Chancing a Curse

The Mt. Ebal Curse Tablet

Foreword

{Post one of thirty}

We must excavate now “Joshua’s Altar”, the origin of the Mt. Ebal Curse Tablet!. This site in northern Judea/Samaria has lain exposed and unprotected for forty years. Yet, it may harbor some of the greatest archaeological and historical artifacts.

Note

This is the first post of my memorandum on the Mt. Ebal Curse Tablet.

If you have not arrived at this topic via captivatingtwists.com and wish to read the entire memorandum in sequence, click here.

Otherwise, continue below.

My name is Ernie Vallery. I am a retired Louisiana attorney living in South Coast, Massachusetts.

Claims about the Curse Tablet counter an entrenched historical premise. Generations of scholars have said that Moses could not have written the Torah. Scripture attests otherwise. So may the tablet.

This memorandum grapples with an element of this issue.

Between the two sides, tensions exist. One says that minuscule evidence supports the tablet’s claims. Thus, archaeologists should spend no further resources on excavating Joshua’s Altar. The other side retorts that ample evidence exists. Thus, not excavating now has consequences. It jeopardizes mankind’s proper understanding of history, philosophy, law, politics, and more.

Our problem is how to resolve, in part, this tension.

My answer is that we apply a legal standard such as the one used in summary judgment.

Legal summary judgment and the decision that we seek are alike in two ways. Both seek to resolve tensions early in a deliberative process. Both also involve important competing interests.

In summary judgment, the competing interests are judicial economy and due process.

Likewise, here interests compete. One side seeks to ensure that resources are not wasted on a frivolous archaeological claim. The other desires to safeguard precious archaeological evidence.

Given the similarity between summary judgment and our matter, a like rule should apply to both.

In this matter, I thus apply a rule like that used for summary judgment in U.S. federal courts.

The result is my plea. I encourage regional and international actors to act. Probe further into the tablet and Joshua’s Altar. Spend the necessary financial, political, and other considerations.

Why? Enough evidence supports the Curse Tablet’s claims.

In 2019, an archaeological team found this tiny piece of lead in northern Judea / Samaria.

Today, in academic circles, that tiny object causes great consternation. Some scholars declare it the archaeological find of the 21st century. Others say: “There is nothing to see here!”

The debate I do not seek to resolve.

Instead, I argue for something less, yet necessary.

It is that Joshua’s Altar and the Curse Tablet deserve a chance to prove what they might be.

In other words, the exigent evidence I find warrants:

• Immediate international protection of the proposed Altar; and
• Public and governmental support for its thorough archaeological excavations.

This argument raises necessary questions that I should address at the beginning. Before launching into the matter’s heart, I thus present these three prefacing posts:

• Why Write This?
• Why the Fuss? and
• Why Me?

Two introductory posts follow. The first seeks to arm readers for a 3,500-year journey that this matter invokes. The second attempts to wet enthusiasm for that trip.

Those posts are:

• Journey Essentials and
• A Mysterious Tease

Afterwards comes the main body.

The table of contents is thus:

• Foreword (This post)
• Preface (Posts 2 through 4)
• Introduction (5 and 6)
• History (7 through 16)
• Photo Study (17 through 20)
• Opposing Voices (21 through 22)
• Dissecting the Arguments (23 through 28)
• Conclusion (29) and
• Supplemental Material (30+).

It seems a lot! But it should not intimidate. Hang with the story. Then this consequential topic becomes easy, much like witnessing a cascade of dominoes!

Here is a question. What other historical issues compare to those explored in this memorandum? Let me know in the “comments”.

Thank you for engaging with this topic thus far!

The next post addresses: “Why Write This?”

I look forward to continuing with you there.

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Next post: “Why Write This?“