After Rehoboam's death, his son Abiam continued to stray from God's ways, but his grandson, Asa, restored the faith in Judea and reigned for 41 years (I Kings 9:12). As for the northern kingdom, still in heresy, the death of Jeroboam brought periods of great instability. His son Nadav was assassinated by a warlike pretender, Baasha, who reigned in his place for 24 years. After this usurper's death, his heir son, Elah, as well as all the members of Baasha's family were assassinated by Zimri, the leader of their army! But Zimri could not take advantage of his coup because he was eliminated by another military leader, Omri, who then reigned over the northern kingdom after killing one last pretender to the throne.
Let's look at the continuation of the historical and biblical chronologies (for earlier dates, refer to the previous articles since Adam):
year 2781 (979 BCE): death of Solomon; his son Rehoboam succeeds him; revolt of Jeroboam; division of the kingdom
year 2801 (958 BCE): reign of Asa in Judea
year 2834 (926 BCE): Omri, king of the northern kingdom, establishes his capital in Samaria near Shechem
year 2839 (921 BCE): death of Omri; his son Ahab reigns over the northern kingdom (the kingdom of Israel)
year 2860 (900 BCE): death of Ahab; death of the Prophet Elijah
Ahab's reign was marked by a heresy even stronger than before: having taken a Phoenician princess, Jezebel, as his wife, he transformed the faith of his kingdom into a cult of Baal! Jezebel had all the priests of the Israelite faith executed. Only one man stood up to this royal couple: the prophet Elijah. It was during Ahab's reign that the religious challenge between Elijah and the prophets of Baal sent by Jezebel took place on Mount Carmel.
To leave the kingdom of Judea in peace, God caused a conflict to arise between the kingdom of Ahab and the Aramean kingdom of Ben-hadad in the north. But Jehoshaphat, Aza's successor in Judea, went to Ahab to seal a military alliance against the kingdom of Aram which had also seized the Judean territory of Gilead on the other side of the Jordan river. During the battle, Ahab was mortally wounded and died shortly afterward. He had reigned over the kingdom of Israel for 22 years. His son Ahaziah succeeded him and followed his mother Jezebel into Baal worship: he reigned only two years before dying from an accidental fall. Since Ahaziah had no heir, his brother Jeroham, Ahab's son by a second relationship, took the throne. He destroyed the temples of Baal in the kingdom of Israel, so that he was not as evil in the eyes of God as his father and brother. He probably did this out of hatred for his mother-in-law Jezebel. Nevertheless, he remained distant from the commandments of God as he restored the pagan worship founded by Jeroboam and thus allowed his people to sin (2 Kings 3:1-3).
All this preamble has been necessary to introduce the historical piece that follows. After Ahab's death, Mesha, king of Moab, who had been a vassal of the kingdom of Israel, rebelled and waged war against Jeroham, Ahab's son. This was an opportunity for Jeroham to ask Jehoshaphat to return the favor of military aid. The biblical text records these events:
And Jeroham went and sent to Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, saying: 'The king of Moab has rebelled against me; will you go with me against Moab to battle?' And he said: 'I will go up; I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses.' And he said: 'Which way shall we go up?' And he answered: 'The way of the wilderness of Edom.'
So, the king of Israel went, and the king of Judea, and the king of Edom; and they made a circuit of seven days' journey; and there was no water for the host, nor for the beasts that followed them. And the king of Israel said: 'Alas! for the Lord has called these three kings together to deliver them into the hands of Moab.'
But Jehoshaphat said: 'Is there not here a prophet of the Lord, that we may inquire of the Lord by him?' And one of the king of Israel's servants answered and said: 'Elisha the son of Shaphat is here, who poured water on the hands of Elijah.' (2 Kings 3:7-11)
Finally, the prophet Elisha told the three kings that because the king of Judea was among them, they would defeat the Moabites. Mesha escaped certain death in this war. The fight ended with the Israelites' premature departure in the following way:
Then Mesha took his eldest son, the heir to the throne, and sacrificed him as a burnt offering upon the [city] walls. Immediately there was great wrath against Israel, and they were forced to withdraw and return to their own land. (2 Kings 3:27)
So, Mesha saved his kingdom by sacrificing his son and heir.
In the archeological site of Dhiban in Jordan, the location of Dibon, capital of the ancient kingdom of Moab, archaeologists have discovered in 1868 a stele that mentions these biblical characters and these conflicts between Israel and Moab. The artifact is now displayed in the Louvre Museum in Paris. Here are some translated excerpts:
I am Mesha, son of Chemosh[ît], king of Moab, from Dibon. My father ruled over Moab thirty years, and I ruled after my father. I made this high place for Chemosh in Qerihoh, for he saved me from all the kings and made me enjoy the sight of my enemies. Omri, king of Israel, oppressed Moab for a long time because Chemosh was angry with his country. His son [Jeroham, grandson of Omri] succeeded him, and he also declared: “I will oppress Moab.” In my days, he declared thus, but I enjoyed his view and that of his house: Israel was destroyed forever. Omri had taken possession of the land of Madaba, and he dwelt in it (during) his days and, (during) half of my days, his sons, forty years, but Chemosh restored it during my days. (source: Biblical Archaeology, lines 1-9)
The Mesha Stele is an additional and important proof of the historicity of the Bible on the following points:
Existence of the Kingdom of Israel: the name "Israel" is inscribed 5 times on this stele!
Existence at the same time of the Kingdom of Moab
Historicity of biblical places mentioned in the stele and discovered by archaeology
Historicity of Omri, King of Israel
Historicity of the conflicts between Israel and Moab, as mentioned in the Bible
Historicity of the Davidic dynasty (line 31 of the stele)
Rare mention of the name of the God of the Israelites, the Tetragrammaton (line 18), which appears about 7000 times in the Hebrew Bible
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Albert Benhamou
Private Tour Guide in Israel
February 2025
