Biblical Hebrew Forum

[George F Somsel <gfsomsel AT juno.com>]

On Wed, 3 Aug 2005 06:26:59 -0500 "Dora Smith" <villandra AT austin.rr.com>
writes:
> I previously sent this only to Yitzhak by mistake.
> 
> I am wondering; I beleive that Jerusalem actually existed for a long 
> time,
> as a fortress; and that the archeological evidence shows that but 
> just does
> not show that there was a city there.
> 
> But if I knew it was mentioned in the Amarna letters, I've 
> forgotten.
> Where and in what context is Jerusalem mentioned in the Amarna 
> letters?
> 
> Yours,
> Dora Smith
> Austin, Texas
> villandra AT austin.rr.com
_____________

There are a number of letters classified as "Jerusalem Letters"; however,
not all of these specifically mention Jerusalem.  I am assuming that they
are so classified due to the names of the writers and other personages
mentioned.  EA 287 states

If this year there are archers, then the lands and the mayors will belong
to the king, my lord. But if there are no archers, then the ki[ng] will
have neither lands nor mayors. 25–32 Consider Jerusalem! This neither my
father nor m[y] mother gave to me. The [str]ong hand: zu-ru-u? (arm) [of
the king] gave it to me.??) Consider the deed! This is the deed of
Milkilu and the deed of the sons of Lab?ayu, who have given the land of
the king ‹to› the ?Apiru. 

Moran, W. L. (1992). The Amarna letters. Translation of: Tell el-Amarna
tablets. (English-language ed.) (EA 287:20). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins
University Press.

I'm sure that some of the characters contained herein will not be
transmitted to the list so I offer my apologies for that.  I'm not
certain what needs to be edited to make it readable.

EA 289 also specifically mentions Jerusalem.

george
gfsomsel
___________
>From formoria AT carolina.rr.com  Wed Aug  3 08:09:59 2005
Return-Path: <formoria AT carolina.rr.com>
X-Original-To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
Delivered-To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
Received: from ms-smtp-04-eri0.southeast.rr.com
        (ms-smtp-04-lbl.southeast.rr.com [24.25.9.103])
        by lists.ibiblio.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 6A42E4C00B
        for <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>; Wed,  3 Aug 2005 08:09:59 -0400 
(EDT)
Received: from localhost (cpe-024-074-014-255.carolina.res.rr.com
        [24.74.14.255])
        by ms-smtp-04-eri0.southeast.rr.com (8.12.10/8.12.7) with ESMTP id
        j73C9vL4002396; Wed, 3 Aug 2005 08:09:57 -0400 (EDT)
Date: Wed, 3 Aug 2005 08:09:55 -0400
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed
Mime-Version: 1.0 (Apple Message framework v482)
To: Dave Washburn <dwashbur AT nyx.net>
From: Brian Roberts <formoria AT carolina.rr.com>
In-Reply-To: <200508021652.17247.dwashbur AT nyx.net>
Message-Id: <8193902E-0417-11DA-94B0-0005028E3A38 AT carolina.rr.com>
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.482)
X-Virus-Scanned: Symantec AntiVirus Scan Engine
Cc: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Stone slab replacing the Ark of the Covenant
X-BeenThere: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.6
Precedence: list
List-Id: Hebrew Bible List <b-hebrew.lists.ibiblio.org>
List-Unsubscribe: <http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew>,
        <mailto:b-hebrew-request AT lists.ibiblio.org?subject=unsubscribe>
List-Archive: <https://lists.ibiblio.org/sympa/arc/b-hebrew>
List-Post: <mailto:b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
List-Help: <mailto:sympa AT lists.ibiblio.org?subject=HELP>
List-Subscribe: <http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew>,
        <mailto:b-hebrew-request AT lists.ibiblio.org?subject=subscribe>
X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 03 Aug 2005 12:09:59 -0000

Yes, I'm failing to see a precise mirroring of the biblical description 
here.

On Tuesday, August 2, 2005, at 06:52  PM, Dave Washburn wrote:

> Hmm, funniest looking cherubim I ever saw...
>
> On Tuesday 02 August 2005 16:22, Patrick J. Emsweller wrote:
>> Image of the Egyptian Ark.
>>
>> http://www.sacred-texts.com/egy/emec/img/03300.jpg
>>
>> -patrick
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org
>> [mailto:b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Stephen Segall
>> Sent: Tuesday, August 02, 2005 6:06 PM
>> To: Brian Roberts
>> Cc: b-hebrew
>> Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Stone slab replacing the Ark of the Covenant
>>
>> I have seen a picture of the image, but I do not have a copy. If anyone
>> knows where a copy is available I would like to know.
>>
>> On Tue, 2 Aug 2005, Brian Roberts wrote:
>>> Stephen;
>>>
>>> Can you provide us with an image of the Karnak inscription that you 
>>> say
>>> depicts the Ark of the Covenant?
>>>
>>> On Tuesday, August 2, 2005, at 03:21  PM, Stephen Segall wrote:
>>>> What happened to the Ark of the Covenant? After the death of King
>>>> Solomon his son Rehoboam became king. The 10 northern tribes revolted
>>>> against Rehoboam and formed their own separate kingdom. Rehoboam's
>>>> troops refused to fight against their fellow Israelites, so Rehoboam 
>>>> was
>>>> left with a small fraction of the population and a fraction of the 
>>>> land
>>>> of Solomon's original kingdom.
>>>>
>>>> This was a tempting target for the king of Egypt who attacked and
>>>> overran the truncated Kingdom of Judah. To prevent a siege of 
>>>> Jerusalem,
>>>> Rehoboam agreed to let the Egyptians loot Jerusalem and leave 
>>>> without a
>>>> fight.
>>
>> This
>>
>>>> Egyptian victory was commemorated on a temple wall at Karnak. The 
>>>> wall
>>>> carving shows Egyptian soldiers carrying away the Ark of the 
>>>> Covenant.
>>>>
>>>> While some may argue that just because the ark being taken away by 
>>>> the
>>>> Egyptians exactly matches the Ark described in the Torah, it might 
>>>> just
>>
>> be
>>
>>>> a chest with carrying rails. This is highly unlikely, since the
>>>> magnitude of the Egyptian victory could best be demonstrated by 
>>>> showing
>>>> that they were carrying off the Judeans most prize possession. It is
>>>> like saying that the menorah being carried away by Roman soldiers on 
>>>> the
>>>> arch of
>>
>> Titus
>>
>>>> could have been any menorah and not the one from the Second Temple.
>>>>
>>>> Rehoboam and the Temple priests tried to hide the loss of the Ark 
>>>> from
>>
>> the
>>
>>>> population, since admitting the Egyptians had taken the Ark was
>>
>> tantamount
>>
>>>> to admitting that God had abandoned the Kingdom of Judah. The secret
>>
>> could
>>
>>>> be kept for generations since only the Hign Priest was allowed to 
>>>> enter
>>>> the Holy of Holies in the Temple.
>>>>
>>>> The phrase in the Book of Kings about Josiah ordering the Levites to
>>>> return the Ark of the Covenant to the Temple appears to be an
>>>> embellishment to the story of the Passover celebration ordered by
>>>> Josiah, since no action was taken to execute this command.
>>>>
>>>> On Tue, 2 Aug 2005, Alexander Oldernes wrote:
>>>>> Maybe your expertise can help me with this question...
>>>>>
>>>>> I have read somewhere that when the curtain covering the entrance to
>>>>> the Most Holy was torn in two, in the first century CE, the Most 
>>>>> Holy
>>>>> was exposed containing no Ark of the Covenant. In place of the Ark 
>>>>> was
>>>>> a
>>
>> stone
>>
>>>>> slab upon which the high priest sprinkled the blood on the Day of
>>>>> Atonement.
>>>>>
>>>>> I know the last mention of the Ark of the Covenant is in 2. 
>>>>> Chronicles
>>>>> 35:5,
>>>>> saying:
>>>>> He said to the Levites, who instructed all Israel and who had been
>>>>> consecrated to YHWH: "Put the sacred ark in the temple that Solomon 
>>>>> son
>>
>> of
>>
>>>>> David king of Israel built. It is not to be carried about on your
>>>>> shoulders."
>>>>>
>>>>> This happened around 642 (?) BCE.
>>>>>
>>>>> And now the question...
>>>>> Do we know that the Ark of the Covenant was replaced by a stone 
>>>>> slab?
>>>>>
>>>>> If so...
>>>>> Who writes about it?
>>>>> Do we know when this was done?
>>>>> Do we know what the stone slab looked like?
>>>>>
>>>>> ----
>>>>>
>>>>> Alexander Oldernes
>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> b-hebrew mailing list
>>>>> b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
>>>>> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> b-hebrew mailing list
>>>> b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
>>>> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew
>>>
Best Salaams,

R. Brian Roberts
Amateur Researcher in Biblical Archaeology
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> b-hebrew mailing list
>> b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
>> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> b-hebrew mailing list
>> b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
>> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew
>
> --
> Dave Washburn
> http://www.nyx.net/~dwashbur
> "Well, if I'd wanted a safe life, I guess I wouldn't have
> married a man who studies rocks." - Betty Armstrong (Fay Masterson)
> _______________________________________________
> b-hebrew mailing list
> b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew
>