Joshua’s Altar?

The Mt. Ebal Curse Tablet

History II

[Post eight of thirty]

In the 1980s, a University of Haifa archaeologist surveyed Mount Ebal. This rises next to biblical Shechem and today’s Nablus. He was Professor Adam Zertal. ¹

That area drips with serious biblical relevance. For example, the site of the Abrahamic covenant is there. 2 It also includes Jacob’s well, Joseph’s burial site, and Jesus’ interactions with the Woman at the well. Additionally, there is an incident most relevant to our story.

Note

This is the eighth post of my memorandum about the Curse Tablet. It is also the second of ten detailing the history of the tablet and the proposed Joshua’s Altar on Mt. Ebal in northern Judea / Samaria.

If you have accessed this post from other than captivatingtwists.com and wish to start the journey from the beginning, click here.

Otherwise, continue below.

That event unfolds something like this:

Moses could not enter the Promised Land. He thus directs Joshua, his successor as leader of the people of Israel. In effect, he says, “Once you have conquered a foothold in the land, go to Mt. Gerizim and Mt. Ebal. Set up stones brought from Jericho. Plaster them and write thereon the words of the law. Position half of the tribes on one mountain and half on the other. Announce blessing from Gerizim and curses from Ebal. On Ebal, build an altar of non-hewn stones. To the God of Israel, sacrifice the blood of innocent animals to cover the sins of the guilty.”

Joshua accomplishes these directives, as recorded in Joshua 24:1, 25-26, and 32. 3

Of this relevance, however, Zertal had little inkling. He descended from Eastern European immigrants who had lived under Soviet domination. He had grown up on a kibbutz. To him and many of his kin, biblical connections had almost no resonance. He was agnostic and almost clueless about scripture. (Note that he was also an esteemed scholar and a wounded combat veteran. Hence, he walked with a cane.) His academic training cemented his conviction that the Bible was mythology. 4

https://open.spotify.com/track/4nqwfERYAnfdm0HscaThwZ?si=50daa93cb71f489c

That was about to change.

Exploring the backside of the mountain, he observed a peculiar mound. He did a quick survey. From this, he concluded that the place deserved serious investigation.

Later, his team removed a large covering of stones, revealing a baffling structure. What is this? Nothing about it resembled anything of Zertal’s experience.

A period of head-scratching wonder followed. Then, an under-associate informed Zertal of a possible explanation. 

Here is the gist of that. “People have scoured this mountain for decades, looking for a particular structure. Their focus was on the side of Mt. Ebal facing its twin mountain, Mt. Gerizim. Convinced that it must be there, they ignored the back side where this site lies on a lip beyond the summit.”

“Could this be what had confounded many?”, the understudy postulated. “Could this be Joshua’s Altar, the one that Moses in Deuteronomy 27 and 28 had commanded him to build!?”2

Of this, Zertal, the agnostic, became convinced. 3

At this point, I stop the Harrison Ford-type narrative. Instead, I suffice with a simple listing of the things that supported his conviction. They are:

• The site’s location offered an unfettered view of the eastern horizon. Such was not available from the side of Mt. Ebal facing Mt. Gerazim. Both Exodus 27:13 and 2 Chronicles 5: 11-12 imply the same. The entrance to the Tabernacle and, later, to the Temple must face eastward.
• A huge stone enclosure surrounds the altar site.  It resembles a footprint and stands not more than three feet. Yet it is over three football fields in length.4 Within it is another “footprint” about 100 meters in length. (About six such structures one finds leading up the Jordan Valley culminating at Mt. Ebal. 5 Some theorize that the Hebrews of the conquest constructed these. Some theorize that they symbolize God’s Mosaic promise. That was to give them all the land within the parameters of the Promised Land on which their feet trod. That is, if they keep His commandments.)6
• A long ramp rose to an altar site.7 Stairs Moses’ instructions forbid.
• The altar site consisted only of non-hewed stones, that is, field stones untouched by any iron tool. This Moses had directed.8
• Excavation revealed two potential altars. A large rectangular one encompasses a smaller circular one beneath at its center. Both contain bones of almost only kosher animals. (A small percentage belonged to creatures that may have climbed among the rocks. There they died. Such included turtles or snakes.)9
• Pottery fragments there Zertal dated only to Iron Age One and Bronze Age Two. Both are consistent with competing theories for the date of the Exodus and the Conquest. 10
• Another scholar saw a photo of the Ebal site. He noted, in effect. “That corresponds to an ancient drawing depicting Jerusalem’s second temple altar.”

These verisimilitudes convinced Zertal.

On announcing his findings, a tremor rumbled through the archaeological and theological worlds. 

Yet, as we will see in the next post, it was only a tremor. It was not the epic seismic event necessary. The illiterate or mythological Moses paradigm was not much shaken. 2

Now a question: What other evidence might have elevated Zertal’s altar hypothesis?

Let me know in the comment section below.

Thank you for engaging with this topic thus far!

The next post I will title “Zertal Rejected”.

I look forward to continuing with you there.

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Next post: “Zertal Rejected“

1. Melanie Lidman, Academic article on controversial 3,200-year old ‘curse tablet’ fails to sway experts, The Times of Israel,14 May 2023, paragraphs 1, 5, 38, and 40, https://www.timesofisrael.com/academic-article-on-controversial-3200-year-old-curse-tablet-fails-to-sway-experts/, (7 October 2024).
   and
   Steve Law, patternsofevidence.com, Ancient Hebrew Writing on Tablet Discovered at Joshua’s Altar, paragraph 3, February 4, 2022. ↩︎