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ESCAPE FROM PLANET EGYPT

Part XVI

In our last installment of Escape From Planet Egypt, we focused on the identification of the Old Testament locale of Jezreel. It turns out that Jezreel, the 2^nd capital of Israel during the time of Ahab and Jezebel, was associated with the ancient city known as Gubla.

Built by Jezebel's father the king of Sidon, Ahab and Jezebel relocated to Gubla when the capital city of Samaria was taken by Syria, during one of the many wars which Syria waged with Israel and Judaea.

We have connected Gubla, which was prominently mentioned in the El Amarna documents (which consisted of clay tablets from the ancient city of Akhet Aton when the Pharaoh ruled the entire region) to the actual name Jezebel. The modern name of the ancient city of Gubla is Jbayl – which not only provides a linkage to Jezebel/Jezreel, but further associates the city with the name Baal.

Linked to Tyre and Sidon, a key archaeologist tells us Gubla/Jezreel was one of the three most important cities in the ancient Middle East. Thus, since the connection between Jezreel (a name repeatedly found in the Scriptures) and Gubla (a name which is repeatedly found in the misdated Amarna letters) has not been recognized, an accurate picture of the coastal powers of Tyre, Sidon, and Jezreel has been thwarted.

In Solomon's time, Tyre and Sidon became very significant, and the Scriptures tell us of their deep involvement in the massive project in which Solomon constructed the temple of the LORD.  

Utilizing the twin city's coastal locale and their proximity to the forests of Lebanon, Solomon's enormous temple project completely absorbed the economies of Tyre and Sidon. Unfortunately, while that was happening, Tyre and Sidon exported the religion of Baal to Israel.   

The early fervency of Solomon's faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob indicates that vast monetary expenditures were allocated to the Israelite priesthood, and the temple rituals. Contrary to what the scholars  mistakenly tell us, the 5 books of Moses (known as the Pentateuch), as well as Joshua, Judges, and an unknown number of other Old Testament books, were intact and codified in the temple.

As Solomon swayed from the faith through the influence of his many wives (to say nothing of the Tyrian influence of King Hiram), the kingdom of Israel would be judged by the LORD, and split into the two houses of Northern Israel and Southern Judaea in the time of Solomon's son Rehoboam.

Solomon's kingdom became inextricably intertwined with Tyre and Sidon, as the coastal city-states were voluntarily annexed by Israel, in order to service the robust economic power of Jerusalem. When King Hiram of Tyre enthusiastically merged his naval capabilities with Solomon's enormous influence, the combined maritime capabilities were unmatched.  

"And king Solomon made a navy of ships in Ezion-geber, which is beside Eloth, on the shore of the Red sea, in the land of Edom. And Hiram sent in the navy his servants, shipmen that had knowledge of the sea, with the servants of Solomon" (I Kings 9:26, 27).

The original motive for this union was to obtain the many materials needed for Solomon's temple – notably the timbers from Lebanon which were transported via Hiram's ships. However, after the temple was built and dedicated, the maritime trade continued.

"For the king had at sea a navy of Tharshish with the navy of Hiram; one in three years came the navy of Tharshish, bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks" (I Kings 10:22).

We've already demonstrated that Pharaoh's daughter Hatshepsut was the Queen of Sheba, and she was so thoroughly impressed with the fabulous wealth of Solomon that her successor Thutmose III eventually invaded Jerusalem, and took the massive temple treasures back to Egypt.

"And it came to pass, that in the fifth year of Rehoboam [Solomon's son] Shishak [aka Thutmose III] king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, and he took away the treasures of the house of the Lord" (I Kings 14:25,26).

As the great conqueror Thutmose III subsequently required annual tribute from Jerusalem, and the naval trade continued, we note that ivory was  frequently mentioned in the Egyptian Amarna records, thus further synchronizing the letters of Pharaoh Akhnaton with the period which followed Solomon's consistent acquisition of ivory.

For example, when Amenhotep III, the father of Akhenaton, was corresponding with the king of Mittani (who had negotiated a treaty associated with an arranged marriage with the Princess Tadukhipa of Mitanni), ivory was part of the requested dowry.

"And let my brother give three statues of ivory" (Ages in Chaos, Velikovsky, page 335).

Due to the abundance of ivory imported via Israel's continuing partnership with Tyre and Sidon (at that time vassal states of Egypt), the precious substance was regularly requested by various potentates in the Amarna letters – which we've placed in the time of Ahab.

"Now the rest of the acts of Ahab, and all that he did, and the ivory house which he made, and all the cities that he built, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?" (I Kings 22:39).

The temple at Karnak, where inscriptions document the plunder Shishak took from the Jerusalem temple, shows that voluminous items of ivory were in its inventory. There are many mentions of ivory in the tablets found at Tell El Amarna, which are admitted to be documents associated with Pharaoh Akhenaton – however, the scholars still insist that Akhenaton was from the 14^th century BC, and the king of "Sumurri" (Samaria) who wrote to him was supposedly some ancient king of pre-Israelite Palestine.

To rephrase that thought, in Canaan/Palestine before the Israelite kingdom was established, there is no indication whatsoever of a significant stockpile of ivory – yet the royal letters to and from Egypt supposedly composed during that period consistently reference ivory treasures.

Since it was the maritime trading system of Solomon and Hiram of Tyre which established the importation of ivory in the 9^th century BC, this aspect of the data in the Egyptian tablets again confirms the re-synchronization of the Egyptian timeline with the Scriptures.

In short, Pharaoh Akhenaton was indeed a contemporary of Ahab and Jezebel, and their time was in the middle of the 8^th century BC.  

This means that during the centuries that followed the subjugation of Israel by Egypt in the 9^th and 8^th century, Egypt inherited control of the coastal cities of Tyre, Sidon, and Gubla (with the latter city the one that would become known as Jezreel in the days of Ahab and Jezebel).

Since we've already connected Jezreel, the royal city of Ahab and Jezebel with Gubla, we note how the historians recognized the temple of Baal in Gubla as the point of contact between the Egyptian throne and the coastal city-states of Tyre, Sidon, and Gubla.  

Because the Israelite throne then situated in Jezreel dominated Tyre and Sidon, we see the influence of Jezebel's temple at Baalat Gebal was far more important than is generally thought. In fact, a further complication impeding an accurate perception of the story of the biblical Jezreel is the fact that Gubla/Jezreel was later known as Byblos, due to Greek influence.

Further, an important scholarly work entitled The Role of the Temple of Ba'lat Gebal as Intermediary between Egypt and Byblos during the Old Kingdom, clearly confirms the predominance of Baal worship among the coastal kingdom where Ahab and Jezebel reigned.

The previously referenced work on the significance of the Baalat Gebal temple in Lebanon heavily relies on the Amarna documents, but the European author has been programmed to erroneously believe those documents are from the 15^th and 14^th century BC – hence the reference to the "Old Kingdom" of Egypt, as opposed to the "New Kingdom" of the 18^th dynasty, where we find Akhnaton.

The coastal city states of Tyre and Sidon, and the Northern Israelites who mingled with them, were ruled by Ahab and Jezebel in Jezreel. The religious beliefs of these people was significantly tilted towards Baal, as Queen Jezebel surreptitiously arranged to murder the remaining prophets of the LORD.

The Scriptures reveal a time when efforts were made to blend the diminishing belief in the LORD, with that of Baal. Those who retained fidelity to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were forced to go underground. For example, the Scriptures tell us a man name Obadiah, who was the governor of Ahab's own house, secretly fed the persecuted prophets of the true God.

"And Ahab called Obadiah, which was the governor of his house. For it was so, when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the Lord, that Obadiah took an hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water" (I Kings 18:3,4).

As previously noted, this persecution of the LORD's prophets was directly related to the intense drought and famine, which was plainly stated as activated by Elijah.

"And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years" (I Kings 17:1).

The terrible famine was repeatedly mentioned in the Amarna letters, and it occurred primarily in written correspondence by Ahab to Akhnaton.

"Formerly, my peasants have provided provisions from the land of Iarimuta. But, behold, Iapa-Addi did not permit them to go for provisions for the garrison" (Amarna letter #114).

The "Iapa-Addi" who refused food to Ahab's civilians was the local chief of Iarimuta, and the Amarna letters tell us he was allied with
Aziru – who has been identified as Hazael, the successor to Ben-Hadad of Damascus.

When Ben-Hadad, Ahab's perennial foe was seriously ill in Damascus, his right hand military man Hazael murdered him, and seized the throne.

"And it came to pass on the morrow, that he took a thick cloth, and dipped it in water, and spread it on his face, so that he died: and Hazael reigned in his stead" (II Kings 8:15).

The Amarna letters to Akhnaton from Ahab, in which the king pleads for rations during the great famine pronounced on Israel by Elijah, repeatedly mention that food was previously brought to the people from Iarimuta. Those same letters tell us the king was unable to get supplies from Iarimuta because of the opposition of Hazael (Azira in the Amarna texts). 

Referring to Iarimuta (or Rimuta), the later Roman historian Flavius Josephus calls this place Aramatha in Galadene. The Scriptures call it Ramoth in Gilead – and it was historically a fertile highland that was not affected by the drought. Israel considered it to be their possession, so as the famine increased in severity, Ahab sought to enlist the help of Jehoshaphat of Judaea to take it back from Hazael.

Ahab conferred with Jehoshaphat, the king of Judaea, and asked him to go with him to retrieve Ramoth in Gilead.

"And the king of Israel said…Know ye that Ramoth in Gilead is ours, and we be still, and take it not out of the hand of the king of Syria? And he said unto Jehoshaphat, Wilt thou go with me to battle to Ramoth-gilead?" (I Kings 22:3,4).

This identification of Ramoth Gilead as a historic source of food during the great famine helps to explain why Ahab would undertake a military offensive when the nation was in the midst of a crippling famine. It also explains why the locale was so hotly contested, with Syria and Israel alternating possession of the disputed city.

As the story progresses, wherein Ahab is considering a desperate military action in order to ameliorate the death rate due to the horrendous famine and drought, we will see that this was part of the LORD's foreordained end of Ahab's evil reign – as a prophet of the LORD said this place will be where Ahab dies -- but that account will have to wait for the next installment of Escape From Planet Egypt.

– James Lloyd

To Be Continued