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Mesha Stele in the Louvre Museum
The Mesha Stele (popularized in the
19th century as the "Moabite Stone") is a black basalt stone bearing an
inscription by the 9th century BC ruler Mesha of Moab.
The inscription was set up about 840
BC as a memorial of Mesha's victories over "Omri king of Israel" and his
son, who had been "oppressing" Moab. It bears the earliest known
reference to the sacred Hebrew name of God - YHWH - and is also notable
as the most extensive inscription ever recovered that refers to ancient
Israel (the "House of Omri"). French scholar André Lemaire has
reconstructed a portion of line 31 of the stele as "House of David".[1]
The stone is 124 cm high and 71 cm
wide and deep, and rounded at the top. It was discovered at the site of
ancient Dibon (now Dhiban, Jordan), in August 1868, by Rev. F. A. Klein,
a German missionary. Local villagers smashed the stone during a dispute
over its ownership, but a squeeze (a papier-mâché impression) had been
obtained by Charles Simon Clermont-Ganneau, and most of the fragments
were later recovered and pieced together by him.[2] The squeeze (which
has never been published) and the reassembled stele (which has been
published in many books and encyclopedias) are now in the Louvre Museum.
Description
The stele measures 44"x27"[3]. Its
34 lines describe:
1. How Moab was
oppressed by "Omri King of Israel"", as the result of the anger of the
god Chemosh
2. Mesha's victories over Omri's son (not named) and the men of Gad at
Ataroth, and at Nebo and Jehaz;
3. His building projects, restoring the fortifications of his strong
places and building a palace and reservoirs for water; and
4. His wars against the Horonaim.
Importance
The inscription has strong
consistency with the historical events recorded in the Bible. The
events, names, and places mentioned in the Mesha Stele correspond to
those mentioned in the Bible. For example, Mesha is recorded as the King
of Moab in 2 Kings 3:4: “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.”[4] Kemosh is mentioned in numerous places in the Bible as
the national god of Moab (1 Kings 11:33, Numbers 21:29 etc...).[5] The
reign of Omri, King of Israel, is chronicled in 1 Kings 16[6], and the
inscription records many places and territories (Nebo, Gad, ect...) that
also appear in the Bible.[7] Finally, 2 Kings 3 recounts a revolt by
Mesha against Israel, to which Israel responded by allying with Judah
and Edom to suppress the revolt:
“4Now 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. 5But when Ahab died, the
king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel. 6So King Jehoram
marched out of Samaria at that time and mustered all Israel. 7And he
went and sent word to Jehoshaphat king of Judah, "The king of Moab has
rebelled against me. Will you go with me to battle against Moab?" And he
said, "I will go. I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses
as your horses." 8Then he said, "By which way shall we march?" Jehoram
answered, "By the way of the wilderness of Edom." 9So the king of Israel
went with the king of Judah and the king of Edom…26When the king of Moab
saw that the battle was going against him, he took with him 700
swordsmen to break through, opposite the king of Edom, but they could
not. 27Then he took his oldest son who was to reign in his place and
offered him for a burnt offering on the wall. And there came great wrath
against Israel. And they withdrew from him and returned to their own
land.”[8]
Some scholars have argued that an
inconsistency exists between the Mesha Stele and the Bible regarding the
timing of the revolt.[9] The argument rests upon the assumption that the
following section of the inscription necessarily refers to Omri’s son
Ahab: “Omri was the king of Israel, and he oppressed Moab for many days,
for Kemosh was angry with his land. And his son replaced him; and he
said, "I will also oppress Moab"…And Omri took possession of the whole
land of Madaba; and he lived there in his days and half the days of his
son: forty years: And Kemosh restored it in my days”. In other words,
these scholars argue that the inscription indicates that Mesha’s revolt
occurred during the reign of Omri’s son Ahab. Since the Bible speaks of
the revolt taking place during Jehoram’s reign (Omri’s grandson), these
scholars have argued that these two accounts are inconsistent.
However, as other scholars have
pointed out, the inscription need not necessarily refer to Omri’s son
Ahab.[10] In modern English, the word “son” typically refers to a male
child in relation to his parents. In the ancient Near East, however, the
word was commonly used to mean male descendent.[11] Consequently, “son
of Omri” was a common designation for any male descendent of Omri and
would have been used to refer to Jehoram. Assuming that “son” means
“descendent,” an interpretation consistent with the common use of
language in the ancient Near East, the Mesha Stele and the Bible are
consistent.
Reconstructions of [D]VDH at line
31 and line 12
In 1994, after examining both the
Mesha Stele and the paper squeeze in the Louvre Museum, the French
scholar André Lemaire reported that line 31 of the Mesha Stele bears the
phrase "the house of David" (in Biblical Archaeology Review [May/June
1994], pp. 30-37). Lemaire had to supply one destroyed letter, the first
"D" in [D]VDH, "of [D]avid," to decode the wording. The complete
sentence in the latter part of line 31 would then read, "As for
Horonen, there lived in it the house of [D]avid," וחורננ. ישב. בה.
בת[ד]וד. (Square brackets [ ] enclose letters or words supplied where
letters were destroyed or were on fragments that are still missing.)
Most scholars find that no other letter supplied there yields a reading
that makes sense. After one full year, only one scholar, Baruch
Margalit, attempted to supply a different letter: "m," along with
several other letters in places after that, giving the reading: "Now
Horoneyn was occupied at the en[d] of [my pre]decessor['s reign] by [Edom]ites."
(Baruch Margalit, "Studies in NWSemitic Inscriptions," Ugarit-Forschungen
26, p. 275). Margalit's reading has not attracted any significant
support in scholarly publications by 2006, although in 2001 another
French scholar, Pierre Bordreuil, reported (in an essay in French) that
he and a few other scholars could not confirm Lemaire's reading.[12]
If Lemaire is right, there are now
two early references to David's dynasty, one in the Mesha Stele (mid-9th
century) and the other in the Tel Dan Stele (mid-9th to mid-8th
century).[13].
In 1998, another scholar, Anson
Rainey, translated a puzzling two-word phrase in line 12 of the Mesha
Stele, אראל. דודה, as "its Davidic altar-hearth".[14]
The identification of David in
the Mesha stele remains controversial. This controversy stems partly
from the fragmentary state of line 31 and partly from a tendency since
the 1990s, largely among European scholars, to question or dismiss the
historical reliability of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament). In
Europe, P. R. Davies, Thomas L. Thompson, and Niels P. Lemche show a
strong tendency to reject biblical historicity, while André Lemaire, K.
A. Kitchen, Jens Bruun Kofoed, and other European scholars are
exceptions. Many scholars lean in one direction or the other but
actually occupy the middle ground. The "Arabian Judah" school of Old
Testament historical interpretation (Kamal Salibi) regard the Mesha
stele as evidence that Omri's Kingdom of Israel was in northern Hijaz
controlling trade routes including the important terminus of
Taima.[citation needed] In general, North American and Israeli scholars
tend to be more willing to accept the identification of the biblical
King David in the Mesha stele, especially because the phrase that is
usually translated "house of David," is clearly legible in the Tel Dan
stele (there this phrase in line 9 appears to parallel "king of Israel"
in the preceding line). The controversy over whether ancient
inscriptions confirm the existence of the Biblical King David usually
focuses less on the Mesha stele and more on the Tel Dan stele.
Text
The text in Moabite, transcribed
into modern Hebrew letters:
1. אנכ. משע. בנ. כמש.. . מלכ. מאב. הד
2. יבני | אבי. מלכ. על. מאב. שלשנ. שת. ואנכ. מלכ
3. תי. אחר. אבי | ואעש. הבמת. זאת. לכמש. בקרחה | ב[נס. י]
4. שע. כי. השעני. מכל. המלכנ. וכי. הראני. בכל. שנאי | עמר
5. י. מלכ. ישראל. ויענו. את. מאב. ימנ. רבן. כי. יאנפ. כמש. באר
6. צה | ויחלפה. בנה. ויאמר. גמ. הא. אענו. את. מאב | בימי. אמר. כ[...]
7. וארא. בה. ובבתה | וישראל. אבד. אבד. עלמ. וירש. עמרי. את א[ר]
8. צ. מהדבא | וישב. בה. ימה. וחצי. ימי. בנה. ארבענ. שת. ויש
9. בה. כמש. בימי | ואבנ. את. בעלמענ. ואעש. בה. האשוח. ואבנ
10. את. קריתנ | ואש. גד. ישב. בארצ. עטרת. מעלמ. ויבנ. לה. מלכ. י
11. שראל. את. עטרת | ואלתחמ. בקר. ואחזה | ואהרג. את. כל. העמ. [מ]
12. הקר. רית. לכמש. ולמאב | ואשב. משמ. את. אראל. דודה. ואס
13. חבה. לפני. כמש. בקרית | ואשב. בה. את. אש. שרנ. ואת. אש
14. מחרת | ויאמר. לי. כמש. לכ. אחז. את. נבה. על. ישראל | וא
15. הלכ. הללה. ואלתחמ. בה. מבקע. השחרת. עד. הצהרמ | ואח
16. זה. ואהרג. כלה. שבעת. אלפנ. גברנ. ו[גר]נ | וגברת. וגר
17. ת. ורחמת | כי. לעשתר. כמש. החרמתה | ואקח. משמ. א[ת. כ]
18. לי. יהוה. ואסחב. המ. לפני. כמש | ומלכ. ישראל. בנה. את
19. יהצ. וישב. בה. בהלתחמה. בי | ויגרשה. כמש. מפני | ו
20. אקח. ממאב. מאתנ. אש. כל. רשה | ואשאה. ביהצ. ואחזה.
21. לספת. על. דיבנ | אנכ. בנתי. קרחה. חמת. היערנ. וחמת
22. העפל | ואנכ. בנתי. שעריה. ואנכ. בנתי. מגדלתה | וא
23. נכ. בנתי. בת. מלכ. ואנכ. עשתי. כלאי. האש[וח למי]נ. בקרב
24. הקר | ובר. אנ. בקרב. הקר. בקרחה. ואמר. לכל. העמ. עשו. ל
25. כמ. אש. בר. בביתה | ואנכ. כרתי. המכרתת. לקרחה. באסר
26. [י]. ישראל | אנכ. בנתי. ערער. ואנכ. עשתי. המסלת. בארננ.
27. אנכ. בנתי. בת. במת. כי. הרס. הא | אנכ. בנתי. בצר. כי. עינ
28. ----- ש. דיבנ. חמשנ. כי. כל. דיבנ. משמעת | ואנכ. מלכ
29. ת[י] ----- מאת. בקרנ. אשר. יספתי. על. הארצ | ואנכ. בנת
30. [י. את. מה]דבא. ובת. דבלתנ | ובת. בעלמענ. ואשא. שמ. את. [...]
31. --------- צאנ. הארצ | וחורננ. ישב. בה. ב
32. --------- אמר. לי. כמש. רד. הלתחמ. בחורננ | וארד
33. ---------[ויש]בה. כמש. בימי. ועל[...]. משמ. עש
34. -------------- שת. שדק | וא
Translation
In the original text some words run
on from one line to the next. Where possible, this translation reflects
this writing. Square brackets indicate reconstructed text, and dots
represent missing and unreconstructed or disputed portions.
1. I am Mesha, son
of KMSYT (Kemosh[-yat]), the king of Moab, the Di-
2. -bonite. My father was king of Moab thirty years, and I reign-
3. -ed after my father. And I built this high-place for Kemosh in QRH
("the citadel"), a high place of [sal-]
4. -vation because he saved me from all the kings (or "all the
attackers"), and because let me be victorious over all my adversaries.
Omr-
5. -i was king of Israel and he oppressed Moab for many days because
Kemosh was angry with his
6. land. And his son replaced him; and he also said, "I will oppress
Moab". In my days he spoke thus.
7. But I was victorious over him and his house. And Israel suffered
everlasting destruction, And Omri had conquered the lan-
8. -d of Madaba, and he dwelt there during his reign and half the reign
of his son, forty years. But Kemosh
9. returned it in my days. So I [re]built Baal Meon, and I the water
reservoir in it. And I bu[ilt]
10. Qiryaten. The man of Gad had dwelt in Ataroth from of old; and the
king of Israel
11. built Ataroth for him. But I fought against the city and took it.
And I slew all the people [and]
12. the city became the property of Kemosh and Moab. And I carried from
there the altar for its DVDH ("its Davidic altar"?) and I
13. dragged it before Kemosh in Qerioit, and I settled in it men of
Sharon m[en]
14.of Maharit. And Kemosh said to me, "Go! Seize Nebo against Israel."
so I
15. proceeded by night and fought with it from the crack of dawn to
midday, and I to-
16. -ok it and I slew all of them: seven thousand men and boys, and
women and gi-
17. and maidens because I had dedicated it to Ashtar Kemosh I took [the
ves-]
18. -sels of YHWH, and I dragged them before Kemosh. And the king of
Israel had built
19.Yahaz, and he dwelt in it while he was fighting with me, but Kemosh
drove him out before me. so
20. I took from Moab two hundred men, all his captains. And I brought
them to Yahaz, And I seized it
21.in order to add (it) to Dibon. I (myself) have built the 'citadel',
'the wall(s) of the forest' and the wall
22. of the 'acropolis'. And I built its gates; And I built its towers.
And
23. I built a royal palace; and I made the ramparts for the reservo[ir
for] water in the mid-
24. -st of the city. But there was no cistern in the midst of the city,
in the 'citadel,' so I said to all the people, "Make [for]
25.yourselves each man a cistern in his house". And I hewed the shaft
for the 'citadel' with prisoner-
26. -s of Israel. I built Aroer, and I made the highway in the Arnon.
27. I built Beth-Bamot, because it was in ruins. I built Bezer, because
it was
28. a ruin [with] the armed men of Dibon because all of Dibon was under
orders and I ru-
29. -led [ove]r [the] hundreds in the towns which I have annexed to the
land. And I bui-
30. -lt Medeba and Beth-Diblaten and Beth-Baal-Meon, and I carried there
[my herdsmen]
31. [to herd] the small cattle of the land, and Horonain, in it dwelt
...
32. [and] Kemosh [s]aid to me, "Go down, fight against Horonain". And I
went down [and I fou-
33. -ght with the city and I took it and] Kemosh [re]turned it in my
days. Then I went up from there te[n...]
34. [...a high] place of justice and I [...]
References
1. Biblical Archaeology Review
[May/June 1994], pp. 30–37
2. [1]
3. 1920 World Book, Volume VI, page 3867
4. BibleGateway.com [2]
5. BibleGateway.com[3]
6. BibleGateway.com [4]
7. Driver, Samuel. (1890), Notes on the Hebrew Text of the Books
of Samuel, [5]
8. BibleGateway.com [6]
9. Driver, Samuel. (1890), Notes on the Hebrew Text of the Books
of Samuel, [7]
10. Davis, John. (1891), The Moabite Stone and the Hebrew Records;
see also Christiananswers.net [8]
11. Ibid
12. Pierre Bordreuil, "A propos de l'inscription de Mesha': deux
notes," in P. M. Michele Daviau, John W. Wevers and Michael Weigl
[Eds.], The World of the Aramaeans III, pp. 158-167, especially pp.
162-163 [Sheffield, England: Sheffield Academic Press, 2001]
13. Lawrence J. Mykytiuk, _Identifying Biblical Persons in
Northwest Semitic Inscriptions of 1200–539 B.C.E._, Academia Biblica
series, no. 12 (Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2004), pp.
265-277
14. (Anson F. Rainey, "Mesha and Syntax," in _The Land That I Will
Show You_, edited by J. Andrew Dearman and M. Patrick Graham, Supplement
Series, no. 343 [Sheffield, England: Sheffield Academic Press, 2001],
pp. 300-306).
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