The oldest stone slab with the ten commandments of the Old Testament was sold at an auction in Beverly Hills for $ 850,000, reports the Associated Press.
The sale took place at an auction of ancient biblical archaeological artifacts. The slab weighing about 50 kilograms is made of marble, the inscriptions are carved in the language of the ancient Samaritans. The slab is dated to approximately 300-700 AD. and is considered the oldest surviving tablet with the commandments.
At the same time, the third commandment ("Do not take the name of the Lord in vain") was replaced by another, widespread in the local sect, urging believers to "erect a temple" on the sacred mountain of the Samaritans, Gerizim, the organizer of the auction reports.
“The sale of this slab does not mean that it will not be available to the general public. The new owner is obliged to exhibit the tablet in the museum,”said David Michaels, head of Heritage Auctions, noting that the transport of the tablet to the United States took place with the approval of the Israeli authorities in 2005.
According to the auction house, the tablet was discovered in 1913 during railway work near the modern city of Yavne, south of Tel Aviv. One of the workers, not knowing the importance of the find, sold it to one of the local residents, who placed it at his home. However, in 1943, the tablet was acquired by an archaeologist who owned it until 2000.