To the king, my lord, my sun, say: Rib-Adda, thy servant; at the feet of my lord, my sun-god, seven times and seven times I prostrate myself. May the king, my lord, listen to the words of his faithful servant! It is going very hard for me! The hostility has become strong. The sons of Ebed-Ashera have become great in Amurru; theirs is the whole land. The city of Sumur and the city of Irkata are left to the princes. And behold in Sumur I am strong. When it was difficult for the princes on account of the enmity, I left Gebal and ........ Zimridda and .......... Yapa-Addi ........ with me. Behold, then wrote the prince unto them; but they did not hearken unto him. And may the king, my lord, hearken to the words of his faithful servant! Send aid very quickly unto the city Sumur for its protection until the arrival of the mercenaries of the king, the sun. And may the king, the sun, drive out the enemy from his land. Again may the king, my lord, hearken to the word of his servant and send men as guards to the city of Sumur and to the city of Irkata, in case that all the guards flee from Sumur. And may it seem good to my lord, the sun of the countries, to give to me 20 pairs of horses. And may he send help very quickly to the city of Sumur to guard it. All the guards who remain are in straits and few are the men in the city. If mercenaries thou dost not send, then there will be no city remaining to thee. If there are mercenaries, we will take all the lands for the king.
These letters mention a certain Ebed-Ashera and claim that his sons are gaining possession of all the land of Amurru. If the “Ebed” were dropped out of the phrase, “sons of Ebed-Ashera,”[479] there would remain “sons of Ashera,” or, “sons of Asher.” The “land of Amurru,” or, “land of the Amorites,” lay, at the time these letters were written, in the later home of the tribe of Asher, and a little to the north of it, between the Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon mountains. Some scholars hold that we have in these letters references to the coming of the “sons of Asher,” or the tribe of Asher into this region, but it is a theory which in the present state of our knowledge we can neither prove nor disprove. If it should prove to be true, these tablets would reflect a part of the Hebrew conquest of this region.
2. Letters of Ebed-Hepa of Jerusalem.
[To the king, my lord, speak, saying, E]bed-H[epa thy servant—at] the feet [of the king, my lord,] seven times and seven times [I prostrate myself]. Behold I am not a [prefect]; a vassal am I unto [the king, my lord]. Why did not the king, [my lord], send a messenger [quickly]? In similar circumstances sent Ienhamu .................. I. [May] the king [hearken unto Ebed]-Hepa, his servant. [Behold] there are no mercenaries. [May] the king, my lord, s[end a governor] and let him take [the prefects] with him .......... lands of the king ......... and people .......... who are .......... [and Addaya], the governor of the king [has] their house .......... So may the king care for them and send a messenger quickly. When ..........
II[481]
To the king, my lord, speak, saying, Ebed-Hepa, thy servant—at the feet of my lord, the king, seven times and seven times I prostrate myself. What have I done to the king, my lord? They slander and misrepresent me before the king, my lord, [saying]: Ebed-Hepa is disloyal to the king, his lord. Behold I—neither my father nor my mother set me in this place; the arm of the mighty king caused me to enter into the house of my father. Why should I commit rebellion against the king, my lord? As long as the king, my lord, lives I will say unto the governor of the king, my lord: “Why dost thou love the Habiri and hate the prefects?” But thus he misrepresents me before the king, my lord. Now I say, “Lost are the lands of the king, my lord.” So he misrepresents me to the king, my lord. But let the king, my lord, know (that) after the king, my lord, set guards, Ienhamu took them all .................... Egypt .......... of the king, my lord; [there are no] guards there. Then may the king care for his land! May the king care for his land! Separated are all the lands from the king. Ilimilku has destroyed all the country of the king; so may the king, my lord, care for his land! I say: “I will enter the presence of the king, my lord, and I will behold the eye of the king, my lord,” but the enemy is more mighty than I, and I am not able to enter into the presence of the king, my lord. So may it seem right to the king .......... may he send guards, and I will enter in and will behold the eyes of the king, my lord! And so long as the king, my lord, lives, so long as the governors are withdrawn, I will say: “Perished are the lands of the king.” Thou dost not hearken to me! All the prefects have perished; there is left no prefect to the king, my lord! May the king turn his face toward mercenaries, so that there may come forth mercenaries of the king, my lord. There are no lands left to the king, my lord. The Habiri plunder all the countries of the king. If there are mercenaries in this year, then there will be left countries of the king, my lord. If there are no mercenaries, the countries of the king will be lost. Unto the scribe of the king, my lord, saying: “Ebed-Hepa, thy servant. Take beautiful words to the king, my lord! Lost are all the lands of the king, my lord.”
III[482]
[To the king, my lord, [speak,] saying, Eb]ed-Hepa, thy servant. [Unto the feet] of my lord seven [times and seven times I prostrate myself]. [I have heard all] the words [which the king, my lord,] has sent to me .......... Behold the deed which .......... has done .......... Copper .......... word ........ He has brought [into the city Keilah]. [Cf. Josh. 15:44.] May the king know that all the lands are gone and there is enmity against me. So may the king care for his land! Behold the land of the city Gezer, the land of the city Askelon and the city of Lakish have given them food, oil, and all kinds of herbs. So may the king give attention to the mercenaries! May he send mercenaries against the people who commit outrages against the king, my lord! If there are in this year mercenaries, then there will remain lands and prefects to the king, my lord. But if there are no mercenaries, there will be no lands and prefects to the king. Behold this land of the city of Jerusalem—neither my father nor my mother gave it to me; the mighty hand, the arm of the king gave it to me. Behold this deed; it is the deed of Malkiel and the deed of the sons of Labaya, who have given the land of the king to the Habiri. Behold, O king, my lord, right is on my side as regards the Kashi-people. Let the king ask the governors whether that house is very mighty and they have committed a grievous, a great sin; they have taken their weapons and have cut off the horsemen (?) .......... And may he send into that land .......... who .......... with .......... servants. May [the king] care for them ................ the lands in their hands [and] may the king provide for them much food, much oil, much clothing until Paru, the governor of the king, comes up to the country of the city of Jerusalem. Gone is Addaya, together with the guards of the vassals whom the king appointed. Let the king know that Addaya said to me: “Behold, I am going away; do not thou abandon it” (the city). This year send me men as guards and a governor, O king! Send us .......... I have sent to the king, my lord .........., people, five thousand .......... three hundred and eighteen porters for the caravans of the king. They were indeed captured in the fields near the city Aijalon. (Cf. Josh. 10:12.) Let the king, my lord, know that I am not able to send a caravan to the king, my lord. Indeed thou knowest it. Behold the king has set his name in the country of the city of Jerusalem forever and he ought not to abandon the lands of the city of Jerusalem.
To the scribe of the king, my lord, has Ebed-Hepa, thy servant spoken, saying: At the feet I, thy servant, prostrate myself. Take beautiful words to the king, my lord! A vassal of the king am I, exceedingly loyal (?) as regards thee. Also an evil deed has been done against me by the men of Kashi. I was all but killed by the men of Kashi in my house. May the king make investigation concerning them. Seven times and seven times, O king, justice is on my side.
IV[483]
To the king, my lord, my sun-god, speak, saying, Ebed-Hepa, thy servant. At the feet of the king, my lord, seven times and seven times I prostrate myself. Behold the king, my lord, has set his name at the rising of the sun and the setting of the sun. It is slander which they have multiplied against me. Behold I am not a prefect; a vassal of the king, my lord, am I. Behold I am a shepherd of the king and one who brings tribute to the king, am I. Neither my father nor my mother, but the arm of the mighty king set me in the house of my father ........ There came unto me ....... I gave 10 slaves into his hand. Shuta, the governor of the king, came unto me. Twenty-one female slaves and eighty prisoners I gave into the hand of Shuta as a present to the king, my lord. Let the king take counsel for his land! Lost is the land of the king. All of it is taken from me. Enmity is against me. As far as the lands of Seir and as far as Gath-Carmel there is peace among all the prefects, but enmity against me is practised. When I sent a man, then he said: “I do not see the eyes of the king, my lord, for hostility is against me.” I set once a ship on the sea when the mighty arm of the king took Naharina and Kapasi, but, behold the Habiri take the cities of the king. There is no prefect to the king, my lord; all are lost. Behold Turbazu was killed in the city gate of Zilû and the king is inactive! Behold Zimridda of Lakish; his servants were enraged at him; he adhered to the Habiri. Yapti-Adda was killed in the city gate of Zilû and there is no action! Concerning it the king makes no inquiry! Let the king care for his land and let the king turn his face to mercenaries for the land of tribute! For if there are no mercenaries in this year, lost, perished are all the lands of the king, my lord. Let not one say in the presence of the king, my lord, that the land of the king, my lord, is lost and all the prefects are lost. If there are no mercenaries in this year, then let the king send a governor to bring me and my brothers unto thee and we will die with the king, our lord.
To the scribe of the king, my lord, saying, Ebed-Hepa, thy servant. At thy feet I prostrate myself. Bring beautiful words to the king. Emphatically thy servant and thy son am I.
To the king, my lord, speak, saying, Ebed-Hepa, thy servant. At the feet of my lord I prostrate myself seven times and seven times. Behold Malkiel, he has not separated himself from the sons of Labaya and from the sons of Arzaya that they may seek the hand of the king for themselves. A prefect who has done this deed—why does not the king call him to account? Behold Malkiel and Tagi—the deed which they have done is this: formerly they took Rabuda and now they seek Jerusalem. If this land belongs to the king, why is it oppressed? Gaza has sided with the king. Behold the land of Gath-Carmel belongs to Tagi and the people of Gath are on guard in Beth-shean, and verily it will happen to us when Labaya and the land of Shechem have been given to the Habiri. Malkiel has written to Tagi and his sons: “Let our two forces grant all their desire to the people of Keilah.” Shall we indeed throw open Jerusalem? The guards, whom thou didst send by the hand of Haya, son of Miare, Addaya took, stationing them in his house in Gaza and twenty men has he sent to Egypt. Let the king know that there are no royal guards with me! It is so as the king lives! Verily Puru is beaten. He has gone from me and is in Gaza. May the king remember it and may the king send fifty men as guards to protect the land! All the lands of the king are in revolt. Send Yinhenhame and let him care for the land of the king. To the scribe of the king, my lord, say: Ebed-Hepa, thy servant. Beautiful words give to the king. Ever emphatically am I thy servant.
VI[485]
To the king, my lord, speak, saying, Ebed-Hepa, thy servant. At the feet of the king, my lord, seven times and seven times I prostrate myself. Behold the deed which Malkiel and Shuardatu have done against the country of the king, my lord! They have won over the soldiers of Gezer, the soldiers of Gath, and the soldiers of Keilah; they have seized the country of the city of Rubute. The country of the king is fallen away to the Habiri. And now also a city of the country of Jerusalem (its name is Beth-shemesh),[486] a city of the king, has gone over to the men of Keilah. May the king hearken unto Ebed-Hepa, thy servant, and send mercenaries that the land of the king may remain unto the king. If there are no mercenaries, lost is the land of the king to the Habiri. This is the deed which Malkiel and Shuardatu have done .......... May the king care for his land!
3. Their Light upon Conditions in the Period of the Egyptian Domination of Palestine.
These letters are among the most interesting of the many fascinating documents which have come to us from ancient times. They give us our first historical glimpse of Jerusalem, giving us a view of it 350 years before its capture by David. At this time its ruler was one Ebed-Hepa, a vassal of Amenophis IV, King of Egypt. Jerusalem was at the time the capital of a considerable territory. If the places mentioned have been rightly identified by scholars, its dominion extended to Mount Carmel on the northwest and as far as Rabbith in Issachar on the north. At the time these letters were written, Jerusalem was hard pressed by some invaders called Habiri, and Ebed-Hepa again and again appeals to the Egyptian king to send mercenaries in that year or all the territories of the king would be lost. Already the Egyptian army was composed in part of hired soldiers. We know from Egyptian sources that Amenophis was much more interested in religious reform than in statecraft. The desired troops were not sent, and apparently Ebed-Hepa was overcome, for his letters cease.
The condition of Palestine, as revealed by these letters, is the same as that of Phœnicia as revealed by the letters of Rib-Adda. Egyptian authority was breaking up; each ruler was doing his best to look after his own interests; while invaders were overrunning the country.
Who was Ebed-Hepa? All that we know of him is told in these letters. Hepa was, however, the name of a Hittite and Mitannian goddess. It has, accordingly, been inferred that Ebed-Hepa belonged to that race. Ezekiel long afterward in speaking to Jerusalem said: “The Amorite was thy father and thy mother was a Hittite” (Ezek. 16:3, 45). If this first ruler of Jerusalem known to us was a Hittite, as seems probable, it would be a striking confirmation of Ezekiel’s statement. Another interesting question is: Who were the Habiri who were invading Palestine when these letters were written? The answer to this question is not certain. Four different views have been held:
1. They have been thought to be the same as the clan Heber which was afterward a part of the tribe of Asher, and which is also mentioned in connection with Malkiel in Gen. 46:17; Num. 26:45, and 1 Chron. 7:31. The objection to this view is that the Habiri seem far too powerful in these letters to be simply the ancestors of such a clan.
2. It has been held that the Habiri were a branch of the Hittites. This view is based upon the fact that among the tablets found by Winckler at Boghaz Koi a list of Hittite gods was headed “gods of the Habiri.” This is, however, not decisive, as the gods may have been Semitic gods, whom, after the fashion of antiquity, the Hittite scribe had identified with the deities of his own country.
3. It has been held that the Habiri were Hebrews, and that we have here contemporary records of their wars of conquest.
4. Some scholars maintain that it is impossible to tell who the Habiri were.
The writer is inclined to hold that the Habiri were Hebrews, though this view is not without difficulty. The indications of the book of Exodus point to Ramses II as the Pharaoh of the oppression and to Merneptah as the Pharaoh of the Exodus. These kings belonged to the nineteenth dynasty, while Amenophis IV, to whom Ebed-Hepa wrote his letters, belonged to the eighteenth. How then could Hebrews be already in Palestine struggling to conquer it? The view has been held by a number of scholars that the Hebrew conquest took place in two parts, one of which was under the eighteenth and the other under the nineteenth dynasty. The view is not without its difficulties, but it may prove to be true. If the Habiri were Hebrews, it seems necessary to suppose that it is true. Perhaps further discovery will throw more light upon it.
The following letter, found in 1892 at Tell el-Hesy (Lachish) in Palestine, belongs to the same period as the preceding letters.[487]
To the chief officer speak, saying: Pabi—at thy feet I prostrate myself. Thou shouldst know that Shiptibaal and Zimrida are conspiring together and Shiptibaal has said to Zimrida: “My father of the city Yarami has written to me: ‘Give me six bows and three daggers and three swords. If I go out against the land of the king and thou wilt be the breath of life to me, then I shall surely (?) be superior to it and shall subdue it.’ He who makes this plan is Pabu, so send him to me.” Now I have sent thee Raphiel. He will bring to the chief officer news of this matter.
Another letter from Taanach belongs to the same general period. It is one of four found by Sellin in 1903. It is as follows:[488]
To Ishtarwashur speak, saying, Ahijah[489]—may the lord of the gods protect thy life! Thou art my brother and love is in thy bowels and in my heart. When I was detained in Gurra a workman gave to me two knives and a lance and two baskets (?) for nothing. As the lance was broken, he will repair it and send it by the hand of Buritpi. Again: is there lamentation over thy cities, or hast thou indeed put thyself in possession of them? Over my head is one who is over the cities. Now let us see whether he will do good to thee. If his countenance is favorable there will be great destruction. Further: let Ilurabi enter Rahab and either send my man to thy presence or give him protection.
This letter is chiefly interesting for the name Aḫi-ya-mi, which is probably the Babylonian equivalent of Ahijah or Ahi-Yahweh. If this is so, and, while not certain, there is considerable collateral evidence in its favor,[490] the divine name, Yahweh (Jehovah), was already known in Palestine.
Another phrase in this letter which has recalled to some a Biblical phrase is “the lord of the gods.” This has been compared with Baal-berith (i. e., lord of the covenant), Judges 9:4, who is later called El-berith (god of the covenant), Judges 9:46. Such a comparison is, however, somewhat fanciful.
CHAPTER XVI
DOCUMENTS FROM THE TIME OF ISRAEL’S JUDGES
Report of Wenamon. Its Illustration of Certain Points of Biblical History about the Time of Deborah or Gideon. Reference to the Philistines.
The following vivid story of adventure dates from about 1100 B. C. and throws a vivid light on the condition of the coast-lands of Palestine and Phœnicia about the middle of the period of the Judges.
1. Report of Wenamon.[491]
Year five, third month of the third season (eleventh month), day 16, day of departure of the “eldest of the hall,” of the house of Amon, the lord of the lands, Wenamon, to bring the timber for the great and august barge of Amon-Re, king of the gods, which is on the river .......... called: “Userhet” of Amon.
On the day of my arrival at Tanis at the palace of Nesubenebded and Tentamon, I gave to them the writings of Amon-Re, king of the gods, which they caused to be read in their presence; and they said: “I will do it, I will do it according to that which Amon-Re, king of our gods, our lord, saith.” I abode until the fourth month of the third season, being in Tanis.
Nesubenebded and Tentamon sent me with the ship-captain, Mengebet, and I descended into the great Syrian sea, in the fourth month of the third season, on the first day. I arrived at Dor, a city of Thekel [a people kindred to the Philistines], and Bedel, its king, caused to be brought for me much bread, a jar of wine, and a joint of beef.
Then a man of my ship fled, having stolen:
| .. [vessels] of gold, [amounting to] | 5 | deben | |
| 4 vessels of silver, amounting to | 20 | deben | |
| a sack of silver | 11 | deben | |
| [Total of what] he [stole] | 5 | deben of gold. | |
| 31 | deben of silver. |
In the morning then I rose and went to the abode of the prince, and said to him: “I have been robbed in thy harbor. Since thou art the king of this land, thou art therefore its investigator, who should search for my money. For the money belongs to Amon-Re, king of the gods, lord of the lands; it belongs to Nesubenebded, and it belongs to Hrihor, my lord, and the other magnates of Egypt; it belongs also to Weret, and to Mekmel, and to Zakar-Baal, the prince of Byblos” [Gebal]. He said to me: “To thy honor and thy excellence! but, behold, I know nothing of this complaint which thou hast lodged with me. If the thief belonged to my land, he who went on board thy ship, that he might steal thy treasure, I would repay it to thee from my treasury till they find thy thief by name; but the thief who robbed thee belongs to thy ship. Tarry a few days here with me, and I will seek him.” When I had spent nine days moored in his harbor, I went to him and said to him: “Behold, thou hast not found my money, therefore let me depart with the ship-captain, and with those who go .......... the sea. He said to me: “Be silent ..............” .......... the harbor ................ [I arrived at] Tyre. I went forth from Tyre at early dawn .......... Zakar-Baal, the prince of Byblos [Gebal].
.......... the .......... I found 30 deben of silver therein. I seized it, [saying to them: “I will take] your money, and it shall remain with me until ye find [my money. Was it not a man of Thekel] who stole it, and no thief [of ours]? I will take it .......... They went away, while I .................. [I] arrived .......... the harbor of Byblos [Gebal]. [I made a place of concealment, I hid] “Amon-the-way,” and I placed his things in it. The prince of Byblos sent to me, saying: “Betake thyself from my harbor.” I sent to him, saying, “................ if they sail, let them take me to Egypt.” .......... I spent nineteen days in his harbor and he continually sent to me daily, saying: “Betake thyself from my harbor.”
Now, when he sacrificed to his gods ......., the god seized one of his noble youths, making him frenzied, so that he said: “Bring [the god] hither! Bring the messenger of Amon who hath him. Send him and let him go.”
Now, while the frenzied youth continued in frenzy during this night, I found a ship bound for Egypt, and I loaded all my belongings into it. I waited for the darkness, saying: “When it descends, I will embark the god also, in order that no other eye may see him.”
The harbor-master came to me, saying: “Remain until morning by the prince.” I said to him: “Art not thou he who continually came to me daily, saying, ‘Betake thyself away from my harbor’? Dost thou not say, ‘Remain in the [land’], in order to let depart the ship that I have found? thou that mayest come and say again, ‘Away’? He went and told it to the prince, and the prince sent to the captain of the ship, saying: ‘Remain until morning by the king.’”
When morning came he sent and had me brought up, when the divine offering occurred in the fortress where he was, on the shore of the sea. I found him sitting in his upper chamber, leaning his back against a window, while the waves of the great Syrian sea beat against the ........ behind him. I said to him: “Kindness of Amon!” He said to me: “How long is it until this day since thou camest away from the abode of Amon?” I said: “Five months and one day until now.”
He said to me: “Behold thou art true, where is the writing of Amon, which is in thy hand? Where is the letter of the High Priest of Amon, which is in thy hand?” I said to him: “I gave them to Nesubenebded and Tentamon.” Then he was very wroth, and he said to me: “Now, behold, the writing and the letter are not in thy hand! Where is the ship of cedar which Nesubenebded gave to thee? Where is its Syrian crew? He would not deliver thy business to this ship-captain ........ to have thee killed, that they might cast thee into the sea. From whom would they have sought the god then? And thee, from whom would they have sought thee then?” So he spake to me. I said to him: “There are indeed Egyptian ships and Egyptian crews who sail under Nesubenebded, (but) he hath no Syrian crews.” He said to me: “There are surely twenty ships here in my harbor, which are in connection with Nesubenebded; and at Sidon, whither thou wouldst go, there are indeed 10,000 ships also which are in connection with Berket-el and sail to his house.”
Then I was silent in this great hour. He answered and said to me: “On what business hast thou come hither?” I said to him: “I have come after the timber of the great and august barge of Amon-Re, king of gods. Thy father did it, thy grandfather did it, and thou wilt also do it.” So spake I to him.
He said to me: “They did it, truly. If thou give me (something) for doing it, I will do it. Indeed my agents transacted the business; the Pharaoh, ...... sent six ships, laden with the products of Egypt, and they were unloaded in their storehouses. And thou also shalt bring something for me.” He had the journal of his fathers brought in, and he had them read it before me. They found 1,000 deben of every (kind of) silver, which was in his book.
He said to me: “If the ruler of Egypt were the owner of my property, and I were also his servant, he would not send silver and gold, saying: ‘Do the command of Amon.’ It was not the payment of tribute which they exacted of my father. As for me, I am myself neither thy servant nor am I the servant of him that sent thee. If I cry out to the Lebanon, the heavens open, and the logs lie here on the shore of the sea.”
A long speech of Wenamon follows, in which he claims Egypt as the home of civilization, and claims Lebanon for Amon. He then continues:
“Let my scribe be brought to me, that I may send him to Nesubenebded and Tentamon, the rulers whom Amon hath given to the north of his land, and they will send all that of which I shall write unto them, saying: ‘Let it be brought,’ until I return to the south and send thee all thy trifles again.” So spake I to him.
He gave my letter into the hand of his messenger. He loaded in the keel, the head of the bow and the head of the stern, with four other hewn timbers, together seven; and he had them taken to Egypt. His messenger went to Egypt, and returned to me, to Syria in the first month of the second season. Nesubenebded and Tentamon sent:
Gold: 4 Tb-vessels, 1 K’k-mn-vessel;
Silver: 5 Tb-vessels;
Royal linen: 10 garments, 10 ḥm-ḫrd;
Papyrus: 500 rolls;
Ox-hides: 500;
Rope: 500 (coils);
Lentils: 20 measures;
Fish: 30 measures;
She[492] sent me:
Linen 5 ......, 5 ḥm-ḫrd;
Lentils: 1 measure;
Fish: 5 measures.
The prince rejoiced, and detailed 300 men and 300 oxen, placing overseers over them, to have the trees felled. They spent the second season therewith .... In the third month of the second season (seventh month) they dragged them [to] the shore of the sea. The prince came forth and stood by them.
He sent to me, saying: “Come.” Now, when I had presented myself before him, the shadow of his sunshade fell upon me. Penamon, a butler, he stepped between us, saying: “The shadow of Pharaoh ........, thy lord, falls upon thee.” He was angry with him, saying: “Let him alone!” I presented myself before him, and he answered and said unto me: “Behold the command which my fathers formerly executed, I have executed, although thou for thy part hast not done for me that which thy fathers did for me. Behold there has arrived the last of thy timber, and there it lies. Do according to my desire and come to load it, for they will indeed give it to thee.”
“Come not to contemplate the terror of the sea, (but) if thou dost contemplate the terror of the sea, thou shalt (also) contemplate mine own. Indeed I have not done to thee that which they did to the messengers of Khamwese, when they spent seventeen years in this land. They died in their place.” He said to his butler; “Take him, and let him see their tomb, wherein they sleep.”
I said to him: “Let me not see it! As for Khamwese, (mere) people were the messengers whom he sent unto thee; but people ......... there was no [god among] his messengers. And yet thou sayest, ‘Go and see thy companions.’ Lo, art thou not glad? and dost thou not have made for thee a tablet, whereon thou sayest: ‘Amon-Re, king of gods, sent to me “Amon-the-way,” his [divine] messenger, and Wenamon, his human messenger, after the timber for the great and august barge of Amon-Re, king of gods? I felled it, I loaded it, I supplied him (with) my ships and my crews, I brought them to Egypt, to beseech for me 10,000 years of life from Amon, more than my ordained (life), and it came to pass.’ Then in future days when a messenger comes from the land of Egypt, who is able to write, and reads thy name upon the stela, thou shalt receive water in the west, like the gods who are there.” He said to me: “It is a great testimony which thou tellest me.”
I said to him: “As for the many things which thou hast said to me, when I reach the place of the abode of the High Priest of Amon, and he shall see thy command in thy command, [he] will have something delivered to thee.”
I went to the shore of the sea, to the place where the timbers lay; I spied eleven ships, coming from the sea, belonging to the Thekel, saying: “Arrest him! Let not a ship of his pass to Egypt!” I sat down and began to weep. The letter-scribe of the prince came out to me, and said to me: “What is the matter with thee?” I said to him: “Surely thou seest these birds which twice descend upon Egypt. Behold them! They come to the pool, and how long shall I be here, forsaken? For thou seest surely those who come to arrest me again.”
He went and told it to the prince. The prince began to weep at the evil words which they spoke to him. He sent out his letter-scribe to me and brought me two jars of wine and a ram. He sent to me Tento, an Egyptian singer (feminine), who was with him, saying: “Sing for him; let not his heart feel apprehension.” He sent to me, saying: “Eat, drink, and let not thy heart feel apprehension. Thou shalt hear all that I have to say unto thee in the morning.”
Morning came, he had (the Thekel) called into his ......., he stood in their midst and said to the Thekel: “Why have ye come?” They said to him: “We have come after the stove-up ships which thou sendest to Egypt with our ...... comrades.” He said to them: “I cannot arrest the messenger of Amon in my land. Let me send him away, and ye shall pursue him, to arrest him.”
He loaded me on board, he sent me away ..... to the harbor of the sea. The wind drove me to the land of Alasa [Cyprus]; those of the city came forth to me to slay me. I was brought among them to the abode of Heteb, the queen of the city. I found her as she was going forth from her houses and entering into her other [house]. I saluted her, I asked the people who stood about her: “There is surely one among you who understands Egyptian?” One among them said: “I understand (it).” I said to him: “Say to my mistress: ‘I have heard as far as Thebes, the abode of Amon, that in every city injustice is done, but that justice is done in the land of Alasa; (but), lo, injustice is done every day here.’” She said: “Indeed! what is this that thou sayest?” I said to her: “If the sea raged and the wind drove me to land where I am, thou wilt not let them take advantage of me to slay me, I being a messenger of Amon. I am one whom they will seek unceasingly. As for the crew of the prince of Byblos whom they sought to kill, their lord will surely find ten crews of thine, and he will slay them on his part.” She had the people called and stationed (before her); she said to me: “Pass the night ..........”
Here the papyrus, which contains this vivid personal narrative of travel, is broken off and the rest of the story is lost. We may be sure that Wenamon escaped from Cyprus and succeeded in reaching Egypt again, or the story would never have been told.
2. Its Illustration of Certain Points of Biblical History.
The story illustrates well a number of points in Biblical history. This adventure was approximately contemporary with the career of Deborah or of Gideon. It shows that the city of Dor, which was situated on the coast just south of Mount Carmel, was in the possession of a tribe kindred to the Philistines, who soon afterward appear in Biblical history. We also learn from it that Egyptian authority in Palestine and Phœnicia, which was at the time of the El-Amarna letters so rapidly decaying, had entirely disappeared. Zakar-Baal stoutly asserts his independence, while the king of the Thekel is evidently quite independent of Egypt. The way in which these petty kingdoms deal with one another is quite after the manner of the international relations reflected in the book of Judges. The expedition of Wenamon to the Lebanon for cedar wood illustrates the way Solomon obtained cedar for the temple.
Lastly, the way one of the noble youths became frenzied and prophesied, is quite parallel to the way in which Saul “stripped off his clothes and prophesied ...... and lay down naked all that day and all that night” (1 Sam. 19:24). The heed which Zakar-Baal gave to this youth shows that at Gebal, as in Israel, such ecstatic or frenzied utterances were thought to be of divine origin. Later in Israel this sort of prophecy became a kind of profession, or trade. The members of these prophetic guilds were called “sons of the prophets.” The great literary prophets of Israel had nothing to do with them. Amos is careful to say that he is not a “son of a prophet” (Amos 7:14).
3. Reference to the Philistines.
Ramses III in his inscriptions makes the following statements:[493]
“The northern countries are unquiet in their limbs, even the Peleset [Philistines], the Thekel, who devastate their land ................... O my august father [i. e., the god Amon] come to take them, being: the Peleset, the Denyen [Dardanians], and the Shekelesh [Sicilians] ............
Utterance of the vanquished Peleset: “Give to us the breath for our nostrils, O king, son of Amon.”
The Peleset are undoubtedly the same people who appear in the Bible as the Philistines. Ramses III, of the twentieth dynasty, from whose inscriptions the above quotations are taken, reigned from 1198-1167 B. C. In his reign the Philistines were coming over the sea and invading northern Egypt along with other wanderers from different parts of the Mediterranean, the Thekel, the Danaoi, and the Sicilians. Upon being repelled from Egypt by Ramses, they passed on and invaded Palestine. As the report of Wenamon shows, the Thekel were in possession of Dor by the year 1100, and no doubt the Philistines had gained a foothold also in the cities farther to the south, where we find them in the Biblical records (Judges 13-16; 1 Sam. 4-7; 13, 14; 17, 18, etc.).
Amos says the Philistines came from Caphtor (Amos 9:7). This has long been supposed to be Crete. Eduard Meyer thinks that confirmation of this has now been found. A disc inscribed in a peculiar writing, which has not yet been deciphered, was found in July, 1908, at Phæstos in Crete in strata of the third middle Minoan period, i. e., about 1600 B. C.[494] This writing is pictographic, and although not yet translated, appears to be a contract.[495] One of the frequently recurring signs represents a human head surmounted by a shock of hair (see Fig. 38), almost exactly like the hair of the Philistines as they are pictured by the artists of Ramses III on the walls of his palace at Medinet Habu (see Fig. 36). This sign was probably the determinative for man. This likeness would make the proof of the Cretan origin of the Philistines complete, were it not that some scholars think that the disc exhumed at Phæstos had been brought thither from across the sea. This is possible, but does not seem very probable. The doubt will, perhaps, be resolved when we learn to read the inscription.
CHAPTER XVII
ARCHÆOLOGICAL LIGHT ON THE BOOKS OF KINGS
Gudea and Cedar-wood for his Palace. The Eponym Canon. The Seal of Shema. Shishak’s List of Conquered Asiatic Cities. Ashurnasirpal’s Description of his Expedition to Mediterranean Lands. Shalmaneser III’s Claims Regarding Tribute from the Kings of Israel. The Moabite Stone. Adadnirari IV’s Mention of the “Land of Omri.” Inscription Describing Tiglathpileser IV’s Campaign. Sargon’s Conquests. Sennacherib’s Western Campaigns. The Siloam Inscription. Esarhaddon’s List of Conquered Kings. Ashurbanipal’s Assyrian Campaign. Necho of Egypt. Nebuchadrezzar II. Evil-Merodach. Discoveries in Sheba.
1. Gudea and Cedar-Wood for His Palace.
Gudea, a ruler of Lagash in Babylonia (the modern Telloh; see p. 45), who lived about 2450 B. C., rebuilt Eninnû, the temple of Ningirsu, at Lagash. In his account of the work he makes the following statement:[496]
From Amanus, the mountain of cedar, cedar wood, the length of which was 60 cubits, cedar-wood, the length of which was 50 cubits, ukarinnu-wood, the length of which was 25 cubits, for the dwelling he made; (from) their mountain they were brought.
The Amanus mountains lay along the Mediterranean to the north of the river Orontes. They belong to the same general range as the Lebanons. Again, in the same inscription, Gudea says:[497]
From Umanu, the mountain of Menua, from Basalla, the mountain of the Amorites, great cut stones he brought; into pillars he made them and in the court of Eninnû he erected them. From Tidanu, the mountain of the Amorites, marble in fragments (?) he brought.
This passage shows that a ruler of Babylonia came to this region for cedar-wood and stones for his temple, as Solomon is said to have done (1 Kings 5, especially vs. 6 and 17; 2 Chron. 2:8, ff.). That Egyptian rulers did the same is clearly shown by the report of Wenamon. (See p. 352, ff.)
The Assyrians kept chronological lists called by scholars “Eponym Canons,” which are of great importance in determining the chronology of Hebrew history at a number of obscure points. A translation of them has not been included in this work, since so few Biblical names occur in them that they would be of little use except to experts. Any who wish to consult them will find them translated in Rogers, Cuneiform Parallels to the Old Testament, pp. 219-238.
3. Jeroboam.
During Schumacher’s excavation at Megiddo (see p. 96), a seal was found in the palace; it is shown in Fig. 27. Its inscription reads:
Belonging to Shema, servant of Jeroboam.
We have no means of knowing whether the Jeroboam referred to was Jeroboam I (1 Kings 12:12, ff.), or Jeroboam II (2 Kings 14:23, ff.).
4. Shishak.
Sheshonk I (954-924 B. C.), the founder of the twenty-second Egyptian dynasty, the Shishak of the Bible (1 Kings 14:25-28), has left on the walls of a pylon which he erected at the temple of Karnak a relief picturing his victory. The pictures are of the conventional type, but they are accompanied by a list of conquered Asiatic cities. Of these the names of about one-hundred and twenty are legible, though it is possible to identify but a small proportion of these with known localities. As it would be of no interest to the general reader to place before him the Egyptian spelling of unidentified place names, only those are here given which have been identified or have some Biblical interest. The numbers before each name designate its distance from the beginning of Sheshonk’s list. Among his conquered towns, then, are the following:[498]
11. Gimty = Gath. 13. Rub’ty = Rabbith (Josh. 19:20). 14. T’‘nqy = Taanach (Josh. 12:21; Judges 5:19). 15. Sh’nm‘y = Shunem (Josh. 19:18; 2 Kings 4:8). 16. B’tysh’nry = Beth-shean (Josh. 17:11; 1 Sam. 31:10; 1 Kings 4:12). 17. Rwh’b’iy = Rehob (Judges 1:31). 18. H’pwrwmy = Haphraim (Josh. 19:19). 22. Myh’nm‘ = Mahanaim (Gen. 32:2; Josh. 13:26; 2 Sam. 2:8; 17:24). Q-b’-‘’-n’ = Gibeon (Josh. 10:1, f.). 24. B’tyhwr’rwn = Beth-horon (Josh. 10:10; 1 Sam. 13:18). 26. Iywrwn = Aijalon (Josh. 10:12; 19:42). 27. Myqdyw = Megiddo (Josh. 12:21; Judges 1:27). 28. Idyrw‘ = Edrei (Num. 21:33; Deut. 1:4; Josh. 12:4). 32. ‘’rin’ = Elon (Josh. 19:43). 38. Sh’wka = Soco (2 Chron. 11:7; 28:18). 39. B’tylpwh = Beth-tapuah (Josh. 15:53). 57. Dymrwm = Zemaraim (Josh. 18:22). 58. [M]gdrw = Madgala (Matt. 15:39 A. V.). 71, 72. P’hwqrw’ ’b’r’m = The field of Abram. 100. Iwdri’ = Addar (?) (Josh. 15:3). 124. B’ty‘nt = Beth-anoth (?) (Josh. 15:59).
According to 1 Kings 14:25, ff., Sheshonk’s campaign was directed against Judah, and there is no hint that the northern kingdom suffered too. This may be because the interest of the author of Kings in the house of David and in Jerusalem was greater than his interest in the north. It is clear from the list of places just quoted that Sheshonk conquered both kingdoms. He either took or received tribute from Megiddo, Taanach, Shunem, and Beth-shean, cities in the great plain of Jezreel, but crossed the Jordan and captured Mahanaim and Edrei.
5. Ashurnasirpal.
Ashurnasirpal, King of Assyria, 884-860 B. C., in describing his expedition to the Mediterranean lands, makes the following statement:[499]