In 1868, a French missionary made an incredible discovery in the ruins of an ancient Moabite town, in what is now Jordan. He stumbled upon the Mesha Stele, a four-foot-tall black stone dating back to 840 BCE.
The stele is written in Moabite, a language that closely resembles the characters and structure of ancient Hebrew. It documents a victory by King Mesha of Moab over King Omri of Israel.
Its discovery triggered a colonial frenzy, as European nations scrambled to claim the artifact, while local Bedouin tribes refused to hand it over. The stele itself was even destroyed to pieces, but not before a French emissary was able to make an imprint of the text – that papier-mache cast is what helped archaeologists learn what was inscribed and guided conservationists in piecing it back together.
The stele serves as archaeological proof of some of the stories written in the Bible: it confirms the existence of Kings Mesha and Omri, who are both mentioned in the Book of Kings, and references the descendants of the tribe of Gad, one of the twelve tribes of Israel.
Today, the reconstructed Mesha Stele resides in the Louvre Museum, offering evidence of the deep historical ties between the Jewish people and the Land of Israel, validating biblical accounts with a non-Jewish, non-religious source.
Republished with Permission
