Moabite stone

Moabite stone , ancient slab of stone erected in850 BC by King Mesha of Moab; it contains a long inscription commemorating a victory in his revolt against Israel. It was discovered at Dibon, Jordan (1868), by F. A. Klein, a German clergyman. Although it was later broken when Klein tried to purchase it from the Arabs, most of the fragments were recovered. They are in the Louvre. The language of the Moabites is a Phoenician dialect that represents an early form of Hebrew.

Moabite Stone Discovered in 1868 and broken into pieces by local tribesmen when they realized its value; but reassembled and now in Paris. The inscription, dated about 830 BCE, in a language related to biblical Hebrew, records military successes against Israel by King Mesha and ascribed to the god Chemosh. A fragment of another stone was found in the country of Jordan in 1958.

lime There is plenty of limestone in Palestine, and lime was made by heating this in a kiln (Isa. 33: 12). It could be used to make plaster to cover large stones (Deut. 27: 2) and create a smooth surface. Amos (Amos 2: 1) condemned the Moabites for burning the bones of the king of edom to lime—i.e. his total destruction.