The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1891-02-05
LETTERS OLDER THAN SOLOMON.
Missiyes Exchanged 400 Years Before His
Fathers Birth Dug Up in Egypt.

The SIN ithsonian Institution has just
received information, not yet printed
or made public in this country. of the
recent discovery at Tel-el-Amaria. in
Upper Egypt, of a number of tablets
relating TO the history OF Jerusalem
and dating back GOO years earlier than
any records hitherto 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, SO DR.. Cyrus Adler told a
writer for the Star. about the year 1900
b. c., and cast Il great light upon the
relations of Egypt at that ancient
epoch. This of course was long be-
fore Jerusalem was captured by the
Jews.
At that time Palestine was fedora
ton of independent cities, each of
which. like Jerusalem, was governed
by ''prefect" word meaning
literally King of a City" Neverthe
less. these towns paid a tribute to the.
Pharoah 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 explain, with due
respect, that he occupies more indie
pendent position than the other Pre-
fcctS and ought to be treated accord
ingly. For example, in one missive be
says:
Behold this city of Jerusalem
neither my father nor my mother has
given unto me- but the call Of a mighty
King"
This refers to the ancient custom in
Palestine by which rulers were some
times chosen in consequences of a sup
posed divine call and without any
reference to hereditary law Having
been summoned to his throne by the
Deity, ,Abdi-Taba argued that he should
be treated more lcniently with regard
to tribute. Ia 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 rs authority is referred an
oracle inscribed upon another tablet,
which says that: ''As long as u ship
sails upon the sea, SO long will Mesopo-
tamia and Babylonia conquer"
The chief aim of the three other let
ters written by Abli-Taba is to ask the
Pharaoh for military aid against the
foreign conquerors invading Palestine
and especially the district of Jerusalem.
These warlikc strangers he calls peo-
pie of Habiri-in other words. they
were Hebrews. 1t seems hardly prob
able that the Hebrews as nation
should have invaded Palestine at so
early a date. and SO it 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 saws:
The Habiri people are conquering
the cities of the king'-i G., the cities
tributary to the Pharaoh therefore
the King may turn his face to his sub
jects 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"
Tnis tremendous find" at Tel-el- |
Amaria includes 200 tablets, largely Of
cunciform script. which is
thus discovered for the first time to
have been in use at so early period in
Egypt and Palestine. Many of the
other tablets are dispatches of about |
the same date from projects of other
cities OF Palestine to tie Pharaoh. |
Some of the inScriptinns are in an un- |
known language. which no one has So |
far been able 10 tranSla {. Ii is funny |
TO think that Solomon himself would |
have looked upon these tablets as re-
mote antiquities. .- u Fts.}iHgt0n STIR.