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  • Whoa!

    Whoa!

    History IV

    [Ebal, ten of thirty]

    Abruptly, now our plot twists.

    Let's-reconsider-this!

    Let’s reconsider this!

    Photo by Patricia Contreras on Pexels.com

    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.

    This is the tenth post of my memorandum, maintaining that the proposed Joshua’s Altar and the Mt. Ebal Curse Tablet deserve a chance to prove what they might be. It is also the fourth of ten posts detailing the history of the altar and the tablet.

    If you wish to read the work from its beginning, click here.

    Otherwise, continue below.

    This part of our story starts with Stripling obtaining a permit to re-sift Zertal’s Mt. Ebal’s dump piles. 3 Such had lain dormant since well before Zertal’s death.

    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 archaeologists miss by only dry sifting.5

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

    Stripling, nonetheless, found a workaround..

    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. They followed this with wet sifting. 7

    By combining standard dry sifting with a more modern and refined wet sifting technique, Stripling expected to find little more than mundane archaeological objects. He figured on finding additional bullae, scarabs, or diagnostic pottery fragments. Archaeological pay dirt he did not anticipate.

    Yet, the team’s wet-sifting expert, Frankie Snyder, discovered in her tray an object 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

    Glad-that-was-just-my-hat!

    Glad that was just my hat!

    chjpdmf0zs9sci9pbwfnzxmvd2vic2l0zs8ymdi0ltayl
    2xyl3djdtd2ytdwd2otaw1hz2uuanbn.webp

    Eventually, nevertheless, they did!

    Now, a question: From explorations around a creek or mud hole as a kid, are you surprised that archaeologists came so late to the value of wet sifting?

    Let me know in the comment section below.

    Thank you for engaging this topic with me thus far!

    Our next post, the fifth of our review of Curse Tablet history, I entitle: “A Defixio?”

    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. Such is really encouraging!

    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) ↩︎
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  • A Defixio?

    A Defixio?

    History V

    [Ebal, eleven of thirty]

    What landed in Snyder’s tray she quickly identified as a defixio, an ancient curse tablet.1

    This is the eleventh post of my memorandum, maintaining that the proposed Joshua’s Altar and the Mt. Ebal Curse Tablet deserve a chance to prove what they might be. It is also the fifth of ten posts detailing the history of the altar and the tablet.

    If you wish to read the entire work from its beginning, click here.

    Otherwise, continue below.

    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 relatively common archaeological finds.2

    Nevertheless, they also recognized the irony of finding one on Deuteronomy’s “Mountain of Curses.”

    Stripling immediately recognized that at this site a defixio posed a problem. Zertal had dated the altar site from 1400 to 1250 B.C. This he had concluded from careful pottery analysis. Contrarily, Stripling knew that defixios commonly dated to the Greek and Roman eras, primarily fourth and third centuries B. C. forward. A defixio seemed inappropriate by around a millennium.3

    He, however, was aware of a possible precedent.

    The Book of Job speaks of Job’s desire to write on lead with an iron pen (Job 19:24).

    That book many scholars peg as the oldest biblical text. One reason is that it does not allude to the Law of Moses.4


    Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

    Maybe the defixio concept sprang from that or a similar exceedingly ancient tradition.

    Might other clues provide insights about this enigma? Find out in my next post.

    Some questions: What was your earliest encounter with the idea of a defixio? What was the context?

    Let me know below in “comments”.

    Thank you for engaging this topic with me thus far!

    The next post, the sixth of our review of the Curse Tablet’s history, I entitle: “An Inscription!”

    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. Such is a real encouragement!

    Next post: “An Inscription!“

    1. Associates for Biblical Research, “ABR Researchers Discover the Oldest Known Proto-Hebrew Inscription Ever Found”, biblicarchaeology.org/ current-events-list/, Youtube, (06:24), March 24, 2022. ↩︎
    2. Sean McDowell, Oldest Hebrew Writing? Mt. Ebal Curse Tablet (Revisited) m.youtube.com>watch, (42:34-43:44), 11 May 2023; and
      Associates for Biblical Research, “ABR Researchers Discover the Oldest Known Proto-Hebrew Inscription Ever Found:, biblicarchaeology.org/current-events-list/, Youtube, (11:40; 19:25), March 24, 2022. ↩︎
    3. Breaking News “Mt Ebal Curse Tablet Peer Review Complete”, Appian Media, In Roads, youtube.com/watch?v=_15tYO4hqJS, (26:08), May 12, 2023. ↩︎
    4. Id. (10:30). ↩︎
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  • An Inscription!

    An Inscription!

    History VI

    [Ebal, twelve of thirty]

    Although Stripling realized that glyphs adorned the tablet’s outside, he was most intrigued by what may lie within. There, as with other defixios, someone likely inscribed a curse.

    This is the twelfth post of my memorandum, maintaining that the proposed Joshua’s Altar and the Mt. Ebal Curse Tablet deserve a chance to prove what they might be. It is also the sixth of ten posts detailing the history of the altar and the tablet.

    If you wish to read the entire work from its beginning, click here.

    Otherwise, continue below.

    Usually, this curse was of a trivial nature, often something like, “She stole my boyfriend, may all of her hair fall out!”1

    Stripling and a colleague, therefore, gingerly attempted to open it. The lead of one corner, brittle with age, however, crumbled. Further efforts, they thus ceased.

    Fortunately, the Hebrew University in Tel Aviv successfully analyzed the lead. The determination was that the lead originated from a mine in Lavrion, Greece.2

    About that mine, historians and archaeologists accept a position. They have concluded that it exported its lead to the Middle East from before the Late Bronze Age well into Roman times.

    Here a curious historical anomaly deserves consideration.

    In the Mediterranean world around the 12th century B. C., a dark age ensued. Then, Late Bronze Age civilizations mysteriously imploded. Ancient exports plunged. Ostensibly, European / Asian economic and cultural sophistication wilted. Among those civilizations affected were the Hittite, Ugarite, Minoan, Mycenaean, Trojan, and Babylonian.3 A definitive explanation for why scholars have yet to definitively determine. 4


    Mycenaean Sieve Jug Painter 20

    J. Paul Getty Museum
    Licensed under CC-CC0 1.0
    Lion-Gate-of-Hattusa,-Turkey

    Lion Gate of Hattusa, the Capital of the Hittites

    Bogazkale, Turkey

    Photo by u00f6zhan Hazu0131rlar on Pexels.com
    Knossos-Palace,-Crete

    Knossos in modern Crete, a leading cultural center of the ancient Minoans

    Photo by Luo on Pexels.com
    Minoan fresco

    Minoan bull fresco in Knossos Palace, Crete, Greece

    Photo by Gu Bra on Pexels.com

    From this understanding, Stripling deduced a probability.

    He proposed that likely someone imported the lead tablet in the thirteenth, fourteenth, or earlier centuries B. C. Zertal dated pottery at the site between 1250 B. C. and 1400 B. C. Given the twelfth century’s mysterious economic and cultural collapse, someone, he surmised, likely imported the lead tablet in previous centuries, namely, before the ancient dark age of 1200 to 1150 B. C.

    The metallurgical analysis, therefore, strengthened Stripling’s idea about the tablet’s date. This was not concrete. Yet, likely, the defixio dates from the early late Bronze Age.

    Nevertheless, Stripling perceived that he had exhausted the tablet’s plausible investigative analysis. It was time for greater focus on his many other administrative, scholarly, and archaeological pursuits.

    Thinking thus, he sent an email to a colleague attaching a tablet photo. Subsequently, in archaeological circles, this began to circulate.

    Then, afterwards, an unexpected opportunity for further investigation materialized.

    Stripling read about a technological advancement. The ability to peer into lead to discern written content had been demonstrated. Also, he learned that the Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics in Telč (Czech Republic) excelled at the process.

    Arrangements were made. Israeli authorities gave a colleague a license to courier the “defixio” to Prague.5

    Prague

    Prague

    Photo by Eduardo Ortiz on Pexels.com

    Time passed. The Institute at Telč, 152 km from the capital, finished its analysis and forwarded the results, scientific and epigraphical.

    Amazingly, the Telč team indeed perceived something within. An epigraphic expert there suggested proto-alphabetic letters, that is, ancient letters representing 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 Late Bronze Age or Early Iron Age I, that is, from as early as 1400 to as late as 1250 B.C.6

    Why? Such was the epigraphically and archaeologically accepted period for the use of proto-alphabetic script.

    No longer did the tablet present an anachronistic dilemma. It now definitively matched Zertal’s pottery dates.

    What else could this new evidence portend?

    I probe this further in my next post!

    But now some questions: What do you think likely caused the Late Bronze Age civilizational collapse? In Mark Twain’s parlance, how might that rhyme with subsequent history? How might it rhyme in the future?

    Let me know in the comments below.

    Thank you for engaging this topic with me thus far!

    The next post, the seventh of our review of the Curse Tablet’s history, I entitle: “Staking a Claim”.

    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. Such is a real encouragement!

    Next post: “Staking a Claim”

    1. Sean McDowell, Oldest Hebrew Writing? Mt. Ebal Curse Tablet (Revisited) m.youtube.com>watch, (8:51), 11 May 2023. ↩︎
    2. Special Update: The Mount Ebal Curse Tablet (Ep1 of 3), Youtube: Patterns of Evidence, youtube.com/watch?v=YX3TH_nfgLo, Episode One at (26:12), May 21, 2024. ↩︎
    3. Stan Guthrie, “The Book of Joshua and the Late Bronze Age Collapse”, https://www.newcovenantnaperville.org/the-book-of-joshua-and-the-late-bronze-age-collapse, 02 Jan. 2025 ↩︎
    4. Matti Friedman, “An Archaeological Dig reignites the Debate Over the Old Testament’s Historical Accuracy”, mattiefriedman.com, paragraph 21. December 12, 2021. ↩︎
    5. Breaking News “Mt Ebal Curse Tablet Peer Review Complete”, Appian Media, In Roads, youtube.com/watch?v=_15tYO4hqJS, (27:30), May 12, 2023. ↩︎
    6. Id., (06:40). ↩︎
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  • Staking a Claim

    Staking a Claim

    History VII

    [Ebal, thirteen of thirty]

    The Czech Institute’s data continued to prove a font of revelation.

    From the tomographic scans, Stripling’s epigraphers quickly discerned not just letters, but words.

    This is my thirteenth post asserting that the proposed Joshua’s Altar and the Mt. Ebal Curse Tablet deserve a chance to prove what they might be. To start the journey from its beginning, click here. Otherwise, continue below.

    These tomographic words included “Yahweh” and “cursed”, both apparently recalling Joshua’s ceremony of blessings and curses on Mt. Gerizim and Mt. Ebal. Additionally, Dr. Gershon Galil of the University of Haifa decoded a sophisticated parallelism, a chiasmus.

    This literary device is found throughout the Old and New Testaments. Consider, for example, Luke 4:16b-20 “The Favorable Year of the Lord”. Note below the parallel and inverse wordings with 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


    Christ Preaching / Healing

    National Gallery of Art
    Licensed under CC-CC0 1.0
    Recovery-of-sight-to-the-blind

    Recovery of sight to the blind

    How could Stripling be anything but gobsmacked?

    Nevertheless, as a professional, he was certainly aware that a find of this magnitude required cautious, meticulous handling.

    He was a renowned archaeologist with decades of Holy Land field experience at preeminent sites.

    The profound nature of this find earmarked it. Surely it would cause an immense stir. On multiple levels, intense international scrutiny lay on the horizon journalistically, scholarly, and politically.

    This needed to be handled right!

    Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

    But life threw Stripling a curveball, mandating a different approach.

    Concurrently, speculation circulated about the tablet photo that Stripling had earlier emailed to an associate. Forwarded recipients began generating noise online. Some pondered the outer tablet’s glyphs. Could they be some sort of script?

    Alarmed that others might lay academic claim to the tablet’s message, Stripling deemed it necessary to go public quickly. Otherwise, he risked forfeiting his scholarly claim to being the lead archaeologist 2 of the discovering archaeological team.

    A press conference ensued in March 2022. At it, Stripling and his team announced the following:

    • The lead defixio found by his team contained archaic proto-alphabetic script;
    • From around forty letters present, the Hebrew name for God appears twice and the word “cursed” ten times;
    • The tablet’s late Bronze Age dating makes it two to four hundred years older than any other known Hebrew text.
    • A possible reading is of a chiasmus, a literary form employed extensively in both the Old and New Testaments.
    • That proposed reading was:

    Cursed, cursed, cursed-cursed by the God YHW
    You will die cursed.
    Cursed you will surely die.
    Cursed by YHW-cursed, cursed, cursed!

    (Mt. Ebal “Curse Tablet” Full Press Conference, YouTube, Appian Media, March 29, 2022)

    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 for a question: What is your favorite chiasmus, scriptural or otherwise?

    Thank you for engaging this topic with me thus far!

    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. Such is really encouraging!

    Next post: “A Firestorm!”

    1. L. J. Hooge, “The Favorable Year of the Lord”, Biblical Chiasmus, Discovering and Exploring Reverse Parallelism in the Bible, https://biblicalchiasmus.wordpress.com/2014/08/03/luke-416b-20-the-favorable-year-of-the-lord/, August 3, 2014, ↩︎
    2. Breaking News “Mt. Ebal Curse Tablet Peer Review Complete”, Appian Media, In Roads, youtube.com/watch?v=_15tYO4hqJS, (20:39), May 12, 2023. ↩︎
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  • A Firestorm!

    A Firestorm!

    History VIII

    [Ebal, fourteen of thirty]

    Why the intense scorn about Stripling’s early pronouncement about the Mount Ebal Curse Tablet?

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

    This post is part of my memorandum opposing many scholar’s position on the Mount Ebal Curse Tablet, that is, that it presents nothing worthy of note. Instead, I maintain that the tablet presents sufficient evidence to warrant posthaste excavation of the proposed Joshua’s Altar of northern Judea / Samaria.

    This is my memorandum’s fourteenth post.

    If you would like to read the entire effort from beginning to conclusion, click here.

    Otherwise, proceed below.

    Regarding this infraction Stripling explained that he had feared losing his intellectual stake in his find. He thus felt compelled, despite protocol, to release publicly what he perceived about his artifact’s nature.

    Unfortunately, this happened in the wake of another biblical archaeology embarrassment, one that heightened sensitivity about scholarly procedures.1

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

    Tomb-of-Darius-the-Great

    The tomb of Darius the Great (550 B.C. to 486 B.C.) at Naqsh-e-Rustam
    The site lies northwest of ancient Persepolis, 30 miles (50 km) northeast of modern Shiraz, Iran.

    Photo by Nursel Kaya on Pexels.com
    Ruins-of-Persepolis

    Ruins of Persepolis, a city founded by Darius the Great

    Photo by Masih Shahbazi on Pexels.com

    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.

    Mortification ensued across prestigious academic communities.

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

    At him many scholars were outraged. He had prematurely 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!

    Time now for some questions: Do you think the protocol of not releasing information about an archaeological find until after peer review is good public policy? Why or why not?

    Let me know below in “comments”.

    Thank you for engaging this topic with me thus far!

    The next post, the ninth of our review of the Curse Tablet’s history, I entitle “Peer Review”.

    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. Such really encourages!

    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. ↩︎
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  • Peer Review

    Peer Review

    History IX

    [Ebal, fifteen of thirty]

    Despite the brouhaha about his Mt. Ebal Curse Tablet press conference, Stripling pressed on.

    The next step was to compile the data–archaeological, digital, photographic, and epigraphic into a paper and then submit that to a peer review journal.

    This post is part of my memorandum opposing some views of scholars such as Dr. Aren Maeir. This Bar-Ilan University archaeological professor, as others, declares that the Mt. Ebal Curse Tablet bears no discernible script. Instead, I maintain that it presents sufficient written evidence to warrant posthaste excavation of its discovery site, the proposed Joshua’s Altar of northern Judea / Samaria.

    This is the fifteenth post of my memorandum.

    To read my entire effort from beginning to conclusion, click here.

    Otherwise, proceed below.

    Which journal did Stripling petition?

    He chose Heritage Science. Why? He wanted one esteemed especially by the scientific community. Interpretation of this archaeological find required complex computer and tomographic analysis in addition to archaeological and epigraphic expertise. A respected scientific journal he felt most appropriate.1

    After Stripling’s team submitted their completed paper, the journal approached three specialist. These it determined possessed appropriate backgrounds to evaluating the material.

    The three then assessed the presentation’s credibility, identified where it needed strengthening, and determined questions that needed answering, etc.

    Eventually, Stripling received the reviewers’ initial verdicts.

    Two of these gave glowing approval. The other reflected considerable disdain and, in fact, vaguely suggested possible criminality.

    All three, however, praised the quality of the writing and scholarship. They all had numerous questions and requests for modifications or clarifications–in total seventy-two.

    To these Stripling and his team responded.

    Afterwards, the glowing remarks from the two previously favorable reviewers continued. They highly recommended that the journal publish the edited paper.

    After receiving the Stripling team’s responses, the negativity of the dissenting panel member softened markedly. Likely this resulted from legal clarifications regarding documents from relevant authorities–Palestinian and Israeli. He or she, in fact, in the end recommended the paper’s publication. All three reviewers assessed the paper as warranting further examination by the scholarly community.2

    (As an aside, Heritage Science has not released, as of this writing, the names of the peer reviewers they assigned.)

    The journal decided to publish the Stripling team’s article.

    That publication I will soon examine.

    In the next post, however, I want to put events of these days into some perspective. Following that, I will return to Stripling’s published article.

    Here is a question: Many archaeologist claim that their primary goal is not excavation, but publication. Why might they say this?

    Let me know below in “comments”.

    Thank you for engaging this topic with me thus far!

    The next post, the tenth of our review of the Curse Tablet’s history, I entitle: “Troubled Waters”.

    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. Such really encourages!

    Photo by Ketut Subiyanto on Pexels.com

    Next post: “Troubled Waters”

    1. Melainie Kidman, Academic article on controversial 3,200-year old ‘curse tablet’ fails to sway experts, The Times of Israel, 14 May 2023, paragraphs 3 and 5, https://www.timesofisrael.com/academic-article-on-controversial-3200-year-old-curse-tablet-fails-to-sway-experts/, (7 October 2024). ↩︎
    2. Id., paragraph 5. ↩︎
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  • Troubled Waters

    Troubled Waters

    History X

    [Ebal, 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?

    People were elated, some disappointed, others disgusted.

    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 from the finding of the tablet through and beyond publication.

    Of these, three particularly warrant recounting.

    This is the sixteenth post of my memorandum opposing the views of scholars such as Professor Amihai Mazar. This retired Hebrew University, Jerusalem archaeologist declares that the Mt. Ebal Curse Tablet is not a tablet but merely a fishing weight. Instead, I maintain that the tablet displays sufficient written evidence to not only warrant its present Curse Tablet designation. Further, it justifies posthaste excavation of its discovery site, the proposed Joshua’s Altar in northern Judea / Samaria.

    To read my memorandum from the beginning, click here.

    Otherwise, proceed 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 Museum of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) displays this December 12, 2019 log 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.”

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

    Local Perils

    On January 24, 2023 JNS, Jewish News Syndicate, reported this protest by the Israel Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant:

    “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 statement he issued in response to a Palestinian news report about 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.”

    Events past and present underscored the necessity of Gallant’s manifesto.These include:

    • In 2021, a Palestinian road crew damaged the outer “footprint” enclosing the Ebal altar.
    • During the last two decades, alarming incidents occurred in Nablus. This included the alleged tomb of Joseph, son of Jacob, venerated by Jews and Christians, being defaced, fire bombed, and otherwise purposely damaged. (Note that the actual location of Joseph’s tomb near ancient Shechem is a matter of speculation rather than exact historical or archaeological evidence.)
    • Resultantly, heavily armed military units started escorting pilgrims to the area. This began after the Oslo Accords designated the region as “Area B”, one under the dual authority of the Palestinian civil government and the Israeli military.

    From this last bullet, one can readily perceive what might be the sentiments among some locals. Especially aggrieved would be descendants who have resided in the region for generations.

    Of what these Israeli military escorts consist, I cannot relate. Of what, however, an American equivalent would consist, I can envision. Vehicles arrive armed with 50 caliber machine guns, 240 Bravos, 249 SAWS, or equivalent menacing weaponry. Infantrymen clad in full armor climb to elevated positions with M4 rifles equipped with zeroed mechanical and electronic sights. A defensive cordon restricts unvetted civilians from entering the area.

    If some power not representing me executed such near my home, I can well imagine the caustic feelings that would swirl within!

    On the other hand, one can also perceive the necessity of these escort measures.

    The bottom line is this: Embitterment among some locals must factor in when evaluating the security of the Mt. Ebal altar.

    October 7, 2023

    During my life, little, if anything, equates the ghastly evil of Hamas’s cowardly massacre of innocents on this date.

    Photo by Pavel Danilyuk on Pexels.com

    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 questions are whether war crimes have been perpetrated. World authorities appropriately should evaluate what lands fair and foul. Later, individual soldiers, units, and leaders, where appropriate, should be held accountable.

    Nevertheless, while there can be no excuse for violations of the law of war, one should not forget the horror which initially 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.

    All of this having been 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 when you first heard of a pathogen of grave concern emanating from China? At the time, were you aware that in 1918 a similar flu emanated likely from near Ft Riley, Kansas, one that speedily killed between twenty and a hundred million people worldwide, one that arguably hastened the end of World War I and figured into the tensions leading to World War II?

    Let me know below in “comments”.

    Thank you for engaging this topic with me thus far!

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

    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. Such is really encouraging!

    Next post: “Stripling’s Article”

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  • Stripling’s Article

    Stripling’s Article

    Photo Study I

    [Ebal, seventeen of thirty]

    Heritage Science finally published its article about the Mt. Ebal Curse Tablet on 12 May 2023. Since Stripling’s press conference, twelve months had passed; since the tablet’s discovery, three and a half years.

    Much of the world, of course, breathlessly anticipated one feature.



    Photo by Annushka Ahuja on Pexels.com

    Likely, you also think, “Show us the photos, please!”

    Before I turn to those, however, there are four important observations to make.

    This post is part of my memorandum opposing specific views of scholars such as Professor Christopher Rollston. This esteemed epigraphist of George Washington University declares that the Mt. Ebal Curse Tablet bears no discernible script. Instead, I maintain that it presents compelling written evidence. This, in turn, is sufficient to warrant posthaste excavation of the proposed Joshua’s Altar, the discovery site of the Curse Tablet.

    This is the seventeenth post of my memorandum.

    To read my entire effort from the beginning, click here.

    Otherwise, proceed below

    Observation One

    The article’s conclusion states the core of the Stripling team’s argument about the Curse Tablet. With it, they assault the documentary hypothesis.


    Licensed under CC-CC0 1.0

    The article’s body states facts and ideas considered. Only with the conclusion, however, does Stripling dig in his boots. There, he states what about the tablet potentially belies the idea that Moses could not have authored the Torah.

    The article, for example, credits team member Professor Gershon Galil, Director of the Institute of Biblical and Ancient History at the University of Haifa, with deciphering most of the tablet’s interior face. Gallil’s premises the article elucidates. It cites his increased letter count from the forty declared at the press conference to the forty-eight at publication. Consequently, it also acknowledges his slightly modified chiasmus interpretation.

    Yet, note this crucial point: The article’s conclusion leaves many, if not most, of Galil’s premises orphaned. In other words, its conclusion does not specifically embrace these premises. His accounting of the number of inner tablet letters it neither adopts nor rejects. The same applies to his full chiasmus interpretation.

    Instead, it concludes that the tablet’s inscription challenges history for truncated reasons. Those include:

    • The tablet displays in proto-alphabetic script the word “YHW”, the name of the Hebrew God;
    • From this we know that a Hebrew inscribed the tablet sometime before 1250 B. C.;
    • Additionally, the tablet contains the word “ARWR” or “cursed”;
    • These tablet words recall events described in Deuteronomy and The Book of Joshua;
    • Resultantly, this artifact challenges the historical paradigm.1

    The note immediately following the conclusion is telling. It addresses Galil’s allegiance to his premises. It announces that, in effect, he desires to “plant his intellectual flag” on those.2

    A more conservative approach, however, Stripling adopted.

    Following publication, note that Galil and Stripling amicably ended their team affiliation.

    What are the consequences for our study?

    For us, Stripling has simplified our original question, “Is there anything to see here?”

    Stripling’s team answers with a resounding, “Yes, see the two words on the inside of this artifact–the ancient Hebrew equivalents of ‘cursed’ and ‘Yahweh’”. “They alone with the tablet’s ambiance challenge world history!”

    Consequently, that makes our photo study easier.

    From Stripling’s perspective, we can focus primarily on photos relevant to two words. The other words of Galil’s chiasmus, while important for conjecture, are not crucial to Stripling’s conclusion.

    Observation Two

    Our purpose is not only to review the Stripling article and its photos. We also seek to study an article that attempts to refute Stripling’s case.

    That article considers the alleged Hebrew words for “cursed” and “Yahweh”.

    Additionally, it makes relevant arguments involving two individual tablet characters and the Hebrew word for “You will die!” I also include these in our study.

    Observation Three

    In the proto-alphabetic era, writing at times traced a boustrophedon path. Then there was no standardized script. Instead, letters tracked as oxen plow. They followed left to right, up to down, diagonally, etc. Consider, for example, how an inexperienced pre-teen might push a lawnmower over your yard, or someone older, inebriated.

    Photo by Mehmet Turgut Kirkgoz on Pexels.com

    Observation Four

    Many of these inscriptions are very small. How small? Some could fit inside a wedding band or even on the side of a penny.

    Such concludes my pre-photo study observations.

    Some-tablet-letters-would-fit inside-a-wedding-band

    A wedding band could house tablet letters.

    Photo by Ku00e1ssia Melo on Pexels.com

    Photos!

    Ready now for some tomographic scans?

    “Cursed! “, our next post declares.

    Still ready?

    Until then, here are some questions: What aspects of early writing likely took the longest to standardize? Who most likely prompted or enforced such standardizations?

    Let me know below in “comments”.

    Thank you for engaging this topic with me thus far!

    The next post examines an “ARWR” scan.

    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. Such is a great encouragement!

    Next post: “ARWR,” Cursed!

    1. Stripling, S., Galil, G., Kumpova, I. et al. “You are Cursed by the God YHW:” an early Hebrew inscription from Mt. Ebal. Herit Sci 11, 105 (2023), paragraph 71. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40494-023-00920-9 ↩︎
    2. Id. at paragraph 72. ↩︎
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  • “ARWR,” CURSED!

    “ARWR,” CURSED!

    Photo Study II

    [Ebal, eighteen of thirty]

    Our photo study of the Mt. Ebal Curse Tablet begins.

    From tomographic scans revealing inside the tablet, we first assess the presence of an intimidating word, namely, “ARWR” or “cursed”. This is one of the two words fundamental to Stripling’s conclusions in his Heritage Science article.

    This is my eighteenth post advocating that the proposed Joshua’s Altar and the Mt. Ebal Curse Tablet deserve a chance to prove what they might be. To start the journey from its beginning, click here. Otherwise, drive on.

    “ARWR” Gershon Galil identified six times on the tablet’s inner face. Of these six, we will, for brevity, focus on only one.

    (Afterwards, click on underscored items to access referenced material.)

    Figure 7 of Stripling’s article shows Galil’s drawings of the tablet’s inner symbols.

    You see our word on the right, the annotated drawing. It is numbers 25 through 28.

    Galil alleges that”ARWR’s” proto-alphabetic spelling Galil would have been: “Aleph”; “Resh”; “Wah”; and “Resh”.

    Here is what those characters look like:


    “Aleph”

    Photo by Steward Masweneng on Pexels.com
    "Resh" with a tail resembles a kite

    “‘Resh” with a tail resembles a kite..

    by Nilo Velez is licensed under CC-CC0 1.0
    • “Aleph” looks like an ox’s skull;
    • “Resh” often resembles a rhombus. Sometimes, though, it has a tail, making it resemble a kite.
    • “Waw” and “Resh” can be easily confused. But “Waw” replicates a mace, an ancient weapon consisting of a heavy object fastened to a handle used to bash an enemy’s skull, bones, and armor.

    Warrior armed with a mace, the symbol for “Waw”

    Photo by MikeGz on Pexels.com

    Tables 2 through 9 of Stripling’s article show tomographic scans of all of the tablet’s inner face letters. Adjacent to each is the Stripling team’s replicating drawing.

    To study our “ARWR” do as follows:

    Importantly, note this about the photos and drawings of Tables 2-9. These mirror the drawings of Figure 7. In other words, one must be viewed in a mirror to correspond with the other’s alignment. Otherwise, they appear backwards.

    Now see Table 10. It reveals several photos of the tablet’s “Outer B”, that is, the tablet’s bottom.

    Photo # 8 of Table 10 shows a protrusion. Stripling’s team identifies this as the negative of our first “Resh”-Figure 7 #26 and Table 8 (2a and b).

    Do you agree?

    Note that the photo of our “resh” slants right and the photo of the negative slants left. Is this what one would expect of a negative?

    This concludes my presentation regarding our first word, “ARWR”/”Cursed”.

    Surely you found it easy enough.

    Nevertheless, ponder this post closely.

    Read it several times while also viewing the linked photos and drawings. Let all of it sink in!

    Here is another question: How well do you think the Stripling team’s drawings reflect corresponding tomographic scans of our “ARWR”?

    Let me know below in “comments”.

    Thank you for engaging this topic with me!

    In our next post, we turn to the supreme name, that of the Hebrew God.

    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. Such is really encouraging!

    Next post: “YHW,” Yahweh

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  • “YHW,” Yahweh

    “YHW,” Yahweh

    Photo Study III

    [Ebal, nineteen of thirty]

    “ARWR”, that is, “cursed,” I reviewed in my last post.

    I turn now to the divine name–“Yahweh”.

    This is my nineteenth post urging that the proposed Joshua’s Altar and the Mt. Ebal Curse Tablet deserve a chance to prove what they might be. To start the journey from its beginning, click here. Otherwise, proceed on.

    Galil alleges that this sacred name appears twice inside the tablet.

    For simplicity, I discuss only one of those here. That one I call “Upper Yahweh” simply because it lies near the top of the tablet.

    Galil’s annotated Table 7 drawing labels it as #’s: 11, 12, and 13.

    The phonetic spelling is thus “Yod,” “He,” “Waw”.

    M- beach-towel's-Egyptian-hieroglyphic-immulates-proto-alphabetic-"Yod".

    My beach towel’s Egyptian hieroglyphic immulates proto-alphabetic “Yod”.
    Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

    Here is what they look like:

    The photos of “He”, Figure 7’s #12 at Table 3, (1a & b), and “Waw”, Figure 7’s #13 at Table 4 (1a & b), are distinct.

    “Yod”, Figure 7’s #11 at Table 5 (1a & b), however, is faint.

    Other views include:

    • Stripling’s Figure 4 showing:
      • The hand lies under the hips of “Heh”;
      • The thumb is under and intertwined with “Taw”;
      • The wrist and forearm run below the left leg of “Heh”; and
      • The upper arm extends at a right angle from “Heh’s” left ankle.
    • Haughwout’s Figure 5 gives a mirrored view.

    Importantly, study Table 10, photo # 3. The Stripling team argues that this depicts the bottom bulge of this “Yod”.

    Do you agree?

    If you do, this has major consequences–ones to which even Haughwout, the sceptic, agrees. It is this: mirror bulges on the bottom reflect something actually existing on the inner surface of the tablet. The object does not result from a photographic lighting or shading issue. It also nullifies the object resulting from a computer glitch.

    That finishes my review of the two words which Stripling declares compel his conclusions–“ARWR” and “YHW.”

    What did I tell you? That was not hard.

    However, again, read these sections a couple of times. Let the photos really sink in.

    With the following post, I complete an initial dive into the tablet’s photos. There, I look at a word and two other letters relevant to Haughwout’s arguments.

    Later, however, I delve deeper into the words and symbols mentioned above. This I do as I evaluate a scholarly skeptic’s views.

    Thank you for engaging this topic with me thus far!

    Our next post examines the tablet’s alleged word “TMT”, meaning “You Will Die!”

    Join me 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. Such is really encouraging!

    Next post: “You Will Die!”

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