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The Mt Ebal Curse Tablet
History VIII
[Post fourteen of thirty-two]
Why the intense scorn about Stripling’s pronouncement about the Curse Tablet?
The archaeological community acknowledged a procedure. It discouraged reporting a find until after it had completed peer review. Stripling admitted to violating this.
About this infraction, Stripling explained that he had feared losing his intellectual stake. He thus felt compelled, despite protocol, to release what he had.
Unfortunately, this happened after another archaeological embarrassment. This had heightened sensitivity about procedures. 1
The Israel Antiquities Authority had publicized its analysis of a Tel Lachish sherd. Their news release heralded it as a first. No written reference in Israel had mentioned Darius the Great. This Persian king lived about 2500 years ago. 2
Shortly afterwards, however, a researcher specializing in ancient Aramaic confessed. She had written the inscription.
While visiting the site with her students, she demonstrated the ancient script on a sherd. On finishing her lesson, she had tossed it aside, not intending any malice. 1
What she had demonstrated was accurate. In fact, it fooled renowned scholars.
Mortification ensued across prestigious academic communities.
Into that setting, Stripling’s dilemma landed. 2
This outraged many scholars. Stripling had declared a history-challenging find underpinned by photos. He did not navigate peer review, nor did he release his photos for academic scrutiny. This handcuffed others from vetting his fantastic claims.
Stripling had lit a firestorm!
Now, here are some questions. Is the protocol of not releasing information about an artifact until after peer review a good policy? Why or why not?
Let me know in the comments.
Next post: “Peer Review“
The Mt. Ebal Curse Tablet
History VII
[Post thirteen of thirty-two]
The Czech Institute’s data proved a font of revelation.
From the tomographic scans, Stripling’s epigraphers discerned words.
These included “Yahweh” and “cursed”. Both recall Joshua’s ceremony of blessings and curses on Mt. Gerizim and Mt. Ebal.
Dr. Gershon Galil of the University of Haifa added further. He decoded a sophisticated parallelism, a chiasmus. 1
You will find this literary device throughout the Old and New Testaments. Consider, for example, Luke 4:16b-20, “The Favorable Year of the Lord”.
The colors highlight the parallels, the large font a central focus:
14 And Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about Him spread through all the surrounding district. 15 And He began teaching in their synagogues and was praised by all. 16 And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up, and as was His custom,
He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath,
and stood up to read,
17 And the book of the prophet
Isaiah was handed to Him,
And He opened the book and
found the place
where it was written,
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me
Because He anointed Me to
preach the gospel to the poor.
He has sent Me to proclaim
release / to the captives,
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set free / those who
are oppressed,
19 To proclaim the
favorable year of the Lord”
20 And He closed the book,
gave it back to the attendant
and sat down
and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him.
21 And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”1
How could Stripling be anything but gobsmacked?
As a professional, he knew that a find of this importance required cautious handling.
He was a renowned archaeologist. He had decades of field experience at prestigious sites.
The profound nature of this find marked it. It would cause a stir. Intense international scrutiny lay ahead.
He needed to be careful! 2
But life threw Stripling a curveball, mandating a different approach.2
Speculation circulated about the photo that Stripling had emailed earlier. The associate had forwarded it. Recipients began generating noise online. Some pondered the outer tablet’s glyphs. Could they be a script? 3
This alarmed Stripling. Others might lay academic claim to the tablet’s message, he thought. He thus deemed it necessary to go public. Otherwise, he risked forfeiting his claim as the head archaeologist of the discovering team. 4
A press conference ensued in March 2022.3 At it, Stripling and his team announced the following:
Cursed, cursed, cursed-cursed by the God YHW
(Mt. Ebal “Curse Tablet” Full Press Conference, YouTube, Appian Media, March 29, 2022)
You will die cursed.
Cursed you will surely die.
Cursed by YHW-cursed, cursed, cursed!
Afterwards, public elation and scorn followed.
Why scorn?
In our next post, entitled “A Firestorm”, I address this.
I look forward to continuing with you there.
Now, here is a question. What is your favorite chiasmus, scriptural or otherwise? (See examples here.)
Respond in the comment section below.
Next post: “A Firestorm!“
The Mt. Ebal Curse Tablet
History VI
[Post twelve of thirty-two]
Glyphs adorned the tablet’s outside. Stripling realized this. Yet, he was most intrigued by what lay within. There, as with other defixios, someone likely inscribed a curse.
Usually, this curse was trivial. Often it was something like, “She stole my boyfriend. May her hair fall out.” 1
Stripling and a colleague thus attempted to open it. The lead of one corner, brittle with age, however, crumbled. They thus stopped further efforts. 2
The Hebrew University in Tel Aviv analyzed the lead fragments and determined their origin. It was from a mine in Lavrion, Greece. 3
Historians and archaeologists conclude that this mine indeed exported lead to the Middle East. This occurred from before the Late Bronze Age into Roman times. 4
Here, a curious historical anomaly deserves consideration.
In the Mediterranean world around the 12th century B.C., a dark age ensued. 5 Then, the Late Bronze Age civilization imploded. Ancient exports plunged. European / Asian economic and cultural sophistication wilted. A mysterious disaster struck several advanced societies. 6 These include the Hittite, Ugaritic, Minoan, Mycenaean, Trojan, and Babylonian. Scholars have yet to find a definitive explanation.
From this understanding, Stripling deduced a probability.
Zertal’s exhaustive study had found only pottery of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries.
Someone in the Thirteenth Century B.C. or earlier thus likely imported the lead tablet before the ancient Dark Age of 1200 to 1150 B.C.
The metallurgical analysis, thus, strengthened Stripling’s tablet date.
This, however, he did not consider concrete.
Here, Stripling felt that the tablet investigation should end. It was time for greater focus on his other pursuits.
He emailed a colleague a photo of the tablet.
Afterwards, this circulated online.
Later, an unexpected opportunity for further investigation materialized.
Stripling read about a technological advancement. Researchers in Europe demonstrated how to peer through lead to discern written content. They were from the Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (Telč, Czech Republic). 1
Stripling and others went to work. Israeli authorities issued a license. A colleague would courier the “defixio” to Prague. 2
Time passed. The Institute at Telč, 152 km from the Czech capital, finished its analysis. They then forwarded their results. 1
The Telč team indeed perceived something within. An epigraphic expert there suggested proto-alphabetic letters. Ancient letters represented sounds rather than complete thoughts.
These initial revelations alone had profound meaning for Stripling. Now he had his most conclusive evidence for dating the tablet. It had to be the Late Bronze Age or Early Iron Age I, from as early as 1400 to as late as 1250 B.C.
Why? This was the accepted period for the use of proto-alphabetic script. 2
The tablet no longer presented an anachronistic dilemma. It now matched Zertal’s pottery dates.
What else could this additional evidence portend?
I probe this further in my next post!
But now here is a question: What do you think likely caused the Late Bronze Age civilizational collapse?
Let me know in the comments below.
Next post: “Staking a Claim“
The Mt. Ebal Curse Tablet
History V
[Post eleven of thirty-two]
What landed in Snyder’s tray, she identified as a defixio, an ancient curse tablet.1
In Snyder’s analysis, Stripling and many of their experienced associates concurred. Why? These they had often seen. From the Greco-Roman world, they are common archaeological finds. 2
Still, they also recognized the irony. They found this in Deuteronomy’s “Mountain of Curses!”
Stripling also understood that this artifact posed a problem. Zertal dated the altar site from 1400 to 1250 B.C. He concluded this from careful pottery analysis. 3 But Stripling knew that defixios dated to the Greek and Roman eras. That is primarily Fourth Century B.C. onward. A curse tablet seemed inappropriate by around a millennium.4
He, however, was aware of a precedent.
The Book of Job speaks of Job’s desire to write on lead with an iron pen (Job 19:24).
Many scholars consider that book the oldest biblical text. One reason is that it does not allude to the Law of Moses. 2
The defixio concept could have come from that or a similar ancient tradition. 2
Will new clues give insights? Find out in my next post.
Now, here are some questions. What was your earliest encounter with the idea of a defixio? What was the context?
Let me know in the comments.
Next post: “An Inscription!“
The Mt. Ebal Curse Tablet
History IV
[Post ten of thirty-two]
Our plot now twists.
In 2019, Scott Stripling’s team found a small lead object measuring about 2 x 2 centimeters. 1
Because of this tiny artifact, millions of people worldwide soon focused anew on Mt. Ebal.
This episode starts with Stripling obtaining a permit. His idea was to resift Zertal’s dump piles on Mt. Ebal. 2 Such had lain dormant since well before Zertal’s death.
His purpose was to assess the usefulness of an unheralded wet sifting technique. The process involved washing dry-sifted remains to reveal small, missed artifacts. 3
In doing so, he sought to make a point. That is the percentage of evidence that archaeologists miss through dry sifting. 4
On-site work, however, at Mt. Ebal presented geopolitical headaches.
Stripling, nonetheless, found a workaround.
Authorities allowed him to transport dump material away from the mountain. 2
There, his team re-dry-sifted. They followed this with wet sifting. 3
In doing this, Stripling expected to find mundane archaeological objects. He figured bullae, scarabs, or pottery fragments, but not pay dirt.
Yet the team’s wet-sifting expert, Frankie Snyder, discovered something in her tray. Recognizing what it was, 4 she announced, “Scott, you want to see this!” 5
For Stripling, the sensation was as if his heart jumped to his throat. 6 Instinctively, he cautioned, something like: “Whoa! Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here!” 7
They did!
Now, here are some questions. Did exploring a creek or mud hole as a kid make you aware of the value of wet sifting? Why do you think archaeologists adopted it so late?
Let me know in the comment section below.
Next post: “A Defixio?”
The Mt. Ebal Curse Tablet
History III
[Post nine of thirty-two]
This is the third of ten history posts about the Curse Tablet. The following post reveals a startling turn of events. This is its setup.
Many scholars ignored, rejected, and even scoffed at Zertal’s postulate. The Hebrews of the Conquest could not have constructed Joshua’s Altar! Moses and Joshua were fictional beings; their exploits were mythological!
Since at least the eighteenth century, scholars have embraced these ideas. Jean Astruc (1684–1766), a prominent physician, was among the first. To his notions, others contributed.
The late 19th century gave birth to “The Documentary Hypothesis.” K. H. Graf and German scholar Julius Wellhausen were then its eminent protagonists. Eventually, their theories gained academic preeminence. 1
Both declared that the scriptures presented tensions of style and usage. To resolve these, they proposed elegant theories involving various late-date writers. These scribes authored strands of the Old Testament. Writers of the Third to Ninth Centuries B.C. authored the Torah.
Perceived 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. This, they theorized, mandated different late-date authors. 1
Also, little evidence supported a phonetic alphabet in Moses’ era. Without it, one could not communicate the nuances of scripture. They thought that an early alphabetic script appeared much later. 2
To show the sway that the Documentary Hypothesis has held, consider a statement. It is by Lawrence Stager (1943 to 2017)–Dorot Professor of the Archaeology of Israel, emeritus at NELC, Harvard University. Many considered him to be the modern dean of the documentary hypothesis. He announced 1 that Zertal discovering Joshua’s altar on Mt. Ebal would signal something. It is that he and the rest of the community of biblical scholars “… would need to go back to kindergarten!” 2
The gist was this: Those as learned as he would never need such. 3
Other elements, too, mellowed the shock of Zertal’s assertion. Again, for brevity, I use a list.
Factors working against Zertal’s discovery included:
• Mt. Ebal lay in Judea / Samaria. This area, also known as the West Bank, is a charged geopolitical environment. Since the 1980s, tensions between Palestinians and Israelis have surged from warm to hot. Today, under the Oslo Peace Accords, it falls within one of three designations. These are A, B, or C. Zertal’s site lies in B, one falling within Israeli military and Palestinian civil control. 1 Thus, permits for further archaeological excavations remain difficult to navigate. 2 Recent wars have increased the problem. 3
• In 1987, Zertal issued a preliminary Ebal excavation report. He, however, died in 2015 4 without publishing his final report. 5
• Furthermore, Zertal’s team had not finished excavating the small, round altar. This is the one most likely associated with an older period, i.e., that of Joshua. 6
• Over the last decade, Israel 365 News has issued alerts. These detail that “surreptitious actions by the Palestinian Authority (PA). have been destroying the archaeological site.” 7
Thus, the Documentary Hypothesis, although in different iterations, remains prevalent.
This is despite archaeological and scientific headwinds. A summary I detail below. 8
Shaken, but unbowed, the Documentary Hypothesis still holds sway.
Before his death, Zertal mused, “All we need now is an inscription!” 9
That brings us to the second archaeological find: the Curse Tablet.
Could this bludgeon the Documentary Hypothesis? Let us look closer. 10
Meanwhile, here is a question. What do you consider the Documentary Hypothesis’s strongest evidentiary support?
Let me know in the comment section below.
Next post: “Whoa!“
The Mt. Ebal Curse Tablet
History II
[Post eight of thirty-two]
I proceed here with the second of ten posts in our history. Remember, these are important.
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 biblical relevance. For example, God pronounced the Abrahamic Covenant here. 1 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. 2
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 unhewn 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. 1
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. 2 (Note that he was also an esteemed scholar and a wounded combat veteran. Hence, he walked with a cane.) 3 His academic training had cemented his conviction that the Bible was mythology. 4
That was about to change.
Exploring the mountain’s backside, he observed a peculiar mound. He did a quick survey. From this, he concluded that the place deserved serious investigation. 5
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 suggested an explanation. “People have scoured this mountain for decades, looking for a 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.”
““Was this what confused many people?” the understudy postulated. “Could this be Joshua’s Altar, the one that Moses in Deuteronomy 27 and 28 had commanded him to build!?” 6
Of this, Zertal, the agnostic, became convinced. 7
Now, I will stop the Harrison Ford-type narrative. Instead, I will suffice with a list of the things that supported his conviction. They are:
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 mythological Moses paradigm shook little. 15
Now a question: What other evidence might have elevated Zertal’s altar hypothesis?
Let me know in the comment section below.
Next post: “Zertal Rejected“
The Mt. Ebal Curse Tablet
History I
[Post seven of thirty-two]
This is the first of ten posts about the Curse Tablet’s history. They provide important context. Please do not skip them!
Here is a story of two discoveries that may profoundly affect biblical and world history. 1
Archaeologists discovered them at the same location at different times. The first became known about forty years ago. Archaeologists found the latter within the last six years. 2
Together, they pose a piercing assault on an entrenched paradigm.
What is that? Moses did not write, and in fact could not have written, the first five books of the Bible. 3
Many maintain this despite Scripture declaring otherwise. Old Testament sources cite Moses. Jesus also affirmed or implied this.
If not Moses, who lived allegedly around the twelfth to fifteenth centuries B.C., then who? In short, scribes of the Third to Ninth Centuries B.C. did! 4
With their stories, these alleged authors forged a Hebrew national identity. A disparate people thereby engendered moral cohesion. Henceforth, they revered shared mythological heroes.
This idea permeates more than the ivory towers of elite universities. It holds sway over heartlands worldwide. Since the late 19th century, priests and preachers have learned this. Professors have taught this to waves of college students enrolled in biblical studies. 5
This paradigm against Mosaic authorship has a name. It is the documentary hypothesis. 6
Now, let us examine these two discoveries.
But before doing so, here are some questions. When did you first encounter the documentary hypothesis, and what effect did that have on you?
Let me know in the comment section below.
Next post: “Joshua’s Altar?”
The Mt. Ebal Curse Tablet
Introduction II
[Post six of thirty-two]
The controversies surrounding a recent archaeological find should matter to you. This post presents a taste of why.
Prominent experts allege that a series of photographs challenge precepts of world history. Others claim, “There is nothing to see here!” Faced with such, you might think, “Show me the photos! Decide myself, I will!” 1
Photos of a defixio, a curse tablet found in Israel in 2019, present this quandary. Archaeologists could not open it without it crumbling.
They thus employed tomographic scanning to peer inside. This revealed a potential proto-alphabetic script. This claim, given the archaeological context, challenges long-held understandings of world history.
When, however, the archaeologist released photos of the scans, some experts cried, “Hoax!” To them, they showed nothing significant.
I have two goals here. I want to help you reach a well-informed understanding of the tablet. Second, I want to encourage you to act on what you learn.
But beware! Conversing with intelligence about the photos requires more than mere viewing. To most, other than a few specialized experts, they appear mysterious and unknowable. 2
Yet, laypersons with some help can make well-considered observations about them.
To do so, they need three things. First, they need the history. Then they need an opportunity for efficient study. Last and most importantly, they need enthusiasm: enthusiasm for the history and for probing the evidence.
Below, I relate the history.
Furthermore, I guide an efficient online study of the photos.
But what about the enthusiasm?
Viewing a 30-second video might spark something. It shows, of all things, a technological process applied to a piece of metal.
Wow! How thought-provoking and intriguing can that be?
Well, look at the video below.
Glance at its millimeter ticker in the top left corner. When it gets to .20 mm, focus on the object’s top right.
Or, watch the red bar on the right graph. As it approaches the major breach, focus on the top right of your screen.
Also, move your cursor to the top right and click. This expands the image.
Now watch.
Did you see anything?
Did you perceive only happenstance cracks, dents, and scratches on an old piece of lead?
But what about a stick man, a mace, some crossed hockey sticks? Did you detect some squiggly lines, a bent arm with an open hand, and a couple of ox skulls?
A canon of human history may hang in the balance, depending on which of these assessments is correct.
Regardless of what you saw, this viewing may have fostered these questions:
This memorandum seeks to prepare you for these and other issues.
At its end, I aim to help you engage these inquiries:
Now, here is a question. What, if anything, about the video intrigued you most?
Let me know your response in the comment section below.
Thank you for engaging with this topic thus far!
Our next post, the first of our review of the Curse Tablet’s history, is: “The Paradigm”.
I look forward to continuing with you there.
If you appreciate this type of analysis, please “subscribe”, “like”, and “share”.
If you wish to support this work, you can do so in the donation section below. If so, thank you for the encouragement.
Next Post: “The Paradigm“
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The Mt.Ebal Curse Tablet
Introduction I
[Post five of thirty-two]
A minimal understanding of the Curse Tablet requires a journey across eons. For this, we need preparation.
An operational order for our journey thus follows:
Situation
Where is Mt. Ebal?
It rises in the northern third of Samaria / Judea. Adjacent stands its smaller sister–Mt. Gerazim, flanking to the south. Between them lies a gap within which one sees modern Nablus on a western neck. 1 Ancient Shechem lies a little to the east. 2
People have crossed this passage since antiquity. They traversed the Jordan Valley to the east and the Plain of Sharon to the Mediterranean to the west. 3
A sweeping view to the north reveals the uplands of Galilee. There, you can glimpse the outline of Nazareth. Adjusting east, one sees across the Jordan to Hermon’s white pinnacle. Farther south, the view traverses the Dead Sea to the region of Moab. Finally, due south arise the heights of Jerusalem. 4
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 at Mt. Ebal’s summit, rocky outcrops, “ubiquitous thistles and prickly shrubs” abound. 5
Among these high settings, an Israeli archaeologist arrived in the 1980s. His name was Adam Zertal. While on a government survey mission, he found a suspicious mound. Excavation revealed a curious structure. Ultimately, he concluded that this was an ancient Hebrew altar. 6
This claim paralleled events attested in Deuteronomy and the Book of Joshua. The amazing announcement spawned a worldwide stir. 7
Yet, this notion ran contrary to scholars’ understanding. Mostly, they dismissed it. Many even scoffed. 8
Some forty years later, an archaeological team arrived. Dr. Scott Stripling headed it. He is a professor of biblical archaeology and church history at the Bible Seminary in Katy, Texas. 9
The team moved some of Zertal’s dump piles off-site. There, they wet-sifted the material. As a result, they found many small, missed artifacts.
One was particularly intriguing. The tiny lead object they thought was a defixio, a curse tablet. 10
Having had significant experience with such, they anticipated finding an inscribed curse.
When, however, they attempted to open it, a small corner crumbled. At that point, they ceased. 11
Fortune smiled, however. Tomographic slice imaging enabled scans of what lay within. 12
Heritage Science published its report about the resulting photos.13
These startled much of the world. Allegedly, proto-alphabetic letters appeared there. These pronounced God’s Hebrew name “Yahweh,” and the word “ARWR,” meaning “cursed!” Furthermore, the words and provenance recalled a ceremony recorded in scripture. 14
After the public release of the scans, eminent scholars disputed these claims. 15
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 summarized the qualms of many others.
The article 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.” 16
Haughwout, thus, determined that there is nothing to see here!
Meanwhile, the destruction of the Mt. Ebal archaeological site looms. I will explain this later.
Mission
This memorandum argues that a government-authorized excavation of Joshua’s Altar should occur posthaste. The reasons are:
Execution
Haughwout’s attempt to refute Stripling’s claims fails, I argue.
In doing so, I apply a measure derived from the U.S. Supreme Court.
Rule 56 of the U.S. Code of Civil Procedure mandates how lower courts decide motions for summary judgment.
That rule’s purpose applies to our matter. Thus, it should work well.
Service and Support
For editing, I have relied on free versions of:
Music snippets I add for ambiance.
Flowers separate each post.
Command and Signal
As co-founder of captivatingtwists.com, I welcome anyone interested in the issues presented.
This memorandum focuses on articles by Dr. Stripling and Mr. Haughwout.
Yet, the conclusions and recommendations herein are my own.
Forewarning
Strap in! 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.
Now here is a question. What information in this “operation order” did you find helpful?
Let me know in the comments.
Next post: “ A Mysterious Tease“
