ORIENTAL DISCOVERIES ON OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY. 



31 



Winckler; "Meslia's statements fully accord in every point 

 with those of the Bible," and adds, " certainly a weighty 

 testimony for the reliability of the Biblical historical sources!"*" 

 The recovery of " the Moabite stone " has proved that the- 

 narrative in Kings must now be accepted as fully informed and 

 minutely accurate history. The stone contains 32 lines which 

 can be read and a number so mutilated that no translation of 

 them can be ventured. But the portion still legible informs 

 us that Moab had been subjected by Omri, the father of Ahab ; 

 that the subjection lasted 40 years, a period which corresponds 

 exactly with that indicated in the Scripture ; that the 

 deliverance of himself and of his kino-dom was realised in a 

 time of invasion, and that it came about in so marvellous a 

 fashion that he calls the stone " a monument of salvation " to 

 Cliemosli, " for he saved me from all invaders, and let me see 

 my desire upon my enemies." He then recounts his rebuilding 

 of In's cities, the capture of others from the Israelitisli garrisons, 

 and the re-peopling of the land. The Scripture account is 

 thus upheld in every detail. N'othing has been invented: 

 nothing has been manipulated. The inscription has also 

 proved the great antiquity of the Hebrew writing. The 

 angular form of the letters shows, as Professor Sayce remarks, 

 that the writing had long been used by the Aloabites for 

 monumental purposes.! The language also proves that the 

 affiliation of Moab and Israel was a fact. " Between it and 

 the Hebrew," says the same writer,^ " the differences are few 

 and slight. It is a proof that the Moabites were akin to the 

 Israelites in language as well as in race." 



A more famous incident is Sennacherib's invasion of Judah 

 in the days of Hezekiah. We are told that at the outset 

 everything went in the invader's favour. Tlie Assyrian king 

 captured all the fortified cities of the country with the excep- 

 tion of the capital (2 Kings xviii, 13-lG). Hezekiah did not 

 attempt to prolong so unequal a struggle. He sent an embassy 

 to Sennacherib at Lachish with the message, " I have offended, 

 return from me : that which thou puttest on me I will bear. 

 And the king of Assyria appointed unto Hezekiah king of 

 Judah 300 talents of silver and 30 talents of gold." Sen- 

 nacherib himself l^as confirmed that account. There had been 

 a rising in the West against tlie A^^syrian yoke in which 



* Das Alte Testament im Lichte des Alten Orients, S. 318. 

 t The Higher Criticism and the Monuments, p. 387. 



X Ihid., p. 373. For fuller account of the Moabite stone see Trans, 

 Vict. Inst., vol. xxviii, p. 134 (1894). 



