New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1908-05-17
SOME FAMOUS STONES.
Tables of the LazC-MOabte Stone
Rosetta Stone aud Others.

There are number of stones famous in the his
tory of the world. but undoubtedly the most
. famous are the tables of stone which the Ten
Commandments written by the finger of God.
according to the account given in the Book of
Exodus That says Moses went up on Mount Sinai
at the command of God, land He gave unto
Moses when he had made end of communing
with Him upon Mount Sinai. two tables of testi-
Inony tables of stone written with the finger of
God" When Moses went down from the mount
with these in his hands he found that the people
IN his absence had made golden calf and were
worshpping it and dancing, and his anger waxed
hot and he cast the tables out of his hands. and
broke them beneath the mount But afterward
Moses was commanded by the Lord to hew two
other tables of stone, like the first. and these
the Lord wrote the ten words he had on the
others. These tablets said to have been placed
in the ark of the tabernacle testimony Of
Jehovah's revelation. When Solomon built the
famous temple In Jerusalem there was place for
the ark in il with the two tables of the law What
finally became of them is not matter of
corded history but it is surmised that the ark
captured at the time of the siege OF Jerusalem by
Nebuchadnezzar. There ark in the second
temple. erected by Hezekiah. and nothing is known
of the fate of the second set of stones on which
the Ten Commandments or Decaiogue, were in
scribed. Those who have studied the Hebrew
myths surmise that, in the earliest days there
a sacred stone worshipped a god. for which
there was later substituted the tables of the law
inscribed stone.
One of the oldest historic stones extant is
what is called the Moabite Stone. 1t found by
German missionary. the Rev. F. Klein. in 1868.
Diban. in Moab. Syria Moab. the ancestor of
the Moabites, a of Lot by of his
daughters according to the account in the Book of
Genesis so the Moabites closely allied TO the
Hebrews The language on the Moabite stone is
identical with that on Phoenician monuments and Is
almost like the Hebrew in many respects. The date
of the inscription the stone is held to be $50
y q Az he old inScr Mi I'm he ricta
language IL held 10 be of high value. The stone
purchased by an attache Of the French Consul
Jerusalem, who secured a squeeze of the inscrip-
ton before. owing to the quarrels of the Arab
claimants ownership of 1t, the stone was broken
into several pieces The inscription, which fills
some thirty four lines. relates the achievements
OF Mesha. King Of Moab. whose revolt after the
death of Ahab is recorded in the Second Book of
Kings in the Bible. The names of many historical
sites in Moab included in the inscription. The
fragments of the stone preserved in the
Louvre in Paris Much scholarly attainment has
been devoted the translation Of the writing
thereon. One of the most famous well as most
useful stones in history is the Rosetta Stone. by
means of which hisroglyphics were deciphered. 1t
is slab 81 black basalt. found near Rosetta.
Egypt. in 1882 by French officer OF engineers and
is now in the British Museum The dates it show
that it inscribed about two centuries before
the Christian era in honor Of Ptolemy (Epipha-
nes). The decree on II is written in hierogyphics,
IN the denlotic wrtinS ana In Greek This stone put
N the hands OF scholars two long Egyptian texts
representing different periods of the language rem
dered into Greek and so gave a key the long lost
pieture writing on obelisks and other memorials
The famous stone of Scone. Scotland. is a palIa-
dunn stone. which Is said to have been set I'D at
Icolmkll for the coronation of Fergus Eric and
called the Lia-Fal OF Ireland The son of
Fergus Erie removed il to Scone. where was
used for the installation into Office of the kings OF
Scotland for several centuries after the tenth.
When Edward l became King OF England he re-
moved IL to London. where IL Is kept in West
minister Abbey, forming the support of the chair of
Edward the Confessor. which 10 used az the throne