Israel's Exodus and Egypt's Record Aligns!

The Amarna diplomatic letters exposed vassal relationships between field commanders, acting as local kings and Pharaoh their Egyptian ruler. Commanders of field garrisons, who defended Egyptian territories, sometimes expressed conflicting interests that often triggered a spate of letter writing. Victories, defeats or political turmoil weighed heavily on the writings.

The tablets appear to have been buried with Akhenaten at El Amarna, but they are not the originals, mostly made of clay from areas east of the Jordan River, they are deemed authentic copies. One such letter #254 titled "Neither Rebel nor Delinquent" by Labaya commander of the Samaria region, from Sakmu, the biblical city of Shechem exposed serious allegations against him for having surrendered land to the Habiru (see Deuteronomy 11:30 and Genesis 12:6).  This and the related letters further south at Uru-Salem, biblical Jerusalem discuss battles waged by the Habiru. 

Military correspondence from Canaan also known as Retenju 

Dating and sources of the Amarna letters are thought to span Egyptian Pharaoh's Amenhotep III, Akhenaten, through possibly Smenkhkare or Tutankhamun around 150 years. These Pharaoh's may have overlapped Biblical Hebrew or Israelite presence, enslavement in, exile from Egypt, early Canaanite wars and land resettlement. However, published chronologies have left much open to speculation, here we propose a resolution. The Labaya tablet #254 and others reference Pharaoh in his 32nd year of reign leaving only Amenhotep III who held power for 36-38 years during the Amarna period. According to the classic chronology Amenhotep III died in 1351 BCE.

The Bible describes Israel's 40 year sojourn, before it entered the land of Canaan and Joshua, the Israelite leader is said to have ruled 32 years after that. If there is a Biblical relationship to the Habiru, even if only some were Hebrew Israelite's raiding Canaan then letter #254 must have been written during the overlap of Amenhotep III and Joshua's 32 year reign, which according to the Biblical record ended in 1245 BCE. But, the 100 year gap between Amenhotep III and Joshua would need a resolution.

Prince Thutmose, the eldest son of Amenhotep III died in the third decade of his fathers reign. Stepping in, his younger brother Amenhotep IV (also known as Akhenaten) became the "strange" Pharaoh as depicted in uncharacteristically abstract art from his reign. From evidence at Amarna we know the mummified elite of Egypt had a poor state of health despite opposite representations reflected in artwork of the time. Amarna depicts how distance enabled diplomatic façade, appearance of control and power, yet reality was always different. For Akhenaten losing control of Retjenu (Canaan) may have been his diplomatic inheritance and artistic downfall.

From evidence toward the end of the 13th century BCE, Papyrus Anastasi III, Merneptah Stele (1203 BCE), Egyptian late bronze age temple at Jerusalem's École biblique and tombs north and north-west of Jerusalem's Mount Moriah we learn about a prolonged Egyptian commitment and interest in Canaan during the approximately 250 years of military activity from Amenhotep III to Merneptah. In addition to strategic and regional benefits, a long term commitment to Canaan may have been etched in the psyche of Egyptian leaders by Egypt's founder and first Pharaoh Khem. According to the Biblical record Khem (Biblical Ham) may have incestuously fathered Canaan. The place name Canaan is common in Egyptian and Biblical records.

This most tumultuous military period directly overlaps Israelite tribes who were displacing local Canaanite leaders and populations, long connected with Egypt, as they settled their indigenous land and entitlements east and west of the Jordan River. This re-settlement spanned a period of 300 years from Joshua until King David culminating the Israelite inheritance consistent with biblical teachings and tribal agreements.

In one letter, Adoni-Tzedek pleaded to convince Akhenaten to take the faster coastal route to rescue the dire situation in Jerusalem. And a letter, early in the reign of Akhenaten showed that the coast road was still open (pg278) when King Dusratta (Mitanni Empire) wrote to his son-in-law Akhenaten twenty years later, but no help appears to have been sent. If letter #254 describes the Biblical events that took place in 1273 BCE, at the beginning of Joshua's reign the Egyptian chronology immediately prior to the Amarna period would have to be revised forward by around ~100 years, which would be difficult for classical Egyptologists to digest. Joshua must then have overlapped Amenhotep III and Akhenaten, which if we wind back 40 years, would make Thutmose IV the prime candidate at the time of the Israelite Exodus led by Moses. 

Even though the lower Galilee was, for some few years subdued, under Philistia and Syria it was reconquered by Rameses II, whose battle relief also mentions "Shalem" (Jerusalem), but historians reveal that neither he or his garrisons ever entered the Judæan mountains that were impassable for chariots, their supreme weapon of war. Seemingly, Jerusalem had been abandoned by Rameses II as well.

The events placed in these time frames may help us to better understand events that pre-dated Moses when "Pithom and Rameses", Egyptian cities built by Israelite slaves, may have underwritten the economic and political impetus that promoted the "House of Rameses" to compete for and obtain the status of Pharaoh over all of Egypt. However, by the time Rameses I and II became Pharaoh's it was already the latter half of Israel's 300 year resettlement of Canaan as recorded in The Book of Judges.

Often overlooked is the earliest recorded use of the Hebrew language by Ever (great-grandson of Noah) preceding Biblical Abraham, whose father, Terach and extended families continued to live in Haran, northern Syria. They were also likely referred to as Habiru, but their various lineages were not Israelite. Regardless, the Habiru referred in the Amarna letters are almost certainly those Israelites who arrived from Egypt to conquer and re-settle Canaan.

 

Jerusalem Day - The Confluence of Miracles!

28 Iyar 5727 was one of Jewish history's greatest days!

Every year since Moses transcribed the Torah on Israels transit from servitude to freedom, members of the nation have blessed their own counting each of the 49 days that follow the first day of the Passover festival. 

The practice of not eating wheat and other leavened grains during the 7 days of Passover flows into this  -  (7 X 7) 49 day cycle that preceded the traditional wheat harvest. On a personal level each 7-day cycle of blessings relates to one of seven dominant personality attributes each of us possess. 

The 28th of Iyar is the first day of the last 7-day cycle, arguably the most mystical of the prior six cycles.  This first day relates to the way you manifest the expression of 'kindness'. In the prior six 7-day cycles kindness features more esoterically in the attribute of each cycle, but the seventh is the way you manifest its expression from all of the preceding attributes.

We must not forget this day celebrates the 1967 victory in the war that was thrust upon Israel. The first shots were fired on 26 Iyar, the sixth day of the sixth 7-day cycle - the dominant attribute of 'foundation' in a war that would last just six days. The cumulative blessings that precede and complete the sixth 7-day cycle cause the sixth to face, project and manifest in the seventh 7-day cycle. 

On 26 Iyar (5 June) 1967, to the absolute, stunning astonishment of every Jew and against all negative sentiment, even those espoused by Israel's generals, a small battalion of Israeli soldiers beat back Jordanian and Egyptian positions to capture the ancient city of Jerusalem that had been torn from Israel's possession immediately following its declaration of independence in 1948. 

By 28 Iyar (8 June) 1967 one miracle after another were evident even to Israel's chief doomsayer, General Moshe Dayan. Still, he opposed an attack on Syria believing such an undertaking would result in losses of 30,000 and might trigger Soviet intervention. Prime Minister Eshkol, was more open to the possibility, as was the head of the Northern Command. Unexpectedly, the situation on the southern and central fronts cleared up, intelligence estimated the chance of Soviet intervention had been reduced, reconnaissance showed some Syrian defenses in the Golan region collapsing, and an intercepted cable revealed that Egypt's Nasser was urging the President of Syria to accept a cease-fire. 

By 28 Iyar there were no more doubts about the miracles that had transpired. Certainly some suppressed their elation and others managed expression of emotional attributes, but even the stoic so called Jewish non-believers overcame inhibition. Everyone agreed that by the 43rd of 49 day's a series of miracles had led to a 3 day victory in a war that would be over 3 day's later. And on the 50th day each year Israel rejoices in the day Moses transcribed the Torah and bound the nation under God.

Like the nation acknowledged the miracle that pure Jerusalem temple oil had burned for 8 days during the Maccabees battle against the Greeks, the nation-wide recognition that Israel's Six-Day-War victory was led by a series of miracles is the hidden cause of our celebration. Jerusalem was once again in Jewish hands a city, to be restored, celebrated and developed for the future spiritual well being of the entire world. 

   

Shalem, Luz, BeitEl, Jerusalem - City of David!

Once a small, quiet, undisturbed hill among many, the rock that constitutes Mount Moriah lies in a north-south direction. In a recent presentation I tried to compress more than 10 years of experiences in archaeological excavations and spiritual pursuit to capture a better understanding. Why this rock, and what compelled King David, in the seventh year of his reign to leave his base in Hevron to establish a kingdom from this Mountain?

The presentation, which is available in the video link below, lacks one additional point that I wanted to emphasize: In his book, In Ismael's House Martin Gilbert told of the men who entered Jerusalem with Calif Omar in 638 CE, one of whom was a Jewish convert to Islam, Ka'b al-Ahbar [whose Hebrew name was Akiva]. Some 600 years after the Herodian Temple destruction, at Omar's request, Ka'b pointed out the rock where the Jewish Temple had been built by Solomon and after some misgivings, identified the holiest spot where the shrine to Calif Omar was built. That shrine today known as the Dome of The Rock, the Golden Dome occupies a prominent location on the Temple Mount selected by a Jewish convert. That particular location on the Temple Mount has no special designation in Jewish law, only in Jewish tradition.

The presentation lasts around 40 minutes.

The long search

The Bible recounts that moments before Jacob’s death he invoked his redeeming angel (Vayechi 48:16) and blessed Joseph’s sons, his grandsons Efraim and Menashe. He adopted them and in doing so bestowed the double blessing on Joseph, first born to his first love, wife Rachel.

The Zohar asks - why did they deserve to be blessed? And answers because Joseph preserved the sign of the holy covenant by not allowing himself to be seduced (by evil). The mystery of faith is a covenant with My chosen (righteous) one [1:231a] alluding to King David. He finds pleasure together with the souls of the righteous (Israel) and will not enter Jerusalem below until Israel enters the city. The world was not created until He took a certain stone -Foundation Stone, central point of the whole world. That stone, I set up as a pillar (matzevah) to be a house of God (Genesis 28:22). I am sending an angel before you. 

Jacob took 12 stones of that place and they become one

(Vayechi 49:1) Jacob called for his sons and said, "Gather and I will tell you what will happen to you at the end of days". [1:234b] "Gather" - that I may tell you - "Ve-agidah", the mystery of wisdom! Why the mystery of wisdom? Because the word contains (g)imel followed by (d)alet, though sometimes (y)ud intervenes. He sought to reveal Israel's future, but his end of days vision dwindled.  

Jacob was about to reveal that his stone-pillar would locate the permanent temple he had committed to build, but he couldn't explain what he saw. How do we know this? Because the non-incidental prophet Gad, also spelled (g)imel (d)alet connected him to this same mystery of wisdom. Some 670 years after Jacob, Gad authorized King David and all Israel's tribal leaders to locate an altar, on Mount Moriah at a different place than the place Jacob erected his stone-pillar. This confronting fact disturbed Jacob's vision.

The deeper mystery connected Efraim and brother Menashe to the northern tribes, collectively named Israel. They vehemently resisted re-locating the temporary temple from Shilo in Efraim's territory, where it had been abandoned to Jerusalem on the southern border of Benjamin's territory with Judah. When a plague killed 70,000 northern Israelite's a short-lived reprieve led them to unify and accept Gad's prophetic house of God relocation from the neck to the head of Mount Moriah.

Rivalry between Judah and Joseph (Efraim) over Benjamin would eventually lead to the destruction of two temples at Gad's location. Jacob saw beyond these destruction's, but the perpetual denial by Joseph and his brothers, including their silencing Benjamin about their kidnapping and selling Joseph disturbed Jacob's foretelling.

In 2008 the Hebrew year 5768, Jacob's stone-pillar was rediscovered at its location on Mount Moriah. It had been purposely buried, preserved for more than 3700 years. This time there will be no destruction.

The Place Jacob Stumbled and Became Israel

Of 79,847 words in old testament Hebrew Bible, "va-yi[Ph][G]ah" is used once to describe the manner in which Jacob came upon a certain "place" [Ba MaKom] Genesis 28:11. It is also used once in the Book of Samuel and three times in the first book of Kings. In the latter books it expounds the murder of priests and retribution against a traitor. So, how does the murder of priests by Do'eg, who was a conniving, ruthless teacher of King David and retribution by Ben'ayahu ben Yehoiada, for the King relate to Jacob's experience at the place?

The verb "[Ph]-[G]ah" means to encounter, meet or reach, perhaps encounter (as in strike can relate to killing or murder. However, because a softer verb was not used commentators interpret this long memory, encoded into the Bible's Hebrew words as if to his surprise Jacob, fell upon, collided with, or stumbled onto the place.

Regular readers of this blog know that the standing stone or matzevah in ancient Jerusalem's temple zero complex (see image below) may be the one Jacob erected the morning after his "va-yi[Ph][G]ah" experience which was followed, that night by his famous 'stairway-to-heaven' dream.

Four room temple complex on Upper Ridge above the Gihon Spring

Of the four rooms discovered in the temple complex, on the eastern face of Mount Moriah the bedrock at the western end of room 2 drops to a low point around 1 meter above the ground. This apparently natural feature outlined in red and immediately further west in green (in the images below) illustrates the fall of bedrock toward the ground level bedrock. The standing stone (also in the images below) is not depicted in room 2 (above) to illustrate that it was erected on top of the ground level bedrock well after this temple complex had already been constructed.

Looking west into Room 2 

Only the raised bedrock platform at the rear (west) end of room 3 was purposely left in place when the original constructors shaped the bedrock into these four rooms. The image (below) of room 3 bedrock floor contrasts the liquids channel (left of image) carved into the bedrock floor from retained (top rear) raised altar platform. This serves to emphasize the purpose of the construction as a temple complex from the outset.

Room 3 altar platform left in place when rooms bedrock was removed to shape rooms

The man-made-wall in the background, west of the green outlined bedrock (below) was dated to the time of King Hezekiah by various archaeologists. Around 1000 years earlier, toward the end of the middle Bronze Age the man-made-wall did not exist, but the bedrock features of rooms 1,2,3 and 4 did. We know that because pottery artifacts discovered in passages immediately east and north of these rooms are dated to the middle bronze age and chisel markings are indicative of that time. 

Matzevah or standing stone at the rear, west end of room 2

Further west of the man-made-wall bedrock continues under the wall, as seen in the image below. In the middle Bronze Age, before the man-made-wall was built bedrock access to and from the west of the temple complex would have been a more gentle access route. The grade of the east facing slope seen in the following image supports the idea of gradual access.

The man-made-wall  (City Wall in image below) approximately demonstrates the relative position of the four room temple complex on the Upper ridge in context to the City Wall at the site of the excavations. It also illustrates the proximity of the Upper Ridge temple complex to the water of the Gihon Spring in the Kidron Valley below.

For those who are familiar with the Bible story of Jacob: On the run from his brother, Jacob made his way to (Genesis 28:11) the holy place of his ancestors (Mount Moriah) where his father was once offered as a sacrifice by his grandfather whose homeland Jacob was about to leave behind. When the sun set he stumbled upon the bedrock and fell into room 2 of the temple complex. That night he packed stones around his head, which he took from (the ramp of the altar in) room 3 and exhausted he fell asleep. In the morning when he awoke, he erected the stone and anointed it (Genesis 28:18) and after twenty years in exile he returned back to it (Genesis 35:14). I maintain that this is the place Jacob was seeking and this is the place Israel is still seeking, perhaps one day we will all find it!

Sword over Jerusalem!

To unify the nation King David had to identify the location of the national altar around which Israel’s temple would eventually be built. Without his selection no temple could be built and King David would be unable to fulfill his life mission. The King had to locate the altar, precisely at the place Isaac was offered as a sacrifice, by his father Abraham, and he had to do it with prophetic support. His search was futile, he turned to the advice of Prophet Samuel, his teachers, Do'eg, Achitofel and eventually the Prophet Gad.

Do'eg was a convert and serious Torah scholar, known to have ruthlessly consumed the intellects of his fellow students and teachers with his sharp commentary. His rivalry with the knowledge of Torah law that King David possessed revealed his jealous disposition. Paradoxically Do'eg tried to disqualify David from being King because David was born through the lineage of Ruth, a Moabite convert, which he alleged was forbidden by Torah law. The prevailing legal opinion, in David’s favor ruled the prohibition was limited to descendants of male Moabite converts only.

Do'eg also challenged David's struggle to determine the site of the future temple, lobbying for it be located in the high mountains south-west of ancient Jerusalem. David preferred it be at its precise location, in close proximity of the people of ancient Jerusalem. In his later years, King David ordered his general to make a census of the nation, it was not requested of him through a prophet by God, as was the law. After 9 months and 20 days Yoav, his general reluctantly delivered his count of males over 20 in Israel.

With an outstretched arm - Chronicles 21:6||Hagadah 

David reflected on the opposition and became remorseful. Retribution followed swiftly and Gad conveyed his prophecy to David as three choices by which to repent; seven years of famine or three months fleeing his enemies or 3 days of plague in the land. King David chose the latter. Immediately 70,000 people received their fate. On the second day, as the nation suffered the King witnessed a vision; the angel of death was standing on the threshing floor where Ornan - King of the Jebusites would separate wheat chaff in the wind. From there the angel stretched out its sword over Jerusalem (The ancient City of David). David immediately and deeply repented for his sins asking God’s forgiveness for the people. With David’s confession, Gad told David to purchase the threshing floor and to build an altar to God, through which he would be forgiven.

David purchased the threshing floor from the willing Jebusite King. He built the altar, made holy sacrifices to seek forgiveness for the sin of his ill fated census. In the process and the pandemonium the panic-struck tribal leaders unanimously accepted this altar as the beacon by which the future site of the first and second temples in Jerusalem would be determined.

Are we to rely on a vision, much less than a prophecy through the voice of an angel or on chance or hidden meaning that David's altar is in fact the site at which Isaac was bound? Was David opportunistic? There are no scholarly sources that confirm King David’s selection as Akeida. For the past 2840 years from the time King Solomon built the first temple and its altar, people have simply believed the site to be precisely the true Akeida. How is it that the most holy site for Jews is identified with the feet of the angel of death?

David struggled to find the site of the temple, for years he contended with Doeg over its location. Then he called on Achitofel to mitigate a threatened flood during construction of the Altar foundation. Did he not have a sign, an archaeological fingerprint, something to go on better than the feet of the angel of death and a prophecy of Gad to annul the plague that he caused? Did David know that the altar of Isaac was a prerequisite for the building of the Temple? David’s son Solomon built Jerusalem’s first temple based on the plans of his father. The missing ingredient in all this is the true location of the altar of Isaac's binding, which is the essential item according  Rambam and Halacha (Torah Law) for building a temple in Jerusalem. So where is it?

Intriguingly the sacrifice offered for a sin offering is the same as the new month (Rosh Chodesh). When David brought his sacrifice at the altar the first time, he repented for his sin, not that of the nation it was not a communal offering, but David's. Today, in the Rosh Chodesh prayer Jews the world over ask for a "New altar to be built in Zion", but when David first used the word "Zion" the angel of death's altar had not been identified and Solomon had not built the temple. So where is David's Zion the place we ask for a new altar to be built?

In numerous articles I have argued that the newly excavated Temple Zero complex above the Gihon, on the neck of the mountain, where sacrificial worship and ceremony is now known to have taken place, is in fact the site of the altar on which Isaac was bound. Notwithstanding popular opinion, this site is likely to be the original site of Salem, Luz, Beit-El, Zion and Jerusalem as such it ought to be more seriously considered as the primary site King David did not identify.

To understand the reasons why the King did not identify the site, we must be sensitive to a chronological series of events that presented him a great difficulty.

When King David and a small band of men first attacked and conquered the Jebusite city, now known as the City of David, its walls had been heavily fortified and constructed to prevent and protect its residents from attack and secure supply of water from the perennial Gihon Spring. Within and adjacent inner sections of the city walls, many homes had been built.

By the time David arrived, walls and the homes had been built on the foundation of bedrock over the site of Isaac’s altar, that had once been carved out of bedrock on the Upper Ridge. The earliest occupants worshiped on the small Upper Ridge on the east facing hillside. It is probable the first expansion of this site were by by Jacob and his sons when they returned from Shechem on their way to Hevron via the matzevah (monument) Jacob erected at the site of Akeida. This is also the place where Jacob experienced his famous dream in which the angels walked up and down the ladder or stairway between heaven and earth. It is also where he anointed his monument to God and formally took the name Israel.

When King David entered the city for the first time the location around the Gihon Spring became known as the Zion fortress and is referred to numerous times in the Bible. There is little doubt this is the physical location Tzion or Zion that David referred to. Whether or not King David knew of the existence of the Temple Zero complex is unknown, regardless its recent emergence for the first time in more than 3000 years and its identity today is remarkable. Will we be open minded enough to seriously question this future Temple site, or are we waiting for another disaster to inform us?