; the sacrifice turns the tide, "there came great wrath against Israel", and Mesha apparently achieves victory. Translation of the Mesha Stele - lloydthomas.org The Moabite Stone includes the similar timeline: Omri, king of Israel, had oppressed Moab many days, for Chemosh was angry with his land. In most cases, it is followed by a word starting with a waw, as is the case here. [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. I ruled, (29) over hundreds of cities that I added to the land. Also since these are Pagan religious cultures the translator must be familiar with such Pagan cultures to understand the concepts being discussed. Knowing that a demand to give up the stone to the German Consulate had been ordered by the Ottomans, and finding that the ruler of Salt was about to put pressure upon them, they heated the stele in a bonfire, threw cold water upon it and broke it to pieces with boulders.[20]. And I have taken it in order to add it to Dibon. and I [ ?..]. because Kemosh was angry with his land. Brown, William. and because he made me triumph over all my enemies. We want people all over the world to learn about history. Unfortunately, the final five lines of the text are unclear and broken. Pieces of the original stele containing most of the inscription, 613 letters out of about a thousand, were later recovered and pieced together. 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. I transported there, (31) [] the small cattle of the land. In the first half of the ninth century BCE, Israel was a mighty kingdom. The incursions of Moabites as small groups rather than a single, unified political entity by the end of the 9th century BCE can be corroborated with archaeological evidence, which suggests that Dhibn shows little evidence from excavations of being a royal establishment during the 9th century BCE (Dever 2016). It dates to 850-840 BC and speaks to the Moabite / Israelite relations in the 9th century BC the time of King Ahab. Mesha Stele. Line 31, near the base of the Mesha stele. Lemaire originally proposed this reading in 1994, and new photographic evidence of the stela and squeeze adds weight to it. There had not been a cistern within the city, in Qerihoh, and I said to all the people: Build for yourselves, (25) a cistern, each one in his house! I had Qerihohs ditches dug by Israelite priso-. Combine a one-year tablet and print subscription to BAR with membership in the BAS Library to start your journey into the ancient past today! and he also said: "I will oppress Moab." 226-248. Please note that content linked from this page may have different licensing terms. This altar was found at Khirbat Ataruz, the site of ancient Ataroth, in 2010. We can learn about the society where the ancient Israelites, and later Jesus and the Apostles, lived through the modern discoveries that provide us clues. On 8 February 1870, George Grove of the Palestine Exploration Fund announced the find of the stele in a letter to The Times, attributing the discovery to Charles Warren. Second, one of the ways that Mesha established his political rule over ancient Israel was through employing symbolic, religious actions. Finds like the Pool of Siloam in Israel, where the Gospel of John says Jesus miraculously restored sight to a blind man. Subscribers, to further explore the Mesha Stele and its possible reference to the House of David,read Andr Lemaire and Jean-Philippe Delormes article Meshas Stele and the House of David, published in theWinter 2022 issueofBiblical Archaeology Review. Lemaire and Delorme see traces of the other three letters, taw, dalet, and dalet, on the new images. Related Content News of the finding set off a race between France, Britain, and Germany to acquire the piece. 6 ky.ynp.km.brh./ wylph.bnh. We care about our planet! Omri was king of Israel, and oppressed Moab during many days, and Chemosh was angry with his aggressions. Though one of thousands of ancient inscriptions, the Moabite Stone is one of the longest inscriptions. Based on references within the text, Lemaire and Delorme believe that King Mesha commissioned the stone around 810 BCE, toward the end of his reign. Both the Moabite Stele and Dan Stele are in Alphabetic Akkadian as are all early alphabetic texts from the Levant. COPYRIGHT 2023 BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY SOCIETY 5614 Connecticut Ave NW #343, Washington DC 20015-2604. 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. So, scholars are unsure exactly how the Moabite Stone [Mesha Stele]nds. I have built the palace of the king, and I made the prisons for the criminals within the wall. World History Encyclopedia. Mesha also describes his many building projects. and he also said: "I will oppress Moab." 2023. Yariv H - Biblical characters Mentioned in extra biblical , | , [ | | [ , | , , | | , [ | [, | , | , | , [ | | [, [ | [, | , | | , | , [ [] | [, [ | | [ , | , [ | [ , | , | , | | , [ ] , | , | , ] | ], | , | , .. | , [ ] [] | , | ., | ., ] ].., 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. In this inscription he calls himself "Mesha, son of Kemosh- [. For unknown reasons, his second intermediary aroused the anger of villagers. Wikimedia adapted. The Mesha Stele and "House of David" take center stage yet again. By submitting above, you agree to our privacy policy. Another Moabite inscription, for example, is a brief dedicatory inscription, wherein Mesha claims to have built and dedicated a temple to Chemosh. 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. Site of Julius Caesars Assassination Opened. And from there, I took the vessels of YHWH, and I hauled them before the face of Kemo. [17] The previous year the Bani Hamida had been defeated by an expedition to Balqa led by Reid Pasha, the Wali of Damascus. Subsequently, Joram, son of Ahab, attacked Moab: When the Moabites came to Israel's camp, the Israelites rose up and struck down the Moabites. It was found at Dibon in 1868 by F.A. The phrase "Omri, king of Israel," eponym of the highland patronate Bit Humri, belongs to a theological world of Narnia. 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. 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. Instead, we are dealing with a three-consonant word which is most probably a personal name: it starts with a beth, followed by a space for two missing letters that is followed by the vertical stroke, and then begins a new sentence ([ .]). Mesha's account of his rebellion against Israel is found on a large stone monument known as the Moabite Stone (Mesha Stele). Second, Mesha claims to have reconstructed or repaired many cities and buildings, including a fortress, king's residence, and cisterns for water storage. [25], 1-2. FREE ebook: Paul: Jewish Law and Early Christianity. P. M. Michle Daviau and Paul-Eugne Dion, Moab Comes to Life, Biblical Archaeology Review, January/February 2002. 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. 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. [2] And in Karchoh I made this high place for Kemo [] because he has delivered me from all kings, and because he has made me look down on all my enemies. And I dug the ditch for Karchah with the chosen men of Israel. Chemosh said to me: Go, take Nebo from Israel! I, (15) went in the night, and I fought there from dawn until noon; I, (16) took it and killed everyone: seven thousand men, boys, women, [daught]ers, (17) and pregnant women, because I devoted it to Ashtar Chemosh. Finally, two pressing issues will be discussed: the Moabite deity Chemosh and the representation of religion and politics in the Moabite Stone. The dots between brackets indicate places where text is missing. The article presents the name of the king of Mesha king of Moab, the name is mentioned in a stele that Mesha erected in the city of Dibon. [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. Web. The slab was found completely intact. What Does the Mesha Stele Say? - Biblical Archaeology Society For only $5 per month you can become a member and support our mission to engage people with cultural heritage and to improve history education worldwide. The discovery of the Tel Dan Stele led to a re-evaluation of the Mesha Stele by some scholars. The Mesha Stele and King David of the Bible One of the most important early discoveries in Biblical Archaeology was of the "Mesha Stele" in what is now modern-day Jordan. nw.t.mb./ bymy.mr.k(n). Klein, a Prussian missionary. The Moabite Stone is written in the 1st person, the speaker being Mesha, King of Moab. [2][3], The stone was discovered intact by Frederick Augustus Klein, an Anglican missionary, at the site of ancient Dibon (now Dhiban, Jordan), in August 1868. Unfortunately, the last five lines of the inscription are broken. Of the existing stele fragments, the top right fragment contains 150 letters, the bottom right fragment contains 358 letters, the middle-right contains 38, and the rest of the fragments contain 67 letters. Subsequently, a brief summary of the Moabite stone, along with a full translation, will be presented. This is a point of contact consistent between the Moabite Stone and 2 Kings 3. I assaulted the wall and captured it, and killed all the warriors of the city for the well-pleasing of Chemosh and Moab, and I removed from it all the spoil, and offered it before Chemosh in Kirjath; and I placed therein the men of Siran, and the men of Mochrath. The Mesha Stele / Moabite Stone - Helpmewithbiblestudy.org His son succeeded him, and he also declared: I will oppress Moab. In my days, he declared thus, (7) but I enjoyed his view and that of his house: Israel was destroyed forever. Other scholars date the stone to c. 840 BCE and connect the events detailed in it to those of 2 Kings 3, which describes Meshas war against the kings of Israel, Judah, and Edom. This stroke can be seen in the squeeze and the upper part of it can also possibly be detected in the small original part of the stele that was inserted into the plaster restoration; this, in turn, may explain the full restoration of a dividing line in the plaster-restored section. Ginsberg. What is most amazing is that it mentions "Israel," "Yahweh" and the "House of David." Image: Bible History Now Omri took the land of Madeba, and occupied it in his day, and in the days of his son, forty years. Currently, the original Moabite Stone is housed at the Louvre Museum in Paris. Mesha, then, claims to have become the remedy and means for re-capturing the land at the will of Chemosh. The fact that the numerous building projects would have taken years to complete suggests that the inscription was made long after the military campaigns, or at least most of them, and the account of those campaigns reflects a royal ideology that wishes to present the king as the obedient servant of the god. The copyright holder has published this content under the following license: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike. Mesha's Kingdom A map of Moab's territory near the time of Mesha's Rebellion. The next section of text describes various things which Mesha claims to have accomplished for the greater good: rebuilding towns, building cisterns for water, mending roads, and providing land for shepherds (lines 22-31). (1) I am Mesha, son of Chemosh[t], king of Moab, the Di-, (2) bonite. Site of Julius Caesars Assassination Opened. Photo: Mbzt 2012 / CC by 3.0. Required fields are marked *, COPYRIGHT 2023 BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY SOCIETY 5614 Connecticut Ave NW #343, Washington DC 20015-2604. 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. Download now. In the 1870s several of the fragments were recovered by scholars and reconstructedcomprising only two-thirds of the original Moabite Stone. Sign up to receive our email newsletter and never miss an update. By submitting above, you agree to our privacy policy. Most of the information on Mesha is contained in the stele which he erected at Dibon (see *Mesha Stele). Baruch Margalit, Why King Mesha of Moab Sacrificed His Oldest Son, Biblical Archaeology Review, November/December 1986. A reference to King Balak in this stele seems anachronistic for Meshas first-person narration of his experience, since the Hebrew Bible associates him with Israels journeys before the settlement period, centuries earlier than Mesha and the Omride dynasty, Mykytiuk said in an email to Bible History Daily. In other words, the Moabites were suppressed by ancient Israel during the reigns of Omri (c. 885-874 BCE), Ahab (874-853 BCE), and Joram (854-841 BCE). Follow Israel Finkelstein, Nadav Naaman, and Thomas Rmers argument for identifying the biblical Balak by reading their full article Restoring Line 31 in the Mesha Stele: The House of David or Biblical Balak? in Tel Aviv: The Journal of the Institute of Archaeology of Tel Aviv University. [42][43] A similar judgment was expressed by biblical scholar Ronald Hendel, who noted that Balak lived 200 years before David and, therefore, a reference to it would not make sense; Hendel also dismissed Finkelstein's hypothesis as "nothing more than a guess". The taw that follows the beth in Lemaires rendering of [] does not exist. to those found on the Mesha . Moabite Stone [Mesha Stele] - World History Encyclopedia Prior to its acquisition by the Louvre, it was smashed by Bedouins, who . [30], The Mesha Stele is the longest Iron Age inscription ever found in the region, the major evidence for the Moabite language, and a unique record of military campaigns. As such, it demonstrates how returning religious materials to their proper place was a way of demonstrating political might. [55] The authenticity of the stele is held as wholly established and undisputed by biblical archaeologists today. I made this high place for Kemosh in Qerihoh. [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. Carved from black basalt, the Mesha Stele (also called the Moabite Stone) measures about 3 feet tall and 2 feet wide. No authoritative full edition of the Moabite inscription remains. Notes on Some Tablets in the British Museum, Containing Bilingual Legends (Assyrian and Phnician), "Problems of Genre and Historicity with Palestine's Descriptions", "The Value of the Moabite Stone as an Historical Source", "Neo-Assyrian and Syro-Palestinian Texts I: the Moabite stone", Translation from Northwest Semitic Inscriptions, Land grant to Marduk-apla-iddina I by Meli-Shipak II, Statue of the Tiber river with Romulus and Remus, Vulcan Presenting Venus with Arms for Aeneas, The Attributes of Civilian and Military Music, The Attributes of Music, the Arts and the Sciences, The Lictors Bring to Brutus the Bodies of His Sons, Study (Young Male Nude Seated Beside the Sea), Coresus Sacrificing Himself to Save Callirhoe, Bonaparte Visiting the Plague Victims of Jaffa, Don Pedro of Toledo Kissing Henry IV's Sword, Joan of Arc at the Coronation of Charles VII, Portrait of Madame Marcotte de Sainte-Marie, Francesca da Rimini and Paolo Malatesta Appraised by Dante and Virgil, Madonna and Child with Saint Peter and Saint Sebastian, Venus and the Three Graces Presenting Gifts to a Young Woman, A Young Man Being Introduced to the Seven Liberal Arts, Portrait of Alof de Wignacourt and his Page, The Doge on the Bucintoro near the Riva di Sant'Elena, Holy Family with the Family of St John the Baptist, Saints Bernardino of Siena and Louis of Toulouse, Madonna and Child with St John the Baptist and St Catherine of Alexandria, Madonna and Child with St Rose and St Catherine, Portrait of Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta, Portrait of Doa Isabel de Requesens y Enrquez de Cardona-Anglesola, Crucifixion with the Virgin Mary, St John and St Mary Magdalene, The Archangel Raphael Leaving Tobias' Family, Pendant portraits of Marten Soolmans and Oopjen Coppit, Ixion, King of the Lapiths, Deceived by Juno, Who He Wished to Seduce, The Virgin and Child Surrounded by the Holy Innocents, Francis I, Charles V and the Duchess of tampes, Street Scene near the El Ghouri Mosque in Cairo, Christopher Columbus Before the Council of Salamanca, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mesha_Stele&oldid=1157390107, Near East and Middle East antiquities of the Louvre, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 4.0, Mesha's victories over Omri's son (not named) and the men of, His building projects, restoring the fortifications of his strong places and building a palace and reservoirs for water, A now-lost conclusion in the destroyed final lines, This page was last edited on 28 May 2023, at 08:54.