Revelation Stone on exhibit for the first time ever.
By JERUSALEM POST STAFFGabriel revelation stone 370(photo credit: Courtesy Israel Museum)
Gabriel’s Revelation Stone, the greatest archaeological discovery in the Middle East since the Dead Sea Scrolls, went on public display at the Israel Museum on Monday.The stone is at the center of the “I Am Gabriel” exhibition.The 1st-century BCE tablet was found on the eastern shore of the Dead Sea in 2007. The text is written in ink on stone – an unusual combination – in the first person by someone who claims to be the Angel Gabriel. The inscription is a series of conversations with a human to whom the angel communicates a vision, although much of its 87 lines has been erased over time.The main topic is an attack on Jerusalem and the hope that God will save the city for the sake of his servant, David.The style is in keeping with Second Temple period writings, such as the Dead Sea Scrolls and the later books of prophets.The exhibition includes rare, ancient manuscripts.These writings trace the development of the figure of the Angel Gabriel in early rabbinic Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The works include the “War Scroll” – a fragment of the Dead Sea Scrolls discovered at Qumran in 1947, the Book of Daniel from the 13th-century Damascus Codex of the Hebrew Bible, the Gospel of Luke from a rare 10th-century Latin manuscript of the Four Gospels from France and a Koran from Iran from either the 15th or the 16thcentury.Also on display are prayer books from the three monotheistic religions that contain illustrations of the Angel Gabriel.The “I Am Gabriel” exhibition will run through February 11, 2014.
