Joshua’s Altar?

The Mt. Ebal Curse Tablet

History II

[Post eight of thirty-two]

I proceed here with the second of ten posts on the Curse Tablet’s history. Remember, these are important.

One needs an accurate history for a balanced perspective. A mischaracterized version could taint the artifact’s message.

I have already mentioned my conclusion about the tablet. It is that the evidence supports posthaste excavation of Joshua’s Altar.

This alerts to my potential bias in telling this story. That is fair.

Thus, you should check me. Consider other accounts.

Throughout this memorandum, I refer to others with different positions. Often these include links. Consider those.

Nevertheless, my telling this story you should find sufficiently neutral. In other words, when we turn to analyzing the photographic evidence, you are not unduly swayed. Then you are sufficiently clear-eyed about the tablet’s context to make up your own mind.

All of this being said, I continue.

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

That area drips with serious biblical relevance. For example, God pronounced the Abrahamic Covenant here. ² Jacob’s well and Joseph’s burial site are there. Here, Jesus interacted with the Woman at the well. Additionally, there is an ancient event directly

pertinent to our story. ³

Note

This is the eighth post of my memorandum about the Curse Tablet.

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.

It developed 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. ⁴

Of this relevance, however, Zertal had no inkling. His ancestors were East 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 little resonance. He was agnostic and clueless about scripture. ⁵ (Note that he was also an esteemed scholar and a wounded combat veteran. Hence, he walked with a cane.) ⁶ His academic training had cemented his conviction that the Bible was mythology. ⁷

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. ⁸

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: “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!?” ⁹

Of this, Zertal, the agnostic, became convinced. ¹⁰

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

• The site’s location offered a 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 four football fields in length. ¹¹ 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. ¹² Some suggest that the Hebrews of the conquest constructed these. They theorize that these 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.) ¹³
• A long ramp rose to an altar site. ¹⁴ 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. ¹⁵
• 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.) ¹⁶
• 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. ¹⁷
• 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. ¹⁸

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. ↩︎
2. Id., paragraph 1. ↩︎
3. Sean McDowell, Oldest Hebrew Writing? Mt. Ebal Curse Tablet (Revisited) m.youtube.com>watch, (5: 26-44), 11 May 2023.
   and
   Associates for Biblical Research, Cursed! The Mount Ebal Curse Tablet (Part One, Digging for Truth Episode 200), YouTube, (04:29; 05:21), May 1, 2023. ↩︎
4. Chris & Jenifer Taylor, The Bible Journey, https://thebiblejourney.org/biblejourney2/27-the-israelites-move-into-canaan/joshua-builds-an-altar-at-mt-ebal/, paragraph 4, © 2024. ↩︎
5. Associates for Biblical Research, YaHWeh Curse Tablet: A Tsunami from Mt. Ebal, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gU5njOpRCHQ&t=85s, (6:10) 1 November 2024. ↩︎
6. Id. 6:15 ↩︎
7. Steve Law, patternsofevidence.com, Ancient Hebrew Writing on Tablet Discovered at Joshua’s Altar, paragraph 5, February 4, 2022
   and
   Associates for Biblical Research, Cursed! The Mount Ebal Curse Tablet (Part One, Digging for Truth Episode 200), YouTube, (10:29), May 1, 2023. ↩︎
8. Associates for Biblical Research, YaHWeh Curse Tablet: A Tsunami from Mt. Ebal, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gU5njOpRCHQ&t=85s, (7:03) 1 November 2024. ↩︎
9. Melanie Lidman, Academic article on controversial 3,200-year old ‘curse tablet’ fails to sway experts, The Times of Israel,14 May 2023, paragraph 38,  https://www.timesofisrael.com/academic-article-on-controversial-3200-year-old-curse-tablet-fails-to-sway-experts/, (7 October 2024). ↩︎
10. Associates for Biblical Research, Cursed! The Mount Ebal Curse Tablet (Part One, Digging for Truth Episode 200), YouTube, (12:08), May 1, 2023,
    and
    Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz, Skeptics of Ebal Curse Tablet Accuse Christian Researchers of “Seeing the Face of Jesus in a Grilled Cheese Sandwich”, israel365news.com, Archeology, paragraph 3, December 6, 2023; ↩︎
11. Steve Law, patternsofevidence.com, Ancient Hebrew Writing on Tablet Discovered at Joshua’s Altar, paragraph 23, February 4, 2022;
    and
    Associates for Biblical Research, CURSED! The Mount Ebal Curse Tablet (Part 4): Digging for Truth Episode 203, (11:30). ↩︎
12. Associates for Biblical Research, “ABR Researchers Discover the Oldest Known Proto-Hebrew Inscription Ever Found”, biblicarchaeology.org/current-events-list/, Youtube, (15:32), March 24, 2022.
    and
    Associates for Biblical Research, Cursed! The Mount Ebal Curse Tablet (Part Four, Digging for Truth Episode 200), YouTube, (11:25 and 12:48), May 1, 2023. ↩︎
13. Steve Law, patternsofevidence.com, Ancient Hebrew Writing on Tablet Discovered at Joshua’s Altar, paragraph 23, February 4, 2022.
    and
    (Deuteronomy 11:23-24);
    and
    (Joshua 1:3) ↩︎
14. Associates for Biblical Research, “ABR Researchers Discover the Oldest Known Proto-Hebrew Inscription Ever Found”, biblicarchaeology.org/current-events-list/, Youtube, (15:02), March 24, 2022. ↩︎
15. Melanie Lidman, Academic article on controversial 3,200-year old ‘curse tablet’ fails to sway experts, The Times of Israel,14 May 2023, paragraph 38,  https://www.timesofisrael.com/academic-article-on-controversial-3200-year-old-curse-tablet-fails-to-sway-experts/, (7 October 2024).
    and
    Associates for Biblical Research, Cursed! The Mount Ebal Curse Tablet (Part Three, Digging for Truth Episode 200), YouTube, (16:25), May 1, 2023. ↩︎
16. Melanie Lidman, Academic article on controversial 3,200-year old ‘curse tablet’ fails to sway experts, The Times of Israel,14 May 2023, paragraph 40,  https://www.timesofisrael.com/academic-article-on-controversial-3200-year-old-curse-tablet-fails-to-sway-experts/, (7 October 2024).
    and
    Associates for Biblical Research, Cursed! The Mount Ebal Curse Tablet (Part Three, Digging for Truth Episode 200), YouTube, (16:25), May 1, 2023. ↩︎
17. Sean McDowell, Oldest Hebrew Writing? Mt. Ebal Curse Tablet (Revisited) m.youtube.com>watch, (11:40-50), 11 May 2023. ↩︎
18. Id. at (20:04). ↩︎