The Khirbet Qeiyafa ostracon by Filip Ženatý. The Ostracon was found in the second building north...

The Khirbet Qeiyafa ostracon

by Filip Ženatý

• The Ostracon was found in the second building north of the area on 8th July 2008

- 15 x 16 cm- written in ink- inner side- vertical to the traces

made by a potter- not a jar inscription- material comes fromthe neighborhood of KhQ

I. Garfinkel, Ganor, Misgav

• script: late Canaanite

• simmilar to Izbeth Sartah inscription

• language: old Hebrew (Proto-Hebrew)

Source of the images: http://cojs.org/cojswiki/Image:Izbet_Sartah_Ostracon.jpg http://sites.google.com/site/collesseum/Izbetabtcopy.jpg

Propossed reading:

Hebrew reading (Misgav) English approximate translation (Maier)

אל תעש ] [ ועבד א]ת[ 1 Do not do ] [ and servant a]…[

שפט בואלמ ] [אל?ט 2 Judge ….. ] [ El(?)…

א?ל? ובעלל 3 El(?) and Ba’all

א] [מ ונקמ יסד מלכ ]?[ג]ת[?/פ

4 Pe]rso[n will revenge, YSD king (of) G]ath(?)[

סרנ? ע]...[ מג/דרת 5 Seren(?) a]…[ from Gederot (?)

Source: http://gath.wordpress.com/2009/10/16/for-those-who-dont-know-any-biblical-hebrew/

• beginning – judical or ethical

• end – political

• continuity in meaning

• KhQ = royal judean fortress from 10th century BCE

• ostracon testifies presence of literate administration in

the city

Interpretation:

II. Ada Yardeni

• 11th century BCE (paleographical analysis)

• text is mentioning:

- serving /servant

- judging / judge

- God(s)

- master / child,

- revenge, king

- perhaps devotion / ban

Interpretation:

• draft of monumental text – magic or cultical

• arguments: Large size, large letters, dividing lines

or

• list of names – less probable

III. Gershon Galil• tries to fill in the missing letters:

• dividing lines added after the text was written

Propossed reading:

...אל תעש: ועבד א]ת[ 1 do not do (it), but worship ]...[.

שפט עבד ואלמנ(ה) שפט ית]ם[

2 Judge the slave and the widow / Judge the orphan

וגר רב עלל רב דל ו 3 and the stranger. Plead for the infant / plead for the poor and

אלמנ(ה) נקם *יבד (=ביד) .מלך

4 widow. Avenge (the pauper’s vengeance) at the king’s hand

אבינ ועבד שכ גר תמ]כ[ 5 Protect the needy and the slave / suppo]rt[ the stranger

Propossed reading:

• 1. do not do (it), but worship ]...[.

• 2. Judge the slave and the widow / Judge the orphan

• 3. and the stranger. Plead for the infant / plead for the poor and

• 4. widow. Avenge (the pauper’s vengeance) at the king’s hand

• 5. Protect the needy and the slave / suppo]rt[ the stranger

• 1. do not do (it), but worship ]...[.

• 2. Judge the slave and the widow / Judge the orphan

• 3. and the stranger. Plead for the infant / plead for the poor and

• 4. widow. Avenge (the pauper’s vengeance) at the king’s hand

• 5. Protect the needy and the slave / suppo]rt[ the stranger

Propossed reading:

Interpretation• text was dictated by a teacher to a student (father to son)

• ostracon is a scribal excercise

• original text – petic, well formulated, spohisticated

• arguments - not very skilled handwriting

- dividing lines

• genre: prophetic text, similar to Is 1:17; Ps:72,4; Ex:23:3

„Learn to do good; Seek justice, Reprove the ruthless; Defend the orphan, Plead for the widow.” (Is 1:17)

• KhQ = Neta’im (1 Chronicle 4:23)

• administrative fortified center built by King David

Remarks:

- 40% of the text only assumption

- Galil skipped the work of prof. Misgav

Interpretation

Conclusion

• 1. What does the ostracon connect with Khirbet Qeiyafa

beside the place where it was found?

The main argument is that the material comes from the Elah

valley, that is the neighborhood of Khirbet Qeiyafa. The

pottery material, however, was transported to places, where

there was no good soil for it, eg. the pottery found in Ramat

Rachel near Jerusalem came from the Shephelah regions.

Conclusion

• 2. What does the ostracon tell us about the scribal education

and centralization of the power of the Judaean kingdom?

Explicitly nothing. The proposals are rather ideals and wishes

of the scholars to be achieved. Text is uncertain, because

there is no parallel with exactly the same script. All scholars

have interpreted therefore the ostracon in relation to biblical

Hebrew and biblical context.

Future?

• new studies: Emile Puech, Christopher Rollstone...

• new excavations

• The ostracon is deposited in Iron Age gallery of the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.

References

• GALIL G.: The Hebrew Inscription from Khirbet Qeiyafa/Neta’im, 2010

• GARFINKEL Y. et al: Khirbet Qeiyafa Vol.1, Excavation report 2007-2008, 2009

• Qeiyafa Ostracon Chronicle, ]online[ http://qeiyafa.huji.ac.il/ostracon2.asp (cit. 5.12. 2011)

• The Tell es-Safi/Gath Excavations Official (and Unofficial) Weblog, ]online[ http://gath.wordpress.com/2009/10/16/for-those-who-dont-

know-any-biblical-hebrew/ (cit. 5.12. 2011)