A 3,000-year-old inscription discovered at Khirbet Qeiyafa references the Biblical name Eshbaal. This is the first time the name has been found in an ancient inscription. Photo: Tal Rogozin.
Posted on 06/09/2015 1:57:46 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
The Biblical name Eshbaal has been found for the first time in an ancient inscription. Incised before firing on a 3,000-year-old pithos (large ceramic storage jar), the inscription was discovered at the site of Khirbet Qeiyafa in Israel. Researchers Yosef Garfinkel, Mitka R. Golub, Haggai Misgav and Saar Ganor have published their study of this inscription in a forthcoming issue of the journal Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research (BASOR).
The Eshbaal inscription reads “[ ] | ʾšbʿl | ˹bn˺ | bdʿ” (“ʾIšbaʿal son of Bedaʿ”) and was written from right to left in the Canaanite alphabetic script. The name ʾšbʿl, commonly translated as ʾIšbaʿal (or Esh-Baʿal—“man of Baʿal”), is known from the Bible. Eshbaal was the second king of Israel, King Saul’s son and a rival of King David (1 Chronicles 8:33; in 2 Samuel 2–4, this king is called Ish-Bosheth). The name Bedaʿ, however, is unique.
Radiometric dating of the layer from which the Eshbaal inscription was unearthed dates the layer to c. 1020–980 B.C.E. The clarity and precision with which the inscription was written suggest, according to the researchers, that the inscription was the work of a skilled hand—perhaps a trained scribe.
(Excerpt) Read more at biblicalarchaeology.org ...
A 3,000-year-old inscription discovered at Khirbet Qeiyafa references the Biblical name Eshbaal. This is the first time the name has been found in an ancient inscription. Photo: Tal Rogozin.
http://www.varchive.org/ce/theses.htm
...
88. Shishak mentioned in the Ras Shamra texts is Thutmose IV.
89. The texts found in Ras Shamra are not of the fifteenth, but of the ninth century.
90. The close resemblance of the texts of Ras Shamra with diverse books of the Scriptures repudiates most of the assertions of the Bible criticism (late origin of the texts), as well as the modern theory about the Canaanite heritage in the Scriptures (early origin of the texts).
91. The theory that alphabetic writing was perfected in the sixteenth century cannot be supported by the Ras Shamra texts of the ninth century.
92. As the alphabetic writing of Hebrew in cuneiform of Ras Shamra is contemporaneous with the stela of Mesha written in Hebrew alphabetic characters, the alphabet most probably did not originate in Phoenicia but in Palestine.
93. The theory that the Ras Shamra texts contain mention of Ionians, and of their city Didyme, is correct, but it concerns the ninth century Ionians.
94. The Khar of the Egyptian and Ras Shamra texts were not Hurrites or Troglodytes, but Carians.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Samuel%202&version=NKJV
In context, starting from verse 8, this link has the story of Eshbaal (Ishbosheth).
Thanks Pollster1.
So cool.
Not only an interesting & informative post & thread, but also a civil one. Thanks for the article & comments.
I wholeheartedly agree! It’s a nice change.
Now that is amazing.
First Person: Banning Ba’al
March/April 2016
Biblical Archaeology Review
Hershel Shanks
04/04/2016
http://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-artifacts/inscriptions/first-person-banning-baal/
[snip] Was the proper name Eshbaal—man of Ba’al—banned in Judah after King David’s time? A recent analysis suggests that it was. [/snip]
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