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History III

[Ebal’s Plea, nine of thirty-two]

Academicians widely ignored, rejected, even scoffed at Zertal’s postulate. Many had long concluded Moses and Joshua to be fictional characters, their exploits–the stuff of mythology.

Acclaimed scholars had embraced such since the eighteen century. Jean Astruc (1684–1766), a prominent physician was among the first. To his notions others contributed.

In the late 19th century the writings of K. H. Graf and German scholar, Julius Wellhausen, thrust what became known as the documentary hypothesis into academic preeminence.¹ Tensions they declared existed in the biblical materials regarding styles and word usage. About these they proposed elegant theories with this conclusion: Various late non-Mosaic scribes had authored the Torah and what became the Pentateuch.

Furthermore, linchpins fortified their ideas.

For example, the ancient materials use two different names for the Hebrew creator. These appeared in different texts but never together. Surely such mandated different late date authors.²

Also, little evidence then supported a phonetic alphabet, i.e., one based on sounding out words, being assessable to Moses or his immediate successors. Such would have been necessary to communicate the nuanced literary accomplishment that the scriptures present.  An early alphabetic script, the theory held, appeared much later.³

Lawrence Stager of Harvard, considered one of the high deans of the documentary hypothesis, once conjectured ⁴ that if Zertal discovered Joshua’s altar on Mt. Ebal then he and the rest of the scholarly biblical community “…would need to go back to kindergarten!” The gist of which was that surely those as learned as he would never need such. ⁵

Other factors too mellowed the shock of Zertal’s assertion. Again for the sake of brevity I resort to a list.

Factors working against Zertal discovery gaining wide scholarly acceptance included:

• Mt. Ebal lay in Judea/ Samaria, also known as the West Bank—a highly charged geopolitical environment. Since the 1980’s, tensions between Palestinians and Israelis have surged between warm and hot. Today under the Oslo Peace Accords surrounding areas fall within one of three designations—A, B or C. Zertal’s site lies in B, that is one falling within Israeli military and Palestinian civil control. Resultantly, permits for further archaeological excavations were and remain difficult to navigate. ⁶ This has been particularly true given regional tensions and especially given the recent war. ⁷

• Although in 1987 Zertal issued a preliminary Ebal excavation report, he died in 2015 ⁸ without publishing his final report. ⁹

• Furthermore, before his death, the excavations on Mt. Eval had not uncovered all of the small round altar, the one most likely associated with an older period, i.e., that of Joshua.¹⁰

• Over the last decade Israel 365 News reports that “surreptitious actions by the Palestinian Authority (PA) have been slowly destroying the archaeological site.” ¹¹

Thus, the Documentary Hypothesis, although in different iterations, remains prevalent.

This is despite numerous contradicting archaeological and scientific headwinds.¹², ¹³, & ¹⁴.

Shaken but unbowed the Documentary Hypothesis still holds sway.

Before his death, Zertal mused, “All we need now is an inscription!” ¹⁵

That brings us to the second archaeological find associated with Mt. Ebal, the more recent one. That is the Mt. Ebal Curse Tablet.

Could this be the blow that tumbles the Documentary Hypothesis? Let us look closer. ¹⁶

Next post: “Whoa!”

1. Greg A. King, The Documentary Hypothesis, Journal of the Adventist Theological Society, 12/2001, pages 23 and 24.

2. Sean McDowell, Oldest Hebrew Writing? Mt. Ebal Curse Tablet (Revisited) m.youtube.com>watch, (35:23), 11 May 2023; and Associates for Biblical Research, Cursed! The Mount Ebal Curse Tablet (Part Three, Digging for Truth Episode 200), YouTube, (02:20), May 1, 2023.

3. Associates for Biblical Research, “ABR Researchers Discover the Oldest Known Proto-Hebrew Inscription Ever Found”, biblicarchaeology.org/current-events-list/, Youtube, (44:35), March 24, 2022; Associates for Biblical Research, Cursed! The Mount Ebal Curse Tablet (Part Two, Digging for Truth Episode 200), YouTube, (23:45), May 1, 2023; and One For Israel,The Curse from Mount Ebal that became an Archeological Blessing!, oneforisrael.org, paragraph 2, April 2, 2022.

4. Associates for Biblical Research, Cursed! The Mount Ebal Curse Tablet (Part Three, Digging for Truth Episode 200), YouTube, (03:50), May 1, 2023.

5. Sean McDowell, Oldest Hebrew Writing? Mt. Ebal Curse Tablet (Revisited) m.youtube.com>watch, (34:50), 11 May 2023; and Associates for Biblical Research, Cursed! The Mount Ebal Curse Tablet (Part Three, Digging for Truth Episode 200), YouTube, (04:10), May 1, 2023.

6. Ariel David, “New Studies Debunk Controversial Biblical ‘Curse Tablet” from Mt. Ebal”, haaretz.com, paragraph 3, November 30, 2023;Sean McDowell, Oldest Hebrew Writing? Mt. Ebal Curse Tablet (Revisited) m.youtube.com>watch, (40:00-11), 11 May 2023; and

Associates for Biblical Research, Cursed! The Mount Ebal Curse Tablet (Part One, Digging for Truth Episode 200), YouTube, (15:17), May 1, 2023.

7. Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz, Skeptics of Ebal Curse Tablet Accuse Christian Researchers of “Seeing the Face of Jesus in a Grilled Cheese Sandwich”, israel365news.com, paragraph 13, December 6, 2023; andSteve Law, patternsofevidence.com, Ancient Hebrew Writing on Tablet Discovered at Joshua’s Altar, paragraph 9, February 4, 2022

8. Associates for Biblical Research, “ABR Researchers Discover the Oldest Known Proto-Hebrew Inscription Ever Found”, biblicarchaeology.org/current-events-list/, Youtube, (06:09), March 24, 2022.

9. Associates for Biblical Research, Cursed! The Mount Ebal Curse Tablet (Part One, Digging for Truth Episode 200), YouTube, (14:00), May 1, 2023.

10. Sean McDowell, Oldest Hebrew Writing? Mt. Ebal Curse Tablet (Revisited) m.youtube.com>watch, (22:14), 11 May 2023; andAssociates for Biblical Research, “ABR Researchers Discover the Oldest Known Proto-Hebrew Inscription Ever Found”, biblicarchaeology.org/current-events-list/, Youtube, (14:52), March 24, 2022.

11.   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 13, December 6, 2023.

12, 13, 14 For instance, how did fourth or third century authors accurately record in scripture these now archaeologically attested events of the 6th through the 10th century B.C.:

• Close archaeological correlation between the biblical text and the destruction of Timri and the founding of Sumeria in the 9th Century B.C.; (Associates for Biblical Truth; King Omri: Digging for Truth Episode 105; (01:39), youtube.com, 27 September 2020.)
• The discovery of the ancient palace of Omri, a 9th Century B.C. King of Israel, and his son Ahab; (Associates for Biblical Truth; King Omri: Digging for Truth Episode 105; (15:50), youtube.com, 27 September 2020.);
• The Moabite Stone, also known as the Mesha Inscription:This stella describes the exploits of King Omri as seen through the eyes of an enemy; (Associates for Biblical Truth; King Omri: Digging for Truth Episode 105; (18:45), youtube.com, 27 September 2020; and (Curse Tablet: A Response (w/ Chris Rollston), Youtube, Sen McDowell, (38:28) June 2, 2023.
• The Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III also discussed Omri and a subsequent King of Israel, Jehu (Id. 41;24) and (Associates for Biblical Truth; King Omri: Digging for Truth Episode 105; (01:39), youtube.com, (20:15), 27 September 2020.)
• The Tel Dan Inscription evidences that Judah’s royalty in the 9th Century B. C. considered itself a descendant of the House of David. It also likely refers to a conspiracy suggested in 1 Kings 19:15-18 between Hazael, King of Aram-Damascus, and Jehu. (CBN Israel Blog, Biblical Artifact: Tel Dan Inscription, Marc Turnage, https://cbnisrael.org, (paragraphs 1-5), 2021/10/26).
• The 700 B.C. Deir Alla Plaster mentioning Baalam son of Beor a Seer evidencing at least an ancient memory of the character portrayed in Numbers 22-24  (Curse Tablet: A Response (w/ Chris Rollston), Youtube, Sen McDowell, (42:47) June 2, 2023).
• Geomagnetic dating verifies an intricate biblical sequence of military campaigns of the Arameans, Assyrians, Babylonians, Edomites and Egyptians from around 930 B.C. to 586 B.C. (Israel 21C, Geomagnetic field dating confirms the Bible’s narrative, Marion Fischel, paragraph 1, October 26, 2022, Updated November 2, 2022, israel21c.org.

The Documentary Hypothesis must also account for such as these:

• The Silver Scrolls of Ketef Hinnom, 6th Century B.C., the earliest known Biblical text; and
• Evidence of the use of an early alphabetic script in the Middle East extending beyond the 15th to even the 18th century B.C. (Curse Tablet: A Response (w/ Chris Rollston),(52:12 and 51:41) Youtube, Sen McDowell, June 2, 2023.
• Regarding The Book of Daniel:

• Linguists found that the Hebrew of Daniel is earlier than that of the Second Century Dead Sea Scrolls
• Plus they determined that its Aramaic ranges between 600 and 330 B.C. They reached that conclusion in assessing it against official documents of that earlier period as opposed to that of the second century B.C. (K.A. Kitchen, “The Aramaic of Daniel” in Notes on Some Problems in the Book of Daniel, ed. P.J. Wiseman, et al. (London: Tyndale, 1964). Online: https://biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/tp/notes-daniel/daniel_kitchen.pdf (Accessed Aug.11,2022).
• The large number of fragments of the Book of Daniel found among the Dead Sea Scrolls signifies it canonization much earlier than the Second Century B.C. Also, supporting this is references to the Book of Daniel in other scrolls found at Qumran.(Randall Prie and H. Wayne House, Zondervan Handbook of Biblical Archaeology (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2017), p. 177-178; Gerhard Hasel, “New Light on the Book of Daniel from the Dead Sea Scrolls.” Associates for Biblical Research, July 31, 2021; and https://biblearchaeology.org/research/topics/ancient-manuscripts/3193-new-light-on-the-book-of-daniel-from-the-dead-sea-scrolls (Accessed Aug. 11, 2022).
• There are other archaeological discoveries that disparage the idea that scribes could have been written Daniel in the Second Century. These include evidence of specific knowledge about events and people that would likely have been available at that late time. Those discoveries are:

• The Nebuchadnezzar Stele;
• The Nebo-Sarsekim Tablet;
• Nebuchadnezzar’s Palace;
• The Esagila (Temple of Marduk);
• The Ishtar Gate and Processional Way;
• Babylonian Chronicle 5;
• The Nabonidus Cylinders;
• The Nabonidus Chronicle; and
• The Cyrus Cylinder. (Bible Archaeology Report, Ibid.)

15. Associates for Biblical Research, Cursed! The Mount Ebal Curse Tablet (Part Three, Digging for Truth Episode 200), YouTube, (08:19), May 1, 2023

16. Associates for Biblical Research, Cursed! The Mount Ebal Curse Tablet (Part Three, Digging for Truth Episode 200), YouTube, (02:33 and 0255), May 1, 2023; Associates for Biblical Research, Cursed! The Mount Ebal Curse Tablet (Part Four, Digging for Truth Episode 200), YouTube, (05:00), May 1, 2023; and Associates for Biblical Research, “ABR Researchers Discover the Oldest Known Proto-Hebrew Inscription Ever Found”, biblicarchaeology.org/current-events-list/, Youtube, (31:41), March 24, 2022.

History IV

[Ebal’s Plea, ten of thirty-two]

Abruptly now our plot twists.

In 2019 the team of Scott Stripling, professor of biblical archaeology and church history at the Bible Seminary in Katy, Texas,¹ found a small lead object measuring about 2 x 2 centimeters (.8 x .8 inch).²

Because of this tiny artifact millions of people worldwide soon focused anew on Mt. Ebal.

Stripling had obtained a permit to re-sift Mt. Ebal’s dump piles, ³ lying dormant since Zertal’s death in the 1980s.

His purpose was to assess the usefulness of a relatively unheralded technique called wet sifting,⁴ a process by which previously dry sifted remains are washed to reveal small missed artifacts.

Specifically, he sought to determine an approximate percentage of evidence archaeologist miss by only dry sifting.⁵

On-site work, however, at Mt. Ebal presented geopolitical headaches.

A workaround, nonetheless, Stripling achieved.

Authorities permitted the transport of some of the altar dump material to a location away from the mountain for processing.⁶

There Stripling’s team then re-dry sifted. This they followed with wet sifting.⁷

At this Stripling expected finding little more than mundane archaeological objects–maybe additional bullae, scarabs, or diagnostic pottery fragments, not archaeological pay dirt.

Yet, in the wet sifting process the team’s small finds expert, Frankie Snyder, discovered in her wet-sifting tray something she immediately recognized.⁸

At this she announced in effect, “Scott, you want to see this!”⁹

For Stripling the sensation on viewing was as if his heart had leaped to his throat. Instinctively he cautioned, something like: “Whoa! Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here!”¹⁰

Eventually, nevertheless, they did!

Next post: “A Defixio?”

1. Melanie Lidman, Academic article on controversial 3,200-year old ‘curse tablet’ fails to sway experts, The Times of Israel, 14 May 2023, paragraph 2, https://www.timesofisrael.com/academic-article-on-controversial-3,200-year-old-curse-tablet-fails-to-sway-experts/, (7 October 2024);
   
   Ariel David, “New Studies Debunk Controversial Biblical ‘Curse Tablet’ from Mt. Ebal”, haaretz.com, paragraph 5, November 30, 2023; and
   
   Sean McDowell, Oldest Hebrew Writing? Mt. Ebal Curse Tablet (Revisited), m.youtube.com>watch, (01:09), 11 May 2023. ↩︎
2. Melanie Lidman, Academic article on controversial 3,200-year old ‘curse tablet’ fails to sway experts, The Times of Israel, 14 May 2023, paragraph 2, https://www.timesofisrael.com/academic-article-on-controversial-3,200-year-old-curse-tablet-fails-to-sway-experts/, (7 October 2024); and
   
   Sean McDowell, Oldest Hebrew Writing? Mt. Ebal Curse Tablet (Revisited), m.youtube.com>watch, (08:27), 11 May 2023 ↩︎
3. Id. at (01:12) ↩︎
4. Associates for Biblical Research, “ABR Researchers Discover the Oldest Known Proto-Hebrew Inscription Ever Found”, biblicarchaeology.org/current-events-list/, Youtube, (02:46), March 24, 2022. ↩︎
5. Id. ↩︎
6. Id. ↩︎
7. Id. at 16:44 ↩︎
8. Id. ↩︎
9. Sean McDowell, Oldest Hebrew Writing? Mt. Ebal Curse Tablet (Revisited), m.youtube.com>watch, (03:39), 11 May 2023; Steve Law, patternsofevidence.com, Ancient Hebrew Writing on Tablet Discovered at Joshua’s Altar, paragraph 14 and 15, February 4, 2022; and
   Special Update: The Mount Ebal Curse Tablet (Ep1 of 3), Youtube: Patterns of Evidence, youtube.com/watch?v=YX3TH_nfgLo, Episode One at (19:10), May 21, 2024. ↩︎
10. Id. at (19:40) ↩︎

History VIII

[Ebal’s Plea, fourteen of thirty-two]

Why the intense scorn about Stripling’s pronouncement?

Accepted archaeological procedure discouraged reporting a find until after it had completed peer review by the appropriate scholarly community. This protocol Stripling admittedly violated.

About this he offered the explanation given in the previous post. In sum, he feared losing his intellectual stake in his find. He thus felt compelled, despite protocol, to release publicly what he had discovered about his artifact’s nature.

Unfortunately, this happened in the wake of another biblical archaeological scandal, one that caused heightened sensitivity about scholarly procedures.¹

Israel Antiquities Authority had prematurely publicized their analysis of a Tel Lachish pottery sherd. The news release heralded it as the first found in Israel referencing King Darius the Great of Persia 2500 years ago.²

Shortly afterwards, however, a researcher specializing in ancient Aramaic confessed that she had written the inscription.

While visiting the site with her students, she had demonstrated the ancient script on a pottery sherd lying about. Once finishing her lesson, she had tossed it aside, not intending any malice.³

What she had demonstrated turned out to be quite accurate–accurate enough to fool many renowned scholars.

Great embarrassment ensued within several prestigious academic communities.

Contemporaneously into that setting Stripling’s dilemma unhappily landed.⁴

Many scholars were outraged. Stripling publicly declared a history challenging find underpinned by photos. Not only had he not navigated peer review. He had not released his photos for academic scrutiny. Without them scholars were handcuffed in vetting the allied fantastic claims.

A firestorm had been lit!

Next post: “Peer Review”

1. Melainie Kidman, Academic article on controversial 3,200-year old ‘curse tablet’ fails to sway experts, The Times of Israel, 14 May 2023, paragraph 32, 33, and 34, https://www.timesofisrael.com/academic-article-on-controversial-3200-year-old-curse-tablet-fails-to-sway-experts/, (7 October 2024). ↩︎
2. Breaking News, “Mt. Ebal Curse Tablet Peer Review Complete”, Appian Media, In Roads, youtube.com/watch?v=_15tYO4hqJS, (33:35), May 12, 2023. ↩︎
3. Melainie Kidman, Academic article on controversial 3,200-year old ‘curse tablet’ fails to sway experts, The Times of Israel, 14 May 2023, paragraph 32, 33, and 34, https://www.timesofisrael.com/academic-article-on-controversial-3200-year-old-curse-tablet-fails-to-sway-experts/, (7 October 2024). ↩︎
4. Id. ↩︎