• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
You are here: Home / 5* INFO / King Solomon’s Tablet of Stone 5* info

King Solomon’s Tablet of Stone 5* info

13 June 2021 by Red Johnson

The Jehoash Inscription
King Solomon’s Tablet of Stone

Questions and answers about the discovery of King Solomon’s Tablet of Stone.

Programme summary

Programme transcript

What was the Temple of Solomon?

According to the Bible, it was the Israelites’ first permanent ‘house’ of God, built specifically to house the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark, a gold covered wooden chest containing the Ten Commandments, had originally been carried by the chosen people and Moses through the desert.

When they arrived at the promised land of Canaan, they kept the Ark at the heart of the tabernacle, a tent-like structure regarded as God’s dwelling place on Earth.

After King Saul unified the Israelites, they settled in Jerusalem under his successor David. It was David’s son Solomon who built the luxurious temple, now known as the Temple of Solomon. Eventually it would become the Israelites’ only legitimate place of worship.

In Jewish history this time is known as the First Temple period, and begins at around 1,000BC.

What evidence is there that the Temple of Solomon existed?

The only evidence is the Bible. There are no other records describing it, and to date there has been no archaeological evidence of the Temple at all. What’s more, other archaeological sites associated with King Solomon – palaces, fortresses and walled cities that seemed to match places and cities from the Bible – are also now in doubt.

There is a growing sense among scholars that most of these archaeological sites are actually later than previously believed. Some now believe there may be little or no archaeological evidence of King Solomon’s time at all, and doubt that he ruled the vast empire which is described in the Bible.

Why did the appearance of the stone tablet, the Jehoash inscription, cause such a sensation?

Inscriptions from the First Temple Period are extremely rare. In fact only one other royal inscription from this period has been found in Israel. The ‘House of David’ Victory Stele, now in the Israel Museum, contains the only reference to Solomon’s father David which exists outside the Bible.

The Jehoash inscription appeared to be of even greater importance, offering the only known archaeological evidence for Solomon’s most celebrated building. It also seemed to corroborate some verses in the Bible which mentioned the Temple. The description of repairs to the Temple carried out by King Jehoash corresponds closely to Kings 2 Chapter 12. This gave the Inscription potentially enormous significance.

Why did the authorities set up an inquiry?

Although the Geological Survey of Israel concluded that the Jehoash Inscription was genuine, there were a number of issues that worried archaeologists, philologists and the police.

The lack of any authenticated provenance was a major problem. No one could demonstrate where the inscription had been found, and for reputable museums that raised significant doubts. Moreover, some scholars were raising questions about the language of the inscription. Was it consistent with the Hebrew of the First Temple Period?

For the police it was a matter of law. Under Israeli law any ancient artefact discovered after 1978 belongs to the state. So if this stone was genuine and had been recently unearthed, then its sale was illegal. And if it was after all a fake, then the police wanted to find out how and where it had been produced.

Also causing concern was the discovery of a link between the inscription and another Biblical antiquity which had surfaced in Israel and enjoyed similar acclaim. This artefact was hailed as the ossuary – or bone box – of Jesus’ brother. Its ancient Aramaic inscription read, ‘James, Son of Joseph, Brother of Jesus’, and caused a similar worldwide sensation.

It was displayed for the general public in Canada, in the Royal Ontario Museum and the exhibit received almost half a million visitors. Intriguingly, its owner was the same man who was handling the Jehoash Inscription. This coincidence prompted the Israel Antiquities Authority to set up an inquiry to examine both artefacts.

How did the discovery of marine fossils in the patina finally prove that the stone and the ossuary were fakes?

The patina is a layer on ancient stone which builds up over time as the stone reacts chemically with the soil, air or water it touches. An object which has been buried, as the Jehoash Inscription was said to be, will form a patina with the chemical signature of the soil around it. In the Judean hills around Jerusalem, the limestone in the rocks will produce a patina composed mainly of calcite (calcium carbonate).

Although chemically the patina on the Jehoash inscription and the ossuary corresponded very closely to a natural patina from Jerusalem, investigators were astonished to discover that in both cases it contained microfossils of marine organisms called foraminifera. These occur naturally in chalk, a calcium carbonate rock which is produced at the bottom of the sea, but these fossils do not dissolve in water and so cannot occur in a calcium carbonate patina. It was clear to investigators that the patina must be an artificial chemical mix in which chalk had been ground up to produce the required calcium carbonate. The marine fossils were a clear indication of the technique the forgers had used.

Why did investigators conclude that the stone probably came from a crusader castle?

Royal monumental inscriptions were sometimes written on black, rectangular-shaped, basalt stone. The forgers clearly knew this and chose a stone which was black. But mineralogical tests showed they had made a mistake. The tablet was not basalt but the unusual stone greywacke. This type of stone is not native to Israel, and would certainly not have been found in Judah (modern Jerusalem) during the reign of King Jehoash.

In fact, the closest source for the low grade metamorphic greywacke used for the tablet is western Cyprus. Assuming the forgers would not have gone so far afield to obtain a stone tablet, investigators concluded that this Cypriot stone must have been found locally. But why would a stone from Cyprus have been found in Israel?

There seemed one obvious possibility. During the Crusades stones were used as ballast on ships. They were frequently collected from one Crusader port, including Cyprus, and used by them for construction elsewhere. The Fortress of Apollonia, only 15 kilometres up the coast from Tel Aviv, was built by the Crusaders and part of it still stands today. It contains all sorts of exotic rectangular stones – including greywacke.

It seems very probable that the forgers took one of these stones, or one from another Crusader building, knowing it to be old and weathered, and already cut to a rectangular shape. It was also the right colour, and they may never have realised their error: that the stone they had chosen would not have been found in Israel in Biblical times.

What effect has the discovery of this elaborate fake had on the world of archaeology?

Police now suspect that artefacts produced by the same team of forgers may have reached collections and museums all over the world. The same investigators have found many other objects to be fakes. Some Israeli archaeologists are concerned that the whole archaeological record has been seriously contaminated and distorted by the forgers’ activities.

They are now suggesting that everything which came on to the antiquities market in Israel in the last 20 years without a clear and unambiguous provenance should be considered a fake unless proven otherwise.

Back to top

Back to the Horizon homepage

Filed Under: 5* INFO, King Solomon's Tablet of Stone

Primary Sidebar

Categories

  • "The Influence of the Mystery Religions on Christianity" (2)
  • “A land without a people for a people without a land” (4)
  • 5* BULLSHIT (10)
  • 5* INFO (505)
  • A Brief History of Humankind (1)
  • A Historical List Of Ancient Texts That Predate The Bible (5)
  • A Moral Argument Against Absolute Authority of the Torah (4)
  • AA NEW-TGP (10)
  • AAA TGP 1 RED CURCUMCUSION (3)
  • AAA TGP 2 YELLOW – EXODUS (6)
  • ABSOLUTE BULSHIT 5* (1)
  • Academia. (28)
  • An Incomplete History (3)
  • Ancient 'outlaw temple' discovered in Israel (9)
    • 18-19th CENTURY AUTHORS BIBLICAL CRITICISM (8)
      • Chilperic Edwards (1)
  • ANCIENT HISTORY (10)
  • Ancient Israel: A Brief History (1)
  • Ancient Mesopotamian underworld (3)
  • Ancient Near Eastern Parallels to the Bible and the Question of Revelation 5* for INFO and 10* for total bulllshit (1)
  • Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament (1)
  • Ancient Sumerian Origins of the Easter Story (1)
  • and Readmission of the Jews (1)
  • ANTI ZIONISM (1)
  • Anti-Zionism (1)
  • Antisemitism (1)
  • Arno C. Gaebelein (1)
  • ATHEIST BIBLE (1)
  • AUTHORS (110)
    • Alison Weir (5)
    • Assmann_Jan (1)
    • Benjamin Freedman (1)
    • Bible Myths and their Parallels in other Religions, by T. W. Doane (4)
    • Donald Morgan (1)
    • Donald Morgan (8)
    • DOUGLAS REED (1)
    • Dr Michael David Magee (9)
    • GEORGE SMITH (14)
    • GEORGE SMITH (5)
    • Irving Finkel (3)
    • JOSEPH CAMPBELL (3)
    • Joshua J. Mark (8)
    • Journalist H.L. Mencken's Account of the Scopes Trial (1)
    • Leonard W. King (1)
    • Nahum Sokolow LEADING ZIONIST OFFICIAL AND DIPLOMAT1859 – 1936 (2)
    • REV. A. H. SAYCE (1)
    • RICHARD FREIDMAN (1)
    • Robert G. Ingersoll (6)
    • STANLEY WILKIN (5)
    • Stephen Sizer (3)
    • The 10 Worst Old Testament Verses by Dan Barker (1)
    • The Chaldean Account of Genesis – George Smith (2)
    • THE CHURCH OF TRUTH (3)
      • The Bible Is Wrong About Moses (2)
    • The Greatest Lie Ever Told" by historian W H Uffington. (1)
    • THOMAS SHOEMAKER (4)
    • Walter Reinhold Warttig Mattfeld (15)
    • WHITNEY WEBB (2)
    • Ze’ev Herzog (2)
  • Babel and Bible (3)
    • William Jennings Bryan – Woodrow WIlson – SCOPES TRIAL (2)
  • BABYLONIAN RELIGION (9)
  • Babylonian tablet shows how Noah's ark could have been constructed (1)
  • BALFOUR DECLARATION (15)
    • The Ambition of Mr. House (1)
  • BANKSTERS AND WARMONGERS (3)
  • Baron Edmond de Rothschild & Palestine (2)
  • BIBLE AND MESOPOTAMIA (15)
  • BIBLE AND MESOPOTAMIA FACTS AND DETAILS (1)
  • BIBLE AND MESOPTMNIA (10)
  • Bible Atrocities (1)
  • Bible Is Fiction (1)
  • Bible is Fiction: A Collection Of Evidence (1)
  • BibleMythsandTheirParallelsinOtherReligions (7)
  • Biblical archaeology (32)
  • Biblical Assyria and Other Anxieties in the British Empire (1)
  • Biblical Contradictions (3)
  • Biblical Understanding & 19th-century CE Archaeology (4)
  • BRITTIANICA INFO – HISTORY OF JUDASIM AND MORE (1)
  • BULLSHIT NONSENSE GOOD FOR INFO – The Top Ten Attacks Against the Bible’s Historical Reliability — And How to Answer Them (6)
  • Canaanite and origins of Ancient Israel (6)
  • Charles Taze Russell (1)
  • Chart of All The Supernatural Events Recorded in the Bible (1)
  • Christian Fundamentalism (83)
  • CHRISTIAN ZIONISM/EVANGELICALS (92)
  • Christianity and its unashamed plagiarism (1)
  • Churchill (6)
    • Churchill (5)
    • the Jews and Israel – Part 1 (2)
  • CHURCHILL AND ROTHSCHILDS (5)
  • Circumcision (3)
  • Circumcision: History, Scope, and Aim: Part I (1)
  • COL HOUSE (1)
  • CONSPIRACY TRUTHS – Establishing The Zionist State of Israel (1)
  • CONSPIRACY TRUTHS – Genocide in Palestine (1)
  • CONSPIRACY TRUTHS – Rothschild Zionism (2)
  • COPPER/METAL (GOD) (2)
  • COPYCAT – JEWISH SABBATH NOT ORIGINAL – COPIED FROM THE SUMERIANS (2)
  • Darwin, Evolution, and Faith (3)
  • Deadly logic of "absolute anti-Zionism" (1)
  • DID MOSES EXIST? (2)
  • Did the Jews invent God? (1)
  • Did YHWH have a female consort? (1)
  • Difference Between Science and Scientism (2)
  • Do we have extra-biblical evidence for the origins of the Israelites? 5*info (1)
  • DO YOU KNOW WHY YOU BELIEVE WHAT YOU BELIEVE? (1)
  • DODGY INFO (6)
  • Domination by Deception (2)
  • Doré Bible (1)
  • Early Egyptology and the Hebrew Sojourn/Exodus Tradition (1)
  • Eden's Serpent: Its Mesopotamian Origins (3)
  • EDNUND DE ROTHSCHILD (2)
  • Egyptian paper claims Jewish Temple was never in Jerusalem (1)
  • EL AND YAHWEH (1)
  • EPIC OF GILIMESH (2)
  • Errant or Inerrant? That is the Question. (2)
  • Ezekiel’s Bizarre Siege Drama (1)
  • fake jews (1)
  • FEDERAL RESERVE (1)
  • FEDERAL RESERVE its creation under Woodrow Wilson (5)
  • FESTIVALS AND CALENDARS IN MESOPOTAMIA (2)
  • First World War Hidden History (1)
  • FORGOTTEN BOOKS (4)
  • General Jan Christian Smuts – A True Friend Of Zion (4)
  • Genesis (8)
  • Germans (1)
  • Greek and Old Testament Mythology (1)
  • Haaretz (12)
  • HAARETZPAPER (14)
    • For You Were (Not) Slaves in Egypt: The Ancient Memories Behind the Exodus Myth (1)
    • How the Jews Invented God (2)
  • Hammurabi's Code (3)
  • HENRY FROWDE (1)
  • High priest (4)
  • HISTORY – NINEVAH (1)
  • HISTORY BEGINS AT SUMER (9)
  • History of Israel (2)
  • HOLOCAUST EXPLIANED (1)
  • HOW DID GOD GET STARTED (Great article on the origns of how faith was invented) 5*+++ (2)
  • How Did God Get Started? (2)
  • How did we get the New Covenant teaching? (1)
  • How the Serpent Became Satan (2)
  • HUMANIST THINKING (2)
  • Humanists (1)
  • If the Messiah Isn't Here Yet, Does Israel Belong to the Jews? 5+++INFO (1)
  • Imagined_Beginnings (1)
  • Influence of Anthony Ashley-Cooper's Religious Thought – VII Lord Shaftesbury – on British Political Zionism. (1)
  • Influence of Gilgamesh on the Bible (1)
  • Is a Long-Dismissed Forgery Actually the Oldest Known Biblical Manuscript? (2)
  • Is Genesis merely a rip-off of other ANE lit? (7)
  • Is the Bible "Inerrant" or "Errant"? (1)
  • Is the Bible a True Story? (1)
  • Israel and the Palestinians: a history of conflict in 8 key episodes (4)
  • Israel deliberately forgets its history (4)
  • Israel Has No Right To Exist (11)
    • Why Israel can’t be a ‘Jewish State’ (3)
  • Israel’s Exodus (1)
  • Israelite History in the Context of the Ancient Near East (1)
  • January – March 2007 DANCING AROUND THE GOLDEN CALF – PART 5 (1)
  • Jerusalem: The Not-so-eternal Capital of the Jewish People (1)
  • Jewish God Yahweh Originated in Canaanite Vulcan, Says New Theory (1)
  • John Nelson Darby (10)
  • JUDAISM – REDDIT (2)
  • Khazars (1)
  • King Solomon's Tablet of Stone (2)
  • Legal Codes in the Ancient World (1)
  • LEGENDS OF BABYLON AND EGYPT IN RELATION TO HEBREW TRADITION (1)
  • Light on the Old Testament from the Ancient Near East (8)
  • LORD SHAFTSBURY (1)
  • Louis D. Brandeis: Zionist Leader (2)
  • Man or Biblical Myth: The Archaeological Evidence (1)
  • Manna Is Real and Not So Heavenly (2)
  • MARI AND THE BIBLICAL AMORITES (MAN) (1)
  • Maximilien Robespierre FRENCH REV (1)
  • Menasseh Ben Israel (2)
  • Mesopotamian Priests and Priestesses (1)
  • Monopolizing Knowledge by Ian Hutchinson (2)
  • MOSES AND THE EXODUS (8)
  • Nineveh (1)
  • NOAH'S ARK -THE FLOOD (5)
  • OLD TESTAMENT/TORAH STORYTELLING (13)
  • Oldest Ancient Civilizations (5)
  • OLIVER CROMWELL – CHARLES 1ST – JEWS RETURNING TO THE UK (7)
  • ON THE RELIABILITY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT (1)
  • ORIGINAL SIN (10)
  • Origins of Christian Zionism: Lord Shaftesbury and Evangelical Support for a Jewish Homeland' (2)
  • Origins Of The Hebrew Bible (91)
  • Origins of the Holy Bible via Archaeology (6)
  • OUT OF EGYPT OUT OF CAANAN (1)
  • OWLCATION (1)
  • Oxford Movement was also criticised for being both secretive and collusive. (1)
  • Pan-Babylonianism (5)
  • Pawns in the Game – William Guy Carr (1)
  • PDF (52)
  • Peoples of the Bible: The Legend of the Amorites (1)
  • Philosemitism in the British Isles is the basis of the Jewish state (1)
  • Plagiarism of the bible (27)
  • President Kennedy, The Fed And Executive Order 111 From APFN By Cedric X (2)
  • PRIESTHOODS OF THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST (1)
  • Probable Source of Aspects of Biblical and Homeric Literature (1)
  • Process of copying the Old Testament by Jewish Scribes (1)
  • Proof that religion is a man-made device and why it is outdated (2)
  • Pul, King (Tiglath-Pileser III) of Assyria (1)
  • Religion on Trial (4)
  • RESEARCHGATE (2)
  • ROGER GAHOLOCAUST DENIAL IN THE ARAB MEDIA (1)
  • ROTHSCHILD (33)
  • Rothschild & Russian Revolution (3)
  • Rothschild clients (1)
  • Rothschild Family History (6)
  • Rothschild Zionism (6)
  • ROTHSCHILDS BANKSTERS AND WARMONGERS (7)
  • ROTHSCHILDS TIMELINE (3)
  • SACRIFICES IN MESOPOTAMIA AND ISRAEL (4)
  • Samuel Untermeyer (24)
  • SCIENTIFIC ERRORS IN THE BIBLE (2)
  • SCOFIELD (41)
  • Scopes "Monkey" Trial (1925) (2)
  • SCRIBED (1)
  • Secular Web Kiosk (20)
  • Self-Fulfilling Prophecy (1)
  • SHAKESPEARE (1)
  • SMUTTS – A Reevaluation of the Balfour Declaration (1)
  • Sumerian and Babylonian Psalms (2)
  • Sumerian King List still puzzles historians after more than a century of research (1)
  • Sumerian Polytheism, Sin and a Great Flood (2)
  • Sumerian religion/COPYCAT Hebrews (17)
  • Sumerians (11)
  • Sykes-Picot and the Zionists (2)
  • TGP – ARK OF THE COVENANT (1)
  • TGP -THE GREAT PRETENDER (7)
  • Thales Idea of natural and super natural. (2)
  • THE ANTINOMIES OF CHRISTIAN ZIONISM (1)
  • The Ark of the Covenant in its Egyptian Context (1)
  • The Atheist Atrocities Fallacy – Hitler, Stalin & Pol Pot (1)
  • The Balfour Declaration: Enduring colonial criminality (3)
  • THE BASIC LAWS OF HUMAN STUPIDITY (1)
  • The Bible and Belief in Victorian Britain (1)
  • The Development of Zionism Until the Founding of the State of Israel (1)
  • THE DIVINE SERPENT (2)
  • The entire bible is rife with historical errors … 5*INFO (TAKEN FROM QUORA) (1)
  • THE ETHNIC CLEANSING OF PALESTINE (5)
  • The Evolution-Creationism Controversy: A Chronology (1)
  • The Exodus Debunked: Chronology (1)
  • The Federal Reserve's Role During WWII (1)
  • The Fool Says in His Heart, “There is no God (1)
  • THE GILGMESH EPIC AND OLD TESTAMENT (3)
  • The Great Flood: Comparison (2)
    • The Great Flood (1)
  • The Impossible Voyage of Noah’s Ark (2)
  • THE INCREDIBLE SCOFIELD AND HIS BOOK By JOSEPH M. CANFIELD 5*INFO (2)
  • The Invention of God (1)
  • The Invention of the Land of Israel by Shlomo Sand (1)
  • The Jewish concept of God as their tribal protector, who would save them from being conquered or exiled, had to undergo revision. (2)
  • the Jews and Israel – Part 1 (1)
  • The Kuzari Principle (4)
  • THE LAWS OF HAMMURABI AND THE COVENANT CODE: (5)
  • The Myth of Abraham (1)
  • THE MYTH OF MOSES AND SINAI (16)
  • THE MYTH OF SIN (1)
  • The national revelation at Sinai never happened (11)
  • The Old Testament and Its Authors (1)
  • The Origins of Judaism (14)
  • The Politics of the Exodus Myth (1)
  • The Problem of the Bible: Inaccuracies, contradictions, fallacies, scientific issues and more. (1)
  • The Reformation (1)
  • The Reformation, Cromwell, the Commonwealth, and Readmission of the Jews (1)
  • The roots of the creation story: An atheist's take on the Bible (1)
  • The Sabbath (4)
  • The Scopes Monkey Trial, 80 Years Later CLARENCE DARROW (2)
  • The Sephardi Aristocracy in Jerusalem-500 Years after the Expulsion from Spain (1)
  • The Serpent in the Garden of Eden (4)
  • The Sumerian Flood Story (2)
  • THE SUMERIAN HOAX: IS PSEUDO-SCIENCE TURNING WESTERN OCCULTISM INTO A RELIGION FOR DUMMIES? PROBABLY 5* BULLSHIT HOWEVER THER ARE SOME INTERESTING POINTS! (1)
  • The Three-Story Universe (1)
  • The Torah is True – Even if It’s Not Fact (1)
  • The World before 1000 BCE (3)
  • THE_GILGAMESH_EPIC_AND_OLD_TESTAMENT_PAR.pdf"] (1)
  • The_Rise_of_Monotheism_in_Ancient_Israel. (1)
  • The-Ethnic-Cleansing-of-Palestine (1)
  • Theodor Herzl (5)
  • There Was Pastor Russell: A Neglected Chapter of Zionism (1)
  • THIS IS MY REPLY TO THE SERIOUS BS THAT ASSAILS STHE XTIAN MIND!!5*INFO BIG TIME LOL (2)
  • Torah based on Mesopotamian (and other) sources (1)
  • TOTAL BULLSHIT – JUDAISM (18)
  • TRIOLOGY (3)
  • Ugaritic Texts (1)
  • url links (1)
  • VATICAN BANK (1)
  • VICTORIANS: RELIGION (1)
  • Walter Rothschild and the Balfour Declaration (2)
  • Was Adam the First Human? (1)
  • Was Passover Originally An Ancient Canaanite Ritual Festival Meant To Stop The Winter Rain From Ruining Spring Crops? (1)
  • Were Hebrews Ever Slaves in Ancient Egypt? Yes (1)
  • Western Civilizations (1)
  • What is sin? (1)
  • What is the circle of the earth in Isaiah 40:22? (1)
  • When Biblically Inspired Pseudoscience (1)
  • Who invented the idea that man made God? (1)
  • Why Did God Plagiarise the Bible (6)
  • Why Everything You Think You Know About Christian Zionism Is Wrong (1)
  • Why Moses’s brother worshipped a golden calf (1)
  • Why No Truly Ancient Bible Writings Have Been Found (1)
  • Why the Arabs Rejected Zionism, and Why It Matters .The Original "No": (2)
  • Why was the Gilgamesh flood tablet such a sensation? (2)
  • WIKIPEDIA (18)
  • WIKIWAND (1)
  • William E. Blackstone (1)
  • William Gladstone Prime Minister (2)
  • Woodrow Wilson (18)
  • World of Humanism ATHIEST ARTICES (1)
  • WORLD WAR 1 – THE GREAT WAR (2)
  • World War I (1)
  • World War One (3)
  • Yahweh (14)
  • Year 6000 Wikipedia – last date the jewish messiah can be revealed? (1)
  • You’ve Seen on Elohim, You’ve Seen Them All? (1)
  • YOUTUBE (2)
  • ZIONISM (100)
    • 1903) (1)
    • Lovers of Zion: A History of Christian Zionism (2)
    • Zionist Congress: The Uganda Proposal (August 26 (1)
  • ZIONISM — THE HIDDEN TIRANNY (4)
  • Zionism in the Age of the Dictators (3)
  • Zoroastrian /Judaism (12)
    • TIMELINE JEWISH (7)

Recent Posts

  • Egyptian paper claims Jewish Temple was never in Jerusalem
  • BIBLE AND MESOPOTAMIA FACTS AND DETAILS 5*+++
  • Ezekiel’s Bizarre Siege Drama 5*info
  • Process of copying the Old Testament by Jewish Scribes 5*info not helpful at all
  • THE ANTINOMIES OF CHRISTIAN ZIONISM pdf 5* info

© 2022 Science & Sensibility