BIBLE HISTORY DAILY

When Egyptian Pharaohs Ruled Bronze Age Jerusalem

Peter van der Veen investigates an Egyptian presence before the time of David

Peter van der Veen augmented a study by Gabriel Barkay on the Egyptian pharaohs’ rule over Bronze Age Jerusalem, uncovering Egyptian statues, architectural elements and texts attesting to their presence in the city. This 13th-century B.C.E. red granite statue depicts an Egyptian queen. The Egyptian statue’s significance went unnoticed for quite some time; uncovered by Arab workmen during the British Mandate, it was brought to a local clergyman’s house before being kept in a scholar’s office in Germany. Credit: R. Müller, Department of Prehistory, University of Mainz.

What were Egyptian pharaohs doing in Bronze Age Jerusalem?

In a BAR feature,1 Israeli archaeologist Gabriel Barkay investigated evidence of an Egyptian temple in Jerusalem, exposing the “Egyptianizing” of Bronze Age Jerusalem. In the March/April 2013 issue, Peter van der Veen presents new evidence of an Egyptian presence in Bronze Age Jerusalem before David made the city the Israelite capital. In “When Pharaohs Ruled Jerusalem,” Peter van der Veen brings together an array of evidence—including Egyptian statues, stylized architecture and material culture—that points to their presence in the city. But what did the Egyptian pharaohs want with Late Bronze Age Jerusalem? And where were they when David conquered the Jebusite city?

The initial study by Gabriel Barkay (which Peter van der Veen refers to as “reminiscent of nothing so much as Sherlock Holmes”) exposed Egyptianizing column capitals, a hieroglyphic stela and two Egyptian-style alabaster vessels that likely served as burial gifts. Peter van der Veen expanded the investigations of Gabriel Barkay to include figurines and Egyptian statues as well as a funerary stela referring to the local “ruler” of Bronze Age Jerusalem.

The Egyptian artifacts date to the 13th century B.C.E., during the 19th Egyptian Dynasty that included the reign of Ramesses II. Peter van der Veen writes, “Egypt was not new to Canaan in the 19th dynasty … Canaan was in effect an Egyptian province during the 14th century B.C.E.” In the famous Amarna letters, Abdi-Heba, the puppet-king of Jerusalem, proclaims that “the king has placed his name in Jerusalem forever.” While Bronze Age Jerusalem was not situated on Canaanite trade routes, Peter van der Veen notes that it controlled north-south traffic between Hebron and Shechem, as well as east-west traffic from the Via Maris to the King’s Highway. The Egyptians established a garrison at Manahat, just two miles southwest of Bronze Age Jerusalem.


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It seems that the Egyptian pharaohs of the 19th dynasty used local vassal rulers to run daily affairs in Late Bronze Age Jerusalem, as did their predecessors in the Amarna period. But there is almost no evidence of an Egyptian presence in Jerusalem just prior to David’s conquest, around 1000 B.C.E. The Egyptian pharaohs did not lose interest in the city; the Bible tells us that Shishak sent his army north less than a century after David’s conquest of Jerusalem.2

Peter van der Veen poses the question: “Was David able to conquer Jerusalem (in about 1000 B.C.E.) because it was defended only by the Jebusites/Canaanites, without any Egyptian presence in the city?”

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BAS Library Members, read more in “When Pharaohs Ruled Jerusalem” by Peter van der Veen in the March/April 2013 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review.

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Explore the timeless monuments of Egypt’s ancient civilization, guided by Dr. Chahinda Karim of the American University in Cairo and Egypt expert Temma Ecker. Enter into rarely visited sacred tombs and temples. Attend a Seminar featuring Bible History and the Akhenaten/Amarna periods. Witness daily life along the banks of the Nile reminiscent of the Bible on a 4-day Luxury Nile Cruise, January 20 – 31, 2020.


 

Related reading in Bible History Daily:

Did Pharaoh Sheshonq Attack Jerusalem?

Ancient Egyptian Beer Vessels Unearthed in Tel Aviv, Israel

Akhenaten and Moses

Epilepsy, Tutankhamun and Monotheism

Bronze Age Collapse: Pollen Study Highlights Late Bronze Age Drought


 

Notes:

1. Gabriel Barkay, “What’s an Egyptian Temple Doing in Jerusalem?” Biblical Archaeology Review, May/June 2000.

2. Yigal Levin, “Did Pharaoh Sheshonq Attack Jerusalem?” Biblical Archaeology Review, July/August 2012.


This Bible History Daily feature was originally published in February 2013.


 

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7 Responses

  1. David Rohl says:

    Alan wrote: “It will be interesting to find Salomon’s wife’s palace, the Pharaoh’s daughter …’.

    We have! … this is it … but no one recognises the fact because Egyptian chronology is messed up big time. These artefacts and a sarcophagus tomb in the Ecole Biblique are from Pharaoh’s Daughter’s burial in the late 19th Dynasty.

  2. Alan Diaz says:

    It will be interesting to find Salomon’s wife palace, the Pharo’s dauther… in this case could be a secondary princess because the first one or the throne one was always to be married to her brother or father to give validation to he new Pharo…

  3. Sa-ra-broClark says:

    Where are the remains or bodies of anyone in the bible, they keep finding evidence of remains and artifacts all day long of ancient Kemet, but can’t find the remains of anyone in the bible, knowing if they could they would put them on display. Well, I know why, because those stories aren’t true, they’ve been modified from earlier folklore stories to fit a people’s culture, that’s all. Allegory mixed with fairytales. Its a fun read but its mostly and I do mean mostly, a lie. Remember “man” wrote everything in that book, not a GOD.

  4. ralph Ellis says:

    Of course there was an Egyptian influence in Judaea. In reality King David was Egyptian himself – his primary palace was in Zoan, not Zion. There you will find a king of the 10th century BC who was famed and named for a star (Star of David) and his city (City of David).

    His name was King Pa-Duat-Khayan-Nuit (meaning, My star Rises in my City). And it is from the name Duat, that the name David was derived.

    Oh, and his daughter was called Makhare MuTahmat (Machah Tamar). See ‘Solomon, Pharaoh of Egypt’.

  5. Omar Monterrey says:

    Cuando van a poner en español los articulos muy necesitados de conocer informacion veraz de primera mano como lo es esta.

    Gracias, por su respuesta,

  6. Lujack Skylark says:

    King David did encounter an Egyptian slave (1 Samuel 30:11-18) who was fleeing the Amalekites. One of David’s friends (2 Samuel 23:20-21) slew an Egyptian with the Egyptians own spear.

  7. Lujack Skylark says:

    Jair was the judge who built Israeli cities (Judges 10:3-4) The main body of Israelis seemed to be living along the Jordan river in abandoned Canaanite houses in these towns.
    Israel population was basically in Heshbon and her towns, in Aroer and her towns and in all the cities along the coasts of Arnon for 300 years. (Judges 11:26) The 300 years in which Israel had been oppressed by Cushan-Rishathaim, the Moabites, Jabin the Canaanite, the Midianites. The Egyptian troops at that time were north of Canaan fighting the Hittites until the 8th year of Ramses III when the Hittite empire fell.

    Judge Jair apparently built Israeli cities after Ramses VI pulled all Egyptian troops out of western Asia.

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7 Responses

  1. David Rohl says:

    Alan wrote: “It will be interesting to find Salomon’s wife’s palace, the Pharaoh’s daughter …’.

    We have! … this is it … but no one recognises the fact because Egyptian chronology is messed up big time. These artefacts and a sarcophagus tomb in the Ecole Biblique are from Pharaoh’s Daughter’s burial in the late 19th Dynasty.

  2. Alan Diaz says:

    It will be interesting to find Salomon’s wife palace, the Pharo’s dauther… in this case could be a secondary princess because the first one or the throne one was always to be married to her brother or father to give validation to he new Pharo…

  3. Sa-ra-broClark says:

    Where are the remains or bodies of anyone in the bible, they keep finding evidence of remains and artifacts all day long of ancient Kemet, but can’t find the remains of anyone in the bible, knowing if they could they would put them on display. Well, I know why, because those stories aren’t true, they’ve been modified from earlier folklore stories to fit a people’s culture, that’s all. Allegory mixed with fairytales. Its a fun read but its mostly and I do mean mostly, a lie. Remember “man” wrote everything in that book, not a GOD.

  4. ralph Ellis says:

    Of course there was an Egyptian influence in Judaea. In reality King David was Egyptian himself – his primary palace was in Zoan, not Zion. There you will find a king of the 10th century BC who was famed and named for a star (Star of David) and his city (City of David).

    His name was King Pa-Duat-Khayan-Nuit (meaning, My star Rises in my City). And it is from the name Duat, that the name David was derived.

    Oh, and his daughter was called Makhare MuTahmat (Machah Tamar). See ‘Solomon, Pharaoh of Egypt’.

  5. Omar Monterrey says:

    Cuando van a poner en español los articulos muy necesitados de conocer informacion veraz de primera mano como lo es esta.

    Gracias, por su respuesta,

  6. Lujack Skylark says:

    King David did encounter an Egyptian slave (1 Samuel 30:11-18) who was fleeing the Amalekites. One of David’s friends (2 Samuel 23:20-21) slew an Egyptian with the Egyptians own spear.

  7. Lujack Skylark says:

    Jair was the judge who built Israeli cities (Judges 10:3-4) The main body of Israelis seemed to be living along the Jordan river in abandoned Canaanite houses in these towns.
    Israel population was basically in Heshbon and her towns, in Aroer and her towns and in all the cities along the coasts of Arnon for 300 years. (Judges 11:26) The 300 years in which Israel had been oppressed by Cushan-Rishathaim, the Moabites, Jabin the Canaanite, the Midianites. The Egyptian troops at that time were north of Canaan fighting the Hittites until the 8th year of Ramses III when the Hittite empire fell.

    Judge Jair apparently built Israeli cities after Ramses VI pulled all Egyptian troops out of western Asia.

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