, 1891-02-04
LETTERS OLDER Than SOLOMON.
Missiles Exchanged o Years Before
His EnthrE. mIrth DmE In.

NAisAlses exchanged ahf Years Ietore
His Fath-E's birth Dug TIP.
The Smithsonian institution has re-
ceived information of the discovery At
Tcn-el-AInnria, in upper Egypt. Of a
number Of tablets relating 10 the history
Of Jerusalem, and dating back COO Year,
earlier than any records hitherto known.
When II is understood that these tablets
Of stone are letters passed between the
king + Jerusalem and the Pharaoh Of
Egypt 400 years before the birth Of Da-
nd. who was the father of solomon,
s1ne notion will be formed Of their ex-
tr,mc interest. These letters were writ
ten. So DR.. Cyrus Adler told a Washing
ton reporter. about the year 1900 B. c.
and cast a great light o the relations
Of Egypt az that ancient epoch. This, Of
course, was long before Jerusalem was
captured by the Jews.
1T iaI- time Palestine was a fedora
tion Il independent cities. each Of which.
like Jerusalem, was governed by a pre-
fect"-this word meaning literally liking
Of q city Nevertheless. these towns
T-il % tribute to Pharaoh. and it was in
r~rlE-IJn 10 this tribute that several Of
the letters found were addressed to the
ruler Of Egypt by the king of Jerusalem.
Alu--dba. In them he tries to explain,
with due respect, hat be occupies "A
ma". Independent position than the
TTurr Vrrfrrt=,- aRd-eHgAt-tn be treated
accordingly. For example, in one mis-
ave he says
"B -olI, this city Of Jerusalem neither
Ly father nor my mother hHs given
INTO me. but the call Of a mighty king"
This n srrs to The ancient custom in
Palestine by which rulers were some
time chosen in consequence of a sup
posed divine call and without any refer
cugc to hereditary law. Having been
summoned to his throne by the Deity,
AbaI-lHbu argued that he should be
treated more leuiently With regard TO
tibute. In another Of the letters he
s7ys
Behold. neither my father nor my
mother has appointed me in this place.
but the call OF the mighty hing has made
me enter into the house uf nv fathers"
That the mighty king spoken Of was
the Deity is proven by the fact that to
him Hs authority is referred an oracle in
-rrIned upon another tablet, which says
tlut las long as "a ship sails upon the
ga 90 long VIII Me-op6tamia and Baby
.uui1 conquer"
The chief aim of the three other letters
written by Abdi-Taba is to ask the Pha-
raoh for military aid against foreign con-
querors invading Palestine. and especial
ly the district Of Jerusalem. These war
like strangers he calls people of Habiri
in other words, they were Hebrews.
1t seems hardly probable that the He
hrews rs a nation should have invaded
Palestine Ht No early "A date. and 80 it is
likely that these were some advanced
tribes Of Israel which settled down west
Of the Jordan and made incursions from
time 10 time. In one OF the letters on
this subject Abdi-Taba says:
The Habiri people are ~conquering the
cities Of the king. e.. the cities tribu-
ttry TO the Observation-Disclosures the king
may 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 includes 200 tablets, largely Of
Babylonian cuneiform script, which is
thus discovered for the first time to have
been in use at so early a period in Egypt
and Palestine. Many Of the other tab
let's are dispatches of about the same
date from projects of other cities Of Pal
estine to the Pharaoh. Some of the in
scriptions are in an unknown language,
which no one has so far peer able to
translate. 1t rs funny to think that Solo
mon himself would nave looked upon
these tablets as remote antiquities
Washington Star.