Amarna Letters - Musicians
Tel El Amarna Tablets Musicians Relief
This relief is from Tell el Amarna and depicts musicians blindfolded. It is from the 14th century B.C. (Israel Museum)

This clay tablet relief depicts musicians blindfolded. The tell El Amarna Tablets were a great archaeological discovery along the east bank of the Nile River in Egypt. The Amarna letters belong to the royal archives of Amenophis III and his son Amenophis IV. The Amarna Letters are highly important because they refer to events in the 15th and 14th centuries B.C. They provide the first evidence of the Hebrew tribes entering into the land of Canaan in ancient times.

The Tell El Amarna Tablets

Tell El Amarna is the modern name of a city on the east bank of the Nile River called Akhetaton. It was situated almost 200 miles south of Cairo and flourished in the 14th century BC. It was the capital city of Thebes and built by Amenophis IV with his queen Nefertiti. They dedicated the city to the God Aton, the sun-god. During the 19th century archaeologists discovered many tablets, hundreds of cuneiform tablets, from the 14th century BC. The Pharaoh of Egypt had placed them there because they were not written in Egyptian hieroglyphics. They were cuneiform clay tablet letters written to the Pharaoh from vassal princes of the Empire, from Syria and Israel, and also from ASSYRIA, Babylonia, and Mitanni. The tablets reveal much about the world in the 14th century BC. Including an invasion of a strange people called the Habiru people and they were conquering the land of Israel, therefore there were complaints made to Pharaoh about these people. When the Pharaoh died his monotheistic religion died as well, and Thebes became the capital of Egypt once again.

Joshua 23:5 - And the LORD your God, he shall expel them from before you, and drive them from out of your sight; and ye shall possess their land, as the LORD your God hath promised unto you.


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Tushratta Letter to Amenhotep III (Amarna Tablets)
British Museum Excerpt

Letter from Tushratta to Amenhotep III

Mitannian, about 1370-1350 BC
From Tell el-Amarna, Egypt

Diplomatic links between Mesopotamia and Egypt

This clay tablet is part of a collection of 382 cuneiform documents discovered in 1887 in Egypt, at the site of Tell el-Amarna. They are mainly letters spanning a fifteen- to thirty-year period. The first dates to around year 30 of the reign of Amenhotep III (1390-1352 BC), and the last to no later than the first year of the reign of Tutankhamun (1336-1327 BC). The majority date to the reign of Amenhotep IV (Akhenaten) (1352-1336 BC), the heretic pharaoh who founded a new capital at Tell el-Amarna.

This letter is written in Akkadian, the diplomatic language of Mesopotamia at the time. It is addressed to Amenhotep III from Tushratta, king of Mitanni (centred in modern Syria). Tushratta calls the pharaoh his 'brother', with the suggestion that they are of equal rank. The letter starts with greetings to various members of the royal house including Tushratta's daughter Tadu-Heba, who had become one of Amenhotep's many brides. Diplomatic marriages were the standard way in which countries formed alliances with Egypt.

Tushratta goes on to inform Amenhotep that, with the consent of the goddess Ishtar, he has sent a statue of her to Egypt. He hopes that the goddess will be held in great honour in Egypt and that the statue may be sent back safely to Mitanni.

Three lines of Egyptian, written in black ink, have been added, presumably when the letter arrived in Egypt. The addition includes the date 'Year 36' of the king.

W.L. Moran, The Amarna letters (John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 1992)

 

Heart Message

 

The Seven Nations of Canaan

 

?Take the Land Little by Little?

 

"When the LORD your God brings you into the land where you are entering to possess it, and clears away many nations before you, the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and stronger than you," (Deuteronomy 7:1)


The judgment of the nations of Canaan was a milestone in the fulfillment of God?s covenant to Abraham & Sarah, it is central to the establishment of the nation of Israel, the chosen people of God. The promise of a ?nation of descendants? to the childless old man & woman, reflects the faith nature of God, who asks for trust in Himself and His character, before any proof is given. Though the obstacles are much bigger than us, and remaining permanently beyond what we can grasp for ourselves, God offers His Word as the only proof, and by trusting, miraculous results follow, and we change. Abraham ?believed God? and righteousness was given him as a free gift. (Gen. 15:6)

 

In Abraham?s time, God spoke of the Amorites, one of the seven nations, who were even then in pursuit of evil, and He gave them 400 more years before His judgment would come.

 

"Then in the fourth generation they will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete." (Gen 15:16)


But over that time, their wickedness increased from generation to generation. Can you imagine the presence and power of Satan imbedded and contagiously spreading through the doorway nations of Canaan? Can you imagine darkness so expansive through a culture, that the people who carry God?s plan of redemption were at risk of being overwhelmed and destroyed? These Canaanite nations were offering up their live babies as burnt offerings to the demonic false gods they worshipped. After 400 years, the evil was complete; the dominance of darkness deep-rooted, wide-spread, and in control. God?s judgment was also full and complete. The Lord said of them:


?Even the land itself became polluted and I punished it for its iniquities--the land vomited up its inhabitants." (Lev. 18:25)


God rose up in defense of His plan to redeem mankind, and to rid the earth of Satan?s effort to prevent it. He took His land, which He created, back. He gave it to His redemptive people. But for His plan to work, Israel would have to co-labor with Him, and by faith, would have to fight for it, inch by bloody inch.


The conquest of the Promised Land is a type or ?symbolic template? of all the promises of God for believers in Christ. Their promised land was physical; our promised land is spiritual. Their battle was against seven demon possessed nations that had to be conquered, ?little by little?.


"The LORD your God will clear away these nations before you little by little; you will not be able to put an end to them quickly, for the wild beasts would grow too numerous for you." (Deuteronomy 7:22)


"I will drive them out before you little by little, until you become fruitful and take possession of the land."

Our battle is against the demonic powers that stand in the way of our promises being fulfilled. Our promised land, is our own nature, much of it, still occupied territory, unsanctified by the transforming power of God?s Holy Spirit. Our promised land are the sheep of God yet to be brought into the fold. Our promised land is ultimately heaven. We place one foot in front of the other, trusting God for His mercy and strength to persevere, we ?suit up and show up, we will, like Joshua and Caleb, be among those who inherit promises, one by one, step by step, inch by bloody inch, and little by little. And there is no deeper joy, than inheriting the land God promised you, by faith.


God is able and willing, to help us overcome those problems that are ?greater and stronger? than we. (Deut. 7:1) Let?s trust Him walk forward, and little by little, together with God, we will overcome.

 

The Bible mentions a lot regarding God's promises:

 Deuteronomy 15:6 - For the LORD thy God blesseth thee, as he promised thee: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, but thou shalt not borrow; and thou shalt reign over many nations, but they shall not reign over thee.

Deuteronomy 27:3 - And thou shalt write upon them all the words of this law, when thou art passed over, that thou mayest go in unto the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, a land that floweth with milk and honey; as the LORD God of thy fathers hath promised thee.

Joshua 23:15 - Therefore it shall come to pass, [that] as all good things are come upon you, which the LORD your God promised you; so shall the LORD bring upon you all evil things, until he have destroyed you from off this good land which the LORD your God hath given you.

Deuteronomy 12:20 - When the LORD thy God shall enlarge thy border, as he hath promised thee, and thou shalt say, I will eat flesh, because thy soul longeth to eat flesh; thou mayest eat flesh, whatsoever thy soul lusteth after.

2 Chronicles 6:10 - The LORD therefore hath performed his word that he hath spoken: for I am risen up in the room of David my father, and am set on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised, and have built the house for the name of the LORD God of Israel.

2 Chronicles 6:16 - Now therefore, O LORD God of Israel, keep with thy servant David my father that which thou hast promised him, saying, There shall not fail thee a man in my sight to sit upon the throne of Israel; yet so that thy children take heed to their way to walk in my law, as thou hast walked before me.

Deuteronomy 23:23 - That which is gone out of thy lips thou shalt keep and perform; [even] a freewill offering, according as thou hast vowed unto the LORD thy God, which thou hast promised with thy mouth.

2 Chronicles 6:15 - Thou which hast kept with thy servant David my father that which thou hast promised him; and spakest with thy mouth, and hast fulfilled [it] with thine hand, as [it is] this day.

1 Kings 8:20 - And the LORD hath performed his word that he spake, and I am risen up in the room of David my father, and sit on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised, and have built an house for the name of the LORD God of Israel.

Deuteronomy 10:9 - Wherefore Levi hath no part nor inheritance with his brethren; the LORD [is] his inheritance, according as the LORD thy God promised him.

1 Kings 9:5 - Then I will establish the throne of thy kingdom upon Israel for ever, as I promised to David thy father, saying, There shall not fail thee a man upon the throne of Israel.

Deuteronomy 19:8 - And if the LORD thy God enlarge thy coast, as he hath sworn unto thy fathers, and give thee all the land which he promised to give unto thy fathers;

Deuteronomy 26:18 - And the LORD hath avouched thee this day to be his peculiar people, as he hath promised thee, and that [thou] shouldest keep all his commandments;

Deuteronomy 6:3 - Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do [it]; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath promised thee, in the land that floweth with milk and honey.

Joshua 22:4 - And now the LORD your God hath given rest unto your brethren, as he promised them: therefore now return ye, and get you unto your tents, [and] unto the land of your possession, which Moses the servant of the LORD gave you on the other side Jordan.

James 2:5 - Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?

1 Kings 2:24 - Now therefore, [as] the LORD liveth, which hath established me, and set me on the throne of David my father, and who hath made me an house, as he promised, Adonijah shall be put to death this day.

Deuteronomy 9:28 - Lest the land whence thou broughtest us out say, Because the LORD was not able to bring them into the land which he promised them, and because he hated them, he hath brought them out to slay them in the wilderness.

Nehemiah 9:23 - Their children also multipliedst thou as the stars of heaven, and broughtest them into the land, concerning which thou hadst promised to their fathers, that they should go in to possess [it].

Jeremiah 33:14 - Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will perform that good thing which I have promised unto the house of Israel and to the house of Judah.

2 Chronicles 21:7 - Howbeit the LORD would not destroy the house of David, because of the covenant that he had made with David, and as he promised to give a light to him and to his sons for ever.

1 Kings 5:12 - And the LORD gave Solomon wisdom, as he promised him: and there was peace between Hiram and Solomon; and they two made a league together.

Hebrews 12:26 - Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.

Joshua 9:21 - And the princes said unto them, Let them live; but let them be hewers of wood and drawers of water unto all the congregation; as the princes had promised them.

Joshua 23:5 - And the LORD your God, he shall expel them from before you, and drive them from out of your sight; and ye shall possess their land, as the LORD your God hath promised unto you.

2 Samuel 7:28 - And now, O Lord GOD, thou [art] that God, and thy words be true, and thou hast promised this goodness unto thy servant:

Hebrews 11:11 - Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised.

2 Kings 8:19 - Yet the LORD would not destroy Judah for David his servant's sake, as he promised him to give him alway a light, [and] to his children.

Esther 4:7 - And Mordecai told him of all that had happened unto him, and of the sum of the money that Haman had promised to pay to the king's treasuries for the Jews, to destroy them.

James 1:12 - Blessed [is] the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.
 

 

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