Historical Context

When was the stele first made?

The Tel Dan Stele comes from a time long after King David himself. David and his son Solomon had already died. The big united kingdom had split in two. 

The north was called Israel and the south was called Judah. The stone was carved about 150 years after David, when the two smaller kingdoms were often fighting their neighbor Aram (Syria) and sometimes fighting each other.

From the Bible’s point of view, this is the period of the prophet Elisha, who came after Elijah. You can picture it as the middle of the books of 1 and 2 Kings.

Here is the story the Bible tells around the same years.

Ahab was a famous (and often wicked) king of Israel.

His son Joram (Jehoram) was king after him.

In Judah, another king also named Jehoram ruled, 

and his son Ahaziah became king after him. The two royal families had even married into each other, so they were allies for a while. You meet these people in 2 Kings 8.

At the same time, a man named Hazael became king of Aram in Damascus. The Bible says the prophet Elisha told Hazael he would become king and would cause a lot of trouble for Israel (2 Kings 8:7–15). Earlier, God had told Elijah to anoint Hazael as well (1 Kings 19:15–17).

The Bible says Kings Jehoram of Israel and Ahaziah of Judah went together to fight Hazael at a place called Ramoth-Gilead. Jehoram was wounded and went back to the city of Jezreel to recover. Ahaziah went to visit him (2 Kings 8:28–29).

Then a commander named Jehu was anointed king of Israel. Jehu drove his chariot to Jezreel, killed Jehoram of Israel, and also killed Ahaziah of Judah, who was there visiting (2 Kings 9). That is the Bible’s account of how those two kings died.

The Tel Dan Stele, written by an Aramean king, claims that he killed those same two kings. The Bible and the stone do not tell the story in exactly the same way. One possible explanation is that Hazael and Jehu were both involved in the same chaotic year and each took credit. Another is that Hazael was bragging the way ancient kings often did. (lying)

After that, Hazael kept attacking Israel for many years (2 Kings 10:32–33 and 2 Kings 13:3, 22). Later an Israelite king named Jehoash (also called Joash) fought back and recovered some of the land Hazael had taken (2 Kings 13:24–25). Many scholars think that is when the Israelites smashed the stele and used the pieces as building stones.

So, from the Bible’s point of view, the stone belongs to the time of:

• 2 Kings 8 (Hazael becomes king, the two kings go to war at Ramoth-Gilead)
• 2 Kings 9 (Jehoram of Israel and Ahaziah of Judah die)
• 2 Kings 10 and 13 (Hazael keeps pressing Israel, then Israel later pushes back)
  

It is the generation of Elisha the prophet, the last of Ahab’s family, the short reign of Ahaziah of Judah, and the rise of both Hazael and Jehu. That is the world the carved letters on the broken black stone are written in.

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