As you know, the 10 commandments in Christianity and Judaism are the fundamental law. The source of their appearance is the Pentateuch, the Old Testament. Archaeologists are quite calm about artifacts with inscribed commandments found in the Middle East. But when such a thing "surfaced" in the mountains of North America, there was no limit to surprise.
Scientists believe that the Pentateuch with the text of the commandments existed as early as the 3rd century BC. The Bible tells in some detail about the appearance of the 10 commandments bequeathed by God to people in the Books of Exodus and Deuteronomy.
Tablet of the New World
At the call of God, Moses ascended Mount Sinai, which was shrouded in thick smoke and was shaking all over. Under the roar of thunder, in the blaze of lightning, the voice of God was heard, pronouncing the commandments. In addition to the commandments known to us, the Creator communicated many other laws. After some time, Moses again had to climb the mountain, where the Lord handed him two stone plates - "Tablets of Testimony", or "Tablets of the Covenant". 10 main commandments were carved on them. However, when Moses, after a 40-day stay on the mountain, descended with the tablets in his hands, he saw that the Jewish people had forgotten about their God and were now dancing around the golden calf. The Prophet was terribly angry at this sight and in his hearts broke the tablets on the rock. When the people repented and returned to their faith, God told Moses to carve two new tablets out of the stone. The commandments were written on them again.
In 1933, an amazing find was made at the foot of the plateau near the American town of Los Lunas. We are talking about a gigantic boulder weighing 85 tons, on which the 10 commandments of Moses were carved. The stone with biblical inscriptions is located in the Hidden Highlands. Locals nicknamed this place "the rock of secrets".
Strictly speaking, the inhabitants knew about the boulder with incomprehensible scribbles at least half a century before that. But in 1933, attracted by rumors of a mysterious artifact, the young archaeologist Frank Hibben, a future professor at the University of New Mexico, came to this wilderness. An elderly resident of Los Lunas led him to a huge stone, claiming that he was the first to see these strange inscriptions in 1880.
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The scientist wrote down and photographed the inscriptions and sent the pictures to his colleagues. The answer came pretty quickly. It turned out that the inscription is 10 commandments, carved in the Hebrew language, which has not been used for more than 2 thousand years. The current Israeli alphabet is significantly different in writing from those characters that were carved in stone.
Among other things, Hibben noticed the uniqueness of the place where the boulder is located. There is only one path to the “rock of secrets”, and the boulder lies in the middle of it. It is very difficult to move or drag it from this place. So the traveler practically cannot pass by and not notice this stone. The scientist did not exclude the possibility that people used this way to get to the place of sacrifice or worship, and the stone once again reminded them of the commandments. But in this whole story, one question remains unclear: how did the ancient Jewish commandments, and even applied in this style of writing, penetrated into North America long before its discovery by the Vikings, and even more so before the arrival of Columbus?
Mezuzah of the Samaritans
On the plateau, located in the foothills of the "rock of secrets", there are also the remains of ancient fortifications, built in a certain sequence. And on the rock itself there are dozens of mysterious drawings and rock signs - petroglyphs.
Already in the second half of the XX century, scientists put forward a hypothesis that one of the images coincides with the location of the constellations and planets at the time of the solar eclipse, which happened in September 107 BC. It was on this day, according to the Hebrew calendar, that one of the most revered religious holidays of this people fell - Roshkha Shana, or the Jewish New Year, which is celebrated two days in a row on the new moon of the autumn month of Tishrei (Tishri). So, scientists have found a lot of evidence that makes the American boulder related to the Jewish past. The age of the inscription was estimated in different ways - from 500 to 2 thousand years.
But no one could give an answer to the question of how all this could end up in America. The researchers ran through several hypotheses. For example, that the inscriptions were carved by a Phoenician who sailed here by ship. After all, it is known that the Phoenicians were skilled navigators and swam far beyond the boundaries of the then known world.
Another version says that the authors of the inscription could have been the Samaritans who fled to America from the wrath of the Byzantine emperor fifteen hundred years ago. This people, considering themselves the descendants of immigrants from Babylon, like the Jews, professed Judaism and lived in Palestine. Like the Jews, Samaritan believers always had to have a so-called mezuzah in everyday life.
A mezuzah is a small scroll with a sacred text inscribed on it that glorifies God. Mentioned in this text and commandments. Usually it is placed in a case and attached to the outer jamb of the front door. It is believed that in this way the mezuzah protects the house from evil forces. Among the Samaritans, the mezuzah was often a stone on which a sacred text was carved. And it was located just in front of the entrance to the house.
The Samaritans could hardly have brought the boulder to the vicinity of Los Lunas from Byzantium - it is too heavy. Besides, the rock of the stone is identical to the rock of the “rock of secrets”. Well, and the most interesting thing - in addition to the Hebrew letters, the message also contains two Samaritan symbols. So is the Los Lunas stone the Samaritan mezuzah?
Supporters and opponents
But how did the Samaritans, fleeing the attacks of the Byzantine emperor Justinian I in the 6th century, manage to cross the ocean? After it became known in scientific circles about the stone from Los Lunas, many experts tried to solve its mystery. As a result, the scientific world was divided into two camps.
The first claim that the stone and the inscription on it are genuine. Among them are the famous Semitic linguist Cyrus Gordon. He claims that the text was put on the stone by representatives of one of the 10 lost tribes of Israel, who miraculously got to the New World.
Other experts doubt the ancient origin of the inscription, believing that it is a fake. Their arguments boil down to the fact that, in addition to the Hebrew symbols, there are ancient Greek and Samaritan letters on the stone, which, from their point of view, is unacceptable for the writing of a Jewish priest. There are also consonants in the text that play the role of vowels. Such a gross spelling error is hardly possible for a native speaker. However, the same Samaritans had the right to make such a mistake.
The main argument of the supporters of the antiquity of the inscription is that the inhabitants of Los Lunas learned about the stone back in 1880. At that time, only a narrow circle of specialists knew about the Hebrew alphabet.
The most unpleasant thing is that representatives of anti-Semitic circles decided to "devalue" the find artificially. While exploring the stone and the area in the 1980s, they scattered forgeries with an ancient Greek bias around the area, which could quickly be identified as a remake. Thus, the envious wanted to persuade the experts to think that the boulder with the symbols is the same fake.
In a trial in 1986, reputable linguists and archaeologists were able to prove and demonstrate that other Greek "artifacts" were just 1979 forgeries. As a result, the parties agreed on the opinion that it is possible that the ancient Jews could have visited America before the Vikings, and before Columbus.
By the way, the boulder from Los Lunas is not the only artifact with a Hebrew bias found in America. In Tennessee, near the Bat Creek, a stone was removed from a previously intact Indian burial mound in 1889. In the 20th century, the cobblestone fell into the hands of the same professor Cyrus Gordon, who came to the conclusion that the inscription was made in the same Hebrew script as on the boulder from Los Lunas.
True, the text on the stone from Bat Creek was much more modest and consisted of one word meaning "for Judea." Therefore, the scientist remained at a loss as to what was meant “for Judea,” but it remained forever in the grave of the Indian leader. However, this has nothing to do with the commandments on the stone from Los Lunas.
Lev KAPLIN
