Chapter X: Amarna and the Bible

The Amarna texts make it clear that the inhabitants of Canaan during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries B.C. had a high degree of culture. While most people were probably illiterate, each community had its professional scribes who could write in at least one foreign language. Akkadian cuneiform, and not Canaanite, was the language of diplomatic correspondence between the city states of Canaan and the Egyptian court.

Written Records

The Hebrew Scriptures give evidence that Israel made use of written records before the composition of the canonical Bible. References to the _Book of the Wars of the Lord_, and the _Book of Jasher_, appear in the Pentateuch and Joshua (Num. 21:14; Josh. 10:13). While the events which they commemorate may have first been passed on by word of mouth, the word "book" (_sepher_, inscription, written document) implies that they also were recorded in written documents. By the time of the Judges, a lad whom Gideon happened to meet along the road was able to write the names of twenty-seven men who were the elders of Succoth (Judg. 8:14).

The discovery of the Amarna Tablets created considerable interest in the matter of writing in ancient Canaan, and among the Israelites. Early in the twentieth century, Edouard Naville of the University of Geneva argued that the earliest documents of the Old Testament were written "in the idiom and with the characters of the Tel-el-Amarna tablets, namely Babylonian cuneiform," or Akkadian as we call it today.[63]

Naville went so far as to suggest that the Akkadian documents which lie behind our Hebrew Old Testament (or at least the Pentateuch and Joshua) were in use until the time of Ezra who adapted them to the alphabet used by the Aramaic speaking Jews of the Persian Empire. This view is not seriously considered today, for we know that Early or Palaeo-Hebrew manuscripts antedate the Square or Aramaic form of the letters in current use. The Canaanite dialect in use at Ras Shamra, ancient Ugarit, was written in a cuneiform alphabet at a time contemporary with the Amarna texts. Another group of texts, dated about 1500 B.C., was discovered at the Egyptian turquoise mines in the Sinai Peninsula. There are about twenty-five inscriptions in all, written in a form of alphabetic writing which was clearly derived from Egyptian hieroglyphics. Three short examples of the same alphabet, dating somewhat earlier than the Sinai inscriptions, have been discovered at Gezer, Lachish, and Shechem in southern Canaan. The oldest actual Hebrew inscription, using the Paleao-Hebrew script, is the Gezer Calendar (_ca._ 900 B.C.).

We cannot know for certain the nature of the writing on the tables, or tablets of the Law (Exod. 34:27-28). Moses, raised as an Egyptian prince, probably knew both Egyptian hieroglyphs and Akkadian cuneiform, and he may have learned to write in an early form of the Hebrew alphabet as a result of contacts with his own people. The Amarna texts have underscored the fact that both Egypt and Canaan were highly literate during the fifteenth and fourteenth centuries before Christ.

Canaanite Glosses

Of particular interest to language students is the fact that the Amarna Letters frequently contain Canaanite words or expressions which are inserted to clarify the meaning of the Akkadian text, which was a foreign language to the scribe. These glosses are our earliest examples of the language which became Biblical Hebrew. While the language of Laban, and that branch of Abraham's family which settled in northern Mesopotamia, was Aramaic (cf. Gen. 31:47 where Laban uses an Aramaic name), the Patriarchs who entered Canaan came to speak "the language of Canaan" (cf. Isa. 19:18) which became the classical language of the Old Testament. The cuneiform syllabary in which the Amarna texts were written indicates vowel sounds which are not expressed in the alphabetic Hebrew script. In this way philologists are able to reconstruct some of the sounds of the ancient language.

Amarna Age Palestine

Although the Amarna texts do not name any personage met on the pages of Scripture, they are of value in helping us to visualize life in the Palestinian city states during the middle of the second millenium B.C. Biblical cities mentioned in the correspondence include: Akko, Ashkelon, Arvad, Aroer, Ashtaroth, Gebal (Byblos), Gezer, Gath, Gaza, Jerusalem, Joppa, Keilah, Lachish, Megiddo, Sidon, Tyre, Sharon, Shechem, Taanach, and Zorah. Beth-ninurta is thought to be identical with Biblical Beth-shemesh.

These cities are, for the most part, independent city states, owing allegiance to Egypt yet free to form their own alliances and resolve their own local problems. It was this type of political structure that Joshua met in Canaan. He waged war against "thirty-one kings" (Josh. 12:24). At times these kings made alliances in order to prevent Israel from gaining control of the land, just as the Amarna Age rulers aided one another in resisting Lab'ayu. A leader against Joshua was Adonizedek, king of Jerusalem, who found allies in Hoham, king of Hebron; Piram, king of Jarmuth; Japhia, king of Lachish, and Debir, king of Eglon (Josh. 10:1-3).

The military engagements were strictly limited affairs, judged by the numbers of troops and horses requested of the Pharaoh. Rib-Addi of Byblos pleaded:

Let it seem good to the lord, the sun of the lands, to give me twenty
pairs of horses.[64]

In his encounter with Abdi-Ashirta, the Amorite chieftain who was seeking to control northern Syria in league with the Hittites, Rib-Addi asked for but three hundred men.[65]

Abi-milki of Tyre indicated that he could get by with but token help from Egypt. In one letter he asks for but twenty foot soldiers,[66] and in another he will be satisfied with but ten.[67] Somewhat earlier, in the Canaan of Abraham's day, the patriarch was able to assemble an army of three hundred and eighteen men (Gen. 14:14), pursue a confederation of five kings with their armies, rout and chase the enemy. An entire garrison might number but fifty men in the armies of Amarna Age rulers.[68]

Affairs of Government

The presence of a friend at the court was appreciated and cultivated by the rulers of the city states. Several of the Amarna tablets are addressed to an Egyptian official named Yanhamu who bore the title "the king's fanbearer." He was evidently a man of considerable power, for the king entrusted him with the issuing of supplies from a place known as Yarimuta. For this reason the local princes in Syria and Canaan frequently wrote to him. After outlining his needs, Rib-Addi indulged in a little apple-polishing as he concluded, "There is no servant like Yanhamu, a faithful servant of the king."[69]

Yanhamu seems to have occupied in the court of Amenhotep III (and possibly Akhenaton as well) a position comparable to the one Joseph held several generations earlier.[70] Both Yanhamu and Joseph were charged with overseeing the distribution of food supplies (cf. Gen. 42:51-57). They both had Semitic names, and the presence of Yanhamu in an Egyptian court during New Kingdom times indicates that Semites were not barred from government following the Hyksos expulsion. Rulers often find it safer to trust faithful foreigners than some of their own subjects who might be tempted to rebel.

The simple tastes of the Israelite tribes in the period before the monarchy may be contrasted with the ostentation of Solomon's harem with its thousand wives and concubines (I Kings 11:3) along with the wealth and luxury of an oriental court. The rulers of the larger states of the Amarna Age, and particularly Tushratta of Mitanni, sent their daughters to grace the harems of Amenhotep III and Akhenaton. A scarab of Amenhotep III commemorates the arrival of Giluhepa, a Mitannian princess with a retinue of three hundred seventeen maidens.[71] That Amenhotep III was actively building his harem is shown in a letter which he addressed to Milk-ili of Gezer which says, in part:

I have sent Hania, the commander of the archers, to you with all sorts
of things, to bring the beautiful women.... There are in all forty
women; forty pieces of silver is the price of the women. Send me
therefore very beautiful women among whom are no slanderers, so that
the king, your lord, may say to you, "This is fine."[72]

The building of a harem had political implications for it involved an alliance of friendship. Early in Solomon's reign he "made a marriage alliance with Pharaoh, king of Egypt; he took Pharaoh's daughter and brought her into the City of David...." (I Kings 3:1). A large harem, moreover, was a symbol of power, wealth and prestige. Solomon was but adapting the customs of the great rulers of the ancient East when he built an enormous harem for himself.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Archaeology

Budge, E. A. W., _By Nile and Tigris_, I (London: 1920), pp. 133-144

Pendelbury, J. D. S., _Tell el-Amarna_ (London; 1935)

Peet, Thomas Eric; Woolley Leonard; Frankfort, Henri; Pendelbury, J. D.
S., _et al._ _The City of Akhenaten_ (Parts I-III), 4 volumes
(London; 1923-51)

History

Aldred, C., "The End of the El 'Amarna Period," _Journal of Egyptian
Archaeology_ XLIII (1957), pp. 30-41

Baikie, James, _The Amarna Age_ (New York: 1926)

Bratton, Fred Gladstone, _The First Heretic: The Life and Times of
Ikhnaton the King_ (Boston: 1961)

Gardiner, A. H., "The So-called Tomb of Queen Tiye," _Journal of
Egyptian Archaeology_, XLIII (1957), pp. 10-25

Meyer, Eduard, _Geschichte des Altertums_, II (Stuttgart: 1955), pp.
303-426

Seele, K. C., "King Ay and the Close of the Amarna Age," _Journal of
Near Eastern Studies_, XIV (1955), pp. 168-180

Weigall, Arthur, _The Life and Times of Akhnaton_ (London: 1923)

Art and Tomb Inscriptions

Davies, N. deGaris, _The Rock Tombs of El Amarna_ (Archaeological Survey
of Egypt), 6 volumes (London: 1903-08)

Frankfort, Henri, ed. _The Mural Paintings of El 'Amarneh_ (London:
1929)

Sandman, M. _Texts from the Time of Akhenaton_ (Brussels: 1938)

Religion

Anthes, H., "Die Maat des Echnaton von Amarna," _Journal of the American
Oriental Society_, Supplement 14 (1952)

The Amarna Tablets

Texts

Betzold, C., and Budge, E. A. W., _The Tell El Amarna Tablets in the
British Museum_ (London: 1892)

Winckler, H. and Abel, L., _Der Thontafelfund von El Amarna_ (Berlin:
1889-90)

Transcription and Translation

Albright, W. F., and Mendenhall, George, "Akkadian Letters," in
Pritchard, J. B., ed., _Ancient Near Eastern Texts_ (2nd edition)
(Princeton: 1955), pp. 482-490

Gordon, C. H., "The New Amarna Tablets," _Orientalia_ XVI (1947), pp.
1-21

Knudtzon, J. A., _Die El-Amarna Tafeln_ (with commentary by O. Webber
and glossary by E. Ebeling (Leipzig: 1907-15)

Mercer, S. A. B., _The Tell el-Amarna Tablets_ (Toronto: 1939)

Schroeder, O., _Die Tontafeln von El-Amarna_ (Berlin texts only),
(Leipzig: 1915)

Thureau-Dangin, F., "Nouvilles lettres d'el-Amarna," _Revue
d'Assyriologie et d'archeologie orientale_, XIX (1922), pp. 91-108

Studies

Albright, W. F., "Cuneiform Material for Egyptian Prosopography,
1500-1200 B.C." _Journal of Near Eastern Studies_, V (1946), pp.
9-25

"The Egyptian Correspondence of Abimilki, Prince of Tyre," _Journal of
Egyptian Archaeology_, XXIII (1937) pp. 190-203

"The Letters of 'Abdu-Kheba, Prince of Jerusalem," _Bulletin of the
American Schools of Oriental Research_, Supplementary Studies, 1950

Campbell, Jr., Edward F., "The Amarna Letters and the Amarna Period,"
_Biblical Archaeologist_, XXIII (1960), pp. 2-22

Van der Meer, P. "The Chronological Determination of the Mesopotamian
Letters in the El Amarna Archives," _Ex Oriente Lux_, Jaarbericht
No. 15, pp. 75-84

FOOTNOTES

[1]Alan Gardiner, _Egypt of the Pharaohs_ (Oxford: 1961), p. 207

[2]James Breasted, _A History of Egypt_ (New York: 1909), p. 356

[3]_Ibid._

[4]James H. Breasted, _Ancient Records of Egypt_, II (Chicago: 1906), p.
935

[5]Texts in N. deG. Davies, _The Rock Tombs of El Amarna_, V (London:
1908)

[6]Vol. I (London: 1903), p. 19

[7]The originality of Akhenaton's contribution to Egyptian life is
challenged by L. A. White, "Ikhanton; the Great vs. the Culture
Process," _Journal of the American Oriental Society_, LXVIII (1948),
pp. 91-114. He is answered by W. F. Edgerton, "The Great Man: A note
on methods." _Ibid._ pp. 192-193

[8]A. W. Shorter, "Historical Scarabs of Tuthmosis IV and Amenophis
III," _Journal of Egyptian Archaeology_, XVII (1931), pp. 23-25. See
also XVIII (1932), pp. 110-111; XXII (1936) pp. 3-7

[9]M. Sandman, _Texts for the Time of Akhenaton_ 92.8-9, 60.6; 1.7-9,
80.17-81.1

[10]M. Sandman, _Texts from the Time of Akhenaton_ pp. 93-96

[11]_The Dawn of Conscience_ (New York: 1933) pp. 286-87

[12]The words "Re" (meaning "the sun") and "end" are similar in
Egyptian. The principal shrine of Re was at Heliopolis.

[13]The Pharaoh was regarded as the son of Aton, hence divine in his own
right.

[14]Cf. Psalm 104:20, "Thou makest darkness and it is night when all the
beasts of the forest creep forth."

[15]Cf. Psalm 104:21, "The young lions roar for their prey, seeking
their food from God."

[16]The Two Lands are: Upper Egypt, the Nile Valley from the First
Cataract to the head of the Delta; and Lower Egypt, the Delta
region. The two Egypts were united _ca._ 3000 B.C. to form the
united Egypt of subsequent history. Pharaohs continued to bear the
title, "King of Upper and Lower Egypt" throughout ancient Egyptian
history.

[17]Cf. Psalm 104:22-23, "When the sun arises, they get them away and
lie down in their dens. Man goes forth to his work, and to his labor
until the evening."

[18]The spirit (Egyptian _ka_) was regarded as the vital principle or
fundamental nature of a person. "In praise to thy _ka_," is,
essentially, "In praise to thee."

[19]Psalm 104:10-14, "Thou makest springs to gush forth in the valleys;
they flow between the hills, they give drink to every beast of the
field; the wild asses quench their thirst. By them the birds of the
air have their habitation; they sing among the branches. From thy
lofty abode thou waterest the mountains; the earth is satisfied with
the fruit of thy work. Thou dost cause the grass to grow for the
cattle, and plants for man to cultivate."

[20]The "great green sea" is the Mediterranean. Cf. Psalm 104:25-26,
"Yonder is the sea, great and wide, which teems with things
innumerable, living things both small and great. There go the ships,
and Leviathan which thou didst form to sport in it."

[21]Cf. Psalm 104:24, "O Lord, how manifold are thy works, in wisdom
hast thou made them all; the earth is full of thy creatures."

[22]Cf. Psalm 104:27, "These all look to thee to give them their food in
due season."

[23]The Nile which watered Egypt was thought to have its source in a
subterranean river which provided water for Egypt's Nile.

[24]Egypt, essentially rainless, received its water from the Nile.
Foreign lands, however, received water from rains, hence the
reference to a "Nile in the sky."

[25]Cf. Psalm 104:6, 10, "Thou didst cover it with the deep as with a
garment; the waters stood above the mountains: ... Thou makest
springs gush forth in the valleys, they flow between the hills."

[26]Names of Akhenaton

[27]The Egyptian Pharaohs were both gods, and intermediaries between the
gods and the people of Egypt.

[28]Text 19, lines 59-67. The classification follows J. A. Knudtzon,
_Die El-Amarna Tafeln_ (Leipzig: 1907-15)

[29]Text 23, lines 13-29

[30]Text 15

[31]Text 16. The quotation is from lines 32 and 33

[32]Text 9

[33]Text 74, lines 30-65

[34]Text 158. The terms "father" and "son" are used to show respect.
Aziru was the son of Abdi-Ashirta.

[35]Text 126, lines 34-61

[36]Text 137, lines 75-76; 97-99

[37]Text 169, lines 12-15; 24-34

[38]Text 254, lines 10-19

[39]Text 244

[40]Text 245

[41]Text 246

[42]Text 288, lines 33-40. Nahrim is the land of Mitanni; Kapasi may be
Cush.

[43]Text 287, lines 53-57

[44]Text 280, lines 21-35

[45]F. Thureau-Dangin, "Nouvelles lettres d'el-Amarna," _Revue
d'Assyriologie et d'Archeologie orientale_, XIX, pp. 91-108. Text
290a in S. A. B. Mercer, _The Tell el-Amarna Tablets_ (Toronto:
1939)

[46]F. Thureau-Dangin, _op. cit._, pp. 91-108: Mercer text 248a

[47]This view was popularized by Sir Charles Marston in, _The Bible
Comes Alive_ (New York: n.d.), pp. 89-108. Marston felt that he
could identify Joshua in the Amarna texts.

[48]"The Ha-BI-ru--Kin or Foe of Israel?" _The Westminster Theological
Journal_ XIX-X), pp. 1-24; 170-184; 46-70

[49]So, for example, John Bright, _A History of Israel_ (Philadelphia:
1959), p. 113; G. Ernest Wright, _Biblical Archaeology_, 2nd edition
(Philadelphia: 1962), p. 60; Cyrus H. Gordon, _The World of the Old
Testament_ (Garden City: 1958), p. 144.

[50]Text 8, lines 25-34

[51]Text 34, lines 16-21; 35, lines 10-20

[52]Text 22, column 1, line 38; column 2 lines 1, 3, 16

[53]N. deG. Davies, _The Tomb of Rekh-mi-Re' at Thebes_ (New York:
1943).

[54]_The Art and Architecture of Ancient Egypt_ (Baltimore: 1958), p.
175

[55]_Op. cit._, p. 18

[56]_Life and Times of Akhenaton_ (London: 1922), p. 63

[57]_The Burden of Egypt_ (Chicago: 1954), p. 193

[58]J. D. S. Pendlebury, _Tell el-Amarna_ (London: 1935), p. 19

[59]J. Bennett, "The Restoration Inscription of Tut'Ankhamun," _Journal
of Egyptian Archaeology_, XXV (1939), pp. 8-15

[60]Albrecht Goetze, "Hittite Historical Texts," in _Ancient Near
Eastern Texts_, James Pritchard, ed. (Princeton: 1955), p. 319

[61]_Ibid._

[62]Albrecht Goetze, "Hittite Prayers," in _Ancient Near Eastern Texts_,
James Pritchard, ed. (Princeton: 1955), p. 395

[63]_Archaeology of the Old Testament: Was the Old Testament Written in
Hebrew?_ (London: 1913), p. 4

[64]Text 103, lines 39-43

[65]Text 93, lines 10-12

[66]Text 149, lines 17-19

[67]Text 148, lines 13-17

[68]Text 238, lines 9-12

[69]Text 118, lines 55-56

[70]Problems of chronology are acute. H. H. Rowley, _From Joseph to
Joshua_ (London: 1950) argues that Joseph was actually Akhenaton's
Prime Minister. Cf. pp. 119-120. Most contemporary scholars place
Joseph's entry into Egypt in Hyksos times (_ca._ 1720-1550 B.C.).
Cf. G. Ernest Wright, _Biblical Archaeology_ (Philadelphia: 1962),
pp. 53-58

[71]The Scarab is reproduced in A. deBuck, _Egyptian Reading Book I_
(Leiden: 1948), p. 67

[72]Musees Royaux (Bruxelles) tablet E6753, edited by Georges Dossin in
_Revue d'Assyriologie et d'Archaeologie orientale_, XXXI, pp.
125-136. Mercer Number 31a

INDEX

A
Abdi-Ashirta, 47-49, 69
Abdi-Khepa, 50, 51, 53
Abi-milki, 47, 69
Achsaph, 51
Ahmose, 16
Ajalon, 51
Akhetaton, 23, 26-29
Akizzi, 47
Akko, 50
Alashia, 13, 44, 55
Aleppo, 47
Amarna Tablets, 10-13, 44-54
Amenemhet I, 31
Amenhotep III, 13, 17, 19, 33, 56, 57
Amon, 33
Amon-Re, 17, 33
Amorites, 47
Amunira, 47
Ankhsenpaton, 24, 63, 64
'Apiru, 50, 52-54
Art, 58-61
Artatama, 45
Asenath, 32
Ashkelon, 47
Ashmolean Museum, 12, 13
Ashuruballit I, 44, 46
Assyria, 45
Aton, 20, 31-37
Aziru, 47-49

B
Baktaton, 28
Beirut, 47
Bek, 27
Beth-shemesh, 32
Biridya, 50, 52
Bliss, F. J., 12
Borchard, L., 61
Budge, E. A. Wallis, 12
Burnaburiash II, 44, 46, 55
Byblos, 47-49