From WN

Researchers probing an ancient stone tablet believe it shows a biblical king was an actual historical figure, Newsweek reports.

King Balak of Moab, located in today’s Jordan, is mentioned in a passage of the Book of Numbers. In the biblical story, he asks the prophet Balaam to curse the people of Israel, as the Encyclopedia Britannica notes.

Archaeologists and historians researching the 9th century BCE Mesha Stele believe a line previously thought to read “House of David” could well refer to the biblical king. They describe their research in a paper published Wednesday in Tel Aviv: The Journal of the Institute of Archaeology of Tel Aviv University.

The stele, also known as the Moabite Stone, was erected by Mesha, another King of Moab. It describes various conflicts and conquests. Mesha, and some other figures mentioned on the stone, such as King Omri of Israel, also appear in the Bible, according to Britannica. Discovered in the 19th century, the 44-inch inscribed black basalt stone now sits in the Louvre Museum.

The stele “was one of, if not the, first artifacts discovered in the beginnings of modern archaeology in the 19th century CE that made some connection between the Bible and a record written by an external source,” Samuel Boyd, a professor of Jewish studies and religious studies at the University of Colorado, Boulder, who was not involved in the research, told Newsweek.

“Its discovery sparked major waves of archaeological research in the area and antiquities trading.” – Samuel Boyd

Although the stone has endured damage over the years, some of its text is still legible. Certain inscriptions are recorded in a reverse copy of the stele, according to a press release from academic publisher Taylor & Francis.

Researchers, including archaeologist Israel Finkelstein from Tel Aviv University, Israel, studied new photographs of the stone and the reverse copy to try to crack its ancient, eroded words.

Although parts of line 31 of the inscription — previously thought to refer to “House of David” — are eroded, the team think they’ve spotted three consonants, the first of which is the Hebrew letter “beth,” which sounds like “B.”

The team can’t be sure, but Finkelstein thinks it’s “very likely” the inscription refers to Balak.

“We are dealing with a name that has three characters, starting with a B. We know from the Bible that Balak was the king of Moab and that he ruled from a location in southern Moab — as described in the Stele,” he told Newsweek.

Outside of the Bible, and now, the stele, historians haven’t found any other mentions of Balak. Balaam, however, is mentioned in an ancient plaster inscription from Tell Deir Alla in Jordan, Finkelstein added.

WN.com, Jim Berrie

For more on this story and video go to: https://article.wn.com/view/2019/05/03/Archaeologists_Find_Evidence_Biblical_King_Was_Real_Person/