DM Murdock wrote:What about the Mesha Stele, Tel Dan Stele and Black Obelisk?
The Mesha Stele, Tel Dan Stele and Black Obelisk are among the artifacts used by Bible-thumpers to claim that the Good Book is confirmed as "history." While the brief mentions of "Israel," "David" or other king of Israel in these artifacts may serve to establish that Israel existed and that
certain biblical kings were real, they do
not prove that major, supernatural events of the Bible actually happened on Earth at any time in history.
The Patriarchs are the Gods of Other Cultures
In the first place,
mythicists and Bible-minimalists generally do not claim that there is
no history in the Bible or that
all biblical characters are mythical. What becomes obvious from studying as much of the evidence as we have is that a number of major characters like
Abraham, Moses,
Joshua, David and Solomon are evidently mythical figures, the former three obviously based on pre-Judaic gods, while the latter two may be a combination of Canaanite/Levantine gods, along with petty thanes who actually lived.
I make this qualification as concerns David and Solomon only because we know that there
were rulers of ancient tribes in Israel, and some of their exploits are certainly recorded in the Old Testament. However, the names "Da-'u'dum" (David), "Sa-'u-lum" (Saul) and other
patriarchs appear in older tablets from Ebla, so it would be reckless to assume that they are entirely historical individuals who lived and died in Israel.
The original name for Solomon is "Shĕlomoh" or "Shlomo," but it was translated in the Greek Old Testament/Septuagint as Σαλωμων or "Salomon." "Solomon," it has been pointed out, is the sun in three languages: Sol, Om, On. For more on the Solomon, see
The Christ Conspiracy.
To recap, there is both myth and history in the Bible, although the latter has been reduced significantly by the hard sciences, particularly archaeology. The discipline needed to understand the Bible better is
mythology, which is sorely overlooked - quite bizarrely, in consideration of all the supernatural and patently mythical events depicted in The Book. A study of mythology and ancient religion reveals their numerous astrotheological underpinnings. Without these disciplines, we cannot recognize what we are seeing in various biblical tales.
Knowing the massive body of literature in this field of biblical
mythology, we approach these artifacts differently.
The Mesha Stele
The Mesha Stele (popularized in the 19th century as the "Moabite Stone") is a black basalt stone bearing an inscription by the 9th century BC ruler Mesha of Moab.
The inscription was set up about 840 BC as a memorial of Mesha's victories over "Omri king of Israel" and his son, who had been "oppressing" Moab. It bears the earliest known reference to the sacred Hebrew name of God - YHWH - and is also notable as the most extensive inscription ever recovered that refers to ancient Israel (the "House of Omri"). French scholar André Lemaire has reconstructed a portion of line 31 of the stele as "House of David".
While the Mesha Stele is interesting in that it evidently represents an early record of Israel and the purported biblical king Omri, I would exercise caution in accepting the reconstruction of Dr. Lemaire of "House of David," without seeing peer consensus, because he is a Catholic known to get a bit too enthusiastic about tying things into the Bible. See, for example, his work on the so-called
James Ossuary, which is considered to be bogus. In this regard, the Wiki article says that "..in 2001 another French scholar, Pierre Bordreuil, reported (in an essay in French) that he and a few other scholars could not confirm Lemaire's reading." Wiki's conclusion: "The identification of David in the Mesha stele remains controversial."
Even if this stele did say "House of David," all that fact would prove is that there was a prominent figure named David, which we already know from the Ebla tablets, which predate this find by several hundred years. Indeed, if "Da-'u'dum" was a Canaanite god, hero or ruler, we would
expect to make a find like this one. In any event, the discovery certainly does
not prove the events regarding the character of David in the Old Testament as "historical."
The value of this stele is not in proving but in
disproving elements of the biblical account that turn out to be propaganda from an Israelite perspective, of course. To my knowledge, there is no big issue about the existence of Israel at the time of this stele's inscription or of a ruler named Omri.
Again, we are not claiming that there is no history in the Bible. In some of the later books, there apparently
is history, although the book of Daniel - which is for the most part evidently a late addition from the second century before the common era - may be in significant part yet another fictional text concerning older Canaanite heroes and gods that has been reworked. For more on the Daniel myth, see
The Christ Conspiracy.
The Tel Dan Stele
The Tel Dan Stele is a black basalt stele discovered during excavations at Tel Dan in northern Israel. It was erected by an Aramaean king and contains an Aramaic inscription commemorating victories over local ancient peoples including "Israel" and the "House of David."
Also according to Wiki, Aramaic is supposedly 3,000 years old, so the stela could very well date to the era it is claimed (9th-8th cents. BCE). Nevertheless, as concerns the phrase "House of David," see the above. Also, however, if this is an artifact that dates to several centuries after the purported existence of David, we would not be terribly surprised, since by that time the phrase would already be in currency, because the Bible already existed, at least orally.
Yet, this artifact would not prove that this revered David had actually walked the earth. Again, he could be - and likely is - an ancient pre-Judaic god made into a Jewish patriarch. Another alternative is that the petty thane ruler of the appropriate era was named after an ancient tribal god - this sort of development involving rulers, priests and commoners alike has occurred countless times.
In any case, a victory over the "House of David" does not prove that David was an actual historical character, any more than the "House of Moloch" would do likewise for that ancient Semitic god. Practically all tribes have had a divine figurehead under whose banner - and "House" - they have marched.
The Wiki article about this artifact concludes:
Due to the mention of both "Israel" and the "House of David", the Tel Dan Stele is often quoted as supporting evidence for the Bible. However, critics have suggested other readings of ביתדוד, usually based on the fact that the written form "DWD" can be rendered both as David and as Dod (Hebrew for "beloved") or related forms.
Here are a couple more threads on this forum where you might be able to glean some info - these can be found using the search feature:
The Bibles Buried Secrets - PBS Documentary
King David and Jerusalem- Myth and Reality
The Black Obelisk
The "Black Obelisk" of Shalmaneser III (reigned 858-824 BC) is a black limestone Neo-Assyrian bas-relief sculpture from Nimrud (ancient Kalhu), in northern Iraq. It is the most complete Assyrian obelisk yet discovered, and is historically significant because it displays the earliest ancient depiction of an Israelite.
This artifact evidently proves the existence of the Israelite King Jehu, c. 841 BCE. See above where I discuss the Bible as history - to my knowledge, no one has ever stated that none of the numerous kings in the Old Testament is historical. Hence, all this stela does is prove that there is some history in the Bible, not that the fantastic, supernatural events therein are indeed historical.
