An Ancient Moabite Altar Sheds Light on a Biblical War

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An Ancient Moabite Altar Sheds Light on a Biblical War
An Ancient Moabite Altar Sheds Light on a Biblical War

Aug. 26 2019


In 2010, archaeologists discovered a 2,800-year-old altar in a pagan sanctuary in the ancient city of Atarot, now in Jordan but once in the biblical kingdom of Moab. Scholars have recently deciphered and published the Moabite inscription on the altar, as Owen Jarrus reports:

The altar appears to date to a time after Mesha, king of Moab, successfully rebelled against the kingdom of Israel and conquered Atarot [from it]. By this time, Israel had broken in two with a northern kingdom that retained the name Israel and a southern kingdom called Judah.

The Hebrew Bible mentions the rebellion, saying that [as a vassal state] Moab had to give Israel a yearly tribute of thousands of lambs and a vast amount of rams’ wool. The rebellion is also described in the so-called Mesha stele discovered in 1868 in Dhiban, Jordan, which claims that Mesha conquered Atarot and killed many of the city’s inhabitants.

One of the two inscriptions written on the altar appears to describe bronze that was plundered after the capture of Atarot. “One might speculate that quantities of bronze looted from the ... continued

 

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New reading of Mesha Stele could have far-reaching consequences for biblical history

The biblical King Balak may have been a historical figure, according to a new reading of the Mesha Stele, an inscribed stone dating from the second half of the 9th century BCE.

A name in Line 31 of the stele, previously thought to read 'House of David', could instead read 'Balak', a king of Moab mentioned in the biblical story of Balaam (Numbers 22-24), say archaeologist Prof. Israel Finkelstein and historians and biblical scholars Prof. Nadav Na'aman and Prof. Thomas Römer, in an article published in Tel Aviv: The Journal of the Institute of Archaeology of Tel Aviv University.

The Mesha Stele was found in the 19th century in the ruins of the biblical town of Dibon in Moab (present day Jordan), and is now in the Louvre.

The stone's inscription tells the story of the territorial expansion and construction endeavours of King Mesha of Moab, who is mentioned in the Bible.

The stele was cracked in the 19th century and parts of it are missing, but portions of the missing parts are preserved in a reverse copy of the inscription, known as a 'squeeze', made before the stele cracked.

The authors studied new high-resolution photographs of the squeeze, and of the stele itself. These new images made it clear that there are three consonants in the name of the monarch mentioned in Line 31, and that the first is the Hebrew letter beth (a 'b' sound).

While the other letters are eroded, the most likely candidate for the monarch's name is 'Balak', the authors say. The seat of the king referred to in Line 31 was at Horonaim, a place mentioned four times in the Bible in relation to the Moabite territory south of the Arnon River. "Thus, Balak may be a historical personality like Balaam, who, before the discovery of the Deir Alla inscription, was considered to be an 'invented' figure," they suggest.

"The new photographs of the Mesha Stele and the squeeze indicate that the reading, 'House of David' - accepted by many scholars for more than two decades—is no longer an option," the authors conclude. "With due caution we suggest the name of the Moabite king Balak, who, according to the Balaam story of Numbers 22-24, sought to bring a divine curse on the people of Israel.

"This story was written down later than the time of the Moabite king referred to in the Mesha Stele.

Yet, to give a sense of authenticity to his story, its author must have integrated into the plot certain elements borrowed from the ancient reality, including two personal names: Balaam and Balak."

https://phys.org/news/2019-05-mesha-stele-far-reaching-consequences-biblical.html

 

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That's interesting to me

 

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2,800-Year-Old Altar Inscription Talks Of Biblical War

Two inscriptions found on an ancient carved altar are revealing new information about a rebellion against the Kingdom of Israel that is described in the Bible.

The 2,800 year-old cylindrical stone altar was discovered in a sanctuary within the ancient city of Ataroth in Jordan and it bears two inscriptions referring to a biblical war. Located within a Moabite sanctuary in the ancient city of Ataroth in Jordan during excavations in 2010, the language and script is in ancient Moabite while the numerals are executed in an Egyptian writing system known as Hieratic.

Analysis of Stone Altar Inscriptions

Both the sanctuary and the carved altar were recently analyzed and described in the journal Levant which says the altar dates to after the time Mesha, king of Moab “rebelled against the Kingdom of Israel conquering Ataroth” dividing the territory into a northern kingdom ( Israel) and a new southern kingdom (Judah).

A Live Science report discusses an entry in the Hebrew Bible mentioning the rebellion saying that before Mesha rebelled, Moab gave Israel a yearly tribute of “thousands of lambs and a vast amount of ram wool”.

The so-called Mesha stele was discussed in an earlier Live Science article which has details of its 1868 discovery in Dhiban, Jordan, and the inscription claiming Mesha “conquered Ataroth and killed many of the city's inhabitants”.

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2,800-Year-Old Altar Inscription Talks Of Biblical War

 

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Ancient Scratches Of Skilled Scribes
Lead author of the research paper, Adam Bean, a doctoral student in the Department of Near Eastern Studies at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore wrote, “ incense, aromatic woods and oils would have been burned on the altar”. The researchers also wrote in the journal article that one of the two altar inscriptions describes “bronze plundered after the capture of Ataroth” and that the second inscription on the altar is fragmentary and therefore much harder to interpret.

However, it appears to mention “the desolate city” (capture of Ataroth) and that “4,000 foreign men were scattered and abandoned in great number”.

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[sooda]

That's interesting to me

Me too.. These young archaeologist take no prisoners.. They don't fiddle with the evidence..