As Haretat ruled from 9 B. C. to 40 A. D., this inscription was written in 31 A. D., just a few years before Paul escaped from the officers of Haretat at Damascus. There are many other inscriptions dated in the reign of this king.
Another reads as follows:
This is the sepulcher and two monuments over it, which Abdobodat, the general, made for Aitebel, the general, his father, and for Aitebel, the commander of the two camps which are in Luhitu and Abarta, the son of Abdobodat. This is in the district of their command, which they exercised in the two places for thirty-six years in the reign of Haretat, King of the Nabathæans, who loves his people. The above-mentioned (monument) was constructed in the forty-sixth year of his reign.[629]
The forty-sixth year of Haretat was the year 37 A. D. The monument here translated was found at Medeba east of the Jordan (see Num. 21:30; Josh. 13:9), and the two places mentioned in it are believed to be Nabathæan names for Medeba and Rabbah Ammon (2 Sam. 11:1, etc.). It is evidence that Haretat had held this territory for a long time. Paul’s escape from Damascus (2 Cor. 11:32) occurred between the date of the preceding inscription and this one.
APPENDIX
(Appearing first in Second Edition.)
I