[b-hebrew] Amarna Letters
JimStinehart at aol.com
JimStinehart at aol.com
Tue Dec 25 14:07:07 EST 2007
Kenneth Greifer:
1. Death of the Leader of Shechem
Both in the secular history of the mid-14th century BCE and in chapter 34 of
Genesis, the leader of Shechem makes a goodwill gesture toward the new
monotheists, which he realizes leaves him temporarily vulnerable. In secular
history, Lab’ayu agreed to go meet with pharaoh Akhenaten in Egypt to try to
explain Lab’ayu’s controversial, expansionist actions as the leader of Shechem.
On his way to Egypt, when he assumed he had a right of safe conduct, Lab’ayu
was killed by men of Jenin, who were pro-Akhenaten, but who acted without
having received any orders from Akhenaten. Likewise, in chapter 34 of Genesis,
Jacob’s sons take their morally questionable actions against the temporarily
vulnerable leader of Shechem without having received any orders from Jacob.
The most concise mention of Lab’ayu’s death in the Amarna Letters is at
#280: 30-35:
“Lab’ayu, who used to take our towns, is dead….”
1. Consorting with the Habiru/Hebrews
The Amarna Letters never use the word “Hebrews”, but they frequently use
the word “habiru” or “‘Apiru”. All these terms refer to tent-dwelling people
in Canaan.
Lab’ayu, the leader of Shechem in secular history, seems to take the words
right out of the mouth of Hamor, the leader of Shechem in chapter 34 of
Genesis, when Lab’ayu writes to Akhenaten (the equivalent of Jacob, in the sense
that each is the first historical leader of a monotheistic people) at #254:
30-37:
“I did not know that my son was consorting with the ‘Apiru.”
Those very words would fit perfectly into Genesis 34: 8.
1. 318 Good Men Mustered from Southeastern Canaan for First Monotheist
The number 318 is a very peculiar number. I have never seen it anywhere
else.
At Genesis 14: 14, we read that exactly 318 good men are mustered from
southeastern Canaan for the good cause of the first historical monotheist. (In the
Bible, Abraham is the first historical monotheist.)
In Amarna Letter #287: 53-59, per William Moran’s footnote #18 at p. 300, we
read that exactly 318 good men are mustered from southeastern Canaan for the
good cause of the first historical monotheist. (In secular history,
Akhenaten is the first historical monotheist.)
1. Conclusion
There are too many striking “coincidences” like this. In my controversial
opinion, the first historical Hebrew lived in the mid-14th century BCE, and
his world was the same world as the world of the Amarna Letters. The foregoing
items cannot possibly be fiction ginned up by four Hebrew ghostwriters in
the mid-1st millennium BCE, per the Wellhausen JEPD theory of the case. No
way.
Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois
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