The Moabite Stone

AKA Mesha Stele

Come to the Louvre to see it

Is it ancient Hebrew, or Phoenician?

Mesha, King of Moab

Dated about 840 BC, quite a bit older that the accounts of Moab in Jeremiah (630 to 580 BC).

The ancient texts of the Hebrews have been preserved and appropriated by many peoples and cultures.  Here is a text that presents a different side to the well known story.  There are always many sides to every story so  to provide some balance, I will give it the same treatment that I have given to Jeremiah.

I am Mesha, the king of Moab,  My father reigned over Moab for thirty years. I have built this sanctuary in praise to the creator who saved us from all aggressors, and made me look on all enemies with contempt. 

Israel, the oppressor took the land of Madeba for forty years. The king of Israel fortified Ataroth. I assaulted the wall and captured it, and killed all the warriors of the city to the glory of the creator and Moab, and I removed from it all the spoil, and offered it to the creator in worship. And the creator spoke saying, "Go take Nebo against Israel", and I went in the night and I fought against it from the break of day till noon, and I took it: and I killed in all seven thousand men, but I did not kill the women and maidens, for I devoted them to the creator; and I took from it the vessels of Jehovah, and offered them before the creator.

And the king of Israel fortified Jahaz, and occupied it. He made war against me, and the creator drove him out before me.  I took from Moab two hundred men in all, and placed them in Jahaz, and took it to annex it to Dibon. I built Karchah the wall of the forest, and the wall of the Hill. I have built its gates and I have built its towers. I have built the palace of the king, and I made prisons for the criminals within the wall. There were no wells in the interior of the wall in Karchah. And I said to all the people, ‘Every man is to make a well in his house.’ And I dug the ditch for Karchah with the chosen men of Israel. I built Aroer, and I made the road across the Arnon. I took Beth-Bamoth for it was destroyed. I built Bezer for it was cut down by the armed men of Daybon, for all Daybon was now loyal; and I reigned from Bikran, which I added to my land. And I built Beth-Gamul, and Beth-Diblathaim, and Beth Baal-Meon, and I placed there the poor people of the land. And as to Horonaim, the men of Edom lived there.

And the creator said to me, "Go down, make war against Horonaim, and take it."  And I assaulted it, And I took it, restored it in my days. Wherefore I made.... ...year...and I....

The story of how the stone was found, and what happened to it is also an epic.  

It is a story of how an ancient text was preserved for 1868 years + 840 years = 2708 years, only to be smashed to pieces.  Not before a 'squeeze' was made of the stele, preserving the original text in the form of papier mache.  Read more about the stone here.