Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-12-13

who was the fathe- of Solomon. some no.
tion VIII be formed OF their extreme inter-
est. These letters were written. SO DR.. CYRUS
Adier told writer for The STAR. about the
year l5o0 BIC. and cast great light upon the
relations OF Egypt at that ancient epoch This,
OF course. was long before Jerusalem was cap
tured by the Jews
AT that time Palestine was a federation OF
independent cities, each of which. like Jerusa-
ienn' was governed by ''prefect"--this word
meaning literally king of city" Neverthe-
less, these towns paid a tribute 10 the Pharoah
ana IL was In relation to this tribute that sew
| erai OF the letters found were addressed to the
ruler OF Egypt by the King of Jerusalem Abdi-
| Taba. In them he tries TO explain, with due
| respect, that he occupies more independent
position than the other projects and ought 90
be treated accordingly. For example, in one
mlssive he saws:
Behold. this city OF Jerusalem neither nv
father nor my mother has given,u unto me, but
| the call of a mighty King"
| ms refers to the ancient custom in Palestine
| Dy which rulers were sometimes chosen in con-
sequence of supposed Divine call and without
| any reference to hereditary law Having been
summoned TO his throne by the Deity. Ahdi-
Iaba argued that he should he treated more
| lenlently with regard to tribute. In another of
| the letters he saws:
Behold. neither my father nor INV mother
l "fPoihNeV Hie III pElCe> out the cal oi
the mighty King has made me enter into the
| house of my fathers"
That the mighty King" spoken Of was the
| Deity IL proven by the fact that TO him as au-
| thorlty Is referred an oracle inscribed upon an
other tablet, which SAYS that: AS long rs
snip sails upon the sea. so long will Mesopotamia
| and Babylonia conquer"
| The chief aim of the three other letters writ.
| ten by Abdi-Taba Is to ask the Pharaoh for mil
| Itary aid against foreign conquerors invading
| Palestine, and especially the district of Jern.
| salem. These warlike strangers he calls peoplo
| OF Hablrl-in other words. they were Hebrews
| 1t seems hardly probable that the Hebrews as a
| nation should have invaded Palestine at &C
| early date and so ii is likely that these were
some advanced tribes of Israel which settled
| down west of the Jordan and made incursions
| from time to time. In one of the letters on
| this subject Abdi-Taba SAYS:
| The Habiri people are conquering the cities
/ OF the king i e., the cities tributary to the
| therefore the Hing NAV turn his
face to his subjects and send troops. If the
troops arrive this year the countries Of the
king, my lord. may be saved. but if no troops
arrive the countries of the king, my lord, will
| exist no longer"
| This tremendous find" at Tell-el-Amaria in
cludes two hundred tablets, largely Of Baby
| ionlan cnneiform script, which il thus discoy-
| cred for the first time to have been in use at 20
early period i'm Egypt and Palestine Many
| OF the other tablets are dispatches of about the
| same date from projects of other cities of Pal
| estine to the Pharaoh. Some of the inscriptions
| are In an unknown language. which no one has
| so far been able TO translate. Ii is funny Il
| think that Solomon himself would have looked
upon these tablets as remote antiquities.