The Khirbet Qeiyafa ostracon by Filip Ženatý

• The Ostracon was found in the second building north of the area on 8 th 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 from the neighborhood of Kh. Q

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/

Interpretation: • beginning – judical or ethical • end – political • continuity in meaning • Kh. Q = royal judean fortress from 10 th century BCE • ostracon testifies presence of literate administration in the city

II. Ada Yardeni • 11 th 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: . . . [ 1 אל תעש: ועבד א]ת do not do (it), but worship [. . . ]. [ 2 שפט עבד ואלמנ)ה( שפט ית]ם Judge the slave and the widow / Judge the orphan 3 וגר רב עלל רב דל ו and the stranger. Plead for the infant / plead for the poor and. 4 אלמנ)ה( נקם *יבד )=ביד( מלך widow. Avenge (the pauper’s vengeance) at the king’s hand [ 5 אבינ ועבד שכ גר תמ]כ 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

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)

Interpretation • Kh. Q = 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

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/ostracon 2. 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)