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Mesha Stele

Moabite Stone

I am Mesha, son of Chemosh, the king of Moab, the Dhibanite. My father was king over Moab for thirty years, and I became king after my father. And I made this high-place for Chemosh in Qarcho ... because he has delivered me from all kings, and because he has made me look down on all my enemies. Omri was the king of Israel, and he oppressed Moab for many days, for Chemosh was angry with his land. And his son reigned in his place; and he also said, “I will oppress Moab!” In my days he said so. But I looked down on him and on his house, and Israel has been defeated; it has been defeated forever! And Omri took possession of the whole land of Medeba, and he lived there in his days and half the days of his son: forty years. But Chemosh restored it in my days. And I built Baal-Meon, and I built a water reservoir in it. And I built Qiryaten. And the men of Gad lived in the land of Atarot from ancient times; and the king of Israel built Atarot for himself, and I fought against the city and captured it. And I killed all the people of the city as a sacrifice for Chemosh and for Moab. And I brought back the fire-hearth of his uncle from there; and I brought it before the face of Chemosh in Qerioit, and I made the men of Sharon live there, as well as the men of Maharit. And Chemosh said to me, “Go, take Nebo from Israel.”⁠ And I went in the night and fought against it from daybreak until midday, and I took it and I killed the whole population: seven thousand male subjects and aliens, and female subjects, aliens, and servant girls. For I had put it to the ban for Ashtar Chemosh.⁠ And from there I took Yahweh’s vessels, and I presented them before Chemosh’s face. And the king of Israel had built Yahaz, and he stayed there throughout his campaign against me; and Chemosh drove him away before my face. And I took two hundred Moabite men, its entire division, and I led it up to Yahaz. And I have taken it in order to add it to Dhiban. I have built Qarcho, the wall of the woods, and the wall of the citadel; and I have built its gates; and I have built its towers; and I have built the king’s house; and I have made the double reservoir for the spring in the innermost part of the city. Now the innermost part of the city had no cistern, in Qarcho, and I said to all the people, “Each one of you shall make a cistern in his house.” And I cut the moat for Qarcho by using Israelite prisoners. I have built Aroer, and I constructed the military road in Arnon. I have built Beth-Bamot, for it had been destroyed. I have built Bezer, for it lay in ruins. And the men of Dhiban stood in battle formation, for all Dhiban were in subjection. And I am the king over the hundreds in the towns that I have added to the land. And I have built Beth-Medeba and Beth-Diblaten and Beth-Baal-Meon, and I brought there ... flocks of the the land. And Hauranen, there lived ... Chemosh said to me, “Go down, fight against Hauranen!” I went down ... and Chemosh restored it in my days ...

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Compare Mesha Stele and 1 Kings 20:42

Ancient Near East, Northwest Semitic · Hebrew Bible

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Summary

King Mesha of Moab boasts on his victory stele that he slaughtered a captured town and devoted it to his god under the ban. 1 Kings 20 condemns Ahab for refusing that same ban when he spares the defeated king Ben Hadad.

Passages

Mesha Stele

Ancient Near East, Northwest Semitic · Moabite Stone
And I built Baal-Meon, and I built a water reservoir in it. And I built Qiryaten. And the men of Gad lived in the land of Atarot from ancient times; and the king of Israel built Atarot for himself, and I fought against the city and captured it. And I killed all the people of the city as a sacrifice for Chemosh and for Moab. And I brought back the fire-hearth of his uncle from there; and I brought it before the face of Chemosh in Qerioit, and I made the men of Sharon live there, as well as the men of Maharit. And Chemosh said to me, “Go, take Nebo from Israel.” And I went in the night and fought against it from daybreak until midday, and I took it and I killed the whole population: seven thousand male subjects and aliens, and female subjects, aliens, and servant girls. For I had put it to the ban for Ashtar Chemosh. And from there I took Yahweh’s vessels, and I presented them before Chemosh’s face. And the king of Israel had built Yahaz, and he stayed there throughout his campaign against me; and Chemosh drove him away before my face. And I took two hundred Moabite men, its entire division, and I led it up to Yahaz. And I have taken it in order to add it to Dhiban. I have built Qarcho, the wall of the woods, and the wall of the citadel; and I have built its gates; and I have built its towers; and I have built the king’s house; and I have made the double reservoir for the spring in the innermost part of the city.
830 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Mesha Stele

1 Kings 20:42

Hebrew Bible
40 Well, it just so happened that while your servant was doing this and that, he disappeared.” The king of Israel said to him, “Your punishment is already determined by your own testimony.” 41 The prophet quickly removed the bandage from his eyes, and the king of Israel recognized he was one of the prophets. 42 The prophet then said to him, “This is what the Lord has said: ‘Because you released a man I had determined should die, you will pay with your life, and your people will suffer instead of his people.’” 43 The king of Israel went home to Samaria bitter and angry.
600–501 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1 Kings

References

... The idea of *ḥrm as divine battle underlies not only Anat’s warfare but also the ban language in the Moabite stele (KAI 181), as well as Israelite battles described as ḥerem. In both Moab and Israel this language was used for warfare against royal enemies. The Mesha stele is explicit in the royal use of ḥerem. In 1 Kings 20:42, following Ahab’s defeat of Ben-hadad, Ahab spares his life. An unnamed prophet meets the king of Israel and announces to him: ‘Thus said the Lord: “Because you have set free the man whom I doomed [literally, the man of my ḥerem], your life shall be forfeit for his life and your people for his people.”’ J. Lust notes of this verse, ‘The reader is supposed to know that the king of Israel had to consider his defeated antagonist, the king of Damascus, as ḥrm to the Lord.’ Similarly, Samuel, after anointing Saul, commands him to ‘utterly destroy’ (the Revised Standard Version)—that is *ḥrm—the Amalekites (1 Samuel 15:3). ...
Mark S. Smith, The Origins of Biblical Monotheism: Israel’s Polytheistic Background and the Ugaritic Texts (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001), 162.

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