Inscriptions

Since the second half of the 19th century numerous inscriptions have been found in the Middle East whose contents are of great importance in the study of the Bible and its period. The inscriptions are sometimes more important than the classical historical accounts in our possession, since later editors very often changed the original texts to suit their views.

Present knowledge of the history of the New Kingdom of Egypt derives mainly from archeological finds. In the Bronze Age period the Egyptians conducted numerous campaigns in order to tighten their hold over the Canaanite city-states. Thutmosis III mentions in his list no less than 119 cities conquered by him in Palestine and Syria, thus providing an indication as to which were the important cities in the 15th century B.C.

Many details relating to the political situation in Canaan in the period preceding the Israelite conquest may be ascertained from the letters discovered in the archives of Pharaohs Amenophis III and Amenophis IV (Akhenaten), found at El Amarna.

From the stele of Pharaoh Merneptah (c. 1220 B.C.) we learn of the arrival of the Israelites as a unified tribal group. Among other things this stele records: "Plundered is Canaan with every evil; carried off is Ashkelon; seized upon is Gezer; Yenoam is made as that which does not exist; Israel is laid waste, his seed is not".

In comparison with the finds in Egypt and Mesopotamia those of Palestine are far less numerous, though they also contain material of great importance. The clay tablets found at Taanach and elsewhere, complete the knowledge gained from the El Amarna Letters, and from them it has been possible to glean certain facts concerning social patterns in Canaan during the 15th century B.C.

The ruler of the New Kingdom of Egypt also put up their stelae and statues in the conquered Canaanite cities. At Beth Shean two statues of Pharaoh Sethos I were unearthed in the course of the excavations. The conquest of Beth Shean and the neighboring cities is described on one of these.

The Akkadian and Egyptian inscriptions of the Israelite period provide numerous details which supplement the information in the Bible. To this group belongs Pharaoh Sheshonk's (biblical Shishak's) list of cities found on the walls of the temple of Karnak, indicating that his campaign in Palestine took place in the fifth year of Rehoboam, king of Judah (I Kgs 14:25; II Chr 12:2).

One of the inscriptions of Shalmaneser III mentions Ahab as one of the chief participants in an anti-Assyrian league.

Jehu is also mentioned, 12 years later, as tributary to Shalmaneser III, king of Assyria. The Assyrian material also refers to the destruction of Samaria, and especially to Sennacherib's campaign against Judah. It recounts that Sennacherib surrounded Hezekiah like a "bird in a trap". Sennacherib established his headquarters at Lachish, as known both from the biblical account and from the Assyrian reliefs in Sennacherib's palace at Nineveh which depict the siege and conquest of Lachish.

A number of important Hebrew inscriptions of the time of the First Temple have been found. In the excavations at Gezer a seven-line inscription, was discovered. Known as the Gezer Calendar, it is considered to be the most ancient Hebrew inscription, dating from about 950-900 B.C., i.e., the days of Solomon. Eight agricultural seasons are listed on this calendar.

The Second Book of Kings (chap. 3) records the revolt of Mesha king of Moab against Israel's suzerainty from the Israelite perspective. The Moabite story has been preserved on the Mesha stele, discovered in 1868 and now in the Louvre, Paris. It was written in the Moabite dialect, which is close to biblical Hebrew but differs in some details from the language of the Hebrew inscriptions. (See MESHA). Another important inscription was found in the tunnel of the pool at Siloam dating from the time of Hezekiah, recording the completion by the workers of the digging of the tunnel (See SILOAM). In the village of Siloam itself three inscriptions were discovered, engraved on facades of tombs of the time of the First Temple. Paleographic research has shown that they too should be attributed to the time of Hezekiah.

In recent decades two important inscriptions have been uncovered. The first is that of a fragmentary basalt victory stele at Dan dating from the 9th century B.C., written in Aramaic, which mentions the "King of Israel" and the king of the "House of David". The second is the discovery of a dedicatory inscription carved in stone from the Iron Age at Tel Miqne, which contains the name of the biblical site Ekron, and mentions Ikausu, son of Padi, both of whom Assyrian records refer to as kings of Ekron.

The humid climate in most part of Palestine caused the decay of organic writing materials such as parchment or papyrus, and mostly only inscriptions written on stone or pottery sherds have survived. Nevertheless, a papyrus was found recently at Wadi Murabaat, close to the Dead Sea which dates back to the 7th century B.C. As papyrus was a fairly expensive material it was frequently used twice. Such a double inscription is known as a palimpsest. The papyrus found at Wadi Murabaat is of this kind.

A find of direct biblical interest was of 20 inscribed sherds discovered at Lachish ("the Lachish Letters"). Most of them are letters written to Yaush, the commander of the soldiers who were stationed at Lachish. One of the subjects with which these letters deal is the activities of an unnamed prophet who undermines the morale of the warriors. It is possible that the event alluded to was that in which King Jehoiakim and the prophet Urijah from Kirjath Jearim were involved (Jer chap. 26). Others throw light on the period described in Jeremiah 34:7.

The documents so far described are among the most important Hebrew inscriptions of their period, though some shorter ones, no less instructive, have also been found. Sometimes they were written on complete vessels, not just sherds, in which case they were inscribed before the jar was fired. The inscriptions consist mainly of names signifying ownership or responsibility for the capacity of the vessel.

More than 1000 impressions of royal seals were found bearing the inscription lamelek, the name of one of three cities: Hebron, Sochoh (Socoh) or Ziph, and the disputed name Mmst, which some interpret as "of the government". (See SEALS).

All these inscriptions were written in the Hebrew script, which developed from the proto-Canaanite. The proto-Canaanite script was an alphabetic script with about 30 acrophonic pictographic letters, such as a bull's head (aleph) or a house (beth). These symbols developed between about 1500 B.C. and the 11th century B.C. into linear letters, and finally into the classical Phoenician script. The Israelites accepted this script in the 12th or 11th century B.C., by which time the alphabet did not contain more than 22 letters. By the 9th century B.C. the Phoenician and Hebrew scripts had developed independently. The Arameans adopted the Phoenician script in the 11th or 10th century B.C. and used it for some 200 years before they began to develop their own independent script in the 8th century B.C. This process was very rapid, the reason being that the Assyrians chose Aramaic as the official language, since it was easier to read and write than the Assyrian cuneiform. It thus served as the means of communication between the Assyrian provinces and later became the language of international diplomacy.

The international status of the Aramaic script continued in the neo-Babylonian and Persian periods, but the conquest of Alexander the Great resulted in the Aramaic language being replaced by Greek, which was used in Palestine and Egypt for official documents. Nevertheless, Aramaic was so deeply rooted in Palestine and the neighboring countries that it continued to be used by Jews, Nabateans and Palmyrenes (Tadmor), and in large parts of Syria. Most of the epigraphic finds from the time of the Second Temple are written in Aramaic script and in the Jewish script developed from it. The most important collection of Aramaic documents from the Persian period is that of the Jewish military colony at Yeb (Elephantine). Similar legal documents were found at Wadi Daliyeh, east of Samaria; they belonged to the Samaritan governor's family, who had fled from the Macedonian conqueror but were intercepted and died in a cave at Wadi Daliyeh. The earliest document of this group is of 375 B.C. and the latest of 335 B.C.

The most important of the inscriptions of the time of the Second Temple are the DEAD SEA SCROLLS. Apart from these the most important Hebrew and Aramaic epigraphic material consists of epitaphs. One of these, found on Jason's tomb in Jerusalem, belongs to the end of the Hasmonean period, but all the rest are of the time of the Herodian Dynasty. The epitaphs were written either on the facades of the rock-cut tombs or on the blocking-stones of the loculi. To this class belongs the Aramaic inscription which announces: "Here were brought [to burial] the bones of Uzziah, king of Judah. Not to be opened." This inscription testifies that in the time of Herod, or somewhat later, the bones of Uzziah, who died of leprosy (II Chr 26:23), were removed to a new burial place.

Most of the epitaphs, however, were found on ossuaries. There are many Greek inscriptions in this class, but others were written in the Jewish script, either in Hebrew or in Aramaic. These ossuaries have been found in Jerusalem and on other sites in Judea. Some names occur on them that are known from other sources, for example the name, in Greek, of Nicanor "who made the doors". This, without doubt, was the burial place of Nicanor, the man who made the gates of the Temple. This ossuary was found on Mount Scopus near Jerusalem. An ossuary inscribed "James son of Joseph, brother of Jesus" received much publicity, but appears to be a fake.

An inscription mentioning Pontius Pilate was found at Caesarea Maritima. Another inscription of importance is a donor's inscription for a synagogue in Jerusalem which was found in 1913. The donor was a man named Theodotus and the inscription is interesting because it lists the functions of a synagogue as a place of worship, as a house of study and reading of the Scriptures, and as an inn for travelers, probably referring to pilgrims who flocked to Jerusalem for the three great pilgrim feasts in the 1st century A.D.. See also MARI; NUZI; UGARIT.