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Archaeologist Takes Closer Look at Sidewalk Stone, Realizes It's Ancient Bible Artifact, Now Worth $2 Million
Western Journal ^ | November 15, 2024 | Ole Braatelien

Posted on 11/16/2024 9:32:27 AM PST by george76

For decades it was merely a sidewalk stone at a home in the Middle East, its significance unbeknownst to its owner.

Now, the oldest inscribed tablet of the Ten Commandments is set to auction for $1 million to $2 million...

The relic is the only complete tablet of the Ten Commandments in existence from the Late Byzantine period, which ranged from 300–800 A.D.

...

Sotheby’s is set to auction the 1,500-year-old piece on Dec. 18.

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This is really one-of-a-kind,” Mintz said. “It’s one of the most important historic artifacts that I’ve ever handled.”

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The marble relic weighs a hefty 115 pounds and stands two feet tall.

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Twenty lines of Paleo-Hebrew text are etched into the stone, with nine of the Ten Commandments being visible..

One commandment has been replaced with a much different instruction...

Instead of “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord in vain,” the tablet instructs followers to worship on Mount Gerizim, a site holy to the Samaritans.

...

After its discovery, it was sold to a local Arab and subsequently used as a sidewalk stone for his home — its inscription facing up and exposed to foot traffic

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“People didn’t realize the significance of it. It looked like just a big marble slab

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Then, in 1943, an archaeologist recognized the true value of the stone and purchased it.

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“This remarkable tablet is not only a vastly important historic artifact, but a tangible link to the beliefs that helped shape Western civilization,” said Richard Austin, Sotheby’s global head of books and manuscripts.

To encounter this shared piece of cultural heritage is to journey through millennia and connect with cultures and faiths told through one of humanity’s earliest and most enduring moral codes.”

(Excerpt) Read more at westernjournal.com ...


TOPICS: History; Outdoors; Religion; Science
KEYWORDS: byzantine; byzantineempire; epigraphyandlanguage; godsgravesglyphs; hebrew; mountgerizim; romanempire; samaritans; tencommandments
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1 posted on 11/16/2024 9:32:27 AM PST by george76
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To: george76

SO that’s where Charlton Heston left it.


2 posted on 11/16/2024 9:34:15 AM PST by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion, or satire, or both.)
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To: george76; SunkenCiv

Maybe it’s commandments 11 through 15 before Mel Brooks as Moses dropped them.


3 posted on 11/16/2024 9:35:33 AM PST by Larry Lucido (Donate! Don't just post clickbait!)
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To: Larry Lucido

:^) I think that gag originated with Shel Silverstein. ;^)


4 posted on 11/16/2024 9:37:07 AM PST by SunkenCiv (Putin should skip ahead to where he kills himself in the bunker.)
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To: george76

5 posted on 11/16/2024 9:38:48 AM PST by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion, or satire, or both.)
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To: george76
Instead of “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord in vain,” the tablet instructs followers to worship on Mount Gerizim, a site holy to the Samaritans, according to Sotheby’s.
6 posted on 11/16/2024 9:41:08 AM PST by TangoLimaSierra (⭐⭐To the Left, The Truth is Right Wing Violence⭐⭐)
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To: george76

“Instead of “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord in vain,” the tablet instructs followers to worship on Mount Gerizim, a site holy to the Samaritans.”

Getting an idea here why someone thought this tablet suitable for foot traffic.


7 posted on 11/16/2024 9:44:58 AM PST by TalBlack (Time to use the Law and the Power. Good luck Mr. President.)
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To: george76

“In 2016, New York’s Living Torah Museum sold it at auction for $850,000 to an unknown buyer in Beverly Hills.

“This remarkable tablet is not only a vastly important historic artifact, but a tangible link to the beliefs that helped shape Western civilization,” said Richard Austin, Sotheby’s global head of books and manuscripts”.

Why did New York’s Living Torah Museum sell this one in a kind archaeological artifact? This is something that belongs to the people.

Shouldn’t this be BACK in a museum?


8 posted on 11/16/2024 9:47:36 AM PST by Beowulf9
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To: StayAt HomeMother; Ernest_at_the_Beach; 1ofmanyfree; 21twelve; 24Karet; 2ndDivisionVet; 31R1O; ...

9 posted on 11/16/2024 9:48:35 AM PST by SunkenCiv (Putin should skip ahead to where he kills himself in the bunker.)
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To: george76

How did they decide upon removing the Commandment “Thou shall not take the Lord’s name in vain” and replace it with “Instead of “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord in vain,” the tablet instructs followers to worship on Mount Gerizim, a site holy to the Samaritans”.

Wouldn’t that be kind of sacrilege?

“Sacrilege is the violation or injurious treatment of a sacred object” or is this artifact just viewed as a homemade copy for a homeowner to put up and if so even then how do you remove one commandment and replace it with another?


10 posted on 11/16/2024 9:54:57 AM PST by Beowulf9
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To: george76
The Byzantine Empire fell to the Muhammadians in 1453, so 300-800 would have been the late Roman and early Byzantine Empires; the last half of that range is now known as ‘Late Antiquity’, from the time the Roman Empire became a full fledged military dictatorship to the rise of Charlemagne. The ‘Late Byzantine’ would be from about 1100 or 1200 or 1025 when Basil II died.
11 posted on 11/16/2024 9:56:03 AM PST by Aeneas2112 (YOU are your own first responder)
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To: george76

How come I don’t find anything like that. Best I did was find a TAG Hauer Carerra watch at a thrift store for $2.


12 posted on 11/16/2024 10:04:58 AM PST by Organic Panic (Democrats. Memories as short as Joe Biden's eyes)
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To: TalBlack

19 “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”

21 “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.

22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews.

23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”

26 Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”


13 posted on 11/16/2024 10:16:18 AM PST by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion, or satire, or both.)
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To: Beowulf9

It SHOULD be in a museum, that’s correct.


14 posted on 11/16/2024 10:23:52 AM PST by No name given ( Anonymous is who you’ll know me as)
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To: george76

It’s interesting that what we call the “Ten Commandments” are explicated in Exodus 20:1–17 and Deuteronomy 5:4–21, but are never explicitly enumerated in the bible, and different traditions assign different numbers to the same rules.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_Commandments#Commandments_text_and_numbering

The Samaritan tradition, which differs from most Western churches, is shown under column “S” of the link, and appears to be the one represented by these stones.


15 posted on 11/16/2024 10:29:09 AM PST by Lonesome in Massachussets (לעזאזל עם חמאס)
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To: Beowulf9

Maybe the Museum Director wanted a new house.


16 posted on 11/16/2024 10:31:47 AM PST by Fido969
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To: Beowulf9

How did they decide upon removing the Commandment

Probably was an advertising gimmick at the time to drive people to someone’s concession stand at Mt. Gerizim.


17 posted on 11/16/2024 10:48:20 AM PST by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now its your turn)
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To: Beowulf9

““Sacrilege is the violation or injurious treatment of a sacred object” or is this artifact just viewed as a homemade copy for a homeowner to put up and if so even then how do you remove one commandment and replace it with another?”

The tell-tale marks of the pneumatic chisels will answer that question. ;-)


18 posted on 11/16/2024 11:08:30 AM PST by spel_grammer_an_punct_polise (Learn three chords and you, too, can be a Rock Star!)
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To: george76

19 posted on 11/16/2024 11:40:05 AM PST by null and void ( Every political system is flawed, and all bureaucracies are corrupt. ~ chud)
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To: george76

I smell fish?.


20 posted on 11/16/2024 11:53:09 AM PST by Vaduz
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