Around 1868, an Anglican minister called Frederick Klein found a black lava rock monolith in Jordan with an engraving documenting the actions of Mesha, King of Moab near 840 BC. The Moabite Stone or the Mesha Stele, as it has actually become understood. This archeological evidence consists of 34 lines of text written in Moabite that explains the very same occasion as 2 Kings 3. This verse tells the report of how Moab had actually once been under the authority Israel, however had actually rebelled. 2 Kings 3:4 -6 states, “Now Mesha king of Moab was a lamb breeder, and he needed to provide to the king of Israel 100,000 lambs and the fleece of 100,000 rams. When Ahab passed away, the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel. King Jehoram marched out of Samaria at that time and summoned all Israel.”
The Moabite stone reads …
“I am Mesha, descendant of Kemosh, king of Moab, the Dibonite.” It goes on to state, “Omri was king of Israel and he persecuted Moab for numerous days due to the fact that Kemosh was angry with the Israelites. And his son substituted him; and he likewise stated, “I will overpower Moab”. I was triumphant over him and his home. And Israel endured long lasting devastation … And I constructed … the temple of Baal Meon and I developed there […] the lamb of the land”
The Moabite stone is notable for 3 main reasons:
The stele proves occurrences in 2 Kings 3 and other scriptural passages. It verifies that Moab went through Israel however rebelled. It validates that the main god of the Moabites was Kemosh/Chemosh. It even verifies that Mesha was a lamb herder.
It includes a reference to YHWH. Amongst the spoils Mesha declares to have actually been drawn from Israel were the “altar-hearths of YAHWEH” (lines 17– 18). This is the earliest reference of YAHWEH, God of the Israelites, apart from the Bible.
It might even include a mention to the “household of David.” Through 1994, André Lemaire had the ability to recognize a formerly equivalent document which led to the expression “house of David” being actually deciphered. This would be the oldest extra-biblical mention of King David and to his empire.
For further reading of the Moabite stone, we suggest you explore; “The inscription on the stele of Mésa commonly called the Moabite stone the text in Moabite and Hebrew” by Herbert Fuller Bright Compston.
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