noticed that the mode of writing is from right to left, and that the letters proper are strictly consonants, although some of these consonants occasionally represent vowel sounds. The oldest written works are in Hebrew, some portions of Aramaic are found in Ezra, Daniel, and Jeremiah, but the earliest Arabic inscriptions are after the Christian era.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE DATE OF THE INSCRIPTION.

HE inscription on this ancient relic records the wars and triumphs of Mesha, king of Moab, in his struggle with Omri and Ahab, the kings of Israel, for the independence of his country; and there now exists no doubt but that the Mesha who erected this triumphal tablet is the same Mesha as that warrior-king who fought so valiantly against Israel, as recorded in 2 Book of Kings, and who, when driven at bay within the fortress of Kirhareseth, mounted the wall of the stronghold and offered up his eldest son as a burnt-offering to propitiate the ruthless fire-god Chemosh.

This stone, therefore, carries us back almost to the time when David, the poet-king, composed the Book of Psalms, and Solomon erected his magnificent temple. The inscription was carved about 900 B.C., and therefore brings us face to face with

the days of Omri and Asa, Ahab and Jezebel, Jehoram and Jehoshaphat, Elijah and Elisha. "We have the identical slab on which the workmen of the old world carved the history of their own times, and from which the eyes of their contemporaries read, thousands of years ago, the record of events of which they themselves had been the witnesses."

It ought also to be remembered, not only that this inscription throws great light upon the Sacred Volume, but also that this inscription is the work of one who was the avowed enemy of God and His chosen people.

Respecting its antiquity and importance, Count de Vogüé says:-" I venture to say that there does not exist in the domain of Hebrew antiquities a document which can be compared with it. It is the only authentic and original Biblical monument found up to the present time." Mr. Grove thinks that the stone is the first genuine fragment of the literature of the Moabites outside the Bible that has been encountered, and that the inscription clearly shows the nation of Moab to have been more civilized and important than is generally supposed. Deutsch says that the stone is unquestionably the oldest Shemitic lapidary record of importance as yet discovered, that its historical and linguistic importance is startlingly obvious, that its gain to paleography and Shemitic science is immense. The most ancient inscriptions written.

in alphabetic characters are:-First, a long Phœnician inscription on the sarcophagus of Eshmunazar, king of Sidon, which is now in the Louvre, Paris, and is supposed to date about 600 B.C. Secondly, inscriptions which appear upon certain Assyrian tablets and coins, dating 750-650 B.C. Thirdly, the inscription on the Moabite stone belongs to about 900 B.C., and therefore is a century and a half older than any other alphabetic record, thus bringing us nearer to the fount and origin of our alphabet than any other document

extant.

With regard to the particular date of the inscription, the learned are not agreed; some contending that the triumphal monolith was erected during the reign of Ahaziah, and previous to the expedition of the then allied armies against Kirhareseth; while the majority say that it was erected after this expedition, in the reign of Jehoram, king of Israel. Count de Vogüé, in a letter published in the "Times" of 22nd February, 1870, says "The only period in this tragic history in which the successful campaign mentioned on the pillar of Dibon can be placed appears to me to be that of the first revolt of Mesha... Victorious at Jahaz and Dibon, he erected the pillar as a monument of his victory; then, emboldened by success, he undertook against the king of Judah the campaign which was to have so gloomy an end. If my conjectures are well founded, the pillar was

engraved in the second year of the reign of Ahaziah, king of Israel, that is, following the chronology generally adopted, the year 896 before the Christian era."

It is urged that the inscription must have been written before the siege of Kir-hareseth, because there is no allusion on the stone either to the expedition itself, or to the horrible deed perpetrated by Mesha on the walls of the fortress.

The sacred records acquaint us with the fact, that during the reigns of Omri and Ahab an enormous tribute was wrung from the tributary kingdom of Moab. Ahab was routed and slain by the Syrians at Ramoth Gilead, and this was the signal for Mesha, the king of Moab, to throw off the yoke of allegiance and seek the deliverance of his country from grinding oppression. Accordingly he raised the standard of revolt, and fought for the independence of his kingdom. The Bible thus clearly states the causes of the revolt, while the Triumphal Tablet records the successes of the struggle and the issue of the war. Thus does perfect harmony exist between the stone and the Bible, while the two records also supplement and illustrate each other. Soon after the declaration of war, bands of Moabites appear to have invaded Judah, and came to Engedi against Jehoshaphat to battle. The king of Judah prayed and committed himself and his army to the care of the God of his fathers. God heard the prayer of his faithful servant, and the