Daily independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 188?-1915, 1891-04-14
OLDER THAN SOLOMON.
Ancient Tablets ;Exhuned In the
49, Land Of Egypt (. g.. ~.
MIssfvcs That w'ero Passed between tho
Kings OF Jerusalem and Egypt -Four
--.-.- Centuries Before tho Firth
OF David.

! OF David.
The Smithsonian institut ion has iust
received information of tic recent dis
covery at Tci-cl-Amar a, in Upper
Egypt, of . number of ta blets relating
to the history Of Jcrusalc a and dating
back six hundred years carlicr than auy
records hitherto known. When it is
understood That these tablets of stone
arc letters passed between the King of
Jerusalem and the Pharaoh of E~yrt
four hundred years before tho birth OF
David, who was the father of Solomon,
some notion will be formed of their OK
tremc interest. These letters we're
written, so DR.. Cyrus Adler told writ
CT for the Washington Star, about the
year 1890 Il. c., and cast 4 greht 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 fedora
ton Of independent cities, each of
which, like Jerusalem, was governed by
''prefect"-this word meaning literal
ly liking of city" Nevertheless, these
towns paid n tribute to the, Pharoah,
that several of the letters found were
addressed to the ruler of Egypt by tho
, king of Jerusalem, Abdi-Taba. In
them he tries to explain, with due re-
spect, that no occupies n moro indie
pendent position than the other pre-
fcctS and ought to be treated according
~. For example, in one missive he
says:
behold. this city of Jerusalem ncith-
er my father nor my mother has given
unto nc, 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 ref
crcncc to hereditary law. Having been
summoned to his throne by the Deity,
Abdi-Taba argued that he should be
treated more leniently with regard to
tribute. In another of the letters he
says:
'lSchold. neither my father nor my
mother has appointed m to this place,
but the mighty King has made me
enter into the house of my fatlcrs.''
That the mighty illAs' spoken of
was the Deity is proved by the fact that
tn Him IS authority l.; referred IN oracle
inscribed upon another tablet which
says that: "As long - 4 ship :;;ils
upon the sea, SO long will Mcsopotamia
and nIbylonia conquer"
Inc chief aim of the thrcc othcr let
tors written by Abdi- I;lDL IS to ask tic
Pharaoh for military cid against the
foreign conqucrors invadint; Palestine,
md especially the district OF = oGusnlcIn
Those warlillc strangers he calls people
of llabri-in other words. they wcro
Hebrews. 1t seems EA dly probable
that the Hebrews as II nation should
have invaded Pale tine 1T so early n
date, and go - " t''''' = co N-ore
some Advanced G.Ioc;, o. I....CI IyIllun
settled down west of the Jordan and
made incursions from time to time In
one Of his letters on this subject Abdi-
TnDa says:
'Thc ilabri people arc conqucrinG
the cities of the KinB-i. c., the cities
tributary to the therefore
the King may turn Ills face , His sub
jcctS and acud troops. If the troops az
rive this year the countries of the
King, Iay Lord, may be saved. but if
no troops arrive the countries of the
King, my Lord, will exist no longer"
This tremendous find" ut Tcl-cl-
AmGria includes two hundred tablets,
largely OF Babylonian cunoiforn script,
which Is thus discovered for The first
time to have been i'll use at so carly n
period in Egypt and Palestine. Many
OF the other tablets arc dispatches Of
about the same dGto from projects of
other cities Of Palestine to the Pharaoh.
Some of tho inscriptions arc in an I'M
known language which no one has SO
far been able to translate. 1t is funny
to think that Solomon himself would
have looked upon these tablets as re-
mote antiquities.
Without u Pupil.
TT,l,o ..l11n,-x, xr .II1. /,.a- ., n,