MOABITE STONE, THE: A slab of black basalt
containing an inscription in the Moabitic language
by Mesha, king of Moab, who is probably the Mesha
of
The stele records the thanks of the king to the Moabite deity Chemosh, who had helped him against his enemies, so that he had extended and strengthened his kingdom. In return, Mesha had built "this sanctuary," i.e., where the stone was erected. He seized the occasion to tell what he had done in peace and war for his people. Among the foes of Moab he named Omri of Israel, and referred to Omri's son and sueceseor, his own contemporary, Omri having oppressed Moab because Chemosh was angry, and his son having vainly desired to do so. Mesha recovered Medeba, for forty years in Israel's possession, took Ataroth where the Gadites had dwelt and destroyed the population as a "speotacle" for Chemosh and Moab, and settled other people there, while the altar-hearth (?) he placed in the sanctuary in Kerioth. He also took Nebo from Israel, destroying all its population and removing the Yahweh altar to Chemosh's sanctuary. He captured Jahaz and Horonayin and added them to his realm. He restored and fortified a number of cities, especially the chief city Dibon, and took thought for the water supply.
The stone affords a glance at the political and
religious conditions in Moab and shows the national expansion under this vigorous king. The
chief interest is in the relations between Moab and
Israel,
though it is not easy to bring the inscription
and the Old Testament into harmony. Of Omri's
conquest of Moat the Bible says nothing (cf.
427 |
The inscription has great value for the history of Semitic writing, orthography, and linguistics. The characters are like the Phenician and early Hebrew, but more archaic in form. In the written form the Moabitic language was essentially the same as the Hebrew, though the vocalization might have been different. Numerous verbal and syntactical agreements between the two languages appear. On the other hand there are variations which appear dialectal in character, covering vocabulary, accidence, and syntax. The orthography is nearer to the Hebrew than to the Phenician, but is more archaic.
A translation of the inscription follows; the figures on the left refer to the lines of the inscription:
1. I am Mesha, son of Kemoeh . . . , king of Moab, the D2. sibonite. My father was king over Moab thirty years, and I reign
3. ad after my father and made this high place for Kemosh in $4h for . . .
4. . . . , for he saved me from all the (k)ings (?) and because he made me to see (my desire) on all who hated me. Omr
5. i was king of Israel and &Meted Moab many days, for Kemosh was (a)ngry with his la
6. nd. And his son succeeded him, and he too said: I will afict Moab, in my days he said (it) . . .
7. But I saw (my desire) on him and his house, and Israel surely perished for ever. And Omri seized . . .
8. . . . . Mehedeba and inhabited it (his?) day . . . and half his son's days, forty years) .
9. it Kemo®h in my days. And I built Ba'al,-Me'on, and made in it the (reservoir?) and . .
10. Virysthen. And the men of Gad had inhabited the land of . . . th from of old, and for himself had built the king of
11. ersel 'Ataroth. And I fought against the city and took it, and I slew all the . . .
12. city, a spectacle for Kemosh and for Moab. And I brought back thence the altar-hearth of Dudh and [it] I (dr)
13. agged (?) before Kemosh in *eryoth, and I caused to dwell there the men of Shrn and the m . . .
14. (of) Mbrt. And Hennosh said to me: Go, take Nebo against Israel, and .
15. Went by night and fought against it from break of dawn till noon, and I . . . (to)
16. ok it and slew all . . . , seven thousand . . . . and women, and .
17. and maid servants, for to Ashtor-Kemosh had I devoted it. And I took thence . . .
18. of Yahweh and dragged them before Ramesh. And the king of Israel had built . . .
19. Yahaa and inhabited it while he warred with me. But Xemosh drove him out before . . .
20. I took from Moab 200 men, all chiefs, and led them up against ~rhsa and took it
21. to add to ~aibon. I built $rA the wall of Yearim [i.e., Jearim] and the wall of
22. the Mound. And I built its gates and I built its towers, and I
23. built the house of the king, and I made the two reeer(voirs [?] tow)ers (?) in the mid(et)
24. of the city. And there was no cistern in the midst of the city in Srbbh, .so I said to all the people: Make . . .
25. for you each man a cistern in his house. And I out the cutting of Srhh, with the help of prisoners)
26 . . . . Israel. And I built 'Aro'er and I made the highway by the Arn(on),
27. and I built Beth-Bamoth, for it was pulled down. And I built Briar, for . . .
28 . . . . of Daibon were fifty. for all Daibon was obedient. And I reig(ned)
29 . . . . a hundred in the cities which I added to the land. And I built)
30 . . . . b. . . a and Beth-Diblathen and Beth-Ba'alMe'on and took there the . .
31. . . . sheep of the land. And Voronen-there dwelt therein .
32. . . Kemoah said to me: Go down, fight with Voro- nen; so I we(at down) . . 33. . . . Kemosh . . . it in my days. And I we(at up?) thence . . . 34....andI...Bibliography: C. Clermont-Ganneau, La Stile du Dhiban, Paris, 1870; idem. Revue archdologiqus, 1870, pp. 184 sqq., 357 sqq.; idem, Revue critique, 1875, pp. 166 sqq.; idem, La $Ole de Mlea, Paris, 1887. of. JA, 8 ser., ix (1887), 72 sqq.; T. Nöldeke, Die Iaschrift des %6nipe Mesa, Kiel, 1870; F. Hitsig, Die Awhrift des Media, Hei delberg, 1870; Petermann, in ZDMG, 1870, pp. 840 sqq.;
R. Smend and A. Soein, Die Inschrift des K6nips Mesa, Freiburg, 1836; E. Rdnan, in Journal des savant, 1887; S. R. Driver, Hebrew Text of . . Samuel, pp. lxxxv. sqq., London, 1890; A. Nordlander, Die Inschrift des %onios Mesa, Leipsic, 1896; A. Socin and H. Holzinger, in Berichte der aadsiachsn Gesellschaft der WissenacWR 1897; M. Lidsbaraki, in Handbuch der nordsemitisches Epipraphik, i (1898 ), 103-104, 415-416; idem, in Ephe meris für semitischw Epigraphik, i (1900), 1 sqq. (Lidsbarski's researches are practically conclusive); Ha14vy, in Revue s�mitique, viii (1900), 236 sqq., 289 sqq., ix (1901), 297 sqq.; J. Lagrange, in Revue biblique, x (1901), 522 sqq.; A. Loewy, Critical Examination of as . . . Moabite Inscription, London, 1903 (attacks the genuineness); F. Vigouroux, Dictionnaire de la Bible, part xxvi (1905), 1014-21, xxvii (1906), 1168-69; DD, iii. 403-408; BB, iii. 3040-48; JR, viii. 634-636; and the pertinent sections in the later works on the history of Israel.
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