RECENT ARCHEOLOGICAL DISCOVERIES

Lead Curse Tablet

In case any of you missed the latest press release, a Texas archeologist named Scott Stripling and his team uncovered on Mt. Ebal a folded lead tablet about the size of a large postage stamp. It was inscribed in early Hebrew figures that date to approximately 1000 B.C. And it consists of a curse that reads, “Cursed, cursed, cursed – cursed by the God Yahweh.” This curse is pronounced on anyone who breaks a particular covenant. If it proves to be authentic, it will be the oldest example of Hebrew literacy known by over 100 years, and it will be the earliest appearance of the name of Yahweh, although it is spelled with only the letters YHW instead of the later YHWH.

It was found by wet-sifting the debris discarded by an earlier team of archeologists who had been digging in a layer dating to about 1400-1200 B.C. An additional confirmation of the date came from analysis of the lead content, which indicated that it had come from a lead mine in Greece that was active about that time.

The first thing that struck me when I read an edited account of this find, was the close correspondence with the biblical story of Moses giving instructions to the people of Israel concerning the ceremony they were to conduct once they had entered the land of Canaan. Half of the tribes were to gather on the slopes of Mt. Gerazim and half on Mt. Ebal. An altar was then to be erected on Mt. Ebal. Then in the valley between the two mountains, both God's blessings and curses on them were to be recited representing whether they followed or rejected God's commandments. Interestingly, the tribes on Mt. Ebal were said to represent God's curses. (Deuteronomy 27-28). After the initial victories of Joshua's armies in Canaan, he carried out Moses' instructions. It was actually around the suspected site of Joshua's altar on Mt. Ebal that the earlier archeological digs had taken place.

The great archeologist and Bible scholar William Albright analyzed an Egyptian stele of Pharaoh Marniptah dating to 1219 B.C. which indicated that the Israelites were in W. Palestine at this time conquering cities, but that they had not yet settled, i.e. the time of Joshua.

As with any new finding, the last word on the subject has not yet been pronounced, but it is certainly intriguing and points to yet another piece of evidence casting grave doubts on the contention of some skeptical Bible critics who continue to deny that there was any literacy in the Jews at this early date.

Gideon's Name

One of the most famous of Israel's judges was Gideon, also known as Jerubbaal. (Judges 6-8) The Spring issue of BAR has an article by Josef Garfinkel describing a 2019 find from the Judean foothills. It was a pottery shard with writing in black ink in which the name Jerubbaal was found. This part of a small ceramic jug was found inside the remains of an ancient silo dating to the age of the judges. Similarly, a little earlier another inscription on a storage jar contained the name Eshbaal dating to about 1000 B.C., the time of David. There was an Eshbaal described in I Chronicles who was the son of Saul. We will never know if these two finds actually refer to the biblical personages who lived during those times, but it does indicate that Jewish people could indeed have compound names referring to the pagan god Baal.

The Origin of the Philistines

In that same issue of BAR magazine, Daniel Master discusses his uncovering the only extensive burial site from ancient Philistia, dating from the 11^th to the 8^th centuries B.C. The relatively new tool of DNA was used on some human remains in that cemetery, and it indicated that the Philistines had originally come from the Island of Crete, called Caphtor in biblical passages such as Jeremiah 47:4 which were undoubtedly based on the Philistines' own self-identification. This identification had been disputed by scholars who had doubted the accuracy of the Egyptian monuments which also gave the Aegean origin for that people group. Not only that, but minimalist scholars similarly cast doubts on many of the earlier biblical accounts, saying that (1) they couldn't have been written down close to the time of the events since the Jews had no written language at that time, and that (2) oral transmission of information over several generations is notoriously inaccurate. Note that findings such as the lead tablet address the first criticism while the accurate memories of the Philistines stretching back almost 600 years as to their origins help to answer the second objection.