Proto-Biblical?
Tuesday, August 26, 2025
Proto-Biblical?
Starting the week off with a short item, here’s a whole TwiX post from the ArchaeoHistories (@histories_arch) user account:
A researcher has reexamined 3,800-year-old Proto-Sinaitic inscriptions carved at Serabit el-Khadim in the Sinai Desert. He believes they may contain the earliest written references to Moses, long before the Hebrew Bible was composed.
Two inscriptions could be read as “This is from Moses” or “Declaration of Moses.” Others mention the deity El and appear to deface the name of the Egyptian goddess Hathor, suggesting religious tension among workers near the turquoise mines.
Michael S. Bar-Ron spent eight years reconstructing 23 inscriptions using advanced imaging and 3D scans. If correct, these would be the oldest known extra-biblical mentions of Moses. But experts caution that Proto-Sinaitic is notoriously difficult to interpret, and many scholars view the translation as speculative.
Follow the link to see pics of the etched tablets. They seem to have a © attached, so it didn’t feel right just copying and pasting here…
“Experts caution” as they are wont to do, I suppose. I think I’ll also caution, just to err on the side of safety. Sure: Why not?
Good morning. "If correct ..." is doing a lot of work in that paragraph, but it's interesting to think about.
First official day of Envirothon. I have to teach study skills.
I think the last line is not translated correctly. If I'm not mistaken, it says, "Always put the shower curtain INSIDE the tub."