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Mesha Stele

YHWH Is Enthroned at Gad’s Temple: The Site of Moses’ Tomb

YHWH comes from the south to be enthroned by the tribes of Israel in Ashdot-hapisgah (Deuteronomy 33:2), a later name for the city of Nebo. The Mesha Stele documents the presence of a YHWH worship site, whose hieros logos is tied to the tomb of Moses, the “plot of the lawgiver” (v. 21) located in the territory of Gad.

Prof.

Alexander Rofé

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

Ataroth is an obscure Transjordanian city, referenced only twice in the Bible. Nevertheless, due to modern archaeological discoveries, it has become a central piece of evidence for reconstructing the history of the Moabite rebellion against Israel and King Mesha’s expansion of the Moabite kingdom described in both 2 Kings and the Mesha Stele.

Dr.

Adam L. Bean

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Prof.

Christopher A. Rollston

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The Settlement of Reuben and Gad: A Rhetorical Case for Transjordan as Part of the Promised Land

Moses misunderstands the request of the Gadites and Reubenites to settle in the Transjordan as a result of unwillingness to participate in the conquest of Canaan with the rest of the Israelites. Once he realizes that they do mean to fight, he accepts their request. The author of Numbers 32 creates a rhetorically rich argument that the Transjordan is part of the Promised Land—but not everyone was buying what this author was selling.

Dr.

Angela Roskop Erisman

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Dibon-Gad Between the Torah and the Mesha Stele

In the southern Transjordanian Mishor (plateau), an area that changed hands between Israelites and Moabites, there once lived two neighboring tribes, Gadites and Dibonites.

Prof.

Yigal Levin

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The Tribe of Gad and The Mesha Stele

Prof.

Aaron Koller

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When Did “Fire Go Forth from Heshbon”?

Contrary to the biblical account of the Israelite conquest and burning of Heshbon in Numbers 21, the archaeological remains of Tell Hesban (biblical Heshbon) demonstrate that it was not settled until centuries after the conquest and settlement period and not burned until over half a millennium later!

Dr.

Elizabeth Bloch-Smith

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North Israelite Memories of the Transjordan and the Mesha Inscription

The Mesha Inscription describes Omri’s conquest of the mishor in the Transjordan, and Moab’s subsequent (re)taking of it, in the 9th century B.C.E. Reading Numbers 21 in conversation with archaeological findings confirms much of this and offers us a glimpse at the history of this region before the Omride conquest.

Prof.

Israel Finkelstein

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Prof.

Thomas Römer

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War at Yahatz: The Torah Versus the Mesha Stele

A border dispute between Northern Israel and Moab is recorded independently in the Torah and the Mesha Stele. Comparing these accounts uncovers the underlying issues that the Torah is addressing.

Dr.

David Ben-Gad HaCohen

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Obliterating Cherem

The Torah describes a practice of declaring people cherem, which means that the person, and—in some cases—his family, would be annihilated, and his possessions donated to the Temple. The rabbis were unhappy with this law and used their homiletical approach to “obliterate” it.

Dr. Hacham

Isaac S. D. Sassoon

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