Subject: Tel Dan inscription (long posting)
Prof. Kamal Salibi of the American University in Beirut, currently Visiting Fulbright Scholar at Smith College, offers the following comments on the Tell el-Daqi (Tel Dan) inscription.
Prof. Salibi hasn't yet become familiar with Internet procedures; I am forwarding this to the ANE list at his invitation.
At certain points his reading differs significantly from what has been proposed by others so far; note especially his comments on *BYTDWD* (line 9) and on the language of the inscription.
Professor Salibi prepared his comments using the photocopy given in The New York Times. Since then he has seen Biran's and Naveh's IEJ publication of the inscription but has not changed his own reading. What follows is an exact true copy of Prof. Salibi's typed ms. He asks me to say that he welcomes comment.
- Bruce Dahlberg
THE HOUSE OF DAVID INSCRIPTION
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. Fragment of Basalt stele, discovered at Tel Dan (i.e., Tall al-Qadi) in northern Israel. The fragment comprises 13 lines, complete on the right side starting from the line 3, but broken on the left side, leaving words incomplete except in line 9 (so, judging from reinforced photograph of fragment in NYT, November 16, 1993), and sentences incomplete throughout. Lettering of words continuing from one line to the next, as attested in final letters of words in the beginning of lines 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12; also possibly 5. On the other hand, individual words clearly separated from the ones preceding and following by dots. The prefixed conjunction W ("and"), the prefixed definite article H ("the"), and the prefixed preposition of one character B, ("in, at, by, with", etc.) are regularly integrated into words that follow, but the preposition of two characters `L, ("on, upon, over", etc.) features as an independent word preceded and followed by dots. In line 8, the two words of the construct MLK + YSR'L are separated by dots; likewise the two words of the construct 'LPY + PRS in line 7; likewise those of the probable construct 'RQ + H-ML(K?) in line 10. Except for 'RQ (for "earth, land"), language clearly a form of Canaanite, using prefixed Canaanite (not suffixed Aramaic) definite article. The language, however, exhibits features of Arabic (e.g., the T in QTL _taw_, not _teth_); not much different from the language of the Moabite stele (ca. 840 B.C.). The script is identical with that of the Moabite stele. The alphabetical characters of the inscription are perfectly legible, as is normally the case in monumental inscriptions.
READING: from the characters clearly visible in the reinforced NYT photograph, I was able to read the following (the sign + replacing the dots in the original):
1 ...MR + ... possibly remnant of 'MR, "said"...
2 ... + 'BY ("my father") + YS... (YSD, "founded, ruled"? YSP, "added"? YSR, "chastised, chastened?)...
3 NYSKB ("was laid, was buried") + 'BY ("my father") + YSK (imperfect of SWK? "shuts in? "fences"? or SKK, "encamps"?) + 'L (in word complete, "to, towards")...
4 R'L (last characters of YSR'L) + QDM ("before, in front, east", possibly "formerly" + B-'RQ ("in the land of") + 'B... (probably 'BY, "my father")...
5 'NH (possibly Aramaic form for first person singular pronoun "I"); possibly also verb 'NH, "be opportune, meet, encounter oppportunely") + W-YHK (imperfect of HKH, "and waited, awaited"?) + HDD (personal name "Hadad"? possibly also "ha-Dod", "the uncle, kinsman, confederate"? + QDMY ("before me; east of me, in front of me")...
6 Y (?) + MLKY ("my king"? more likely "my rule?" "my possession"? + W-'QTL ("and I kill") + M... (judging by next line, possibly M'T, "a hundred of")...
7 KB (clearly last characters of RKB or MRKB, "chariot") + W'LPY ("and two thousand of") + PRS ("horseman").
8 MLK ("king of" or "rule of") + YSR'L ("Israel") + W-... ("and")...
9 K (MLK, "he reigned"? SKK, "he encamped? other possibilities?) + BYTDWD (clearly one word, readable only as B-YTDWD, "in YTDWD"?) + W-'ASS "he founded, established" if S is _shin_, "I rejoice", from verb SWS, if S is _sin_)...
10 YT (apparently adverbial ending) + 'RQ ("land, territory") + HM + L... [Prof. Salibi left these last two untranslated, but when asked about it, said it appears HM begins a new sentence. -btd]
11 'HRN ("other, others, behind"?) + W-L-H ("and to the")...
12 LK (MLK, "reigned, ruled") + `L ("over") + YS... (YSR'L, "Israel")
13 MSB ("siege, pillar, monument") + `L ("on, upon")...
DEDUCTIONS:
1. Because this inscription was found at Tall al-Qadi, in northern Palestine, near headwaters of the Jordan River, one would be justified in assuming that the first person singular pronoun or verb conjugation in it refers to the MLK or "king" of that place.
2. From the content of the inscription, it is obvious that the father (unnamed) of the man of whom the inscription speaks in the first person was king of the same place (or, at least, the same kingdom) before him.
3. The king of Tall al-Qadi, according to the inscription, was engaged at one time in a war with the King of Israel (unnamed in what remains of the inscription). The construct "King of Israel" features once in complete clarity, and twice in fragments. There can be no doubt in all three cases that the reference is to a MLK YSR'L.
4. If the hero of the inscription was a non-Israelite king of Tall al-Qadi, waging war against the king of Israel, then Tall al-Qadi could not have been the Biblical _Dan_, which marked the northern limit of the territory of biblical Israel. The Bible mentions no occasion when Dan was wrested from Israel to become the capital, or part, of an enemy kingdom. Biblical scholars have assumed Tall al-Qadi to be the biblical Dan on the grounds that the Arabic _qadi_, meaning "judge," translates the Hebrew _Dan_, meaning "judge." Nothing else confirms the identification.
5. The available fragment of the inscription does not indicate in any way where the kingdom of Israel was located. Likewise, the Moabite stele, found in Transjordan, which speaks of the wars between King Mesha of Moab and the kings of israel, does not indicate where the kingdom of Israel was geographically located.
6. Taken together, the two inscriptions provide incontrovertible evidence proving the historicity of the Biblical kingdom of Israel, for those who doubt the historicity of that kingdom on any ground. They also support what is said in the Bible about the kings of Israel being occasionally engaged in armed conflict with external enemies.
7. In line 9, the reading of BYTDWD as a construct (BYT + DWD) referring to the "house of David" by name is unjustified, as + BYTDWD + features in that line as a single word. Taken as one word, the initial B in B-YTDWD would be the prepositional B, leaving YTDWD as possibly a place name (archaic noun formation from the _hithpa`el_ form of DWD, "love, have affection for, be related"?) One would only be justified in reading the word as the construct BYT + DWD if it can be demonstrated that other constructs in this inscription, or in the Moabite stele, feature as one word, which to my knowledge they do not.
8. In its present fragmentary state, the inscription, though important and tantalizing indeed, yields little concrete information other than affirming the historical existence of kings of Israel, and of enemy kings who fought them in some place or other.
-- Kamal Salibi
Professor Kamal Salibi
Dep't of Religion
Smith College
Northampton, MA 01063
(or email: c/o "BDAHLBERG@SMITH.edu")