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TRADITION VS SCHOLARSHIP

A reader says: "The Tel Dan stone describes a battle that matches an event told in the books of Kings." Agree or disagree?

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The answer

Disagree. The stone reports a defeat of Israel and Judah by a king of Aram, but the details of that fight match no event the Bible records. The king's own name is broken off. He may be Hazael, whose wars with Israel run through 2 Kings 8 to 13. A second name on the stone is also broken, and it may be Ahaziah of Judah.

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Why it’s interesting

That is the usual shape of outside evidence for these kings: it confirms a king's name or his royal family, here the house of David, and tells a story the Bible does not. Assyrian records name Ahab, Jehu and Jehoash, as foes or as kings paying tribute, in encounters Kings never mentions. Shalmaneser III, the Assyrian king Jehu bowed to, goes unnamed in the Bible.

Genuinely debated
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