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46-1033: The inscription describes repairs made to the temple in Jerusalem by Jehoash , son of King Ahaziah of Judah , and corresponds to the account in 2 Kings chapter 12. While some scholars support the antiquity of the patina , which in turn, strengthens the assertion that the inscription is authentic, the Israel Antiquities Authority has asserted that the inscription is a modern-day forgery. [אנכי · יהואש · בן · א] חזיהו . מ[ הדה . ואעש . את . הב[...] ה . כאשר . נמלאה . נד בת . לב אש . בארץ . ובמד בר . ובכל . ערי . יהדה . ל תת · כסף · הקדשם · לרב · לקנת · אבן · מחצב · ובר שם . ונחשת . אדמ . לעשת . במלאכה . באמנה . ואעש את . בדק . הבית . והקרת ס בב . ואת . היצע . והשבכ ם . והלולם . והגרעת . וה דלתת . והיה . הים . הזה לעדת . כי . תצלח . המלאכה יצו . יהוה . את . עמו . בברכה [I am Jehoash, son of A-] -haziah, k[ing of Ju-] dah, and I performed

92-588: A court had issued a search warrant for Golan's apartment, office and rented warehouse. The search brought forth allegedly incriminating documents and photographs of Golan beside the Jehoash Inscription. Under interrogation, Golan promised to reveal the location of the stone in exchange for immunity from prosecution. Police then conducted a new search in a storage space that Golan had rented in Ramat Gan but had not originally disclosed to them. There

138-585: A discovery of considerable importance for research. He found that what had been regarded as two separate clay tablets written in cuneiform in the Akkadian language , each attributed to another king of Assyria , Tiglath Pileser III and Sargon II , respectively, are actually fragments of one single tablet that had been broken at some point. This tablet became known as the Azekah Inscription . Earlier, in one of these two pieces, researchers read

184-413: A forger could have used his (Na'aman's) theory as a basis for a forgery. Frank Cross of Harvard University noted various errors in spelling and terminology. Yuval Goren of Tel-Aviv University demonstrated how the convincing fake could be produced by abrasive airbrushing . The stone itself remained hidden. In an article published in 2007, Professor Chaim Cohen of Ben Gurion University wrote, "both

230-585: A forgery and attempted but failed to prosecute the perpetrator; a number of experts maintain that it is not a forgery. The calendars for reckoning the years of kings in Judah and Israel were offset by six months, that of Judah starting in Tishri (in the fall) and that of Israel in Nisan (in the spring). Cross-synchronizations between the two kingdoms therefore often allow narrowing of the beginning and/or ending dates of

276-515: A kibbutz on the Sea of Galilee . His father was Professor Shlomo Naaman, who taught in the Department of General History of Tel Aviv University (TAU). After completing his IDF military service (1957-1960), he left the kibbutz in 1964 and studied archaeology and Jewish history. Na'aman received his doctorate in 1975 from Tel Aviv University with Yohanan Aharoni as supervisor , with a thesis on

322-520: A king to within a six-month range. For Jehoash, the Scriptural data allow the narrowing of his accession to some time between Nisan 1 of 835 BCE and the day before Tishri 1 of the same year. His death occurred at some time between Nisan 1 of 796 BCE and the day before Tishri 1 of that same year. During his reign, the Judean court recorders were still using the non-accession system of measuring years that

368-742: A modern forgery. A report, dated September 2005, was prepared by Wolfgang E. Krumbein of the Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg , Germany: The grainy whitish patina with yellow and grey particles embedded existing prior to 2005 and documented by the Israel Antiquities Authority as "James Bond" material looks like Meyer cement used around 1900–1920 at the Acropolis Monuments in Athens and other places. Unfortunately these materials are presently no longer existing on

414-467: A modern-day forgery. I would also add that if nevertheless the YI does turn out to be a forgery, then it is a most brilliant forgery in my opinion. " Victor Sasson responds that "the sandstone inscription need not be the first and original record. If the stone itself cannot scientifically be dated to late ninth century B.C.E., then the text could be a later copy of an original inscription... We do indeed have

460-573: A phony business card and a phone number to a Tel Aviv private eye who admitted that his employer was Oded Golan , the collector who owned the James Ossuary (another artifact of uncertain authenticity). Golan denied that he was the owner of the stone and claimed that the real owner was a Palestinian antiquities dealer who lived in an area under Palestinian Authority and could not be identified. A March 19, 2003, article in Maariv reported that

506-460: A publication now in the public domain :  Emil G. Hirsch , Max Seligsohn , Solomon Schechter , Ira Maurice Price (1901–1906). "Joash" . In Singer, Isidore ; et al. (eds.). The Jewish Encyclopedia . New York: Funk & Wagnalls. {{ cite encyclopedia }} : CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list ( link ) Nadav Na%27aman Nadav Na'aman (born in 1939 in Jerusalem )

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552-576: A reference to a possible renovation or restoration of an inscription. The author of the Tell Fakhriyah Assyrian-Aramaic bilingual inscription, dated to the mid-ninth century B.C.E., speaks of a possible future renovation of his inscription." Prof. Ronny Reich who played a key role in the widely publicized case of the antiquities collector accused of fraud, and was one of the founders of the Israel Antiquities Authority stated "Finally, allow me to play devil's advocate and say that

598-551: A result, that Prophet Isaiah himself was a member of the royal family). The extermination of the male descendants of David was considered divine retribution for his responsibility in the extermination of the priests by Saul , who had commanded his servant Doeg the Edomite to perform this task (comp. 1 Sam. 22:17–23 ). Jehoash escaped death because in the latter case one priest, Abiathar , survived ( Sanh. 95b). The hiding-place of Jehoash was, according to R. Eleazar , one of

644-542: A result, what was written earlier about Tiglath-Pileser and Sargon's campaigns to the Land of Israel was removed from scholarship, and instead, important details were added about Sennacherib's campaigns into Judah in 701 BCE. Na'aman teamed up with archaeologists Israel Finkelstein and Yuval Goren to try to determine the origin of the Amarna tablets . They conducted the examination of the composition and origin of clay of which

690-660: Is an Israeli archaeologist and historian. He specializes in the study of the Near East in the second and first millenniums BCE . His research combines the history of the Ancient Near East , archaeology, Assyrology , and the study of the Hebrew Bible . He possesses broad knowledge in all these four branches of research. Na'aman was born on a kibbutz near Jerusalem and grew up in Kvutzat Kinneret ,

736-537: Is portrayed as an act of revenge for the blood of Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada. Jehoash was buried together with his fathers in the City of David , although he was "not (buried) in the sepulchres of the kings". He was succeeded as king by his son Amaziah (אמציה), The rabbis of the Talmud declared, based upon a rabbinic tradition, that Prophet Amoz was the brother of Amaziah , the king of Judah at that time (and, as

782-532: The Books of Chronicles criticizes this cruel act strongly. "Thus Joash the king remembered not the kindness which Jehoiada his father had done to him, but slew his son. And when he died, he said, The L ORD look upon it, and require it". The author also attributes Jehoash's deeds to the oppression suffered at the hands of Aramean invaders as God's judgment. According to the account in 2 Kings 12, when King Hazael of Syria marched on Jerusalem, Jehoash surrendered all

828-565: The Supreme Court to obtain an official requiring the owner of the artefact, Golan, to consign it to the State without payment. The Supreme Court ruled against the Israel Antiquities Authority, returning the tablet and ossuary to Golan, who intends to publicly display both. In February 2016, Professor Ed Greenstein, Bar-Ilan University, Israel, published an update review article, The So-Called Jehoash Inscription: A Post Mortem , commenting on

874-584: The Throne of David. Athaliah was killed during the coup. After Jehoash was crowned, the covenant was renewed between God, the king, and the nation. The Tyrian cult of Baal , which was introduced under Jehoram and strengthened under Athaliah, was suppressed. Mattan , the priest of Baal, was killed as altars to Baal were destroyed. For the first time in Judah's history, the Temple in Jerusalem and its priesthood achieved national importance. According to

920-510: The account in 2 Kings 12, but adds the detail that it was "as a form of taxation, similar to the tax collected in the desert in connection with the tabernacle". At the instigation of Jehoiada, King Joash undertook the restoration of the Temple. The Work was completed so expeditiously that one living at the time the Temple was erected by Solomon was permitted to see the new structure shortly before his death. This good fortune befell Jehoiada himself,

966-422: The accounts in 2 Kings 12, Jehoash directed that the money paid by worshippers at the Temple should be used to fund its repair. By the 23rd year of his reign, he was aware that the priests had failed to implement a restoration program, and so he made his own arrangements, funded by popular contributions, to restore the temple to its original condition and further strengthen it. The account in 2 Chronicles 24 follows

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1012-540: The chambers behind the Holy of Holies ; according to R. Samuel b. Naḥman , it was one of the upper chambers of the Temple ( Cant. R. i. 66). Although a king who is the son of a king need not be anointed , an exception was made in the case of Jehoash, as well as of Solomon and Jeoahaz , the succession of each of whom was contested. ( Lev. R. x. 8) Particular mention is made of the crown placed on Joash's head ( 2 Kings 11:12 ), because it fitted exactly, signifying that he

1058-417: The dates 835–796 BCE. According to the Hebrew Bible , following the death of his father, Ahaziah, Jehoash was spared from the rampages of Ahaziah's mother, Athaliah, by Jehoash's paternal aunt, Jehosheba , who was married to the high priest, Jehoiada . After hiding him in the Temple for seven years, Jehoiada had Jehoash crowned and anointed king in a coup d'état against Athaliah, who had usurped

1104-412: The diverse testimony, was inconclusive. However, the judgment of scholars who read ancient texts and analyze their language and writing is clear: no textbook of ancient Hebrew inscriptions will ever include the so-called Jehoash text; no historian of ancient Israel will ever count the inscription as a source; no grammarian or lexicographer of ancient Hebrew will ever include words, phrases, or forms found in

1150-494: The expert testimony given at the trial of Oded Golan. They supported the judge's conclusion that the forgery of the artifact could not be proved, and stated that the trial evidence confirmed their own earlier conclusion that it is most probably genuine. In mid-2013, after judge Aaron Farkash of the Jerusalem District Court ruled that the state had failed to prove the artefact was a forgery, the state applied to

1196-493: The gold of the royal and sacred treasuries, thereby persuading him to call off his attack, but according to the account in 2 Chronicles, the Syrian army "destroyed all the leaders of the people from among the people, and sent all their spoil to the king of Damascus", "execut[ing] judgment against Joash" and leaving him severely wounded. Jehoash was eventually assassinated by his own servants at Beth Millo , and his assassination

1242-558: The importance of the Amarna letters for the history of Israel. He subsequently worked as a lecturer in archaeology and history of the ancient Near East at TAU. In 1984, Na'aman became Associate Professor of Jewish History. From 1989 until his retirement in 2007, he held a chair in Jewish history at TAU. In 2012 he was elected a member of the Israel Academy of Sciences . In 1974, Na'aman published his first article, which contained

1288-428: The inscription appears to me to be authentic, because it's hard for me to believe that a forger (or group of forgers) could be so knowledgeable in all aspects of the inscription − that is, the physical, paleographic, linguistic and biblical ones − that they could produce such an object." In a review article published in 2012, Rosenfeld, Feldman, Kronfeld and Krumbein summarized their earlier published studies and reviewed

1334-560: The inscription as genuine data. Jehoash of Judah Joash ( Hebrew : יְהוֹאָשׁ , Yəhōʾāš , " Yah -given"; Greek : Ιωας ; Latin : Ioas ), also known as Joash (in King James Version ), Joas (in Douay–Rheims ) or Joás ( Hebrew : יוֹאָשׁ , Yōʾāš ), was the eighth king of Judah , and the sole surviving son of Ahaziah after the massacre of the royal family ordered by his grandmother, Athaliah . His mother

1380-531: The name of Azariah , King of Judah, and therefore assumed that he took part in the war that was going on in central Syria. The fragment of the second tablet mentions the attack on the city of Azekah , which was attributed to Sargon, king of Assyria. When the two fragments of the tablets were put together, it became clear that they describe, in considerable detail, the Assyrian King Sennacherib 's campaign against Hezekiah , king of Judah. As

1426-542: The names of places are mentioned, but researchers disagreed on their identification, thus a petrographic examination of the clay made it possible to decide the debate. Na'aman also took part in the Brook of Egypt debate, identifying this biblical river as the Besor Stream . The identification of the site of Khirbet Qeiyafa proved to be problematic. Na'aman also contributed significantly to this debate. He held that

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1472-452: The nature of these contributions and the fact that they are completely new do support my long-standing position concerning the authenticity of the YI [Jehoash Inscription] as follows: In order to remove any possible doubt concerning my position as regards the authenticity of the YI, I wish to emphasize at the outset that I do not know whether or not this inscription is genuine. I do contend, however, that it can not be proven philologically to be

1518-416: The ossuary and have been totally eliminated for reasons unknown. 5) The pictures further document recent (2005) addition of a reddish sticky or powdery and also rock staining material. In places also scratches and dark (black) material was recently added. These materials do not exist in photographic documents prior to 2005. Krumbein concludes that "Our preliminary investigations cannot prove the authenticity of

1564-405: The police found scores of artifacts, ancient seals and other inscriptions in various stages of production along with the tools to create the imitations. Under harsh questioning, Golan admitted that he knew about the Jehoash Inscription and promised to hand it over. On March 14, 2012 Jerusalem Judge Aharon Farkash stated "that there is no evidence that any of the major artifacts were forged, and that

1610-525: The prosecution failed to prove their accusations beyond a reasonable doubt." However, the court also ruled that it was unable to conclude that the Jehoash Inscription was authentic and noted that an associate of the accused forgers had confessed to aiding in its fabrication. Limor Livnat , Israeli Minister of Culture, appointed a scientific commission to study the Jehoash tablet, as well as the James Ossuary . The commission concluded that various mistakes in

1656-528: The provenance of these tablets. The three authored the book Inscribed in Clay , in which they presented the data from their research, including conclusions about the origin of the tablets and what this implies for the study of the Amarna documents. In this way they could determine the origin of many tablets in which the sender's name was lost through damage, or was not mentioned at all. There are also cases where

1702-605: The son of Beniah, commander-in-chief of the army Under Solomon. So long as Jehoash continued under the tutelage of Jehoiada, he was a pious king; Jehoash listened to the princes of Judah instead of the priests. This led him to abandon worshipping Yahweh and turning instead to idols and the Asherim as previous kings of Israel did. 2 Chronicles 24 narrates how Jehoash son-in-law the prophet Zechariah , Jehoiada's son and successor, rebuked them for forsaking God, which resulted in Jehoash ordering his execution by stoning . The author of

1748-411: The spelling and the mixture of different alphabets indicated that this was a modern forgery. The stone was typical of western Cyprus and areas further west. Patina over the chiseled letters was different from that of the back of the stone and could easily be wiped off the stone by hand. In a press conference in Jerusalem on June 18, 2003 the Israel Antiquities Authority commission declared the inscription

1794-632: The spiral stairs, and the re- cesses, and the doors. And this day will become a testimony that the work will prosper. May Yahweh ordain His people with blessing. Israeli magazine Maariv correspondent Boaz Gaon reported that the Israel Antiquities Authority Theft Unit had focused their attention on the "Jehoash Inscription" as expensive bait to defraud a prominent collector in London. Israeli investigators linked

1840-453: The tablets were made. Yuval Goren removed samples from hundreds of tablets, tested and determined what material they were made of and from where in Canaan a material with such a chemical and mineralogical composition could have originated. Thus, in combination with the historical data emerging from the tablets and the archaeological data from sites throughout Canaan, the researchers determined

1886-462: The three objects beyond any doubt. Doubtlessly the patina is continuous in many places throughout surface and lettering grooves in the case of ossuary and tablet. On the other hand a proof of forgery is not given by the experts nominated by the Israel Antiquities Authority." Israeli historian Nadav Na'aman , who had theorized that the books of the Kings could be based on public inscriptions, opined that

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1932-431: The various scholarly analyses of the tablet and its inscription. Greenstein, a Semitic philologist, contends that the inscription contains "anomalies—spellings and linguistic usages that did not jibe with what we know of ancient Hebrew writing and language." He also quotes paleographer Christopher Rollston for the assertion that the relative height of some letters is incorrect. Greenstein concludes: The judge, overwhelmed by

1978-402: The work on th[is ho]us- e. When men's gener- osity was full in the land and in the wilder- ness, and in all the cities of Judah, to give money as sacred donations abundantly, to buy stone and juniper wood and Edomite copper, performing the work in good faith–then I ma- de the repair of the Temple, and of the encircling wa- lls, and the storied structure, and the lattice- s, and

2024-481: Was Zibiah of Beersheba . Jehoash was 7 years old when he ascended to the throne, reigning for 40 years. ( 2 Kings 12:1 , 2 Chronicles 24:1 ) He was succeeded by his son, Amaziah of Judah . He is said to have been righteous "all the days of Jehoiada the priest" ( 2 Chronicles 24:2 ) but to have deviated from fidelity to Yahweh after Jehoiada's death ( 2 Chronicles 24:17–19 ). William F. Albright has dated his reign to 837–800 BCE, while E. R. Thiele offers

2070-436: Was adopted in the days of Jehoshaphat from the practice of the northern kingdom, whereby the king's first partial year in office was counted as his first year of reign. The Gospel of Matthew does not list Jehoash of Judah in the genealogy of Jesus , Jehoash being one of four kings of Judah so omitted, the other three being Ahaziah , Amaziah , and Jehoiakim . [REDACTED]  This article incorporates text from

2116-562: Was qualified for kingship. ( Ab. Zarah 44a) In 2001, an unprovenanced inscription was published, known as the Jehoash Inscription or Temple Inscription, which appears to be a record of repairs made to Solomon's Temple during Jehoash's reign. The tablet consists of 15 lines of Hebrew text inscribed on a piece of tabular black stone. Following extensive scientific tests, the Israeli archaeological authorities declared it to be

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