Interesting how archaeological finds still cause historical problems when
expertise is lacking on one side or another. Such is the case with the
Mesha Stele. In it, Mesha claims to have rebelled halfway through the
reign
of the king of Israel. The Bible clearly states that Mesha rebelled after
the death of Ahab. Unfortunately, many or most archaeologist interpret
this as a contradiction. But it is not! They presume a contradiction
because they don't understand Biblical dating. If they did they'd know
that
Ahab died half way through the co-ruler****p of Jehoram! That's right,
the
king who was ruling at the time was Jehorum who half-way through his rule,
in his sixth year, his father Ahab died. Proof? Easy.
Whenever two dates are determined for any given king, the latter date is
always the date the father-king dies, and the earlier date the date of the
co-ruler****p. Case in point Jehoram of Israel (JOI). He has two "became
king" dates. One is when he becomes co-ruler king and the other when he
becomes so-ruler king. The sole-ruler****p date is obviously when he
becomes king in the 2nd year of Joram of Judah. That's because Joram of
Judah becomes king himself in the 5th of JOI! That means JOI becomes
king
in his own sixth year. Since this is the latter date for his his
"becoming
king" we know that Ahab died in the sixth year of Jehoram.
So the only test here for an accurate reference from the Mesha Stele is
whether or not Jehoram ruled for 12 years, since half of 12 is six. The
answer is yes!!
So archaeologists get confused. The Mesah Stele is talking about halfway
through the reign of Jehoram not Ahab. So there is really no
contradiction
between the historical source in the Mesha stele and the Bible, even
though
one is presumed, unfortunately. Also unfortunate, this is just one
example
of many where the Bible is misinterpreted or poorly interpreted and then
presumptions made that are inaccurate, deteriorating the concept of the
Bible's credibility.
Lars Wilson
|
