When the stone was discovered a great ado was made over it. The Prussian government sought and obtained permission to remove it. The Bedouin tribe in whose territory it was found was offered an enormous sum of money to part with it. Indeed, the amount offered was so great that the Arabs thought the stone must be of untold value. The news spread. Another tribe near by, hearing of the new-found stone and the great price offered for it, marched over and claimed it as their own. As about the “Slave Stone,” a quarrel and a war ensued between the tribes, during which many men were slaughtered on both sides. The Stone was broken, but afterwards the pieces were put together, and the inscription was translated. “The inscription,” says Prof. Palmer, “commemorates the reign of a certain Mesha, King of Moab, and records the triumphs obtained by him over Israel in the course of a long and sanguinary struggle. It begins by setting forth his name and titles, and briefly recounts his successful effort to throw off the yoke of the King of Israel; then follows a list of bloody battles fought, of towns wrested from the enemy, and of spoil and captives fallen into his hands. For these conquests he returns solemn thanks to Chemosh, his god—‘the abomination of Moab’—and glories with a religious fervor, that sounds strangely to our ears, in having despoiled the sanctuary of Jehovah.” The inscription concludes by setting forth the names of towns rebuilt or fortified by the Moabite king, of altars raised to Chemosh, of wells and cisterns dug, and other peaceful work accomplished. This portion of the record is a most valuable addition to our knowledge of sacred geography; for the names, as given on the Moabite Stone, engraved by one who knew them in his daily life, are, in nearly every case, absolutely identical with those found in the Bible itself and testify to the wonderful integrity with which the Scriptures have been preserved. So far we have the history of King Mesha’s rebellion from his own Moabite point of view, and so far we read of nothing but his success; but, if we turn to 2 Kings III: 5-27, we may look upon the other side of the picture. In that passage we have a concise but vivid account of the rebellion and temporary successes against Israel of this same monarch. There we learn how the allied kings of Israel, Judah and Edom, went against the rebellious prince; how they marched by way of Edom, that is, round by the southern end of the Dead Sea; how they devastated the land of Moab, and drove their foeman to take refuge in his fortress of Kir-Haraseth, in Wady Kerak. The passage referred to above speaks of the author of the Dhiban inscription in the following terms: