A very recent discovery answered in Israel has some big implications. It will probably be controversial for some time. A tiny inscription has been found on the ancient site of Mount Ebal in Israel. In the Bible, this was the ancient site where both Moses and Joshua confirmed God’s covenant with the people. (Deuteronomy 27:11-16, Joshua 8:30-33). In the 1980’s an ancient altar was found on Mt Ebal that some say could come from Joshua’s time. Now there are reports of an inscription on a tiny piece of lead found on Mount Ebal by Associates for Biblical Research (ABR). There are many reports online about this. Here are examples:
Hebrew Tablet Deciphered – Mentions Israel’s God | Patterns of Evidence
Hebrew Writing Discovered at Joshua’s Altar | Patterns of Evidence
https://www.livescience.com/ancient-curse-tablet-early-hebrew
What is the significance of such a discovery?
Here are a couple of quotes from https://www.livescience.com/ancient-curse-tablet-early-hebrew
“If the date can be verified, the inscription on the curse tablet would push back the earliest-known date for literacy among the ancient Israelites by several hundred years;”
ABR commented: “We have an ancient text saying that the Israelites arrived around 1400 [B.C.], and then we have evidence of them on a mountain where the Bible says that they were, writing a language that the Bible says that they used,” Stripling said. “I think a fair-minded person might be willing to draw the conclusion, inductively, that there were Israelites there.”
Some will probably never accept ABR’s timeline for the origin of the text, but at least now, it looks hard to deny that it is the earliest archaeological reference to the God of the Bible. ABR gives a date range of 1400 -1250 BC and promise good techical reports in peer-reviewed journals later. If the later work places the date anywhere in this range, it will be important. This report shows that one tiny fragment can completely rewrite the history accepted by most scholars. If it the ABR interpretations are not invalidated, this is a major discovery. It is so consistent with the books of Deuteronomy and Joshua that this would be strong independent support for their historicity. Contrary to the opinion of some scholars, this demonstrates that the ancient Israelites had the ability write and could reasonably have been God’s tool in providing the books we know as the Bible. We should continue to watch and learn.
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