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.