Bronze Age Israel Re-Dated (29 August 2017, 7 Elul, 5777)
Contents:
1. Introduction
2. Points worth noting: Chapter v, Ras Shumra (Ugarit)
(1. Minoan and Mycenean were parallel cultures NOT consecutive!
(2. Mycenean and Minoan Finds are Contemporary with the Late Israelite Kingdom
(3. Parallels to and Consistent with Israelties in Cyprus
(4. Hebrew-type text written in cuneiform. Similarities to script of Cyprus from ca. 500 BCE.
(5. Parallels to Israelites to be sought in North European Finds attributed to Bronze Age!
(6. Biblical Parallels. Quotes from Velikovsky
(7. Nullification of Scripture Confounded Yet Again!
(8. Addenda. The Song of Karet
3. Universal Disasters and Chronology
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1. Introduction
Re
Immanuel Velikovsky, "Ages in Chaos,"
https://endchan.xyz/.media/c4d58633205706af405035dee1e43dfe-applicationpdf.pdf
Complete work on .pdf file.
Immanuel Velikovsky has a theory THAT WE DO NOT REALLY AGREE WITH!
Velikovsky makes all kinds of claims concerning astronomical phenomenon, the identification of ancient peoples, etc, that do not resonate with our understanding.
On the other hand he also revises the chronology and observes phenomena in a new light making suggestions that are valid.
On some points we intend to use to the observations that Velikovsky made while ignoring his overall thesis.
This work has Importance for Brit-Am.
In chapter v Velikovsky discusses archaeological findings from Ugarit also known as Ras Shamra. By comparing the finds with similar ones elsewhere he dates them to the 700s, 600s, and even 500s.
The Ten Tribes are conventionally assumed to have been exiled in the late 700s BCE though the real date is probably more than a century after that. Shorty afterwards we find similar finds in parts of Western Europe supporting our understanding that portion of the Israelites had been transported to the west by Philistine (Minoan and Mycenean) and Phoenician proxies at an early date.
[The finds at Ugarit are also sometimes used by Biblical Critics to undermine belief in the Bible. The claim is made that since the results predate the Bible and known Israelite presence then the Hebrews must have borrowed and adapted them from other peoples. Velikovsky shows that, on the contrary, these finds show Hebrew influence in the area and help substantiate archaeologically the Biblical precedence.
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2. Points worth noting: Chapter v, Ras Shumra (Ugarit)
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(1. Minoan and Mycenean were parallel cultures NOT consecutive!
# The ages are divided into Early, Middle, and Late Minoan, and each age is divided into three parts, I, II, and III. Another culture recognizable by its characteristic pottery had its center in Mycenae on the mainland of Greece. It, too, is divided into Early, Middle, and Late Mycenaean or Helladic Ages, which correspond roughly to the Minoan Ages of Crete. #
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(2. Mycenean and Minoan Finds are Contemporary with the Late Israelite Kingdom
# If Akhnaton flourished in -840 and not in -1380, the ceramics from Mycenae found in the palace of Akhnaton are younger by five or six hundred years than they are presumed to be, and the Late Mycenaean period would accordingly move forward by half a thousand years on the scale of time. #
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(3. Parallels to and Consistent with Israelties in Cyprus
Same finds in Ras Shumra as in Cyprus dateable to ca. 800 BCE (and not ca. 1300 BCE).
# The influence which appears to dominate, if not at Ras Shamra itself, then, at least, at the near-by necropolis of Minet el Beida, is that of the island of Cyprus. The graves of Minet el Beida are of Cyprian shape and construction, and the vases of painted baked clay of which the funeral equipment largely consists, are very clearly and almost all Cyprian. 12 #
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(4. Hebrew-type text written in cuneiform. Similarities to script of Cyprus from ca. 500 BCE.
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(5. Parallels to Israelites to be sought in North European Finds attributed to Bronze Age!
The Mycenean and Minoan findings plus others according to Velikovsky are to be dated at ca. 800 BCE or later. Many of them have been found in regions pertaining to Ancient Israel.
Similar finds are also known from Scandinavia in the Bronze Ages, from England.
These finds are conventionally ascribed to a much earlier period.
We however intend to assume that they should be dated to ca. 700 BCE or later and that they are proof of Israelite presence.
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(6. Biblical Parallels. Quotes from Velikovsky
# The pantheon of Ras Shamra 33 was composed of a number of gods; Baal was one of them, but the supreme deity was El. 34 The land of the Canaanites is sometimes called 'the whole land of El,' and the supremacy of this deity ('no one can change that which El has fixed'), known by the same name in the Bible as the Lord of the Israelites, is regarded as "a clear indication of a monotheistic tendency in the Canaanite religion." 35 However, besides El being not the sole but the chief god, he is described in the Ras Shamra texts in Homeric terms strange to the Old Testament: 'El laughs with his whole heart and snaps his fingers.'
# Besides the name El, which is predominant in the poems, especially in the poem of Keret dealing with exploits in Negeb, the name Yahu (Yahwe) is also encountered in the Ras Shamra texts. 36 A few rare expressions or names found on Ras Shamra tablets are found also on monuments of the seventh century before the present era. 37 A very unusual expression on one of the Ras Shamra tablets "Astart, name of Baal" appears in the epitaph of Eshmunazar, the Phoenician king of Sidon of the fifth century. 38 The mythological pictures of the Ras Shamra poems often employ the same wording as the so-called mythological images of the Scriptures. Leviathan is 'a crooked serpent' (Isaiah 27:1); it has several heads (Psalms 74:14). Lotan of the poems also is 'a swift and crooked serpent' and has seven heads. There is, in one of the poems, an expression put into the mouth of El which sounds like a reference to the great feat of tearing asunder the sea of Jam-Suf. And the verb ,'to tear asunder,' used there and in Psalms (136:13) is the same (gzr). The conclusion drawn from the similarity was this: long before the Exodus and the passage through the Red Sea, the Canaanites of Palestine knew this myth. 39 The language of the poems of Ras Shamra is, in etymology and syntax, 'surprisingly akin' 40 to the language, etymology, and syntax of the Scriptures, and the characteristic dual and plural forms, both masculine and feminine, are cited as examples.
# The language of the poems of Ras Shamra is, in etymology and syntax, 'surprisingly akin' 40 to the language, etymology, and syntax of the Scriptures, and the characteristic dual and plural forms, both masculine and feminine, are cited as examples. The meter of the poems, the division into feet of three syllables or three words, and the balancing of the theme (parallelism) are also found in the Scriptures. 41 'These rules are precisely those of Hebrew poetry, and even the language from some of our Ras Shamra texts is entirely Biblical.' 42 It was therefore concluded that Hebrew and Phoenician alike derived from the Canaanite, which could be called an Early Hebrew dialect. 43 'There are striking similarities in the vocabulary, many words and even locutions being identical' 44 in the Ras Shamra texts and in the Old Testament. Here and there is found a turn of speech known from the Psalms, as, for instance, 'I watered my coach with tears.' 'The style resembles most the poetic books of the Old Testament, and especially the Book of Isaiah.' 45 'We see that the Phoenicians of the fourteenth century before our era used rhythm and poetical forms that have all their development in the Song of Songs. ... There are even some composite terms which are identical in both languages, such as the expression 'Beth-Haver', 'house of association', which occurs on one of the tablets and also in the Book of Proverbs.' 46 In short, 'there are innumerable parallels with the Old Testament in vocabulary and poetic style,' 47 and an 'intimate relationship existing between the Ras Shamra tablets and the literature of the Old Testament.'
# The religious cult, as reflected by poems and other texts of Ras Shamra, also bore a certain resemblance to the cult of the Israelites. There was a 'Rav Cohanim', a high priest; adzes with engraved dedications to Rav Cohanim were unearthed. The offering called 'mattan tam', known from the service in the Temple of Jerusalem, is mentioned in the Ras Shamra texts. Circumcision was also practiced at Ras Shamra, judging from stone phalli found in this Phoenician city. 49 The Jewish law forbidding the people to boil a calf in the milk of its mother was directed against a definite custom and a culinary dish. This dish was enjoyed at Ras Shamra, as its writings reveal. From all this the following conclusion was drawn: 'The traditions, culture and religion of the Israelites are bound up inextricably with the early Canaanites. The compilers of the Old Testament were fully aware of this, hence their obsession to break with such a past and to conceal their indebtedness to it.' 50 Even in minute details the life in Ras Shamra of the fifteenth century and the life in Jerusalem some six or seven hundred years later were strikingly similar
# Isaiah, on a visit to the gravely sick king, Hezekiah, ordered a 'debelah', a remedy made of figs, to be applied to the inflamed wound. Debelah is registered in the pharmacopoeia of Ras Shamra's medical men and is found mentioned in a veterinary treatise. The deduction was therefore made: 'The prophet made use of a very old-fashioned remedy, known previously to the veterinary surgeons at Ugarit in the fifteenth and fourteenth centuries.' 51 This case of correspondence between the medical tablets of Ras Shamra and the Scriptures is not unique: 'In the same (veterinary) treatise we also find some technical words corresponding exactly with similar expressions in the Bible, which further emphasize this contact between the Ras Shamra texts and the Old Testament.' 52 And the generalization concerning medicine was: 'They (the exactly corresponding technical words) establish a very striking similarity in the medical knowledge of the Canaanites or ProtoPhoenicians, and that of the times of the kings of Judah.' 53 The weights and measures of Ras Shamra were also those known from the Scriptures. In the SumeroBabylonian system a talent was divided into 3600 shekels, but in the Scriptures (Exodus 38:25-27) the talent is composed of only 3000 shekels. Was this an erroneous statement? In the Ras Shamra texts, too, the talent is divided into 3000 shekels. 54
# Jewels of gold to adorn the maidens of Ras Shamra are mentioned in the texts and were unearthed. 55 'Now in the texts three kinds of gold pendants are mentioned by the name of 'Astarte,' 'suns,' and 'moons.' The word used for a sun pendant is 'shapash.' 'Shapash' is identified with the word 'shebis' mentioned in Isaiah 3:18. 56 The same prophet alludes to crescents or pendants in the form of the moon. So at Ras Shamra we find not only mention of these pendants in the Canaanite texts but also the ornaments themselves that Yahwe, in the passage cited in Isaiah, will take away one day from the haughty daughters of Zion.' 57 The ornaments named in the curse of the prophet emerged out of the earth. 'Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet: Therefore the Lord will smite with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion. ... In that day the Lord will take away the bravery of their akhasim (anklets) and shebisim (suns) and shaharonim (crescents), the chains, and the bracelets ... and the earrings, the rings, and the mantles, and the wimples, and the crisping pins ... the fine linen, and the hoods, and the veils. ...And her gates shall lament and mourn; and she being desolate shall sit upon the ground' (Isaiah 3:16- 26). In the hour of sorrow and mourning dust was thrown over the head, in ancient Ugarit and in Jerusalem alike, as the texts of the tablets and the scrolls of the Old Testament testify. All these revivals of style and meter, of religious myths and cult, of old customs, of weights and measures, medical science, apparel, and jewelry, emphasized and re-emphasized by modem scholars, would definitely point to the co-existence of Ugarit with the Jerusalem of the eighth or ninth century were it not for one obstacle. This was the fact that the Ugarit texts and objects were considered to be contemporaneous with the Egyptian and Mycenaean worlds of the fifteenth and fourteenth centuries.
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(7. Nullification of Scripture Confounded Yet Again!
It used to be claimed that archaeological finds at Ugarit (Ras Shumra) in Northern Syria were attributable to Canaanites. The Hebrew name of God was found, the name "El" (another Hebrew name for God) was also there.
There was a language written in cuneiform Script that resembled Hebrew. There were other Biblical type names etc.
This was all dated to ca. 1300 or earlier. This was before the Hebrews had firmly established themselves in the land.
It was therefore assumed that the Hebrews had borrowed aspects of Canaanite culture.
A look at the evidence however shows that the finds should be dated to ca. 800 BCE or later and that all similarities to Hebrew lore were attributable to Israelites (e.g. King Solomon) having been in the region.
The Israelites especially the Ten Tribes in the north intermixed with the Canaanites, learnt their ways, synthesized Canaanites religion with their own, etc.
That was why they were exiled.
This too is what the Bible tells us.
2-Kings 17:
7 Now this came about because the sons of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God... and they had feared other gods 8 and walked in the customs of the nations whom the LORD had driven out before the sons of Israel... 9 The sons of Israel did things secretly which were not right [Hebrew: VaYachapu" i.e. "synthesized"] against the LORD their God. Moreover, they built for themselves high places in all their towns, from watchtower to fortified city. 10 They set for themselves sacred pillars and Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree, 11 and there they burned incense on all the high places as the nations did which the Lord had carried away to exile before them; and they did evil things provoking the Lord. 12 They served idols, concerning which the Lord had said to them, 'You shall not do this thing.' ....15....and went after the nations which surrounded them, concerning which the LORD had commanded them not to do like them. ...18 So the LORD was very angry with Israel and removed them from His [ sight; none was left except the tribe of Judah.
2-Kings 17:
9 Now in the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria and besieged it. 10 At the end of three years they captured it; in the sixth year of Hezekiah, which was the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was captured. 11 Then the king of Assyria carried Israel away into exile to Assyria, and put them in Halah and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes, 12 because they did not obey the voice of the LORD their God, but transgressed His covenant, even all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded; they would neither listen nor do it.
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(8. Addenda. The Song of Karet
The Song of Karet from the Phoenician city of Sidon mentions the Israelite tribes of Asher and Zebulon and a war in which Edom Serirot (i.e. Edom from Seir) is involved.
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3. Universal Disasters and Chronology
Re
New Evidence for Ages in Chaos
https://www.varchive.org/ce/newev.htm
by I. Velikovsky (Archival Notes)
# Claude F. A. Schaeffer of the College de France, the excavator of Ras Shamra-Ugarit. During the years of World War II and the years following he labored on his Stratigraphie comparee et chronologie de l'Asie occidentale. Working independently of me he came to the conclusion that great catastrophes of continental dimensions closed several historical ages; the greatest of them took place at the end of the Middle Kingdom in Egypt and actually caused its downfall; the earth was covered with a thick layer of ash, violent earthquakes shook the entire ancient East, from Troy at the Dardanelles to the Caucasus, Persia, Egypt; civilizations of the Middle Bronze Age were suddenly terminated; traffic, commerce, and pursuit of the arts ceased; populations of all countries were decimated; the survivors became vagrants; plagues took their toll; the climate suddenly changed, too. Thus Schaeffer and I, following different approaches, on very different material, came to identical conclusion concerning the great catastrophes in the historical past, their role in the termination of historical ages; in the case of the catastrophe that terminated the Middle Kingdom (Middle Bronze II) our views coincide to the day.
# The Hyksos worshipped the god Seth and also introduced him into the Egyptian pantheon. The term 'Children of Seth' signifies worshippers of Seth, or Hyksos. Thus the references to the Amalekites and to the children of Seth by Balaam reveal the identity of these two designations.
W. F. Albright came to the same conclusion:
# Contemporary Egyptian inscriptions almost vanish after about 1750 B.C. and do not resume their normal flow until about 1580; Babylonian inscriptions fail us entirely after the fall of Babylon cir. 1600 and are almost completely lacking until after 1400 B.C.; Assyrian records cease about 1780 and (except for a few short inscriptions from cir. 1570-1520) do not appear again until after 1450 B.C. There are hardly any contemporary Hittite inscriptions of the Old Empire, but even later copies of early documents in the archives of Khattusas break off about 1550 and contemporary inscriptions do not begin until after 1400 B.C. In short, it is certain that there was a catastrophic interruption of the normal flow of ancient history.(17)
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cf. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shmita
It is still discussed among scholars of the Ancient Near East whether or not there is clear evidence for a seven-year cycle in Ugaritic texts.[5] Tony W. Cartledge (1992). Vows in the Hebrew Bible and the ancient Near East. p. 304 -"455. 3. Cf. C. H. Gordon (1982). "The Biblical Sabbath, its Origin and Observance in the Ancient Near East". Judaism. 31: 12–16.; C. H. Gordon (1953). "Sabbatical Cycle or Seasonal Pattern? Reflections on a New Book". Orientalia. 22 (1): 79-81. JSTOR 43079363., who draws mainly upon Ugaritic ...