Tuesday, December 28, 2010

The Oldest Gospel?



7Q5

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Fragment 5 from Cave 7 of the Qumran Community in its entirety

Among the Dead Sea scrolls, 7Q5 is the designation for a small papyrus fragment discovered in Qumran Cave 7. The significance of this fragment is derived from an argument made by Jose O´Callaghan in his work ¿Papiros neotestamentarios en la cueva 7 de Qumrân? ("New Testament Papyri in Cave 7 at Qumran?") in 1972, later reasserted and expanded by German scholar Carsten Peter Thiede in his work The Earliest Gospel Manuscript? in 1982. The assertion is that the previously unidentified 7Q5 is actually a fragment of the Gospel of Mark, chapter 6 verse 52-53. The majority of scholars have not been convinced by O'Callaghan's and Thiede's identification[1][2] and it is "now virtually universally rejected".[3][4]
O'Callaghan's proposed identification

This shows the Greek text of Mark 6:52-53. Bold characters represent proposed identifications with characters from 7Q5:[5]

ου γαρ
συνηκαν επι τοις αρτοις,
αλλ ην αυτων η καρδια πεπωρω-
μενη. και διαπερασαντες [επι την γην]
ηλθον εις γεννησαρετ και
προσωρμισθησαν. και εξελ-
θοντων αυτων εκ του πλοιου ευθυς
επιγνοντες αυτον.

for they did not
understand concerning the loaves
but was their heart harden-
ed. And crossing over [unto the land]
they came unto Gennesaret and
drew to the shore. And com-
ing forth out of the boat immediately
they recognized him.
Argument


The 7th Cave at Qumran, where 7Q5 was found.

The argument is weighted on two points.

* First, the spacing before the word και ("and") signifies a paragraph break, which is consistent with the normative layout of Mark in early copies. Secondly, the combination of letters ννησ found in line 4 is highly characteristic and may point at the word Γεννησαρετ , found three times in the New Testament.
* Furthermore, a computer search "using the most elaborate Greek texts ... has failed to yield any text other than Mark 6:52-53 for the combination of letters identified by O’Callaghan et al. in 7Q5".[6]

Several counterarguments exist.

* The spacing before the word και ("and") might be a paragraph break. But spacings of this width can be found in papyri sometimes even within words (Pap. Bodmer XXIV, plate 26; in Qumran in fragment 4Q122). Other examples in the Qumran texts show that the word και ("and") in many cases was separated with spacings - and this has in many cases nothing to do with the text's structure.
* Although the sequence ννησ is unusual in Greek, the word εγεννησεν ("begot") also contains those four letters. In fact, this conjecture was proposed by the authors of the first edition (editio princeps) published in 1962. In such case the fragment might be part of some genealogy.
* In order to identify the fragment with Mark 6:52-53, one must account for the replacement of original δ with τ in line 3, and, although such difference is not without parallel in ancient Greek where two similar meaning words might be confused, the suggested reading requires the misspelling of a prepositional prefix to create an unknown word.[7]
* As the lines of a column are always more or less of the same length, it must be assumed that the words επι την γην ("to the land") were omitted, a variant which is not attested elsewhere.[7].
* The identification of the last letter in line 2 with nu has been strongly disputed because it does not fit into the pattern of this Greek letter as it is clearly written in line 4.[8]
* The computer search performed by Thiede assumed that all the disputed letter identifications made by O'Callaghan were correct. However, a similar search performed by scholar Daniel Wallace, but allowing other possible identifications for the disputed letters, found sixteen matches [7]. If a computer search is performed with the undisputed letters of the fragment 7Q5 it will not find the text Mk 6,52-53, because the undisputed letter τ in line 3 does not fit to this text.[9]

Significance

If 7Q5 were identified as Mark 6:52-53 and was deposited in the cave at Qumran by 68 AD, it would become the earliest known fragment of the New Testament, predating P52 by at least some if not many decades.

Since the amount of text in the manuscript is so small, even a confirmation of 7Q5 as Markan "might mean nothing more than that the contents of these few verses were already formalized, not necessarily that there was a manuscript of Mark's Gospel on hand".[10] Since the entirety of the find in Cave 7 consists of fragments in Greek, it is possible that the contents of this cave are of a separate "Hellenized" library than the Hebrew texts found in the other caves. Additionally, as Robert Eisenman points out: "Most scholars agree that the scrolls were deposited in the cave in or around 68 AD, but often mistake this date...for the terminus ad quem for the deposit of the scrolls in the caves/cessation of Jewish habitation at the site, when it cannot be considered anything but the terminus a quo for both of these, i.e., not the latest but the earliest possible date for such a deposit and/or Jewish abandonment of the site. The actual terminus ad quem for both of these events, however difficult it may be to accept at first, is 136 AD."(italics his)[11] This is long after the currently accepted date range for the composition of Mark.

....

Very Biblical. Earliest Humans Now in Israel





By Daniel Estrin

The Associated Press
updated 12/27/2010 1:06:52 PM ET 2010-12-27T18:06:52


JERUSALEM — Israeli archaeologists said Monday that they may have found the earliest evidence yet for the existence of modern humans, and if the find is confirmed, it could upset theories of the origin of humans.

A Tel Aviv University team excavating a cave in central Israel said teeth found in the cave are about 400,000 years old and resemble those of other remains of modern humans, known scientifically as Homo sapiens, found in Israel. The earliest Homo sapiens remains found until now are half as old.

"It's very exciting to come to this conclusion," said archaeologist Avi Gopher, whose team examined the teeth with X-rays and CT scans and dated them according to the layers of earth where they were found.
He stressed that further research is needed to solidify the claim. If it does, he said, "this changes the whole picture of evolution."

The accepted scientific theory is that Homo sapiens originated in Africa and migrated out of the continent starting sometime around 80,000 years ago. Gopher said if the remains are definitively linked to Homo sapiens, it could mean that modern humans in fact originated in what is now Israel.

Sir Paul Mellars, a prehistory expert at Cambridge University, said the study is reputable. He said that the find is "important" because remains from that critical time period are scarce, but that it is premature to say the remains are human.

"Based on the evidence they've cited, it's a very tenuous and frankly rather remote possibility," Mellars said. He said the remains are more likely related to modern humans' ancient relatives, the Neanderthals.


Baz Ratner / Reuters
Avi Gopher and Ran Barkai, researchers from Tel Aviv University's Institute of Archaeology, stand at Qesem Cave, an excavation site east of Tel Aviv, on Monday.
According to today's accepted scientific theories, modern humans and Neanderthals stemmed from a common ancestor who lived in Africa about 700,000 years ago. One group of descendants migrated to Europe hundreds of thousands of years ago and developed into Neanderthals, later becoming extinct. Another group stayed in Africa and evolved into Homo sapiens — modern humans.

Teeth are often unreliable indicators of origin, and analyses of skull remains would more definitively identify the species found in the Israeli cave, Mellars said.

Gopher, the Israeli archaeologist, said he is confident his team will find skulls and bones as they continue their dig.

The prehistoric Qesem cave was discovered in 2000, and excavations began in 2004. Researchers Gopher, Ran Barkai and Israel Hershkowitz published their study in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology.



Taken from: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40820248/ns/technology_and_science-science/

Monday, December 27, 2010

The Mysterious Middle Bronze I People: The Israelites



Taken from: "Diggings":

http://www.diggingsonline.com/pages/rese/dyns/kings.htm....

Lazare also takes a swipe at the record of the Israelite slavery in Egypt and the subsequent Exodus. He wrote, "There was no migration from Mesopotamia, no sojourn in Egypt and no Exodus ... The slate was blank concerning the nearly five centuries that the Israelites had supposedly lived in Egypt prior to the exodus as well as the forty years that they supposedly spent wandering in the Sinai. Not so much as a skeleton, campsite or cooking pot has turned up." Wrong, Mr Lazare, though I excuse you on the grounds that you are correctly reflecting the opinions of the main body of archaeologists who still cling to the traditional chronology. But Dr Rudolph Cohen, recently retired Deputy Director of the Israel Antiquities Service has excavated for twenty five years in the Negev (southern Israel) including Kadesh Barnea where the Israelites stayed for 40 days while the twelve spies searched the promised land. He claims there is so much evidence for the presence of a large number of people there at the beginning of the MBI period that he is of the firm conviction that these were the migrating Israelites. In the July 1983 edition of Biblical Archaeology Review he wrote an article entitled "The Mysterious MBI People, in which he stated, "In fact, these MBI people may be the Israelites whose famous journey from Egypt to Canaan is called the Exodus." BAR p. 16. He even claims that, from the pottery they left behind, he could trace the route the Israelites took. He wrote, "It is interesting, however, to note that this migratory drift, as I have reconstructed it, bears a striking similarity to that of the Israelite's flight from Egypt to the Promised Land, as recorded in the book of Exodus." ibid. p. 28. In 1993, my Australian group and I worked with Dr Cohen in his excavations at Ein Hatzeva, south of the Dead Sea. During the course of the excavations site supervisor Egal Israel came by to see what we were finding. I asked him whether he agreed with Dr Cohen's views identifying the MBI people with the Israelite migration. Without hesitation he replied, "Of course I do, and so do all the archaeologists down here." I said, "The archaeologists in the north do not accept it." He replied, "They do not know what they are talking about." Later that year I was talking with Dr Ami Mazar and asked him what he thought of Dr Cohen's views. "They are a lot of rubbish," he snapped. So there is this conflict of opinions in Israel. The majority hold to the traditional chronology but it would not be the first time in history that a minority were right. At least readers should be aware that there are alternative views. But what about carbon dating? Does not that establish the traditional chronology? I do not know of any archaeologist who has ever altered his dates from the results of carbon 14 testing. Dates are assigned on pottery styles. Samples of organic material may be sent for testing but the results will not influence the conclusions already reached. As David Rohl says in his book, "All too often a dozen or so radiocarbon dates are included in an archaeological site report merely as scientific window dressing. This attitude is clearly reflected in a regrettably common practice: when a radiocarbon date agrees with the expectation of the excavator it appears in the main text of the site report; if it is slightly discrepant it is relegated to a footnote; if it seriously conflicts it is left out altogether ... As the senior radiocarbon scientist Professor Ingrid Olsson frankly concluded at the Gothenburg conference: 'Honestly, I would say that I feel that most of the dates from the Bronze Age are dubious. The manner in which they have been made ... forces me to be critical.'" A Test of Time p. XIX As for the evidence from Egypt, it is strikingly supportive if you look in the right place. The Biblical date for the Exodus, based on the figures in 1 Kings 6:1, is approximately 1445 BC. By the usual chronology this would be during the powerful and well-recorded eighteenth dynasty which ruled from Luxor rather than Memphis or the Delta where the Israelites were concentrated. There is no trace of Israelite slaves during this dynasty, nor of the disaster that befell Egypt as the result of the ten devastating plagues and the destruction of the Egyptian army in the Red Sea. However, a revised chronology would locate the Israelite slavery during the late twelfth dynasty and the Exodus at the beginning of the thirteenth dynasty. Dr Rosalie David, Curator of the Manchester Museum wrote a book in 1986 entitled, The Pyramid Builders of Ancient Egypt. Sir Flinders Petrie excavated in the Faiyyum and sent many of his finds back to the Manchester Museum. He excavated a city called Kahun where he found evidence for many Semitic slaves. Because he had the wrong chronology neither he nor Dr David identified them as the Israelite slaves, but their presence there and subsequent disappearance puzzled them. Dr David wrote, "It is apparent that the Asiatics were present in the town in some numbers, and this may have reflected the situation elsewhere in Egypt ... Their exact homeland in Syria or Palestine cannot be determined ... The reason for their presence in Egypt remains unclear." The Pyramid Builders p. 191. "It is apparent that the completion of the king's pyramid was not the reason why Kahun's inhabitants eventually deserted the town, abandoning their tools and other possessions in the shops and houses." ibid. p. 197. "There are different opinions of how this first period of occupation at Kahun drew to a close ... The quantity, range and type of articles of everyday use which were left behind in the houses may indeed suggest that the departure was sudden and unpremeditated." ibid. p. 199. Slaves cannot say to their masters, "OK boss, sorry to leave you, but we are all going tomorrow." Yet this is about what happened at Kahun. The only plausible explanation is that these were the Israelites who packed up and left in a hurry. Curiously enough, Josephus, the Jewish historian from the first century AD, records a tradition that his ancestors in Egypt built pyramids. This has usually been dismissed with scorn, for by the conventional chronology, all the pyramids were built centuries before the first Israelite arrived in Egypt. If we accept a revised chronology, however, the oppression of the Israelites occured during the Twelfth and Thirteenth Dynasties, when rather impoverished pyramids were still being built. The pyramid at Lahun on which the slaves from Kahun were working was made of millions of bricks made of mud mixed with straw - the very building material the Bible specifies as used by the Israelites in Egypt. As for the devastating plagues and the destruction of the Egyptian army; there is in the Leiden Museum in Holland a papyrus written by a scribe named Ipuwer. Its time of origin is not known for sure but it could have been written after the Exodus. It says in part, "Nay, but the heart is violent. Plague stalks through the land and blood is everywhere ... Nay, but the river is blood. Does a man drink from it? As a human he rejects it. He thirsts for water ... Nay, but gates, columns and walls are consumed with fire ... Nay but men are few. He that lays his brother in the ground is everywhere ... Nay but the son of the high-born man is no longer to be recognised ... The stranger people from outside are come into Egypt ... Nay, but corn has perished everywhere. People are stripped of clothing, perfume and oil. Everyone says 'there is no more'. The storehouse is bare ... It has come to this. The king has been taken away by poor men." Ipuwer Papyrus Leiden Museum. Quoted from The Ancient Egyptians, a source book of their writings pp. 94-101. These "stranger people" were the mysterious Hyksos who invaded Egypt during the thirteenth dynasty. Concerning them the Egyptian historian Manetho, quoted by Josephus, wrote, "There was a king of ours whose name was Timaus. Under him it came to pass, I know not how, that God was averse to us, and there came, after a surprising manner, men of ignoble birth out of the eastern parts, and had boldness enough to make an expedition into our country and with ease subdued it by force, yet without our hazarding a battle with them." Josephus against Apion 1:14. Without a battle? Where was the well-trained Egyptian army? Maybe it was at the bottom of the Red Sea. Exodus 14:22-28 So, yes, there are arguments against the reliability of the historical records of the Bible, but there are also some powerful arguments supporting them. © David K. Down 2002

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

An Archaeology for Abraham and its Effect on Conventional Chronology



by

Damien F. Mackey


I have often referred to, or quoted from, Dr. John Osgood’s important article, “Times of Abraham” (Ex Nihilo T.J., Vol. 2, 1986, pp. 77-87), in which he archaeologically nails Abram’s four Mesopotamian contemporaries (as named in Genesis 14:1) - in relation to En-geddi - to the Late Chalcolithic/Ghassul IV phase of Palestine. Osgood had concluded that one of the caves in the region, called the “Cave of the Treasure”, was where the local Amorites had stashed their possessions, as itemised by Pessah Bar-Adon who published details of this cave: “… axes and chisels; hammers; ‘mace heads’; hollow stands decorated with knobs, branches, birds, and animals such as deer, ibex, buffalo, wild goats, and eagle; ‘horns’ … smooth and elaborately ornamented 'crowns'; small baskets; a pot; a statuette with a human face; sceptres; flag poles; an ivory box; perforated utensils made … from hippopotamus tusks; and more”. (Bar-Adon, P., 1980. The Cave of the Treasure, Exploration Society, Jerusalem. As cited by Osgood, p. 82.)
Bar-Adon, Osgood said, queried the reasons for the articles in this context as if somebody had left them there and had intended to return, but was not able to:
"What induced the owners of this treasure to hide it hurriedly away in the cave? And what was the event that prevented them from taking the treasure out of its concealment and restoring it to its proper place? And what caused the sudden destruction of the Chalcolithic settlements in the Judean Desert and in other regions of Palestine" ….

(Bar-Adon, P., 1962. Israel Exploration Journal, 12: 218-9).
Osgood firstly after that showed how this En-geddi culture linked with Ghassul IV, sill in Palestine (op. cit., ibid.):
The remarkable thing about this culture also was that it was very similar, if not the same culture, to that found at a place in the southern Jordan Valley called Taleilat Ghassul (which is the type site of this culture), and also resembles the culture of Beersheba. The culture can in fact be called 'Ghassul culture' and specifically Ghassul IV.
The Ghassul IV culture disappeared from Trans Jordan, Taleilat Ghassul and Beersheba and the rest of the Negev as well as from Hazezon-tamar or En-gedi apparently at the same time. It is remarkable when looked at on the map that this disappearance of the Ghassul IV culture corresponds exactly to the areas which were attacked by the Mesopotamian confederate of kings. The fact that En-gedi specifically terminates its culture at this point allows a very positive identification of this civilization, Ghassul IV, with the Amorites of Hazezon-tamar.
If that be the case, then we can answer Bar-Adon's question very positively. The reason the people did not return to get their goods was that they had been destroyed by the confederate kings of Mesopotamia, in approximately 1,870 B.C. [Osgood’s date, not mine] in the days of Abraham.
Now as far as Palestine is concerned, in an isolated context, this may be possible to accept, but many might ask: What about the Mesopotamian kings themselves? Others may ask: What does this do to Egyptian chronology? And still further questions need to be asked concerning the origin of the Philistines in the days of Abraham, for the Philistines were closely in touch with Abraham during this same period (Genesis 20). So we must search for evidence of Philistine origins or habitation at approximately the end of the Chalcolithic (Ghassul IV) in Palestine. All these questions will be faced.
Then, next, Osgood showed how Ghassul IV in turn connected up archaeologically with Mesopotamia (ibid., pp. 82-84):

THE MESOPOTAMIAN COMPLEX OF
CHEDORLAOMER
Ghassul IV corresponds in Mesopotamia to the period known as the Jemdat-Nasr/Uruk period, otherwise called Protoliterate (because it was during this period that the archaeologists found the first evidence of early writing). Ghassul IV also corresponds to the last Chalcolithic period of Egypt, the Gerzean or pre-Dynastic period …. Let us look, therefore, at both of these geographically and archaeologically, and see what we find.
Uruk is so called because it refers to a culture associated with the archaeological site called Warka (Uruk of Mesopotamian history or biblical Erech - Genesis 10:10) in the land of Sumer or biblical Shinar … and we note that one of the kings of the Mesopotamian confederacy came from Shinar, namely Amraphel,
Jemdat Nasr is a site in northern Sumer, northeast of Babylon …. It is a site that was found to have a pottery with similarities to the culture of Elam and corresponding in time to the later phases of the Uruk culture.
We have in Mesopotamia, therefore, archaeological evidence that there was a period in which the Uruk culture, and an Elamite culture typified by Jemdat Nasr, were in some sort of combination, and this corresponds to the period in Palestine when the Ghassul culture disappeared. The writing of this period does not allow us to recognise at this point any particular kings from contemporary records for it is undeciphered, but all that is known archaeologically is in agreement with the possibility of a combine of nations of the description of Genesis 14 existing. Considering the war-like attitudes of Sumer and Elam in later years this is all the more remarkable, for no other period of Sumer/Elamite relationship accepts the possibility of such a semi-benevolent relationship.
Archaeology in Iran, in the plain of Susiana, has demonstrated a resurgent Elamite culture contemporary with Jemdat Nasr in Mesopotamia and this fits the biblical suggestion of a dominant Chedorlaomer (Genesis 14). ….
[End of quote]
Having determined all of this, Osgood now turns his attention towards Egypt: (ibid., pp. 84-85):
BUT EGYPT!

At this stage there will be many objections to the hypothesis here presented, for it is totally contradictory to the presently held Egyptian chronology of the ancient world. However, I would remind my reader that the Egyptian chronology is not established, despite claims to the contrary. It has many speculative points within it. Let us continue to see if there is any correspondence, for if Abraham was alive in the days of the Ghassul IV culture, then he was alive in the days of the Gerzean culture of pre-Dynastic Egypt, possibly living into the days of the first Dynasty of Egypt.
The correspondence between this period in Palestine and in Egypt is very clear, and has been solidly established, particularly by the excavations at Arad by Ruth Amiram … and at Tel Areini by S. Yeivin. ….
Such a revised chronology as here presented would allow Abraham to be in contact with the earliest kings of Dynasty I and the late pre-Dynastic kings, and this would slice a thousand years off the presently held chronology of Egypt. To many the thought would be too radical to contemplate. The author here insists that it must be contemplated. Only so will the chronology of the ancient world be put into proper perspective. Long as the task may take, and however difficult the road may be, it must be undertaken.
In order to support the present revised chronology here held, the author sites another correspondence archaeologically, and this concerns the Philistines and Egypt.
[This section by Osgood, some of whose argument I shall be modifying and also developing further on, comes from ibid., pp. 85-86]:

THE PHILISTINE QUESTION

Genesis 20 makes it clear that Abraham was in contact with the Philistines, yet the accepted chronological record presently held does not recognise Philistines being in the land of Philistia at any time corresponding with the days of Abraham. Yet the Bible is adamant.
The Scripture is clear that the Philistines were in Canaan by the time of Abraham … or at least around the area of Gerar between Kadesh and Shur (Genesis 20:1), and Beersheba (Genesis 21:32) …. A king called Abimelech was present, and his military chief was Phicol (Genesis 21:22).
The land was called the Land of the Philistines (Genesis 21:32). According to Genesis 10:14, the Philistines were descendants of one Egyptian ancestor, Casluhim, but apparently they dwelt in the region occupied by Caphtor which was apparently the coastlands around the delta region. Now many attempts have been made to associate Caphtor with Crete, but the attempt is strained and unsubstantiated.
[Bill Cooper, in After the Flood (pp. 191 & 193), has suggested instead that Capthor’s descendants pertain to the Kaptara of the Assyrian inscriptions, whilst Anamim, another son of Mizraïm, are the adjacent A-na-mi; both in Phoenicia, not Crete].
Here, now, I shall temporarily interrupt Osgood’s very interesting discussion, to give my own views on Abimelech, on the Philistines, and on some of the sons of Mizraïm.
In a recent article of mine:
Does the Bible Name Abram’s “Pharaoh”?
Yes it does.
I concluded that the toledôt (Toledoth) theory of Genesis enables for us actually to identify the “Pharaoh” encountered by Abram (later Abraham) and Sarai (later Sarah) upon their entry into the Promised Land. For Abraham’s history was written by two of his sons, Ishmael and Isaac, who give their different accounts of the famous encounter between Abram and Sarai, on the one hand, and Pharaoh, on the other. Whilst Ishmael, whose mother was the Egyptian woman, Hagar, tells the story from an Egyptian perspective, hence he calls the king, “Pharaoh”, Isaac, a Hebrew, calls him by the Hebraïsed personal name, “Abimelech”.
I then took this identification a step further, and identified Abimelech with one of Mizraïm’s (or Egypt’s) sons, Lehabim (thought to have been the founder of the Libyans). From Osgood’s argument we would know that it would be most likely for Abram to have been a contemporary of the next generation after Mizraïm. Now, though Lehabim and Abimelech would normally be considered as being two entirely different names, I think that one can see how a Hebrew (such as Isaac) might Hebraïse the (probably originally) Mesopotamian name, Lehabim, to Abim-[e]lech, or Abimelek.
Interestingly, a reader of the above-mentioned article, Ken Griffith, whilst initially rejecting my identification of Abimelech with Lehabim on the grounds of these two Genesis names having different meanings, later concluded that it might be correct after all, because, as he found, a chiastic structure of this part of the Book of Genesis amazingly brings “Pharaoh” and “Abimelech” into a parallel convergence. As if the Holy Spirit had locked in the answer to the query: What was the name of Abram’s “Pharaoh”?
That makes me very confident that my conclusion on this has been a sound one.
It is most unlikely then, if Abimelech were Lehabim, that Abimelech were an actual Philistine. For it was not from Lehabim (my Abimelech), the presumed third son of Mizraïm, that the Philistines arose, but from Casluhim, Mizraïm’s sixth son (Genesis 10:13-14). They were brother peoples of course. And, for the most part, Abimelech is not called a Philistine. We first encounter him as “Pharaoh” of Egypt (12:15), I believe; then, under the name of Abimelech, as “King Abimelech of Gerar” (20:2); then simply as “Abimelech” (21:22), though now residing in “the land of the Philistines” (v. 32). Finally, we meet him as “King Abimelech of the Philistines” (26:1, 8). Not an actual Philistine, I suggest, but a king ruling over “the land of the Philistines”.
When, why, and how did “Pharaoh” Abimelech make the move from Egypt to southern Palestine? That, I believe, is tied up with Abram’s defeat of the Mesopotamian coalition led by Chedorlaomer. And I am now going to attempt to identify similarly, from the Book of Genesis (as in the case of Abimelech/Lehabim), the two leading Mesopotamian kings of Genesis 14:1: namely, Amraphel and Chedorlaomer.
It needs to be noted here that three of the coalitional kings, Khedorla’omer, Ariokh, and Tidhal (i.e., Chedorlaomer; Arioch and Tidal), have in fact been historically identified in the Spartoli Collection; whilst king Hammurabi of Babylon (once thought to have been the other coalitional member, Amraphel himself - and some still do claim this) also refers to the main protagonist, Chedorlaomer. I quoted this in my above-mentioned article, in this section:
Biblical Amraphel Was Not Abraham But Lived Much Earlier
Taken from "The Wars of Gods and Men":
http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/sitchin/sitchinbooks03_05.htm
thus:
"....The second discovery was announced by Vincent Scheil, who reported that he had found among the tablets in the Imperial Ottoman Museum in Constantinople a letter from the well-known Babylonian King Hammurabi, which mentions the very same Kudur-laghamar!
When I wrote this I was thinking - in line with some ancient views - that the elusive Amraphel may have been Nimrod himself (some say his father, Cush), who, I had estimated, had grown old and had therefore allowed his subordinate, Chedorlaomer, to take the lead. I have accepted the identification of Nimrod with the historical Enmerkar of the Uruk I dynasty (and I was wondering if Chedorlaomer might perhaps have been e.g. Enmerkar’s presumed son, Lugalbanda – the two are actually coupled together in an epic). But now I am looking at an entirely different scenario: one that again involves Abimelech (Lehabim).
Here is what I think Genesis 14 may be about.
Genesis 14:1: In the days of King Amraphel of Shinar ….
Here the author, who may perhaps be drawing upon an historical record, prefaces, with a general date, the account of the invasion of Palestine by the Mesopotamian kings. It happened, we are told, at the time of King Amraphel. But Amraphel himself plays no apparent part in what follows. Instead it is “King Chedorlaomer of Elam” who emerges most prominently. “Twelve years [the kings of Pentapolis] had served Chedorlaomer, but in the thirteenth year they rebelled” (v. 4). So, it was Chedorlaomer, and not Amraphel, who was the current master of Palestine. This all leads me to suggest that Amraphel, a ‘brother’ to the coalition, was our friend “Pharaoh” Abimelech in Egypt, whose origin however was, as the text says, “of Shinar”, and that the coalitional leader, Chedorlaomer, was one of his brothers. When Mizraïm left the land of Shinar to settle in Egypt (as his other name “Egypt” would suggest - and indeed the name “Mizraïm” has become synonymous with Egypt), his son Lehabim and others must have accompanied him there. We are now in the next generation, and this Lehabim (Abimelech) has become the ruler of Egypt. But at least one of the Mizraïmites must have gone eastwards to Elam, rather than westwards. He, I believe, appears in this Genesis text by the name of “Chedorlaomer”; but I suspect that he must be the “Casluhim” from whom arose the Philistine nation. This may be a reason why Bill Cooper can find no positive trace of Casluhim (op. cit., p. 192). We have read that he, as Kudur-laghamar was a real historical personage. As we can see, this Elamite name has two elements. I suggest that the Genesis writer simply truncated both elements of this disagreeable name, Chedor-laomer/Kudur-laghamar, to yield the more manageable Kud-lagham, or Kuslaham, hence Kasluhim (or Casluim).
This would mean that the origins of the Philistines, through Casluhim, were in fact Elamite, eastern. Dr. Immanuel Velikovsky in his Peoples of the Sea, had discerned such a similarity in appearance between the Peleset (Philstines) of the time of Ramses III, and the Pereset, thought to be Persians, that he radically transferred Ramses III to the Persian period. In my university thesis, A Revised History of the Era of King Hezekiah of Judah and its Background (2007), I made the following comment on this (pp. 352-353 of Volume One):
Velikovsky had brought some surprising evidence in support of his sensational view that Ramses III had actually belonged as late as the Persian period, with his identification of the Peleset arm of the ‘Sea Peoples’ – generally considered to indicate Philistines – as Persians.[1] This Velikovsky did through comparisons between the Peleset, as shown on Ramses III’s Medinet Habu reliefs, and depictions of Persians for instance at Persepolis, both revealing a distinctive crown-like headgear. And he also compared Ramses III’s references to the Peleset to the naming of Persians as P-r-s-tt (Pereset) in the C3rd BC Decree of Canopus.
My explanation though for this undeniable similarity would be, not that Ramses III had belonged to the classical Persian era, but that the ‘Indo-European’ Persians were related to the waves of immigrants, hence to the Mitannians (who may therefore connect with the Medes), but perhaps to the Philistines in particular. ….
[End of quote]
The name, “Amraphel”, might perhaps derive from Lehabim, Rehabim – Imrab[el]. If Amraphel can be equated with the name “Hammurabi”, as many claim, then I think that my suggestion may not be too far fetched. My only explanation for why either of Abraham’s sons might have used this new designation for the king, as “Amraphel”, would be that this section of Genesis may have been lifted from an historical document.
So, we have the incident of Genesis 14 taking place at the time of Pharaoh Abimelech/Amraphel, who, as Lehabim, was related to the leader of the invasion, Chedorlaomer, as Casluhim, but who himself (Amraphel) played no obvious part in it. He may have supplied some troops as Egypt was wont to do. Then, after his brother was defeated, and the Elamite rule over Palestine had ceased, Abimelech/Amraphel had moved in to fill the vacuum. He then perhaps re-located to Gerar, and came to rule over the Philistines, or Casluhim-ites, who had been stationed there.
He, Pharaoh Abimelech, a Sumerian who had conquered Egypt, would now be the ideal person for identification with the mysterious Pharaoh Narmer (of apparent Mesopotamian connection: The king's stance is similar to Mesopotamian pictures of royalty and points to the influence Mesopotamia seems to have had on Egypt even in these early times. http://www.reshafim.org.il/ad/egypt/narmer/index.html) of this very same archaeological (Gerzean) period, as attested at Arad (see following quote) or perhaps Narmer was Chedorlaomer (same ‘mer’ element in name), if Chedorlaomer had also controlled Egypt.
I resume Osgood’s discussion (op. cit., pp. 85-86):
…. We have placed the end of the Chalcolithic of the Negev, En-gedi, Trans-Jordan and Taleilat Ghassul at approximately 1870 B.C., being approximately at Abraham's 80th year. Early Bronze I Palestine (EB I) would follow this, significantly for our discussions. Stratum V therefore at early Arad (Chalcolithic) ends at 1870 B.C., and the next stratum, Stratum IV (EB I), would begin after this.
Stratum IV begins therefore some time after 1870 B.C. This is a new culture significantly different from Stratum V.
Belonging to Stratum IV, Amiram found a sherd with the name of Narmer (First Dynasty of Egypt) … and she dates Stratum IV to the early part of the Egyptian Dynasty I and the later part of Canaan EB I. Amiram feels forced to conclude a chronological gap between Stratum V (Chalcolithic) at Arad and Stratum IV EB I at Arad. …. However, this is based on the assumption of time periods on the accepted scale of Canaan's history, long time periods which are here rejected.
The chronological conclusion is strong that Abraham's life-time corresponds to the Chalcolithic in Egypt, through at least a portion of Dynasty 1 in Egypt, which equals Ghassul IV through to EB I Palestine. The possibilities for the Egyptian king in the Abrahamic narrative are therefore:
1. A late northern Chalcolithic king of Egypt, or
2. Menes or Narmer, be they separate or the same king (Genesis 12:10-20).
Of these, the chronological scheme would favour a late Chalcolithic (Gerzean) king of northern Egypt, just before the unification under Menes.
Thus the Egyptian Dynastic period would start approximately 1860 B.C. Clearly, if this were the case, by this scheme the Philistines were in Canaan already, and must therefore have at least begun their migration in the late Chalcolithic of Egypt and Palestine.
Therefore, we need to look in southwest Canaan for evidence of Egyptian (cum Philistine) migration, beginning in the late Chalcolithic and possibly reaching into EB I (depending on the cause and rapidity of migration), in order to define the earliest Philistine settlement of Canaan from Egyptian stock. Is there such evidence? The answer is a clear and categorical YES.
Amiram, Beit-Ariah and Glass … discussed the same period in relationship between Canaan and Egypt. So did Oren. ….
Of the period Oren says:
"Canaanite Early Bronze I-II and Egyptian late pre-Dynastic and early Dynastic periods". …. He says of the findings in Canaan:
"The majority of Egyptian vessels belong to the First Dynasty repertoire while a few sherds can be assigned with certainty to the late pre-Dynastic period." (emphasis mine) …. He continues:
"The occurrence of Egyptian material which is not later than the First Dynasty alongside EB A I-II pottery types has been noted in surface collections and especially in controlled excavations in southern Canaan. This indicates that the appearance and distinction of the material of First Dynasty in northern Sinai and southern Canaan should be viewed as one related historical phenomenon." (emphasis mine) ….
The area surveyed was between Suez and Wadi El-Arish. EB I-II had intensive settlement in this area.
He continues further:
"Furthermore, the wide distribution of Egyptian material and the somewhat permanent nature of the sites in Sinai and southern Canaan can no longer be viewed as the results of trade relations only. In all likelihood Egypt used northern Sinai as a springboard for forcing her way into Canaan with the result that all of southern Canaan became an Egyptian domain and its resources were exploited on a large scale." (emphasis mine) ….
And again:
"The contacts which began in pre-Dynastic, times, were most intensive during the First Dynasty Period ….
Ram Gopha … is bolder about this event or phenomenon, insisting on it being a migration:
"Today we seem to be justified in assuming some kind of immigration of people from Egypt to southern Canaan. . ." ….
Further:
"...the Egyptian migration during the First Dynasty period may be seen as an intensification of previously existing relationships between the two countries. These relations had already begun in the Ghassulian Chalcolithic period but reached sizable proportions only in the Late Pre-Dynastic period" (first phases of Palestinian EB 1). (emphasis mine) ….
[My comment] What this could mean in my context is that, after the defeat of the Mesopotamian collation, which had controlled Palestine, the Casluhim-ites, th brother Lehabim-ites (Abimelech) moved into the vacuum. Or, as Oren says: “In all likelihood Egypt used northern Sinai as a springboard for forcing her way into Canaan with the result that all of southern Canaan became an Egyptian domain and its resources were exploited on a large scale."
Osgood continues:
The testimony is clear. Excavation at Tel Areini identifies such an Egyptian migration and settlement starting in the Chalcolithic period. …. There was definitely a migration of Egyptian people of some sort from northern Egypt into southern Palestine, and particularly the region that was later known as Philistia." ….
The testimony of Scripture is clear that there were Philistines who came from Egypt into Palestine in the days of Abraham. This revised chronology identifies such a migration in the days of the Ghassulians, who I insist, perished during the early days of Abraham's sojourn in Canaan. This period must then be grossly redated in accordance with biblical expectations, instead of evolutionary assumptions.
Osgood concludes this wonderful paper with the following (p. 87):
SUMMARY
In summary, Abraham entered the land of Canaan at approximately 1875 B.C.. In his days there was a settlement of Amorites in En-gedi, identified here with the Ghassul IV people. This civilization was ended by the attack of four Mesopotamian monarchs in a combined confederation of nations, here placed in the Uruk-Jemdat Nasr period in Mesopotamia. They were a significant force in ending the Chalcolithic of Palestine as we understand it archaeologically, and Abraham and his army were a significant force in ending the Jemdat Nasr domination of Mesopotamia, and thus the Chalcolithic of Mesopotamia, by their attack on these four Mesopotamian monarchs as they were returning home. Egypt was just about to enter its great dynastic period, and was beginning to consolidate into a united kingdom, when from northern Egypt a surge of Egyptian stock, including the Philistines, moved north into southern Palestine to settle, as well as to trade, identified in a number sites in that region (most notably in the strata of Tel Areini, Level VI then V) as the Philistines with who Abraham was able to talk face to face. The biblical narrative demands a redating of the whole of ancient history, as currently recognised, by something like a one thousand year shortening - a formidable claim and a formidable investigation, but one that must undertaken.
AMAIC, Australian Marian Academy of the Immaculate Conception, Egypt conventional chronology revised chronology, Dr John Osgood Times Abraham Ex Nihilo Technical Journal, Ruth Amiram S Yeivin En-geddi Beersheba Pessah Bar-Adon

[1] Peoples of the Sea, ch. II: “Persians and Greeks Invade Egypt”.