BEFORE ISRAEL: Syria-Palestine (SP) in the Bronze Age

The term Syria-Palestine designates the area covered by the modern states of Syria, Lebanon, Israel, the recently formed Palestinian entity, and Jordan.

It was never culturally unified, rather, it was the home of several distinct, but interrelated, contemporary cultures.

Urban civilization only arose in NE during the 2nd half of the 4th millennium BC. First in Mesopotamia, then in Egypt.

However, urbanization in SP happened in the early 3rd millennium BC when small fortified cities began to emerge throughout the region.

At present, we know more about Palestine (3rd millennium) than Syria because of the excavation taking place in region (southern and northern parts).

Evidence tells us that Palestine’s population increased in the Early Bronze I period (3300-3100 BC), but not until 3200 did walled fortification first appear.

During Early Bronze Age II (3100-2700) and III (2700-2300), Palestine contained several fortified towns ranging in size from 8-22 hec as well many villages scattered throughout the countryside. Later, more cities were founded, fortifications, temples, and palaces.

When Egypt abandoned its way through Israel in Early Bronze Age III in favor of the sea route to Byblos in Lebanon, Palestine may have forced to look toward Syria.

Ancient Tablets Discovery

Ebla TabletsMari TextsNuzi TextsUgaritic TextAmarna Tablets

Ebla Tablets

Ebla, Modern Tell MardikhLocated 35 miles southwest of Aleppo, Syria.

One of the only three Syrian cities to have yielded written documents from this period (cf. Mari and Tell Beidar, where 7064 tablets were found in 1993).

Series of excavation took place in that region from 1963, 1970s

In 1973, they found the royal palace which housed tablets from archive room.

The so-called “Ebla tablets” are known as the one of the largest recovered archives of the 3rd millennium BC from the NE (17,000 tablets were catalogued).

The image shows part of the excavated city of Ebla. Most of the ruins have The image shows part of the excavated city of Ebla. Most of the ruins have been given a top layer of new bricks. Some stones used to grind flour are been given a top layer of new bricks. Some stones used to grind flour are also seen in the picture.also seen in the picture.

Contents of Ebla TabletsInitial reports linked it to the Bible.

However, it was proved wrong.80% are economic and administrative

documents.Mostly recording royal dealings in a wide

variety of goods—gold, silver, clothing, etc.Administrative texts show that Ebla

controlled a large area of northern Syria. It also reveals the highly developed bureaucracy of the city.

Non-economic tablets are a few literary texts such as hymns; incantation texts; list of animals, birds, professions, etc.

Mari Texts

Mari2nd millennium is a much more

documented period.Extraordinary archives have been

discovered in the cities of Syria and Mesopotamia about political, social, economic, and religious situation of the lands.

Example: Texts from MariThis time is also called as the age of

Amorite kingdoms.

The Amorite KingdomEarlier studies presented them as nomadic

tribes people sweeping Syrian desert; attaching urban centers of Mesopotamia; bringing down Neo-Sumerian culture at the end of the 3rd millennium.

Then, they began to settle down and develop into city-dwellers.

Toward the end of the 19th century when the written sources were beginning to appear, most of the major cities of Mesopotamia and northern Syria were ruled by kings with Amorite names.

Discovery of Mari TextsMari was an ancient city in Syria situated on the

western bank of Euphrates river. It flourished from 2900 BC until 1759 BC, when it was sacked by Hammurabi. Abraham is thought to have passed through Mari on his way from Ur to Harran.

It was discovered in 1933 by a Bedouin tribe. Then they came across a headless statue. After a month of digging (Dec. 1933), they found the temple of Ishtar.

It was considered as the "most westerly outpost of Sumerian culture.” Over 25,000 clay tablets in Akkadian language written in cuneiform were discovered.

Ancient History of Mari TextsThe inhabitants of Mari were a Semitic people, thought to be

part of the same Eblaite and Akkadian migration.

First Golden AgeThe city flourished since it was strategically important as a relay point between Sumerian cities of lower Mesopotamia and the cities of northern Syria. Sumer required building materials such as timber and stone from northern Syria, and these materials had to go through Mari to get to Sumer.

First DestructionAfter a period of eminence beginning 2900 BC, Mari was destroyed around 24th century BC. This destruction brought a period of relative decline in importance in the region and the city was reduced to no more than a small village.

Second Golden AgeThe second golden age commenced around 1900 B.C.

under the Amorite dynasty. Two significant archaeological discoveries were made that dated back to this period:The palace of Zimri-Lim, a king of Mari (ca. 1775-1761

BCE), contained over 300 rooms. The palace was possibly the largest of its time.

The state archives were also built during this time. From the archives over 25,000 cuneiform tablets have been taken. The tablets provided more than 500 new place names and contributed to the revision of the historical dating of ANE and redraw the geography of ancient world.

Final DestructionMari was destroyed again after Zimri-lim was defeated by Hammurabi (ca. 1759 B.C.). After this destruction, there were scattered inhabitations by Assyrians and Babylonians, but the city remained a village until the arrival of the Greeks, and vanished from history thereafter.

Ruins of Mari

Remains of the historical city of Mari

Rooms inside Zimri Lim's great palace in Mari, finest example ever found of Mesopotamean architecture.

Roof over the royal palace of Mari

Central courtyard of the palace of Zimri-Lim

Inside the impressive palace of Zimri-Lim

These texts are important for Old Testament studies because names mentioned in the book of Genesis also appear in the Mari Texts. For example the name Canaan first appears in the Mari Texts.

Importance of Mari Texts in the OT Studies

Another reason for its importance in Old Testament studies is that written prophecy similar to Israel's prophets appears in the Mari texts. This is important because it is quite different from the prophecy of the surrounding countries. There are twenty-three such prophecies found in the Mari texts. They were written to the king and the authors claimed to be inspired by different gods. These prophecies came in the form of dreams, visions, and trances.

These Mari texts show that some passages in the Old Testament does describe the culture of the region as it really was. For instance the Mari texts shows that land was not to be sold outside the extended family. Usually land was inherited, apportioned, or assigned to someone but it was never sold.

Tablet of Zimri-Lim, king of Mari, concerning the foundation of an ice-house in Terqa. Baked clay, ca. 1780 B.C.

Goddess of fertility Statue of a wosrhiper

Ugaritic Texts

History of UgaritUgarit was at its height from ca. 1450 to 1200

B.C.The first written evidence mentioning the city

comes from the nearby city of Ebla ca. 1800 B.C. A stela and a statuette from the Egyptian

pharaohs Sesostris II and Amenemhet III that were found demonstrate of Egyptian influence (art).

From the 16th to the 13th century B.C., Ugarit remained in constant touch with Egypt and Cyprus.

A cuneiform tablet found in 1986 shows that Ugarit was destroyed after the death of Merneptah, probably in 1195 B.C.

The Discovery of the Ugaritic TextsUgarit is a capital of the Ugarit kingdom.It is an ancient city lying in a large artificial

mound called Ras Shamra (Ra's Shamrah).It was first uncovered by the plow of a

peasant at Al-Bayda Bay when an ancient tomb at the small Arab village of Ras Shamrah was discovered.

Excavations were begun in 1929. The site has been particularly rich in finds,

which have yielded much valuable historical information from which a partial account of the city has been constructed .

The Ras Shamra Mound

Entrance to the royal palace

Excavated ruins at Ras Shamra

The Banquet Hall

The King of Ugarit serving lunch to the clapping "Almighty" El, an Old Testament Hebrew god

A Ras Shamra stele depicting the god Baal with his mace held high

Statuette of the chief God El, at Ugaritic pantheon.El Seated on a throne and raisinghis hand in benediction

The FindsMusical piece on a clay tablet, dating to the 14th

century BCE, has been excavated on site. Ugarit, in other words, employed musical notation a full thousand years before Pythagoras.

One clay tablet reveals something of the Canaanites' family values:Starting from today I Yaremano give up all my

properties to my wife Baydawe and two sons Yataleeno and Yanhamo. If one of my sons treats his mother Baydawe meanly, he must pay five hundred pieces of silver for the king. Beyond that he should take off his shirt, leave it on the door's lock and go into the street. But the one who treats his mother Baydawe with respect and consideration, his mother will give him all the properties.

The excavations have revealed the world's first linear alphabet and information about Canaanite religion that is highly significant for Hebrew Bible/Old Testament studies.

The above Ugarit inscription is an Alphabet Chart showing all of the Ugarit letters in order (Ugarit is read from left to right). Not only is this helpful in knowing the actual Ugarit alphabet but also shows that the modern order of the Hebrew alphabet has not changed. There are eight additional letters in the Ugarit alphabet that are not in the Hebrew alphabet, two of which are vowels. It may be possible that these were originally in the Hebrew alphabet but were later dropped (not an uncommon occurence in the evolution of alphabets around the world). The tablet is missing three letters, the 13th, 14th and 25th letters, and may be broken off the right end of the tablet.

Significance of Ugaritic Archives to Biblical Scholarship

It provides for the first time a detailed description of Canaanite religious beliefs during the period directly preceding the Israelite settlement.

It shows significant parallels to Biblical Hebrew literature, particularly in the areas of divine imagery and poetic form. Ugaritic poetry has many elements later found in Hebrew poetry: parallelisms, meters, and rhythms.

The discoveries at Ugarit have led to a new appraisal of the Old Testament as literature.

Canaanite Gods Mentioned in the BibleBaal

Baal speaking - "So, my father,El the bull, won't you bless him? Creator of all, won't you show him your favor?” (Excerpts from the Story of Aqhat)

Baal means "lord" and is an euphemism for the Canaanite god Hadad.

Hadad was the storm god bringing life giving rain; He was the son of Dagon.

2 Kings 10:28-29: Thus Jehu wiped out BAAL from Israel. But Jehu did not turn aside from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he caused Israel to commit - the golden calves that were in Bethel and in Dan.

1 Kings 16:31b-32 he (King Ahab) took as his wife Jezebel daughter of King Ethbaal of the Sidonians, and went and served BAAL, and worshipped him. He erected an alter for BAAL in the house of BAAL, which he built in Samaria.

2 Kings 10:25-27: As soon as he (King Jehu) had finished presenting the burnt offering, Jehu said to the guards and to the officers, "Come in and kill them; let no one escape." So they put them (all the prophets of BAAL) to the sword. The guards and the officers threw them out, and then went to the citadel of the temple of BAAL, and burned it. Then they demolished the pillar of BAAL, and destroyed the temple of BAAL . . . .

AsheraThe Canaanite mother of all the gods

representing life giving and the primeval sea . She was the principal goddess of the coastal cities of Sidon and Tyre.

Asherah, besides being carved in a female likeness was also symbolized by a pole.

Judges 6:25: Pull down the altar of BAAL which your father has, and cut down the ASHERAH that is beside it:

1 Kings 15:13 He also removed his mother Maacah from being queen mother, because she had made an abominable image for ASHERAH; Asa cut down her image and burned it at the Wadi Kidron.

1 Kings 18:19: Now therefor have all Israel assemble for me at Mount Carmel, with the four hundred fifty prophets of BAAL and the four hundred prophets of ASHERAH, who eat at Jezebel's table.

2 Kings 17:10: they set up for themselves pillars and ASHERAH's on every high hill and under every green tree;

2 Kings 17:16: They rejected all the commandments of Yahweh their Elohim and made for themselves cast images of two calves; they made ASHERAHs, worshipped all the host of heaven, and served BAAL.

2 Kings 21:7: The carved image of ASHERAH that he had made he set in the house . . .

DagonDagon is the father of Baal; the Semitic

root means “grain.” The first reference to the worship of the

god Dagon is found in the inscriptions of Sargon of Akkad (a Semitic kingdom) dating to 2,200 B.C. and located in the middle Mesopotamian region around the city of Mari.

The Bible reports that the at least some Philistines adopted Dagon as one of their gods in the cities of Ashdod, Beth-shan, and perhaps Gaza.

DAGON in the Bible:Judges 16:23: Now the lords of the Philistines

gathered to offer a great sacrifice to their god DAGON, and to rejoice; for they said, "Our god has given Samson our enemy into our hand."

1 Samuel 5:1-3: When the Philistines captured the ark of God, they brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod; then the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it into the house of DAGON and placed it beside DAGON. When the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, there was DAGON, fallen on his face to the ground before the ark of the YAHWEH. So they took DAGON and put him back in his place.

1 Chronicles 10:10: They (the Philistines) put his (King Saul's) armor in the temple of their gods, and fastened his head in the temple of DAGON.

ElEl is the supreme creator god of the Canaanites who lives with the other gods on Mount Zaphon (similar to Mount Olympus of the Greeks).

He is the father of all the gods and men and is often addressed as such by the Canaanite gods.

He is the god of the earth and the air who is represented by a bull.

Ashtoreth (Hebrew astart") is rendered Ashtoreth in most of the older biblical translations due to the insertion of the vowels from the Hebrew word "boset" meaning "shame" to form "astoret".

She is the sister of Baal. A goddess of war, love, storms. She is also called the queen of heaven

2 Kings 23:13: The king (Josiah) defiled the high places that were east of Jerusalem, to the south of the Mount of Destruction, which King Solomon had built for ASTARTE the abomination of the Sidonians, for CHEMOSH the abomination of Moab, and for MILCOM the abomination of the Ammonites.

Judges 2:13: and they abandoned Yahweh and worshipped Baal and the Astart.

Judges 10:6: The Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh, worshipping the Baal and the Astart, the gods of Aram, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the Ammonites, and the gods of the Philistines