Troubled Waters

The Mt. Ebal Curse Tablet

History X

[Post sixteen of thirty]

After the press conference, twelve months passed. Then, on 12 May 2023, three and a half years from the Mt. Ebal Curse Tablet’s discovery, Heritage Science finally published Stripling’s article.

How was that Heritage Science article received?

Some people expressed elation, some disappointment, and others disgust.

In succeeding posts, I scrutinize the article, its photos, and various responses.

Here, though, I recall the context of these days. Significant currents darkened the times. That is from the retrieval of the tablet through and beyond publication.

Of these, three particularly warrant recounting.

Note

This is the sixteenth post of my memorandum on the Mt. Ebal Curse Tablet. It is also the tenth of ten detailing the history of the table and the proposed Joshua’s Altar.

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.

Pandemic

In December 2019, as we have seen, the lead tablet landed in Frankie Synder’s wet-sifting tray.

In that same month, ominous events brewed in another part of the world.

The date is December 12, 2019. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention records this diary entry:

“A cluster of patients in China’s Hubei Province, in the city of Wuhan, begin to experience the symptoms of an atypical pneumonia-like illness that does not respond well to standard treatments.”

Afterwards, COVID-19 led to a two-year hiatus from Stripling’s work in Israel.

Local Perils

On January 24, 2023, JNS, Jewish News Syndicate, reported an Israeli official’s protest. The Israel Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant, communicated:

“Israel will not allow Palestinians to damage a major archaeological site located deep in the biblical heartland of Samaria, one that is revered by millions of Jews and Christians as the location where Joshua built an altar.”

This, he issued in response to a Palestinian news report. That regarded planned construction in the vicinity of the Ebal altar site.

In a letter to the Palestinian Authority, Gallant further directed:

“…it has been clarified…to the Palestinian Authority that we will not allow any damage to the altar, which has been defined as an archaeological site of historic, cultural and religious significance.”

Past and present events underscored the necessity of Gallant’s manifesto. These include:

• In 2021, a Palestinian road crew damaged the outer “footprint” enclosing the Ebal altar.
• During recent decades, alarming incidents have occurred in Nablus. This included the alleged tomb of Joseph being fire-bombed. (Note that the actual location of Joseph’s tomb is a matter of speculation.)
• Now, armed military units escort pilgrims to the area. This began after the Oslo Accords. Those designated the region as “Area B”. Authority there rested with the Palestinian civil government and the Israeli military.

From this last bullet, one can sense what locals might feel. Many descend from generations of local residents. This would especially agrieve them.

Of what these Israeli military escorts consist, I cannot relate. Of what, however, an American equal would consist, I can envision. Vehicles arrive armed with 50 caliber machine guns, 240 Bravos, or 249 SAWS. Infantrymen clad in full armor climb to elevated positions. A defensive cordon restricts unvetted civilians from entering the area.

If some foreign power executed such near my home, I can imagine my caustic feelings!

One can also perceive the necessity of these escort measures.

Thus, factor local embitterment when evaluating the security of the Mt. Ebal altar site.

October 7, 2023

Little, if anything, equates the ghastly evil of Hamas’s massacre of innocents on this date.

Whether one labels Israel’s response “hard”, “harsh,” or “brutal” is not the question. Hard, harsh, and brutal can fall well within the acceptable context of the laws of war.

The real question is whether Israel has perpetrated war crimes. World authorities should test what lands fair and foul. Later, individual soldiers, units, and leaders, where appropriate, should give an account.

Even so, two things can be true. There can be no excuse for violations of the law of war. One should also not forget the horror which precipitated the resulting conflagration.

From it, dominoes have since fallen, ones that have shaken much of the world.

For our purposes, we must remember this: Mt. Ebal lies proximate to the eye of this tumult.

This noted, let us now bridge these troubled waters.

In the next post, I begin my review of the Stripling team’s Heritage Science article.

Now for some questions. Do you remember first hearing about COVID-19? Are you aware that in 1918, a similar flu likely originated near Ft Riley, Kansas? That one, in short order, killed between twenty and a hundred million people worldwide. Plus, it likely hastened the end of World War I and confounded the tensions leading to World War II.

Let me know in “comments”.

Thank you for engaging with this topic thus far!

The next post, entitled “Stripling’s Article”, introduces our Curse Tablet’s photo study.

I look forward to continuing with you there.

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Next post: “Stripling’s Article“