Archæology and the Bible

by George A. Barton

The fact that there was a temple at Elephantine at all is new and startling. Its significance is differently interpreted by different scholars. More conservative scholars claim that it is opposed to the date which the critical school assign to the date of Deuteronomy, viz.: 621 B. C., because, if the law against more altars than one had been introduced then, Jews would not have so soon violated it by building this shrine. Critics, on the other hand, hold that it fits well with their views, since they believe that Deuteronomy was accepted by Jews as a whole only gradually, and after considerable struggle.

One thing is clear: at the time the temple at Elephantine was overthrown, the Jews at Jerusalem looked upon it with disfavor.[556] They took no steps to lay the matter before the Persian governor. It was not till the aggrieved Egyptian Jews wrote to the heretical Samaritans, Dalajah and Shelemjah, sons of Sanballat, who would naturally be glad to encourage another rival to the temple at Jerusalem, that the matter was pushed and permission given to rebuild the temple.

This appeal to Sanballat’s family throws interesting light on the progress of the schism between the Jews and the Samaritans.[557] (Compare Nehemiah 4:1, ff; 6:1, ff.; and 13:28.)

The existence of this temple has an interesting bearing upon the date of Isa. 19. Some scholars have held that that prophecy, which refers to a temple of Jehovah in the land of Egypt, is late and must refer to the temple built by Onias III, about 170 B. C. (Cf. Josephus, Antiquities, xiii, 3:1, 6.) It is now possible to suppose that the reference may well have been to this hitherto unsuspected temple at Elephantine.

2. Hananiah’s Passover Letter.

To my brethren, Jedoniah and his associates, the Jewish garrison, your brother Hananiah. The peace of my brethren may God ...... And now this year, the year 5 of Darius the king, there was sent from the king unto Arsames .......... Now ye thus shall count fourteen .......... and from the 15th day unto the 21st day [of Nisan] .......... be ye clean and guard yourselves. Work ye shall not [do] .......... ye shall not drink, and all which is leavened ye shall n[ot eat] .......... from the going down of the sun unto the 21st day of Nisan .......... take into your rooms and seal between the days of ..........

This letter is from some Hananiah who seems to have stood high in authority among Jewish communities. Several Hananiahs are mentioned in the post-exilic literature. One of them was a military commander in Jerusalem in the time of Nehemiah (Neh. 7:2), but as that was at least twenty-five years before the date of our letter, it would be precarious to assert that that Hananiah was the writer of this letter, though it is possible that he was.

From the letter it is clear that the writer is informing the Jewish garrison at Elephantine concerning the details of the provisions for the observance of the Jewish Passover, as they are laid down in Exod. 12 and Lev. 23. It seems strange that these Jews at Elephantine who were faithful enough to Jehovah to have a temple in his honor, should have needed to be informed of such details, if they had copies of the Pentateuch. Adherents of the modern school of criticism see in this fact a confirmation of their view, that the Levitical law had been introduced into the Jewish community at Jerusalem only in the time of Ezra and Nehemiah, for, they urge, this letter shows that it was unknown to the garrison at Elephantine until the reign of Darius II. To this, conservative scholars reply that it was customary among the Jews to make yearly proclamation of the approach of the festival, and that this may be simply such a proclamation. They also urge that ignorance of the law on the part of some Jews is no proof that it did not exist.

3. Letter Showing that the Jews of Egypt were Unpopular.

To my lords, Jedoniah, Uriah, and the priests of the God, Jehovah, Mattan, son of Joshibiah and Neriah son of ...... thy servant Mauziyah; the peace of my lords .......... and be favored before the God of heaven. And now, when Waidrang, the chief of the garrison, came to Abydos, he imprisoned me on account of a certain precious stone which they found stolen in the hands of the traders. At last Seha and Hor, who were known to Anani, exerted themselves with Waidrang and Hornufi, under the protection of the God of heaven, until they secured my release. Now behold they are coming thither to you. Do you attend to them whatever they may desire. And whatever thing Seha and Hor may desire of you, stand ye before them so that no cause of blame may they find in you. With you is the chastisement which without cause has rested upon us, from the time Hananiah was in Egypt until now. And whatever you do for Hor you do for yourselves. Hor is known to Anani. Do you sell cheaply from our houses any goods that are at hand; whether we lose or do not lose, is one to you. This is why I am sending to you: he said to me: “Send a letter before us.” Even if we should lose, credit will be established because of him in the house of Anani. What you do for him will not be hidden from Anani. To my lords, Jedoniah, Uriah, and the priests and the Jews.