Journey Essentials

Introduction I

[Ebal, five of thirty]

Any minimal understanding of the Curse Tablet requires a journey across eons. For this, we need preparation.

This is my fifth post on this matter, the first introductory one after four prefacing posts.

My entire memorandum argues that the proposed Joshua’s Altar and the Mt. Ebal Curse Tablet deserve a chance to prove what they might be. Yet, understanding this requires a voyage across a vast gulf of time. This post attempts to prepare you for that trip.

If you wish to read my memorandum from the beginning, click here.

Otherwise, read on.

An operation order for our journey thus follows:

Situation:

• Geography

Where is Mt. Ebal?

It rises in the northern third of Samaria / Judea, adjacent to its slightly smaller sister–Mt. Gerazim, flanking on the south. Between them lies a gap within which one sees modern Nablus on a western neck. The location of ancient Shechem lies a little eastward.

Through this passage, people have traveled since antiquity from the Jordan Valley on the east and the Plain of Sharon and the Mediterranean on the west.

A sweeping view to the North reveals the uplands of Galilee, where you can glimpse the outline of Nazareth. Adjusting east, one sees across the Jordan to Hermon’s whited pinnacle. Farther south, the view traverses the Dead Sea to the region of Moab. Finally, due south arise the heights of Jerusalem. ¹

A nearer view reveals a valley between the two mountains into which many springs flow. These irrigate lush vineyards, orchards, and groves yielding abundant grapes, figs, and olives. But higher up near Mt. Ebal’s summit, rocky outcrops, “ubiquitous thistles and prickly shrubs” abound.²

• History Preview:

Among these high settings, Adam Zertal, an Israeli archaeologist, arrived on a government survey mission. There, in the 1980’s, he found what ultimately he came to believe was an ancient Hebrew altar.

This claim paralleled biblically attested events of Deuteronomy and the Book of Joshua. Unsurprisingly, the announcement spawned a worldwide stir.

Yet, this notion ran contrary to scholarly understanding. It was thus ultimately largely dismissed, even scoffed at.

Some forty years later, an archaeological team, headed by Dr. Scott Stripling, moved some of Zertal’s dump piles off-site. To that material, they applied a perfected wet sifting technique. Resultantly, they found many small, previously missed artifacts.

One was particularly intriguing. The tiny lead object they thought was a defixio, a curse tablet.

Having had significant experience with such, they anticipated inside an inscribed curse.

When, however, they attempted to open it, a small corner crumbled. That endeavor they ceased.

Fortunately, tomographic slice imaging enabled scans of what lay within.

Heritage Science published its report about the resulting photos.

These startled much of the world. Allegedly inscribed there were proto-alphabetic letters pronouncing God’s Hebrew name–“Yahweh”, and the word “ARWR” meaning “cursed!” Furthermore, the words and provenance recalled a ceremony recorded in scripture.

After the public release of the scans, eminent scholars disputed these claims.

Recently, Heritage Science published another peer-reviewed essay about the tablet. In it, Mark S. Haughwout, a prominent Hebrew scholar, gives his views. He also largely summarized the qualms of other scholars.

The article boldly concludes, “The only substantiated claim that Stripling et al. can make at this time is that they have found a very old, small piece of folded lead on Mt. Ebal using wet sifting.”

In other words, Haughwout determined that there is nothing to see here!

Meanwhile, the potential destruction of the Mt. Ebal archaeological site looms. I will explain this later.

Mission:

This memorandum argues that the government-authorized excavation of Joshua’s Altar should occur posthaste. The reasons are that:

• Sufficient evidence supports the fantastic claims about the Curse Tablet;

• The probability of Mt. Ebal revealing other important evidence is significant; and
• The chance of that evidence being destroyed is real.

Execution:

In support of these positions, I argue that Haughwout failed in his “refutation”, i. e., disproval, efforts.

In doing so, I apply an objective measure derived from a prominent authority well accustomed to resolving issues of this nature, that is, the U. S. Supreme Court.

The High Court’s Rule 56 of the U.S. Code of Civil Procedure mandates how lower courts decide motions for summary judgment.

Summary judgment, I argue, closely resembles our matter. Thus, for it, a standard similar to that of Rule 56 should operate appropriately.

Applying an objective measure to these facts frees you to competently make up your own mind about the issues confronted. Resultantly, you can decide for yourself whether my adjudication is fair and reasonable.

Service and Support:

Embedded as lagniappe, I provide links to materials–written, audio, and video. These reflect the tensions associated with this topic. Adversarial material I attempt to display.

Music snippets I add for ambiance.

The last post supplies supplemental materials. This includes letters to my U. S. congressional delegation.

Command and Signal:

As co-founder of captivatingtwists.com, I welcome anyone interested in the issues presented.

Peer review articles of Dr. Stripling and Mr. Haughwout I primarily focus on in this memorandum.

Ultimately, the conclusions and recommendations herein are entirely my own.

Forewarning:

Fasten your seat belt! Prepare not only to traverse three and a half millennia of history. Brace also to referee a joust between competing views about human reality.

The next post, the last of my introduction, teases curiosity about the journey ahead.

Here is a question: What, if any, of this “operation order” did you find helpful before delving into this subject? If so, how?

Let me know below in “comments”.

Thank you for engaging this topic with me thus far!

Our next post I entitle “A Mysterious Tease”.

I look forward to continuing with you there.

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Next post: “ A Mysterious Tease“

1. W. Ewing, Bible Hub, Atlas, Mt. Ebal, 2025, https://bibleatlas.org/mount_ebal.htm, paragraph 2. ↩︎
2. Id., paragraph 1. ↩︎