RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Moab Moberly
the other hand, the stone implies a long activity. Not only are important wars but considerable building activities referred to. It is possible, therefore, that the period of the inscription is that of Jehu's reign, after he had overthrown the dynasty of Omri, when Israel (the house of Omri) might seem to have " perished for ever " (line 7 of the inscription).
The inscription has great value for the history of Semitic writing, orthography, and linguistics. The characters are like the Phenician and early Hebrew, but more archaic in form. In the written form the Moabitic language was essentially the same as the Hebrew, though the vocalization might have been different. Numerous verbal and syntactical agreements between the two languages appear. On the other hand there are variations which appear dialectal in character, covering vocabulary, accidence, and syntax. The orthography is nearer to the Hebrew than to the Phenician, but is more archaic.
(F. Buhl.)
A translation of the inscription follows; the figures on the left refer to the lines of the inscription:
1. I am Mesha, son of Kemosh , king of Moab, the D
2. aibonite. My father was king over Moab thirty years, and I reign
3. ed after my father and made this high place for Kemosh in Krhh for
4. . , for he saved me from all the (k)ings (?) and because he made me to see (my desire) on all who hated me. Omr
5. i was king of Israel and afflicted Moab many days, for Kemosh was (a)ngry with his la
6. nd. And his son succeeded him, and he too said: I will afflict Moab, in my days he said (it)
7. But I saw (my desire) on him and his house, and Israel jurely perished for ever. And Omri seized . ,
8. . Mehedeba and inhabited it (his?) day and half his son's days, forty yea(rs) . . .
9. it Kemosh in my days. And I built Ba'al.-Me'on, and made in it the (reservoir?) and . .
10. Kiryathen. And the men of Gad had inhabited the land of th from of old, and for himself had built the king of . .
11. srael 'Ataroth. And I fought against the city and took it, and I slew all the . .
12. city, a spectacle for Kemosh and for Moab. And I brought back thence the altar-hearth of Dwdh and [it] I (dr)
13. agged (?) before Kemosh in Keryoth, and I caused to dwell there the men of Shrn and the m , .
14. (of) Mhrt. And Kemosh said to me: Go, take Nebo against Israel, and .
15. went by night and fought against it from break of dawn till noon, and I . (to)
16. ok it and slew all , seven thousand , and women, and
17. and maid servants, for to Ashtor-Kemosh had I devoted it. And I took thence . .
18. of Yahweh and dragged them before Kemosh. And the king of Israel had built . .
19. Yahaz and inhabited it while he warred with me. But Kemosh drove him out before , . .
20. I took from Moab 200 men, all chiefs, and led them up against Yahaz and took it
21. to add to Daibon. I built Krhh, the wall of Yearim [i.e., Jearim] and the wall of
22. the Mound. And I built its gates and I built its towers, and I
23. built the house of the king, and I made the two reservoirs [?] tow)ers (?) in the mid(st)
24. of the city. And there was no cistern in the midst of the city in Krhh, so I said to all the people: Make .
25. for you each man a cistern in his house. And I cut the cutting of Krhh with the help of prisoner(a)
26. . Israel. And I built 'Aro'er and I made the highway by the Arn(on),
27. and I built Beth-Bamoth, for it was pulled down. And I built Bezer, for
28. . of Daibon were fifty, for all Daibon was obedient. And I reig(ned)
29. . a hundred in the cities which I added to the land. And I bui(lt)
30. . b. . a and Beth-Diblathen and Beth-Ba'al- Me'on and took there the
31. sheep of the land. And Horonen — there dwelt therein
32. . Kemosh said to me: Go down, fight with Horonen; so I we(nt down)
33. Kemosh it in my days. And I we(nt up?) thence
34. and I
Bibliography: C. Clermont-Ganneau, La Stile du Dhiban, Paris, 1870; idem. Revue archeologique, 1870, pp. 184 sqq., 357 sqq.; idem, Revue critique, 1875,Jpp. 166 sqq.; idem, La StUe de Mesa, Paris, 1887, cf. J A, 8 ser., ix (1887), 72 sqq.; T. Noldeke, Die Inschrift des Konigs Mesa, Kiel, 1870; F. Hitzig, Die Inschrift des Mesha, Heidelberg, 1870; Petermann, in ZDMG, 1870, pp. 640 sqq.; R. Smend and A. Socin, Die Inschrift des Konigs Mesa, Freiburg, 18.46; E. Renan, in Journal des savans, 1887; S. R. Driver, Hebrew Text of Samuel, pp. lxxxv.
sqq., London, 1890; A. Nordlander, Die Inschrift des Konigs Mesa, Leipsic, 1896; A. Socin and H. Holzinger, in Berichte der silchsischen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaft, 1897; M. Lidzbarski, in Handbuch der nordsemitischen Epigraphik, i (1898), 103-104, 415-416; idem, in Ephemeris filr semitische Epigraphik, i (1900), 1 sqq. (Lidzbarski's researches are practically conclusive); Hale'vy, in Revue semitique, viii (1900), 236 sqq., 289 sqq., ix (1901), 297 sqq.; J. Lagrange, in Revue biblique, x (1901), 522 sqq.; A. Loewy, Critical Examination of the Moab-
ite Inscription, London, 1903 (attacks the genuineness); F. Vigouroux, Dictionnaire de la Bible, part xxvi (1905), 1014-21, xxvii (1906), 1168-69; DB, iii. 403-408; EB, iii. 3040-48; JE, viii. 634-636; and the pertinent sections in the later works on the history of Israel.
MOBERLY, GEORGE: Church of England bishop; b. in St. Petersburg Oct 10, 1803; d. at Salisbury July 6, 1885. Studied at Winchester and Balliol colleges, Oxford (B.A., 1825; fellow, 1826; M.A., 1828; D.C.L., 1836). He was select preacher before the university in 1833, 1858, and 1863, and Bampton lecturer in 1868; was public examiner in 1830, 1833, 1834, and 1835; as a tutor he had Manning and Tait as pupils; he vacated his fellowship 1834; was appointed head-master of Winchester 1835; became rector of Brightstone, Isle of Wight, in 1868, and a canon of Chester Cathedral in the same year; and was appointed bishop of Salisbury by Gladstone 1869. His sympathies were with the High-church party. In 1872 he appealed to churchmen to consent to an omission of the damnatory clauses from the Athanasian Creed, and in 1877 spoke strongly against the use of the confessional, especially in schools. He was the author of: Practical Sermons (London, 1838); Sermons Preached at Winchester College (two series, 1844, 1848); The Sayings of the Great Forty Days between the Resurrection and Ascension, Regarded as the Outlines of the Kingdom of God (five sermons; 1844); All Saints, Kings and Priests (two sermons; Winchester, 1850); The Law of the Love of God, an Essay on the Commandments of the First Table of the Decalogue (Winchester, 1854); Sermons on the Beatitudes, with Others mostly Preached before the University of Oxford, with Preface Relating to a Recent Volume of "Essays and Reviews" (London, 1860); Five Short Letters to Sir W. Heathcote on Studies and Discipline of Public Schools (1861); The Administration of the Holy Spirit in the Body of Christ (Bampton lectures; Oxford, 1868); The Bright-
Modalism Moehler