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Wednesday, August 9, 2023

EBLA Fallen by Akkadians and How It Affected Israel and Judah Part II on Ebla

 Nadene Goldfoot

Israel today is facing lots of provocations from Hezbollah Terrorists on the border between Israel and Lebanon.  "If they don't watch out, we'll take them back to the Stone Age", was the comment from Israel.  We'll not go back that far, but take a look at ancient history between the two.  

When was the kingdom of Ebla of Northern Syria destroyed?  
Ebla flourished greatly between 2400 and 2250 BC, as a trading city with a sophisticated economic and social system. Ebla was one of the earliest kingdoms in Syria. 
Its remains constitute a tell located about 55 km (34 mi) southwest of Aleppo near the village of Mardikh.  (Reduced to a mound, once a great kingdom.)  So goes the history.  

                         Tiglath-Pileser II (745-726 BCE) strong, like USA
                      Sargon  II, the Assyrian king (721-712 BCE)
   Sennacherib, (705-681 BCE, son of Sargon II,     The second king of the Sargonid dynasty, Sennacherib is one of the most famous Assyrian kings for the role he plays in the Hebrew Bible, which describes history.  Until 689 BCE, he was constantly engaged in wars with Elam and Babylon.  He invaded Judah in 701 BCE and captured 46 cities, but Jerusalem was not one of them.  His first campaign against Judah resulted in Hezekiah's surrender, and the second was cut short by the plague.                                                                                                          
                                                                    
    Akkadians, here being attacked by a lion, soldiers not ruffled at all...
Ebla was destroyed by the Akkadians under Naram Sin in 2250 BCNaram-Sin was Sargon's grandson. The god-like Akkadian kings ruled with absolute authority. Naram-Sin's title was "King of the Four Quarters" meaning "Ruler of The World".  
Akkad existed in the Babylonian period and was the northern region of the valley between the Euphrates and the Tigris Rivers, which contained Babylon, Sippar, and other important cities.  Akkad was also the ancient city of Babylonia (mentioned in Gen.10:10).  It was the residence of Sargon the Great who became king of the Assyrians! Assyrians, also Semites, had an aggressive kingdom in the 20th century BCE. 
Aleppo, before and after War
 
In 2000 BC Ebla now (Tel Mardikh) was annexed into the Aleppo kingdom of Yamkhad. The city in Syria in the 1980s-2000 was called by the Jews as Aram-Zobah and its Jewish community was one of the oldest in the world.  The mosque there (Al- Hayyat) was previously a synagogue built in the 6th century CE.  1,,500 Jews lived in Aleppo in 1170 CE.  Even later, it became the home of many learned Jews and rabbis.  Spanish Jews arrived from Spain and lived in Aleppo after 1492, the Spanish Inquisition.  Before WWI in 1914 there were 14,000 Jews living here.  Then they started to emigrate to the US and England. Jews fled from Aleppo because of the riots against them in 1947.  Surprisingly, in 1991 there were 400 Jews still living in Aleppo and their occupations were in trade and peddling.  The Mustaribah synagogue was destroyed during the 1947 riots, however, and that had dated back to the 4th century CE.  A famous 10th century  masoretic codex of the Bible, which is now safe in Israel, was formerly preserved.  Ben Asher was involved.  Aleppo was the recent center of Jewish businesses until the war. .  There was even a "Jew Street" in Syria.                        
By 1948 BCE Abraham was born in Ur of the Chaldees by the Euphrates River.    In 1600 BC Elba was conquered and heavily damaged by the Hittites.                                                 
The Hittites lived in Asia Minor and were a powerful ancient people.  Their power extended South to Syria.  Their main kingdom fell in 1200 BCE but flourished in Northern Syria and in the vicinity of the Euphrates River.  
Then they were overrun by the Armenians and the Assyrians.  The Bible connects the Hittites with the Canaanites (Gen.10:15.) and indicates that some lived in Eretz Yisrael/Canaan at an early period.  Abraham purchased the cave in Machpelah from a Hittite while Esau took wives from among them.                                      
     Recalling the story of King David and Bathsheba, whose husband , Uriah, was a Hittite in David's army.  Uriah was killed in battle.  
The Hittites were one of the 7 peoples from whom the Israelites conquered Canaan.  Later, David had Hittite warriors, and Solomon had Hittite wives.
All the neighbor states fought each other at times.  One needs a score pad to keep track of it all.
1. Israelite kings David and then son Solomon fought against the Aramean states in Mesopotamia and Syria.  This helped to strengthen Assyria.
    a. King Ashurbanipal II (883-59 BCE) of Assyrian army overran Syria and the Phoenician cities in 876.  
   b. 853 BCE  Shalmaneser III attacked Ben Hadad II of Damascus. 
   c.  King Ahab of Israel supported Ben  Hadad II in the battle of Karkar.
   d. 848 BCE Shalmaneser III attacked 2nd time -another failure.  
   e. 842 BCE King Ahab's house was liquidated (all the people). King Jehu took his place, paid tribute.  
   f.  841 BCE Damascus held out.  
  g.  806 BCE Damascus was captured which freed Israel from Damascus' control
 h. 803-802 BCE Adad-Nitari III (810-783) compelled the submission of Ben-Hadad III of Damascus.  Johoash of Israel and his son Jeroboam II were successful against Ben-Hadad III because of 
 i. 782-772 BCE Shalmaneser IV and his passivity.  He was under the pressure of kings of Ararat, and of Ashur-Dan III of 772-759 BCE
j.  744 BCE Jeroboam II of Israel (784-744 BCE) died and Uzziah became head of the W anti-Assyrian alliance.  The Assyrian decline , which made this possible, was ended  by:
k. 745-727 BCE Tiglath-Pileser III who overthrew the Syrian confederacy. 
l. 735 BCE: King Ahaz of Judah was attacked by King Pekah of Israel in alliance with Damascus., Philistia, and Edom, so appealed for help to Tiglath-Pileser.   
m. Result was Israel lost its territory in Transjordan and Galilee  
 Philistia, Tyre, Moab, and Edom became Assyrian provinces.  
n. 726 BCE: Hosea of Israel tried to throw off the yoke that led to Shalmaneser V's siege of Samaria 
o. 721 BCE:  Samaria was captured by Sargon and deported 27,290 Israelites to Assyria and Media, and replaced them with Syrian and Babylonian prisoners.  
p.715 BCE Ashdod revolted supported by King Hezekiah of Judah but was suppressed.
q. 705 BCE Accession of Sennacherib causing (?) an uprising throughout the Assyrian Empire giving Hezekiah a chance to reassert his independence.
r. 701 BCE Sennacherib marched south, subdued the Phoenician cities one by one and defeated the Egyptian forces at Eltekeh,, took Ascalon and Joppa, sacked Lachish but not Jerusalem.  
s. 700 BCE Sennacherib invaded and ravaged Judah all the while Hezekiah held out and got moderate terms by paying tribute and ceding territory.
t. 699 BCE  Sennacherib returned home because he was forced to leave when hit by a plague throughout the army.  
u. 669-626 BCE King Manasseh of Judah in plot against Ashurbanipal.
v. 652 BCE Manasseh of Judah was exiled to Assyria because of complicity in a plot against Ashurbanipal 
w. After this time, Assyria declined rapidly and was succeeded by Babylon.  

Resource:

The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia 

https://www.boredpanda.com/before-after-war-photos-aleppo-syria/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=organic

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