Is It or Isn’t It?

Mystery, politics, Biblical implications, gold—a newly surfaced inscription purporting to be by King Jehoash has it all. And it may be a forgery!

If authentic, it would be the first royal inscription ever found of an Israelite king.

If authentic, it may provide evidence for Israel’s claim to the Temple Mount. If a forgery, some Israeli may be trying to manufacture evidence of Israel’s claim to the Temple Mount. Or some Palestinian may be trying to plant an obvious forgery in order to undermine supposed evidence of Israel’s claim to the Temple Mount.

If authentic, it would support the historicity of the Book of Kings.

If authentic, it might even show that the First Temple—Solomon’s Temple—was decorated with gold.

If authentic, it would cast doubt on the ability of epigraphers and philologists and Biblical scholars to detect a forgery. If a forgery, it would cast doubt on the ability of geologists to detect a forgery.