The governor of Khazi bore the name of Su-yarzana, Megiddo was under the authority of Biridî, while the governor of Gaza was Yapakhi. There are several letters in the Tel el-Amarna collection from the latter official, chiefly occupied with demands for help against his enemies. The district under his control was attacked by the Sute or Beduin, led by a certain Labai or Labaya and his sons. Labai, though of Beduin origin, was himself professedly an Egyptian official, the Egyptian policy having been to give the title of governor to the powerful Beduin sheikhs, and to attach them to the Egyptian government by the combined influence of bribery and fear. Labai accordingly writes to the Pharaoh to defend himself against the charges that had been brought against him, and to assure Khu-n-Aten that he was "a faithful servant of the king"; "I have not sinned, and I have not offended, and I do not withhold my tribute or neglect the command to turn back my officers." Labai, it would seem, had been appointed by Amenophis III. governor of Shunem and Bene-berak (Joshua xix. 45), and had captured the city of Gath-Rimmon when it revolted against the Pharaoh; but after the death of Amenophis he and his two sons had attacked the Egyptian officials in true Beduin style, and had taken every opportunity of pillaging central and Southern Palestine. As we shall see, Labai and his ally, Malchiel, were among the chief adversaries of Ebed-Tob of Jerusalem.
On one occasion, however, Labai was actually made prisoner by one of the Egyptian officers. There is a letter from Biridî stating that Megiddo was threatened by Labai, and that although the garrison had been strengthened by the arrival of some Egyptian troops, it was impossible to venture outside the gates of the town for fear of the enemy, and that unless two more regiments were sent the city itself was likely to fall. Whether the additional forces were sent or not we do not know. Labai, however, had to fly for his life along with his confederate Yasdata, who was the governor of some city near Megiddo, as we learn from a letter of his in which he speaks of being with Biridî. Of Yasdata we hear nothing further, but Labai was captured in Megiddo by Zurata, the prefect of Acre, who, under the pretext that he was going to send his prisoner in a ship to Egypt, took him first to the town of Khinatuna ('En'athôn), and then to his own house, where he was induced by a bribe to set him free along with his companion, Hadad-mekhir (who, by the way, has bequeathed to us two letters).
It was probably after this that Labai wrote to the Pharaoh to exculpate himself, though his language, in spite of its conventional submissiveness, could not have been very acceptable at the Egyptian court. In one of his letters he excuses himself partly on the ground that even "the food of his stomach" had been taken from him, partly that he had attacked and entered Gezer only in order to recover the property of himself and his friend Malchiel, partly because a certain Bin-sumya whom the Pharaoh had sent against him had really "given a city and property in it to my father, saying that if the king sends for my wife I shall withhold her, and if the king sends for myself I shall give him instead a bar of copper in a large bowl and take the oath of allegiance." A second letter is still more uncompromising. In this he complains that the Egyptian troops have ill-treated his people, and that the officer who is with him has slandered him before the king; he further declares that two of his towns have been taken from him, but that he will defend to the last whatever still remains of his patrimony.
Malchiel, the colleague of Labai in his attack upon Gezer, as afterwards upon Ebed-Tob of Jerusalem, does not appear to have been of Beduin origin. But as long as the Beduin chief could be of use to him he was very willing to avail himself of his assistance, and it was always easy to drop the alliance as soon as it became embarrassing. Malchiel was the son-in-law of Tagi of Gath, and the colleague of Su-yardata, one of the few Canaanite governors whom the Egyptian government seems to have been able to trust. Both Su-yardata and Malchiel held commands in Southern Palestine, and we hear a good deal about them from Ebed-Tob. "The two sons of Malchiel" are also mentioned in a letter from a lady who bears a Babylonian name, and who refers to them in connection with an attempt to detach the cities of Ajalon and Zorah (Joshua xv. 33) from their allegiance to Egypt. The female correspondents of the Pharaoh are among the most curious and interesting features of the state of society depicted in the Tel el-Amarna tablets; they entered keenly into the politics of the day, and kept the Egyptian king fully informed of all that was going on.
The letters of Ebed-Tob are so important that it is as well to give them in full. They all seem to have been written within a few months, or perhaps even weeks, of one another, when the enemies of the governor of Jerusalem were gathering around him, and no response came from Egypt to his requests for help. The dotted lines mark the words and passages which have been lost through the fracture of the clay tablets.
(I.) "To the king my lord [my] Sun-god, thus [speaks] Ebed-Tob thy servant: at the feet of the king my lord seven times seven I prostrate myself. Behold, the king has established his name at the rising of the sun and the setting of the sun. Slanders have been uttered against me. Behold, I am not a governor, a vassal of the king my lord. Behold, I am an ally of the king, and I have paid the tribute due to the king, even I. Neither my father nor my mother, but the oracle (or arm) of the Mighty King established [me] in the house of [my] fathers.... There have come to me as a present 13 [women] and 10 slaves. Suta (Seti) the Commissioner of the king has come to me: 21 female slaves and 20 male slaves captured in war have been given into the hands of Suta as a gift for the king my lord, as the king has ordained for his country. The country of the king is being destroyed, all of it. Hostilities are carried on against me as far as the mountains of Seir (Joshua xv. 10) and the city of Gath-Karmel (Joshua xv. 55). All the other governors are at peace, but there is war against myself, since I see the foe, but I do not see the tears of the king my lord because war has been raised against me. While there is a ship in the midst of the sea, the arm (or oracle) of the Mighty King shall conquer the countries of Naharaim (Nakhrima) and Babylonia. But now the Confederates (Khabiri) are capturing the fortresses of the king. Not a single governor remains among them to the king my lord; all have perished. Behold, Turbazu, thy military officer, [has fallen] in the great gate of the city of Zelah (Josh, xviii. 28). Behold, Zimrida of Lachish has been murdered by the servants who have revolted against the king. Jephthah-Hadad, thy military officer, has been slain in the great gate of Zelah.... May the king [my lord] send help [to his country]! May the king turn his face to [his subjects]! May he despatch troops to [his] country! [Behold,] if no troops come this year, all the countries of the king my lord will be utterly destroyed. They do not say before the face of the king my lord that the country of the king my lord is destroyed, and that all the governors are destroyed, if no troops come this year. Let the king send a commissioner, and let him come to me, even to me, with auxiliary troops, and we will die with the king [our] lord.—[To] the secretary of the king my lord [speaks] Ebed-Tob [thy] servant. At [thy] feet [I prostrate myself]. Let a report of [my] words be laid before the king [my] lord. Thy [loyal] servant am I."
(II.) "To the king my lord thus speaks Ebed-Tob thy servant: at the feet of the king my lord seven times seven I prostrate myself. What have I done against the king my lord? They have slandered me, laying wait for me in the presence of the king, the lord, saying: Ebed-Tob has revolted from the king his lord. Behold, neither my father nor my mother has exalted me in this place; the prophecy of the Mighty King has caused me to enter the house of my father. Why should I have committed a sin against the king the lord? With the king my lord is life. I say to the officer of the king [my] lord: Why dost thou love the Confederates and hate the governors? And constantly I am sending to the presence of the king my lord to say that the countries of the king my lord are being destroyed. Constantly I am sending to the king my lord, and let the king my lord consider, since the king my lord has appointed the men of the guard who have taken the fortresses. Let Yikhbil-Khamu [be sent].... Let the king send help to his country. [Let him send troops] to his country which protects the fortresses of the king my lord, all of them, since Elimelech is destroying all the country of the king; and let the king send help to his country. Behold, I have gone down along with the king my lord, and I have not seen the tears of the king my lord; but hostility is strong against me, yet I have not taken anything whatever from the king my lord; and let the king incline towards my face; let him despatch a guard [for me], and let him appoint a commissioner, and I shall not see the tears of the king my lord, since the king [my] lord shall live when the commissioner has departed. Behold, the countries of the king [my lord] are being destroyed, yet thou dost not listen to me. All the governors are destroyed; no governor remains to the king the lord. Let the king turn his face to his subjects, and let him send auxiliaries, even the troops of the king my lord. No provinces remain unto the king; the confederates have wasted all the provinces of the king. If auxiliaries come this year, the provinces of the king the lord will be preserved; but if no auxiliaries come the provinces of the king my lord are destroyed.—[To] the secretary of the king my lord Ebed-Tob [says:] Give a report of my words to the king my lord: the provinces of the king my lord are being destroyed by the enemy."
(III.) "[To] the king my lord [speaks] Ebed-Tob [thy] servant: [at the feet of the king] my lord seven [times seven I prostrate myself. Behold, let] the king [listen to] the words [of his servant].... Let [the king] consider all the districts which are leagued in hostility against me, and let the king send help to his country. Behold, the country of the city of Gezer, the country of the city of Ashkelon and the city of La[chish] have given as their peace offerings food and oil and whatsoever the fortress needs. And let the king send help to his troops; let him despatch troops against the men who have rebelled against the king my lord. If troops come this year, there will remain both provinces [and] governors to the king my lord; [but] if no troops arrive, there will remain no provinces or governors to the king [my lord]. Behold, neither my father nor my mother has given this country of the city of Jerusalem unto me: it was an oracle [of the Mighty King] that gave it to me, even to me. Behold, Malchiel and the sons of Labai have given the country of the king to the Confederates. Behold, the king my lord is righteous towards me. As to the Babylonians, let the king ask the commissioner how very strong is the temple-[fortress of Jerusalem.].... Thou hast delivered (?) the provinces into the hands of the city of Ash[kelon]. Let the king demand of them abundance of food, abundance of oil, and abundance of wine until Pa-ur, the commissioner of the king, comes up to the country of the city of Jerusalem to deliver Adai along with the garrison and the [rest of the people]. Let the king consider the [instructions] of the king; [let him] speak to me; let Adai deliver me—Thou wilt not desert it, even this city, sending to me a garrison [and] sending a royal commissioner. Thy grace [is] to send [them]. To the king [my lord] I have despatched kikkar, Gen. xiii. 10) and in the mountains. Let the king my lord consider the city of Ajalon. I am not able to direct my way to the king my lord according to his instructions. Behold, the king has established his name in the country of Jerusalem for ever, and he cannot forsake the territories of the city of Jerusalem.—To the secretary of the king my lord thus speaks Ebed-Tob thy servant. At thy feet I prostrate myself. Thy servant am I. Lay a report of my words before the king my lord. The vassal of the king am I. Mayest thou live long!—And thou hast performed deeds which I cannot enumerate against the men of the land of Ethiopia.... The men of the country of the Babylonians [shall never enter] into my house...."
(IV.) (The beginning of the letter is lost, and it is not certain that Ebed-Tob was the writer of it.) "And now as to the city of Jerusalem, if this country is still the king's, why is Gaza made the seat of the king's government? Behold, the district of the city of Gath-Carmel has fallen away to Tagi and the men of Gath. He is in Bit-Sani (Beth-Sannah), and we have effected that they should give Labai and the country of the Sute to the men of the district of the Confederates. Malchiel has sent to Tagi and has seized some boy-slaves. He has granted all their requests to the men of Keilah, and we have delivered (or departed from) the city of Jerusalem. The garrison thou hast left in it is under the command of Apis the son of Miya-riya (Meri-Ra). Hadad-el has remained in his house in Gaza...."
(V.) "To the king my lord thus [speaks] Ebed-Tob thy servant: at the feet of my lord [the king] seven times seven [I prostrate myself]. Behold, Malchiel does not separate himself from the sons of Labai and the sons of Arzai to demand the country of the king for themselves. As for the governor who acts thus, why does not the king question him? Behold, Malchiel and Tagi are they who have acted so, since they have taken the city of Rubute (Rabbah, Josh. xv. 60).... (Many lines are lost here.) There is no royal garrison [in Jerusalem]. May the king live eternally! Let Pa-ur go down to him. He has departed in front of me and is in the city of Gaza; and let the king send to him a guard to defend the country. All the country of the king has revolted! Direct Yikhbil-Khamu [to come], and let him consider the country of the king [my lord].—To the secretary of the king [my lord] thus [speaks] Ebed-Tob thy servant: [at thy feet I prostrate myself]. Lay