With a Subtitle: How a derogatory label for landless outcasts may point straight to the conquering Israelites.
A brief Excerpt: The Amarna letters describe an invading force called the Habiru overrunning Canaan in the 14th century BC. Were they the Biblical Hebrews of Joshua's conquest?
Editor’s note – We run this piece because it does something Christians too rarely see done well: it takes an obscure corner of ancient Near Eastern correspondence and shows how patiently it can converse with Scripture. The author does not overstate the case or pretend the questions are settled. He lays out the skeptical objections honestly, then answers them. For readers who have wondered whether the spade ever confirms the Book, this is a careful, sober look at one intriguing possibility.
There’s a curious people group called the Habiru who appear in Canaan shortly after the Exodus of the Israelites out of Egypt.¹
The Habiru, also called the Apiru based on translation conventions,² are an invading force of lower-class social outcasts who throw the existing political order into chaos.
They are most clearly attested to in a series of Egyptian correspondence on clay tablets called the Amarna letters.³
These letters were unknown to the historical record until the 19th century, but we know about them now thanks to the discovery of Pharaoh Akhenaten and the city he founded.
The Mysterious Pharaoh Akhenaten
In the 14th century BC, Akhenaten moved his capital city from Thebes (modern-day Luxor) to a newly constructed administrative center named after himself in modern-day Amarna.⁴
Before Akhenaten, the god Amun sat securely at the top of the Egyptian pantheon. The priesthood dedicated to Amun worship was centered in Thebes. But Akhenaten wanted a different kind of religious system.
By moving to a new city, Akhenaten was free to create a new religious focus centered on the sun disc, the Aten.⁵
He even changed his name from Amenhotep IV (meaning “Amun is satisfied”) to his name that meant “the horizon of the Aten.”⁶
The Short Lived City of Akhenaten / Amarna
As it turned out, the horizon of the Aten wouldn’t last very long.
The religious changes administered at Amarna were discarded soon after Akhenaten’s death. All references to him, and the Aten, were methodically erased throughout Egypt.
Amarna was abandoned and the imperial capital was moved back to Thebes. Worship of Amun and the rest of the Egyptian pantheon once again took priority in Egypt.
But the relatively recent discovery of the abandoned city has brought this “Amarna period” back from the dustbin of history. An especially notable find has been the large collection of royal communications from Akhenaten’s fellow “great kings” in Babylon and Assyria as well as his vassal kings in Canaan.
Some of the letters were found in the Records Office (16 above) // Amarna Complex, by P.S.Docherty / Amarna3D Project, worldhistory.org
They are known collectively as the Amarna letters.
The Amarna Letters
There are 382 Amarna tablets, of which 350 are actual letters and 32 are other literary texts.⁷
Most of the tablets were sent to Akhenaten and some were meant for his father, Amenhotep III. The distinguishing feature is whether the letters are free of references to Amun (meant for Akhenaten), or whether they include such blessings in opening or concluding remarks (intended for Amenhotep III).
Amarna Correspondence at British Museum, by Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin FRCP(Glasg) — Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0
This latter group of letters are almost certainly older correspondence that Akhenaten decided to keep for administrative reference when when he moved from Thebes to his new city.
When Were They Written?
The letters are not dated and historians debate when they were actually written. But most agree that at least the majority were written in the 14th century BC with some scholars arguing that a minority were written in the late 15th century BC.
Much of the debate is related to uncertainty regarding Egyptian chronology.
The propagandistic efforts of the Egyptian scribes to erase Akhenaten and his line from the Egyptian king list is one example of why there is such difficulty. There are also issues with fragmentary king lists, overlapping regencies, and ambiguities related to astronomical dating.
Some scholars argue for an Egyptian “high” chronology and some for a “low” chronology.
The high chronology view allows Amenhotep II (Akhenaten’s great grandfather) to be the Pharaoh of the Exodus, and aligns reasonably well with the Amarna correspondence from Canaan arising from the invading Israelites.
This is the view of Biblical scholars and archaeologists like Dr. Scott Stripling, Joel Kramer, and Dr. Bryant Wood.
Who Wrote the Amarna Letters?
A limited amount of correspondence is from “great kings” in the Mittani empire (outlined in red in the map below), Babylon (purple), and Assyria (grey).
But the significant majority — at least 300 of them — represent correspondence from Pharaoh’s vassal kings in Canaan.
You can see the Egyptian empire outlined in light green on the map above. The land of Canaan is located directly northeast of the Egyptian heartland.
What Was Going on in Canaan?
The letters reveal total chaos in the land. The very same land that the Bible says God had promised to Abraham’s descendants.⁸
Here are a few examples of the bedlam from three of the most prominent Canaanite territories.
- Over 60 of the letters are sent by the leader of Byblos (Gubla). The vassal king, Rib-Hadda, is fixated on a conquering force that is overrunning his lands. He calls the marauders the Habiru and pleads with Pharaoh for reinforcements.
- King Abdi-Heba of Jerusalem sounds the alarm in his letters as well. “The Habiru are plundering all the lands of the king. If there are archers this year, the lands of the king will remain; but if there are no archers, the lands of the king are lost!”⁹
- The king of Shechem (Lab’ayu) both sends his own letters and features prominently in the letters of other vassal kings. The other vassals accuse him of giving his land to the Habiru and he writes to Pharaoh to defend his loyalty.
Here are some other specific examples featuring the Habiru.
Editor’s note – Notice the tone of these letters. These are not theologians debating doctrine; they are frightened rulers begging an absent overlord for soldiers. That desperation is itself a kind of testimony. Whatever force was sweeping through Canaan was real enough to empty treasuries and break the nerve of kings.
The Habiru in the Amarna Letters
The king of Gezer admits that his forces are overmatched by the Habiru.
He pleads for reinforcements to prevent being wiped out.
“Now the Habiru men are stronger than we, so may the king, my lord, send forth his hand to me and may he deliver me from the hand of the Habiru men lest the Habiru men wipe us out.” [Amarna letter 299, sent by Lapahi / Yapahu of Gezer]
The previously mentioned Rib Hadda reveals how dire conditions are in Byblos.
He describes his people who have had to sell their home furnishings and even their children to continue to eke out an existence while the conflict against the Habiru / Apiru rages.
“The war, however, of the Apiru against me is severe. (Our) sons and daughters and the furnishings of the houses are gone, since they have been sold [in] the land of Yarimuta for our provisions to keep us alive. ‘For the lack of a cultivator, my field is like a woman without a husband.'” [Amarna letter 75, sent by Rib Hadda of Byblos]
About 130 miles south of Byblos, the leader of Aijalon admits that he can’t defend his lands against the Habiru.
Pharaoh must send reinforcements to prevent a total loss.
“May the king, my lord, rescue his land from the hand of the Habiru men lest it be lost.”[Amarna letter 274, likely sent by Ba-Lat-Nese of Aijalon]
Abdi-Heba, the ruler of Jerusalem, writes to Pharaoh to accuse some of his fellow vassal kings.
He charges them with disloyalty for scrambling for new land while deserting their rightful lands to the Habiru.
Here is the deed against the land that Milkilu and Shuardatu did: against the land of the king, my lord, they ordered troops from Gazru, troops from Gimtu, and troops from Qultu. They seized Rubutu. The land of the king deserted to the Habiru.” [Amarna letter 290, sent by Abdi-Heba of Jerusalem]
Just who were these Habiru?
Are the “Habiru” the Hebrew People?
Like nearly everything related to Biblical archaeology, there are multiple opinions.
It seems hard to argue that there aren’t strong parallels with the account in the Bible. And many scholars believe references to the Habiru in these letters are indeed the nomadic Hebrews invading Canaan after their 40 years of desert wandering.
But not everyone believes this, of course.
Why the Habiru are not the Hebrews
Let’s first look at arguments against the Habiru being the Hebrews.
Here are four of the most commonly cited reasons:
- “Habiru” is a known sociological term, and it doesn’t refer to a distinct people group. The word “habiru” shows up in other texts outside of the Amarna letters both before and after the period the Amarna letters. The term consistently refers to people who are on the margins of society. These are nomads who are former slaves, migrant workers, social outcasts, and have no land of their own. The term is a derogatory one. It is an insult. Not an ethnicity.
- References to the Habiru included multiple ethnicities. If the Israelites are the Habiru, they do not have a claim on being the only Habiru. This makes it unlikely for the Hebrews to be Habiru.
- The Amarna Letters don’t mention distinct Biblical details like Israelite leaders, the Ark of the Covenant, or the religion of the Israelites. If these key elements were included it would be a far stronger case to make for the Habiru being the Hebrews.
- There may be timeline disagreements. For the modern scholars who argue for a “late date” Exodus (13th century BC), the conquest of the Habiru doesn’t line up at all with the Amarna accounts. While the early date Exodus (15th century BC) is a much closer match, skeptics argue that the timing still doesn’t line up perfectly.
The modern “scholarly view” is that the Hebrews of the Bible were not “the Habiru” in the Amarna letters.
But is this the most reasonable conclusion?
Why the Habiru in the Amarna Letters are Indeed the Hebrews
There are compelling reasons to believe the Habiru referenced in the Canaanite correspondence and the Biblical Hebrews are the same.
For one thing, they share similar linguistic roots. The root consonants of Habiru or ‘Apiru are close to the root consonants of the Hebrew word for “Hebrew” (‘Ibri). Both share a linguistic background signifying “to cross over” or “the dusty ones.”¹⁰
There is an obvious geographic match. The Amarna correspondence details the geographic focus of Canaan for the Habiru. The exact same geographic theater as the conquest as described in the book of Joshua.
The skeptical arguments against the connection can be addressed.
- The Bible makes it clear that people other than the ethnic Israelites left Egypt in the Exodus. The Bible describes a “mixed multitude” in Exodus 12:38 who set out for the desert. Further, Joshua 9 describes a group of Canaanites defecting and integrating with the Israelites.
- The lack of Biblical details like the religion of the Israelites showing up in the Amarna letters should not be a surprise. If you’re a regional king whose lands are being taken by an invading force, you’re going to be far more interested in getting reinforcements than describing the religious faith of the invaders. And that’s precisely what the letter shows. Plus, it’s possible that Joshua is indeed mentioned in the letters.¹¹
- The timeline disagreements are an issue, but not an insurmountable one. The Egyptian king list was prone to propaganda-driven embellishments. So even though timeline considerations remain a valid factor, they must be considered in light of the weight of the other evidence.
The argument of socio economic label vs. ethnic group is perhaps the loudest one against the Habiru / Hebrew connection. This is the argument where the solution is perhaps the simplest.
Solving the Habiru?
The most likely solution is not immediately intuitive, but it is simple:
The term “Habiru” started as a socio-economic label and a derogatory one at that. It referred to a people group comprised of the lowest members of society. They were runaway slaves, outcasts, and other landless individuals. They were the “dusty ones” who traveled without their own lands and who were the ones “crossing over” from country to country.
This helps explain why Abraham is called a “Hebrew” in Genesis 14:13. Hundreds of years before the Israelites came into existence, their forefather Abraham is a Hebrew because he too was a traveling and landless “dusty one.”
The Israelites were living as Habiru when they left Egypt and wandered in the desert.¹²
That didn’t mean that the Habiru as a class of social outcasts in other empires ceased to exist. Only that the Israelites became the most prominent of the Habiru and came to adopt the socioeconomic term as another one of their names.
As nomadic invaders, all the Biblical Hebrews described in Joshua were Habiru. But not all Habiru are Biblical Hebrews.
Editor’s note – There is a quiet beauty in this resolution. The very word the world used as an insult, a name for the landless and the despised, became a name God’s people carried. That pattern runs all through Scripture: the Lord takes what men mean as a slur and makes it a badge of belonging to Him.
Wrapping Up
To the Canaanite kings, the Israelites were Habiru. They were the landless people who were suddenly and surprisingly assaulting their cities in the 14th century BC.
Next week we’ll look at some of the specific details in the Amarna letters and see how they compare to accounts from the book of Joshua.
What I believe we’ll see is that the words of Rahab to the Israelite spies in Joshua 2:9 were prophetic and true.
"I know that the Lord has given you this land and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you. [Joshua 2:9]
Praise God that He is faithful to His word and that the Scriptures are true.
This article is part of taking a temporary break from satan and fallen angels. Next week we’ll look at the Amarna letters in more detail.
Sources and References
- Based on the early date of the Exodus of ~1446–1447 BC
- Hapiru: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Hapiru
- Amarna letters: https://www.metmuseum.org/essays/the-amarna-letters
- Akhenaten: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akhenaten
- Aten: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aten
- ibid
- Amarna letters: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amarna_letters
- 6 Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. 7 The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him. [Genesis 12:6-7]
- Amarna letter 286 (EA 286) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amarna_letter_EA_286
- WHAT’S IN A NAME? AN EXAMINATION OF THE USAGE OF THE TERM “HEBREW” IN THE OLD TESTAMENT: https://etsjets.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/files_JETS-PDFs_55_55-4_JETS_55-4_685-696_Akers.pdf
- Is Joshua Mentioned in the Amarna Letters?: https://armstronginstitute.org/1362-is-joshua-mentioned-in-the-amarna-letters
- Adding a bit more complexity, Genesis 10:21 implies the “sons of Eber” are the Hebrew people. But as this conclusion of a 2012 article by Dr. Matt Akers argues, this need not conflict with the Habiru / Hebrew connection.
After analyzing the above evidence, several observations may be made. First, “Hebrew” and Habiru certainly are cognates. Both words, second, possess nearly identical shades of meaning. The terms were ethnic designations that over time began to denote immigrants, warriors, and servants. Third, one of the earliest references to the Habiru hails from Mesopotamia, the region from which God called Abram the Hebrew. The shared geography cannot be a coincidence.
For these reasons, the populace of the ancient Near East would have regarded Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph as Habiru because of their semi-nomadic sojourner lifestyle. It does not follow, however, that they would have considered the Habiru to be Israelites as the lineage of Eber establishes. Simply put, in the early OT era, “Hebrew” refers to any descendant of Eber, while “Israelite” pertains only to the branch of Eber’s family that Jacob sired. Only later in OT history did “Hebrew” finally become a racial designation for God’s covenant people. [citing the 2012 article by Dr. Matt Akers on christianity.stackexchange.com]
A Word from the Editor
Whether or not the Habiru turn out to be the Hebrews, the deeper lesson stands. God called a wandering, landless people, the “dusty ones,” and made them His own. He still does. “I know that the Lord has given you this land,” Rahab confessed, and her words proved true because the Lord keeps His promises. The stones and tablets of the ancient world do not establish our faith, but it is no small comfort when the spade turns up evidence that the God of Abraham has always been at work in real history, faithful to every word He has spoken.
Salvation – Eternal Life in Less Than 150 Words
Distributed by – BCWorldview.org
This article appeared on Medium and is reprinted with modifications and by permission.