Rabbi
Rifat Sonsino, Ph.D
The
Hebrew Bible mentions a number of people who led the Israelites during their
peregrinations in the ancient Middle East. However, very few of these leaders are
mentioned in other ancient Near Eastern texts. For example, no contemporary
source, outside of the Bible, mentions Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, not even Moses or
Solomon. These individuals appear as great heroes in the biblical narrative to
whom miraculous feats were attributed. We can assume that they actually lived,
even if we are left only with a biblical testimony. How reliable is this? Not
much!
On the other hand, we do have a few texts
that come from the Hebrew Bible as well as other sources in the ancient Near
East. Based on this duplication, we can convincingly maintain that these
leaders did in fact existed. For example, the Mesha Stone (II K 3:4, 9th
cent. BCE), discovered in 1868 by F.A. Klein, a German missionary, and written
in Moabite, clearly mentions king Omri of Israel (I K, 16:15-28, c.876-869 BCE)
and the Israelite tribe of Gad. Similarly, the Annals of Shalmaneser III of
Assyria (858-824 BCE), written in Akkadian, know of “Ahab, king of Israel” (I K 16: 29-22:40; 869-850 BCE) as
well as “Jehu, son of Omri” of Israel (843/2-815 BCE) even though Jehu was not the son of Omri, nor
his descendant. He was the son of Jehoshaphat (II K 9: 2) and a military
commander who took over the kingdom in Israel.
We also have the Annals of Sennacherib (7th cent. BCE), written
in Akkadian, that refer to king “Hezekiah of Judah,” (II K 18: 1-20:21; 715-687/6
BCE). It is also most likely that “(Jeho)ram son of (Ahab), king of Israel”(II
K 8: 25; c.849-842 BCE) and “(Ahaz)iahu, son of (Jehoram)” of Judah (II K 8:
16; c.843/2 BCE) are mentioned in Tel Dan Inscription- the text is however corrupt. This monument was discovered by Avraham Biran
in 1993, and written in Aramaic, probably by Hazael, ruler of Syria (842-800
BCE). Preserved in 13 lines, it celebrates his military victory over Israel and
Judah.
What
about King David? Well, Tel Dan inscription, in line 9, does mention BYTDVD,
namely, “the house of David.” The implication is that if there was a “house of
David,” there must have been a David as well. This is as far as we can go.
Up
until now, it was claimed that even the Mesha Stone makes reference to “the house of David” in line 31. However, in a
recent article in the Biblical Archaeology Review of Spring 2023, the authors
M. Richelle and A. Burlingame have raised serious objections to this
identification. They say that “while the reading b(td)wd is not impossible,
it remains purely hypothetical” (p. 570). The original text is not clear.
Our
biblical text contains much legendary material that was transmitted orally for
many years before they were written down. Some of it is historical. Others are
not but we continue to be inspired by their message, most of it positive, even
if it is not always based on verifiable data.
SONSINO’S
BLOG, rsonsino.blogspot.com
