Archaeology · 5 · Ahab and Jezebel
Moab's king bragged about defeating Israel forever
Around 840 BCE, King Mesha of Moab erected a stone boasting that his god Chemosh had freed his land from Omri's Israel. 'Israel has been defeated forever,' it claims.
Again, Israel enters the record as a loser that outlived the boast.
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Found in 1868, the Mesha Stele is the most important non-biblical source on ancient Israel. It shows how kings across the region used writing and a national god to forge one identity out of diverse subjects. It may also be the oldest example of the Hebrew script.
Bible reference: 2 Kings 3
Source: Why the Bible Began, pp. 77–80
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