The Mount Ebal Inscription

Gershon Galil's study examines the Ebal tablet, a folded lead strip bearing inscriptions on both its internal and external surfaces. The main interior inscription (Inner B) comprises 48 letters in 14-words: You are cursed by the god Yhw ? cursed; You will die, cursed ? cursed, you will surely die; Cursed you are by Yhw ? cursed. The main external inscription (Outer-A) comprises 46 letters in 13-words, exhibiting similar patterns to Inner-B (omitting LAL = God). The Inner-B and Outer-A inscriptions each constitute sophisticated literary units framed in an inclusio structure. This structure includes three components arranged in a chiastic literary order (A-B-C-C-B-A). The literary genre of the Ebal inscription is primarily a curse document; however, it also exhibits characteristics of a judicial text, and its warnings related to the covenant between YHWH and the people of Israel. Serving as a legal contract between the people of Israel and their God, it delineates an obligation of the people to observe the commandments while recognizing that the man who violates the prohibitions and does not observe the social and ritual norms will be put to death: You will die cursed you will surely die. Similar death sentences for violating the prohibitions listed in Deuteronomy 27 are attested in the Book of the Covenant and the Book of the Holiness. While Outer-A is visible, Inner-B became practically sealed after folding the tablet. These observations suggest a legal genre for the lead strip, comparable to Hittite, Assyrian, and other legal-economic texts. Like these documents, the main text is written on the inside, while a verbatim version of it is copied on the outer surface, similar to an envelope. Although lacking a literal outer envelope, the Ebal inscription effectively conceals its inner inscription beneath the outer layer, rendering it sealed and invisible. The folding of the tablet mirrors the structure of legal texts, where the outer layer encloses the inner content. There is therefore a relationship between form and content in the Ebal inscription.