Dead Men Tell Tales

by Harry Rimmer

Plate 16

Ancient boundary markers

On the monolith of Shalmaneser the record begun on this stele is further continued. This battle, according to Shalmaneser’s chronology, would be about 854 B. C. This Benhadad is known on the Assyrian monuments variously by the names of Hadad-ezer and Hadad-idri. He is authenticated by the finest type of historical proof that the most carping critic could demand. Incidentally, Benhadad is one of the forty-seven kings mentioned in our preliminary remarks, who were supposed to be legendary characters, until archeology called them forth from the dead to testify in their own behalf.

Ahab was one of the most industrious builders who ever occupied the throne of Israel. Although he lacked the resources of Solomon, there are a number of records in the Scripture that shed light upon his architectural interests. In I Kings 22:39 all of this activity is summarized in their brief epitome:

Now the rest of the acts of Ahab and all that he did, and the ivory house which he made, and all the cities that he built, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.

The hill of Samaria, which Omri had purchased, passed by inheritance to Ahab. The ivory palace that is mentioned in I Kings 22:39 was built on this site. Solomon may have had his throne of ivory, but Ahab improved upon that idea, as this text seems to imply. This summer palace which he built for himself and Jezebel on the crest of the hill of Samaria has been the scene of recent expeditions. A great deal of archeological industry has been expended in reconstructing the beauty and marvel of this palace of Ahab. It has been discovered that the walls were decorated with ivory carvings, and that much of the furniture was inlaid with ivory. This valuable substance was used with a profligate hand to construct one of the most splendid edifices of all antiquity.

Some of the most skilled craftsmen of human history were employed by this enterprise. To show something of the ability of these ancient artists, we present a photograph of the figure of an ivory lion which came from the site of Ahab’s palace. The illustration is magnified four times, but tiny as this priceless relic is, the lines and perfection of the carving cannot be excelled by any craftsman today.

The Harvard expedition under Dr. Reisner, and the joint expedition of 1931, both made delighted comment on the unprecedented perfection of the structure of this great palace. It covered an area between seven and eight acres in extent; the masonry of the building was no less than marvelous in the perfection of its structure and joining. Concerning these ivory miniatures, inlays, and friezes, the leader of the expedition said, “These ivories are the most charming example of miniature art ever found on an Israelite site.” By referring to the ivory lion in [Plate 19] the reader can see that this is indeed the fact.

The excavations at Samaria have been going on since the Harvard expedition began in 1908. Among the valuable finds from the ivory palace of Ahab must be listed a group of seventy-five ostraca. These ancient fragments of pottery, inscribed and engraved with the homely affairs of the daily life of Ahab’s time, contain the same script as is found on the Moabite stone.

This great relic of antiquity has had a fascinating but unfortunate history in itself. It will always be a matter of sincere regret that the first discoverer of the Moabite stone did not make a copy of its complete text. The Moabite stone states that Ahab reigned forty years. The Scripture record, however, makes his reign to be twenty-two years. According to the credible chronology of II Kings, upon the death of Ahab, his son, Jehoram, ascended to the throne and reigned twelve years. Mesha, who had accepted the lordship of the able Ahab, rebelled against the weaker son.

At some time during this reign, Mesha, a minor king of Moab, tired of paying to Israel the annual tribute of one hundred thousand lambs, plus one hundred thousand rams, with the wool thereof. He rebelled against the overlord of Israel and successfully threw off the yoke. On an enormous stele which was erected at Dhiban by the successful king we find these words:

“I Mesha, son of Chemosh-melech, king of Moab, the Dibonite. My father reigned over Moab 30 years and I reigned after my father. I have made this monument for Chemosh at Qorhah, a monument of salvation for he saved me from all invaders and let me see my desire upon all my enemies. Omri was king of Israel, and he oppressed Moab many days, for Chemosh was angry with his land. His son, Ahab followed him and he also said: I will oppress Moab. In my days Chemosh said: I will see my desire on him and his house and Israel surely shall perish forever. Omri took the land of Medeba and dwelt in it during his days and half the days of his son, altogether 40 years. But Chemosh gave it back in my days. I built Baal-Meon and made therein the ditches; I built Kirjathaim. The men of God dwelt in the land of Ataroth from of old, and the king of Israel built there the city of Ataroth; but I made war against the city and took it. And I slew all the people of the city, for the pleasure of Chemosh and of Moab and I brought back from the Arel of Dodah and bore him before Chemosh in Qerioth. And I placed therein the men of Sharon and the men of Mehereth. And Chemosh said unto me: Go, seize Nebo of Israel and I went in the night and fought against it from the break of dawn till noon; and I took it, slew all of them, 7,000 men and boys, women and girls and female slaves, for to Ashtar-Chemosh I devoted them. And I took from thence the Arels of Yahwah and bore them before Chemosh. Now the king of Israel had built Jahaz and he dwelt in it while he waged war against me, but Chemosh drove him out from before me....”

When this great monument was first discovered in 1868, its value was of course not appreciated and no copy of the text was made. The Museum of Berlin heard of it and moved for its purchase. An employe of the French Consulate heard of the negotiations, and offered a large bribe for the possession of the stone. The Turkish officials then interfered. The superstitious Arabs, believing that the monument must have some magical value, broke it into a number of fragments and distributed the pieces as amulets, or charms. A French agent, however, industriously pursued these fragments and with the help of a squeeze which he had made, reconstructed the major portion of the writings. The ancient name of Jehovah occurring on this text was an additional delight to these students of antiquity.

Certain small cities that Israel had wrested from Moab were returned to Mesha at the time of this rebellion. Jehoram, and Jehoshaphat, the kings of Judah, later battled against the increasing power of Moab and administered a crushing defeat to the Moabites sometime after the successful uprising that is recorded here in this text.

Among the ostraca excavated at Samaria, were some that mentioned many of the historical personages of the Old Testament, which also enhanced their value in the eyes of archeologists.

The later expedition to Samaria which was working in 1931, apparently reached the foundations of the first buildings of Omri. They have left a record stating, “No remains earlier than the building of Omri are to be found upon this site.” This being so, we cannot question the statement of the text that Omri was the original builder on the crest of the hill of Samaria, which fact is in itself of considerable importance to the subject of our present study. The question has been raised as to what the effect would have been on the problem of the integrity of the text of the Scripture if this site had proved to have been like the other regions excavated, and was occupied by many older and underlying ruins! The simple answer is that such a discovery was not made; and the evidence that has been derived is of such nature that this portion of the sacred Book must be accepted by the intelligent and informed scholar.

These fragmentary events and references are of as much value as are the individual bricks that make up the mass of a wall or a building. One or two standing alone would be relatively unimportant, but when scores of such evidences are gathered into a composite unit, they offer a formidable and impressive structure of evidence that is extremely difficult to refute. Although it has been the custom to construct the critical argument against the integrity of God’s Word from imagined minor errors in the text, so intrenched is critical dogmatism that nothing but a major rebuttal will be heeded. Happily, a major structure may be erected from minor materials: and thus these fragments serve their destined purpose.