Restoring Line 31 in the Mesha Stele: The ‘House of David’ or Biblical Balak?

Abstract

After studying new photographs of the Mesha Stele and the squeeze of the stele prepared before the stone was broken, we dismiss Lemaire’s proposal to read (‘House of David’) on Line 31. It is now clear that there are three consonants in the name of the monarch mentioned there, and that the first is a beth. We cautiously propose that the name on Line 31 be read as Balak, the king of Moab referred to in the Balaam story in Numbers 22–24.

Keywords:

• Mesha Stele
• Mesha
• Moab
• Beth David
• Balak
• Horonaim
• Horon

Notes

1 This article is an outcome of a digital Hebrew Epigraphy project at Tel Aviv University, headed by Israel Finkelstein and Eli Piasetzky. The project received funding from the Israel Science Foundation F.I.R.S.T. (Bikura) Individual Grant no. 644/08 and the European Research Council under the European Community’s Seventh Framework Program (FP7/2007-2013)/ERC grant agreement no. 229418. The project has been supported by grants from Mr. Jacques Chahine, made through the French Friends of Tel Aviv University, and is currently also funded by the Israel Science Foundation Grant 2062/18.

2 Clermont-Ganneau (1887: 107) rejected the suggestion of Rudolph Smend and Albert Socin (1886: 12, 28-29) to render here (“son of Dedan and Dedan”).

3 We wish to thank Dr. Isabel Bonora Andújar and Dr. Eythan Levy for their help in providing us with the Louvre Museum's new photograph of the squeeze. This photograph is also published in the catalogue of the exhibition (Bonora Andújar 2018: 29).

4 For the hypothesis that ʿir was originally ʿAr, see Achenbach 2003: 406, especially n. 60.

5 The exact location of the city of Horonaim is debated (see, e.g., Schottroff 1966:190–208; Worschech and Knauf 1986: 80–85; Dearman 1989: 188–189, with earlier literature; Dearman 1992; Smelik 1992: 85–89; Na’aman 1997; Finkelstein and Römer 2016: 720–721, 723–724) and is not our concern here.

6 For recent discussions of biblical and historical Moab, see Finkelstein and Römer 2016; Na'aman 2018, with earlier literature.

7 Other possible restorations are

8 For the motif of lies and falsehood vis-à-vis truth and justice in the Assyrian royal inscriptions, see Oded 1992: 31–32, 46–50.