The Mesha Stele is an engraved stone dating from the second half of the 9thcentury BC. According to a new reading of the text engraved on the Mesha stele, the biblical king Balak was probably an important historical figure.
Until recently, one of the proper names on line 31 of the stele read as בית דוד ("House of David"). The authors' work suggests reading this inscription "Balak", which refers to a king of Moab mentioned in the biblical story of Balaam (Numbers 22-24). This is what archaeologist Israel Finkelstein and biblical historians Nadav Na'aman and Thomas Römer (Professor of The Hebrew Bible and its Contexts at the Collège de France) propose in an article published in Tel Aviv: The Journal of the Institute of Archaeology of Tel Aviv University.
The Mesha stele was discovered in the 19thcentury in the ruins of the biblical city of Dibon in Moab (in present-day Jordan). It is now in the Louvre. The inscription on the stone tells the story of the territorial expansion and building efforts led by King Mesha of Moab, a character mentioned in the Bible. Although the stele was destroyed in the 19thcentury and several parts are missing, some fragments have been preserved, as well as an inverted copy of the inscription, obtained using a stamping technique. This was made before the stele was damaged.
The authors studied new high-resolution photographs of the stamping and of the stele itself. These new images clearly show three consonants in the name of the monarch mentioned in line 31. The first is the Hebrew letter beth (sound 'b').
As the other letters are erased, the authors feel that the most likely candidate for the monarch's name is "Balak". The king's throne mentioned in line 31 was at Horonaim, a place mentioned four times in the Bible in connection with Moabite territory south of the Arnon River. "Thus, Balak may be a historical figure like Balaam, who, before the discovery of the Deir Alla inscription, was considered an 'invented' figure," they suggest.
"The new photographs of the Mesha stele and the stamping indicate that it is no longer possible to consider that the expression "House of David" - hitherto accepted by many scholars for more than two decades - is mentioned on the stele," the authors conclude. "With due caution, we propose to replace it with the name of the Moabite king Balak, who, according to the story of Balaam in Numbers 22-24, sought to inflict a divine curse on the people of Israel."
"This story was written after the time of the Moabite king mentioned by the Mesha stele. However, to lend a sense of authenticity to his tale, its author may have integrated into the plot certain elements borrowed from ancient reality, notably two personal names, those of Balaam and Balak."
Translation of the original press release issued by Taylor&Francis Group.
