The correspondence of Ebed-tob, priest king and governor of Jerusalem, is of special interest. Jerusalem was at this time a city of the Amorites, a Semitic people of Palestine and its name in these documents is Uru-Salim, signifying “The City of the god Salim,” or the “God of Peace.”
Ebed-tob impresses the fact upon his royal correspondent that though subject to the Egyptian king, he is king of Uru-Salim by an oracle of the god of Salim. He was thus priest king of the city by divine appointment and not by heredity. This statement suggests that earlier king of Jerusalem, Melchizedek, who, as king of Salem and priest of the “Most High God,” comes forth with bread and wine and blessings for Abraham, the Deliverer of the country from its foes; the Restorer of Peace.
The Assyrian form, Sar Salim, “King of Salem,” is identical with the Hebrew Sar Shalom, “Prince of Peace.” This again illustrates the application by Isaiah of the title of “Prince of Peace” to that later “Prince of the House of David,” who, in a higher spiritual sense than his great prototype, Melchizedek, was yet to be to all nations and people “King of Salem” and “Prince of Peace.”
The most remarkable event in the history of archæology has its connections with the Tel-el-Amarna discovery.
Among the letters in this collection addressed to Amenophis IV, from the governors of cities in southern Palestine, are those from the governor of Lachish. This dignitary was named Zimrida and his dispatches to the king of Egypt were chiefly upon the political conditions of his province, its dangers from approaching foes and the necessity of relief from Egypt.
It seems that Zimrida was in greater danger from foes within than without, for in one of the later letters from Ebed-tob, he alludes to the murder of Zimrida by servants of the Egyptian king.
The discovery of these cuneiform tablets from southern Palestine had strengthened the growing convictions of Prof. Sayce that lying beneath many of the tels or mounds that marked the sites of ancient cities throughout southern Palestine, other similar treasures were buried. The name Kirgath Sepher, “Book Town,” was strongly suggestive, and acting upon these impressions he urged the Palestine Exploration Fund to undertake explorations in this region.
The Tel-el-Amarna letters were discovered in 1887. It was not, however, until 1890 that the officers of the Palestine Exploration Fund were able to obtain the necessary permission from the Turkish government, or to secure the services of the distinguished explorer, Dr. Petrie, for the work. This gentleman began excavations in the month of April of that year.
After some days of examination of various tels in this region for the site of Lachish, he decided to commence work at the tel or mound Tel-el-Hesy, so called from the river Hesy which flows by the hill on which the mound is located. It is about seventeen miles to the east of Gaza. The natural eminence upon which it is situated rises to a height of forty feet above the valley. Above this the mound consists of a succession of town levels, the one above the other, sixty feet higher, from which a commanding view of the region is obtained.
Fortunately for the explorer, the turbulent stream flowing over these declivities has cut this tel on the eastern side from top to bottom, leaving the whole face exposed and revealing distinctly the various city levels of the several periods of occupation. The commanding position of the site, the fine springs of water, gushing from the hillsides, and the rapid stream, affording an abundance of fresh, sweet water, the locality agreeing in so many particulars with the site of ancient Lachish, the evidences also in the hillside of the existence at various periods of ancient important cities, justified his convictions which subsequent discoveries verified.