Patriarchal PalestineSayce, A. H. (Archibald Henry)
History
Patriarchal Palestine
Sayce, A. H. (Archibald Henry)
Jews -- History -- To 953 B.C.; Palestine -- History
The official duties of Yankhamu extended over the whole of Palestine,
and all the governors of its cities were accountable to him. We find him
exercising his authority not only in the south, but also in the north,
at Zemar and Gebal, and even among the Amorites. Amon-apt, to whom the
superintendence of Phoenicia was more particularly entrusted, was
supplied by him with corn, and frequent references are made to him in
the letters of Rib-Hadad. Malchiel complained of his high-handed
proceedings, and the complaint seems to have led to some confidential
inquiries on the part of the home government, since we find a certain
Sibti-Hadad writing in answer to the Pharaoh's questions that Yankhamu
was a faithful servant of the king.
The country east of the Jordan also appears to have been within his
jurisdiction. At all events the following letter was addressed to him by
the governor Mut-Hadad, "the man of Hadad." "To Yankhamu my lord thus
speaks Mut-Hadad thy servant: at the feet of my lord I prostrate myself.
Since Mut-Hadad has declared in thy presence that Ayab has fled, and it
is certified (?) that the king of Bethel has fled from before the
officers of the king his lord, may the king my lord live, may the king
my lord live! I pray thee ask Ben-enima, ask ... tadua, ask Isuya, if
Ayâb has been in this city of Bethel for [the last] two months. Ever
since the arrival of [the image of] the god Merodach, the city of
Astarti (Ashtaroth-Karnaim) has been assisted, because all the
fortresses of the foreign land are hostile, namely, the cities of Udumu
(Edom), Aduri (Addar), Araru, Mestu (Mosheh), Magdalim (Migdol),
Khinianabi ('En han-nabi), Zarki-tsabtat, Khaini ('En), and Ibi-limma
(Abel). Again after thou hadst sent a letter to me I sent to him (i.e.
Ayâb), [to wait] until thy arrival from thy journey; and he reached the
city of Bethel and [there] they heard the news."
We learn from this letter that Edom was a "foreign country" unsubdued by
the Egyptian arms. The "city of Edom," from which the country took its
name, is again mentioned in the inscriptions of the Assyrian king
Esar-haddon, and it was there that the Assyrian tax-gatherers collected
the tribute of the Edomite nation. It would seem that the land of Edom
stretched further to the north in the age of Khu-n-Aten than it did at a
subsequent period of history, and that it encroached upon what was
afterwards the territory of Moab. The name of the latter country is met
with for the first time among the Asiatic conquests of Ramses II.
engraved on the base of one of the colossal figures which stand in front
of the northern pylon of the temple of Luxor; when the Tel el-Amarna
letters were written Moab was included in the Canaanite province of
Egypt.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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