Mesha Stele-Father of Mesha
Posted: Thu May 05, 2016 3:12 am
In English translations of the [Mesha Stele][1], the opening words are "I am Mesha son of Chemosh-melekh, king of Moab the Dibonite".
However, the truth is that the actual text of the Stele ([rendered in Hebrew characters][2]) reads:
אנך משע בן כמש** מלך מאב הדיבני.
The stars are apparently unreadable letters, which some scholars have deciphered as ית, rendering the name of Mesha's father Chemoshyat.
So where does it come from that his father's name is Chemosh-melek, but that is not what the text of the Stele says. This explanation, it seems takes the word מלך and repeats it twice, the first attached to Chemosh- as in Chemosh-melekh and then again to mean king. I think this is a mistake. Can anyone corroborate my findings or point me to a paper which discusses this issue?
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesha_Stele
[2]: https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%9E%D7 ... 7%A9%D7%A2
However, the truth is that the actual text of the Stele ([rendered in Hebrew characters][2]) reads:
אנך משע בן כמש** מלך מאב הדיבני.
The stars are apparently unreadable letters, which some scholars have deciphered as ית, rendering the name of Mesha's father Chemoshyat.
So where does it come from that his father's name is Chemosh-melek, but that is not what the text of the Stele says. This explanation, it seems takes the word מלך and repeats it twice, the first attached to Chemosh- as in Chemosh-melekh and then again to mean king. I think this is a mistake. Can anyone corroborate my findings or point me to a paper which discusses this issue?
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesha_Stele
[2]: https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%9E%D7 ... 7%A9%D7%A2