Ataroth and the Inscribed Altar: Who Won the War Between Moab and Israel?

A city (or cities) named Ataroth appears in the description of the borders of the territory of Ephraim (Josh 16:2, 7). The term “ataroth” also appears as part of a toponym, such as Ataroth Shofan in the Transjordan (Num 32:35), Ataroth Adar in the territory of Ephraim (Josh 16:5, 18:13), and Ataroth Beth-Joab in Judah (1 Chron 2:54). The term may mean “cattle pens” (see HALOT), and thus such toponyms would mean, “the cattle pens of X.”

For the editio princeps of the Khirbat Ataruz Inscriptions, see Adam L. Bean, Christopher A. Rollston, P. Kyle McCarter, and Stefan J. Wimmer, “An Inscribed Altar from the Khirbat Ataruz Moabite Sanctuary,” Levant 50 (2018): 211–236. The authors are very grateful to Chang-Ho Ji for his gracious invitation to publish these inscriptions. The research in this article has been generously supported by Johns Hopkins University, George Washington University, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. In addition, the authors are particularly grateful to the American Center of Oriental Research and the Albright Institute of Archaeological Research for facilitating the use of their libraries and residential facilities for the early portions of our research, collation, and photography of these inscriptions.

Of enduring usefulness with regard to the Mesha Stele is: Andrew Dearman (ed), Studies in the Mesha Inscription and Moab (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1989).

“Son” here could be referring either to Omri’s literal son Ahab, or perhaps to Omri’s grandson Jehoram, who came to the throne after the very brief reign of his brother Ahaziah.

Both the reading and meaning of this term have been heavily debated, but a majority view reads the word as ryt, indicating some kind of satiating offering to the deity based on possible cognates. See most recently: Aaron Schade, “RYT or HYT in Line 12 of the Mesha Inscription: A New Examination of the Stele and the Squeeze, and the Syntactic, Literary, and Cultic Implications of the Reading,” BASOR 378 (2017): 145–162.

The meaning of this compound term, likely referring to a cultic object, has been much debated and remains uncertain.

Editor’s note: For more discussions of the confluence and polemics between the Mesha inscription and the Bible regarding the tribe of Gad, see Aaron Koller, “The Tribe of Gad and the Mesha Stele,” TheTorah (2013); Yigal Levin, “Dibon-Gad: Between the Torah and the Mesha Stele,” TheTorah (2019). For other confluences and polemics between them, see David Ben-Gad HaCohen, “War at Yahatz: The Torah Versus the Mesha Stele,” TheTorah (2015); Israel Finkelstein and Thomas Römer, “North Israelite Memories of the Transjordan and the Mesha Inscription,” TheTorah (2018).

Chang-Ho Ji and Robert D. Bates, “Khirbat ʿAtaruz 2011-2012: A Preliminary Report,” Andrews University Seminary Studies 52.1 (2014): 47–91; Chang-Ho Ji, “The Early Iron Age II Temple at Ḫirbet ʿAtārūs and Its Architecture and Selected Cultic Objects,” in Temple Building and Temple Cult: Architecture and Cultic Paraphernalia of Temples in the Levant (2.-1. Mill. B.C.E.), ed. Jens Kamlah (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2012), 203–221; Chang-Ho Ji, “Khirbat ʿAtaruz: An interim Overview of the 10 Years of Archaeological Architectural findings,” Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan 55 (2011): 561–579.

Chang-Ho Ji, “A Moabite Sanctuary at Khirbat Ataruz, Jordan: Stratigraphy, Findings, and Archaeological Implications,” Levant 50 (2018): 173–210; Adam L. Bean, Christopher A. Rollston, P. Kyle McCarter, and Stefan J. Wimmer, “An Inscribed Altar from the Khirbat Ataruz Moabite Sanctuary,” Levant 50 (2018): 211–236.

For this view, see Joseph Naveh, Early History of the Alphabet, 2^nd ed. (Jerusalem: Magnes, 1987), 65-66; Christopher A. Rollston, Writing and Literacy in the World of Ancient Israel: Epigraphic Evidence from the Iron Age (Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2010), 42, 52-54.

Regarding the Omrides, the 9^th century B.C.E., and Moab, see Israel Finkelstein and Oded Lipschits, “Omride Architecture in Moab: Jahaz and Ataroth,” ZDPV 126 (2010): 29-42, especially 35 (with reference to the excavations at Ataruz). For a broader discussion, see also Israel Finkelstein and Oded Lipschits, “The Genesis of Moab: A Proposal,” Levant 43 (2011): 139-152 [148–150].

Paul E. Dion, and Michelle Daviau, “An Inscribed Incense Altar of Iron Age II at Ḫirbet el-Mudeyine (Jordan),” ZDPV 116 (2000): 1-13. Dion and Daviau proposed a date of ca. 800 BCE. Rollston, Writing and Literacy in the World of Ancient Israel (p. 63) dates the Mudeyine Altar inscription to the first half of the 8^th century BCE, thus, slightly later than the Ataruz Altar inscriptions.

The authors of this article are especially indebted to Stefan Wimmer for his work on the hieratic numerals of the Ataruz Altar Inscription. For further discussion on the use of Hieratic (especially the numerals) in the southern Levant, see in particularly Stefan Wimmer, Palästinisches Hieratisch: Die Zahl- und Sonderzeichen in der althebräischen Schrift, Ägypten und Altes Testament 75 (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2008). Moreover, the authors of this article are also very grateful to P. Kyle McCarter for discussing numerous and sundry aspects of the Ataruz inscriptions with us.

This noun also has cognates in the Hebrew קִרְיָה, Phoenician qrt (reflected in the name of the city Carthage), and several Aramaic forms of the same noun.

Questions remain about each of these readings, as detailed in the editio princeps of the Ataruz Inscribed Altar.

The verse is unclear about this. Is it a divine wrath from the Israelite god YHWH, or the Moabite god, Kemosh? Or does it have some other meaning?

Editor’s note: For a discussion of this act in the context of other biblical passages about child sacrifice, see Samuel Z. Glaser, “Biblical and Greek Ambivalence Towards Child Sacrifice,” TheTorah (2016).