Methodological Principles in Determining that the So-Called Jehoash Inscription is Inauthentic

Abstract

The so-called Jehoash Inscription has been the subject of academic and even juridical contention. With respect to the so-called Jehoash Inscription, the most basic outlook that a philologist must adopt, or belief the philologist must form, at the very outset is whether to treat the text as presumably authentic or presumably inauthentic or suspect. The methods of analysis and evaluation that one employs will follow from that initial decision. This chapter reviews a few of the most outstanding deviations from literary and linguistic norms associated with royal building and memorial inscriptions that one encounters in the Jehoash text. It concludes that there is no single, simple, economical way of explaining the abnormalities of the so-called Jehoash Inscription and presents some of the facts concerning the language and form of the Jehoash Inscription. Keywords: authenticity; Jehoash Inscription; linguistic norms; memorial inscriptions