Tag: dinner discussion

Introduction I

[Ebal’s Plea, five of thirty-two]

This journey’s operation order reads:

Situation:

• Geography

Where is Mt. Ebal?

It rises in the northern third of Samaria / Judea adjacent to its slightly smaller sister–Mt. Gerazim, flanking on the south. Between the two runs a pass where one sees modern Nablus on a western neck. The location of ancient Shechem lies nearby a little eastward.

Through this passage people have accessed since antiquity the Jordan Valley on the east and the Plain of Sharon and the Mediterranean on the west.

A sweeping view to the North reveals the uplands of Galilee where you can glimpse the outline of Nazareth. Adjusting east one sees across the Jordan to Hermon’s whited pinnacle. Farther south the view traverses the Dead Sea to the region of Moab. Finally due south arise the heights of Jerusalem.¹

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 higher up near Mt. Ebal’s summit, rocky outcrops, “ubiquitous thistles and prickly shrubs” abound.²

• History Preview:

Among this high setting Adam Zertal, an Israeli archaeologist, arrived in the 1980’s on a government survey mission. There he found what ultimately he came to believe was an ancient Hebrew altar.

This claim paralleled biblically attested events of Deuteronomy and the Book of Joshua. Unsurprisingly, the announcement spawned a worldwide stir.

Yet, this notion ran contrary to scholarly understanding. It was thus ultimately largely dismissed, even scoffed at.

Some forty years later an archaeological team, headed by Dr. Stripling, moved some of Zertal’s dump piles off site. To that material they applied a perfected wet sifting technique. Many small, previously missed artifacts they found as a result.

One particularly intrigued. The tiny lead object they thought a defixio, a curse tablet.

Having had significant previous experience with such, they anticipated inside an inscribed curse.

When, however, they attempted to open it, a small corner crumbled. That endeavor they ceased.

Fortunately, tomographic slice imaging enabled scans of what lay within.

Their report about the resulting photos startled much of the world. Allegedly inscribed there were proto-alphabetic letters pronouncing God’s Hebrew name–“Yahweh”, and the word “ARWR” meaning “cursed!” Furthermore, the words and provenance recalled a ceremony recorded in scripture.

After public release of the scans, eminent scholars disputed these claims.

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 largely summarized the qualms of others scholars.

The article boldly 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.”

In other words, Haughwout determined that there is nothing to see here!

Meanwhile, the potential destruction of the Mt. Ebal archaeological site looms. This I explain later.

Mission:

This memorandum argues that government authorized excavation of Joshua’s Altar should occur posthaste. The reasons are that:

• Sufficient evidence supports the fantastic claims about the Curse Tablet; and

• The chance of Mt. Ebal revealing other important evidence is significant?

Execution:

In support of these positions I argue that Haughwout failed in his “refutation”, i. e., disproval, efforts.

In doing so I apply an objective measure derived from a prominent authority well accustomed at resolving issues of this nature. That is the U. S. Supreme Court.

The High Court’s Rule 56 of its U. S. Code of Civil Procedure mandates how lower courts decide motions for summary judgment.

Summary judgment, I argue, closely resemble our matter. Thus for it a standard similar to that of Rule 56 should operate appropriately.

My applying an objective measure to these facts frees you to competently make up your own mind about the issues confronted. Resultantly, you can decide yourself whether my adjudication is fair and reasonable.

Service and Support:

Embedded as lagniappe with the flowers displayed at the end of each post, I provide links to materials–written, audio, and video. These reflect the tensions associated with this topic. Adversarial material I attempt to display.

Music snippets I add for ambiance.

The last post supplies supplemental materials. This includes letters to my U. S. congressional delegation.

Command and Signal:

As co-founder of captivatingtwists.com, I authored the thirty-two posts about this matter. As my audience I welcome anyone interested in the issues presented.

Dr. Stripling and Mr. Haughwout whose peer review articles I extensively review in this memorandum are the authors of the primary sources of expert information used here.

Ultimately, this memorandum’s conclusions and recommendations are entirely my own.

The Mt. Ebal topic is one of several within Captivating Twists’ stable of subjects.

Forewarning:

Fasten your seat belt! Prepare not only to traverse three and a half millenniums 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.

Next post: ” A Mysterious Tease”

1. W. Ewing, Bible Hub, Atlas, Mt. Ebal, 2025, https://bibleatlas.org/mount_ebal.htm, paragraph 2. ↩︎
2. Id., paragraph 1. ↩︎