The sun. [volume] (Morris, Stevens County, Minn.) 1882-1895, 1891-01-29
OLDER THAN SOLOMON.
WRITTEN 400 YEARS BEFORE
HIS BIRTH.
Discovery Of a Number Of Tablets Relating to
the History Of Jerusalem-6O0 Years
older Than Any History Hereto
fore Known to Exist

The Smithsonian Institution has
just received information, not yet
printed or made public in this country,
of the recent discovery at Tell-el-
Amaria, in Upper Egypt, of number
OF tablets relating to the history of
Jerusalem and dating back 900 years
earlier than any records hithertofore
known. When it is understood that
these tablets Of stone are letters
passed between the King of Jerusalem
and the Pharaoh of Egypt, 400 years
before the birth of David, who was
the father of Solomon, some notion
will be formed of their extreme
interest. These letters were written
about the year 1900 B. c., and cast a
great light upon the relations of
Egypt at that ancient epoch. This, of
course, was long before Jerusalem
was captured by the Jews.
At that time Palestine was a fedora
ton of Independent cities each of
which, like Jerusalem, was governed
by a perfect ct''-this word literally
meaning king of a CITY," Neverthe-
less, these towns paid a tribute to the
Pharaoh, and it was in relation to this
tribute that several of the letters
found were addressed to the ruler Of
Egypt by the King of Jerusalem,
Abdi-Taba In them he tries to ex-
plain, with due respect, that he occu-
pies more independent position than
the other projects, and ought to be
treated accordingly. For example
in one missive he says:
Behold, this City of Jerusalem
neither my father nor my mother has
given unto me, but the call of mighty
king"
This refers to the ancient custom in
Palestine by which rulers were some
times chosen in consequence Of sup
posed divine call and without any
reference to hereditary law. Having
been summoned TO his throne by the
Deity, Aoai-Taba argued that he
should be treated more leniently with
regard to tribute. In another OF the
letters he says:
Behold, neither my father nor my
mother has appointed me to this place,
but the Mighty King has made me
enter into the house of my fathers. !"
That the Mighty King" spoken OF
was the Deity is proved by the fact
that to Him as authority is referred
an oracle inscribed upon another tab
let which says that ''as long as ship
sails upon the sea, so long will Meso-
potamia and Babylonia conquer"
The chief aim OF the three other
letters written by Abdi-TabA is to ask
the Pharaoh for military aid against
foreign conquerors invading Pales,
tine, and especially the district o.
Jerusalem. These warlike strangers
ne calls people OF Habiri-in other
words, they were Hebrews. 1t seems
hardly probably that the Hebrews as
nation should have invaded Pales-
tine at so elrly a date, and so it is
likely that these were some advanced
tribes of Israel which settled down
west of the Jordan and made incur
sions from time to time. In one oi
the letters on this subject Abdi-Taba
says:
The Habiri people are conqueriug
the cities OF the king. e., the cities
tributary to the Pharaoh-"th
the king may turn his face to his sub
jects and send troops. II the troops
arrive this year the countries Of the
king, my lord, may be saved. but if nc
troops arrive the countries of the king,
my lord, will exist no longer"
This tremendous "fn |" at Tell-el-
Amariu includes POO tablets, largely Of
Babylonian cuneiform script which is
thus discovered for the first time tc
have been in use at 30 early period
in Egypt and Palestine. Many Of the
other tablets are dispatches of abou
the same date from projects of other
cities of Palestine to the Pharaoh
Some of the inscriptions are in an un
known language. which no one has SC
f;.r been able to translate. 1t is funny
to think that Solomon himself woulC
have looked upon these tablets as re-
mote antiquities, Washington Star