Ethnography in the Book of Judges

 

“Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD…” (Jdg 10:6)

The Book of Judges is about a Hebrew population known as the "Israelites." The writer of Judges records the repeated cycles of disobedience, oppression, repentance and deliverance as God raised up rulers, judges and prophets to free the Israelites. The narratives illustrate the consequences of unfaithfulness to God and the need for righteous rulers if the exiles hope to live in peace in the land claimed by their Israelite forefathers.

The Book probably was written closer to the time of the Babylonian Exile (597- 587 BC) than to the time of Samuel (1100- 1001 BC). As such, the author of Judges relied on early ethnographic material to set the stage.

According to Judges 3:5, "The Israelites lived among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites."

The Israelites were but one clan of the Hebrew ruler-priest caste. They are the Hebrew people associated with Jacob/Yacob who was called Israel/Yisrael. Well before the time of the Judges, there were other Hebrew clans dispersed throughout the Nile Valley, Canaan, Arabia, Mesopotamia, Anatolia, and the Zagros Mountains. Arishen was a Horite Hebrew who ruled a territory in the central Zagros between 2400-2301 BC.

The term "Canaanite" refers to a mixed population living in Canaan. Some Hebrew people lived among the people living in Canaan. Rahab and her family are an example. 

The Jebusites, such as the priest-king Melchizedek, were also kin to the Hebrew. Melchizedek and Abraham were kinsmen. Before David became King of Israel, the Jebusites controlled Jerusalem and much of the land surrounding the sacred city.

The Hittites claim the Hebrew ruler Heth as an ancestor. That means that the Hittites living in Canaan and Anatolia were kin to the Israelites. Canaan became the father of Sidon his firstborn, and Heth and the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites, the Arvadites, the Zemarites, and the Hamathites. (Gen. 10:15-18 NRSV) The Hittites of Canaan recognized Abraham the Hebrew as a "great prince" among them. 

The Amorites appear to have been a migrating population that dispersed into Mesopotamia and the Orontes River Valley. Amorite was a Northwest Semitic language, like Ugaritic, Hebrew, and Aramaic. It has striking similarities to Moabite and to the language found in the 14th-century BC Amarna Letters.

The Perizzites were also kin to the Israelites. Perez was a son of Judah who never settled in Egypt.

The term "Hivites" refers to the Horite Hebrew who never left Edom and parts of Canaan. The Bible scholar, E.A. Speiser called attention to Hurrian/Horite personal names associated with Shechem and with other areas whose inhabitants the Bible calls "Hivites." Genesis 34:2 specifies Shechem as a Hivite or Horite settlement. He noted the juxtaposition of the Hurrian Jebusites and the Hivites in various biblical references and he concluded that “Hivite” was a biblical term for Horite/Hurrian. Speiser supported his identification of the Hivites with the Horite/Hurrians by reference to Genesis 36:2 and 36:20, where the terms Hivite and Horite are used interchangeably. In Genesis 36:2, Zibeon is called a Hivite, and in Genesis 36:20 Zibeon is identified as a Horite descendent of Seir. 

Other examples of the interchange of the terms Hivite and Horite may be found by comparing the Masoretic Text and the Septuagint. The Septuagint reads "Horites" for the "Hivite" of the Masoretic Text in Genesis 34:2 and Joshua 9:7.

Related reading: The Genesis 10 Ethnography; Who was Melchizedek?; Abraham and the Hittites; BIBLICAL ANTHROPOLOGY: The Peoples of Canaan

Brick Making in Antiquity

 

Unexcavated brick wall at Harappa in India.

Brick makers were a skilled class of people in the ancient world. They served the regional chiefs who constructed fortifications, palaces, temples and pyramids. Many structures built in the Bronze Age were made of stone. However, bricks were used to lay out the foundation of a new building. Stacked bricks served as markers. Some buildings contained bricks that were inscribed with prayers and dedications, as is done today on the corner stones of some public buildings and churches.

Mud bricks date back to Mehrgarh (4500 B.C.), and baked bricks were a hallmark of the Indus Valley Civilization. Archaeologists have found clay or mud brick structures, often in ruins, dating to as early as 4800 B.C.

The bricks were pressed into molds and then dried in the sun or baked in ovens (kilns). The molds made it possible to produce bricks that were uniform in size and shape.

Baked bricks form this wall. The strength and height are increased by alternating rows of bricks running in different directions.

Kiln-baked bricks were stronger and were used for the outer defensive walls and for structures near flood zones. 

Brick kilns (shown below) were discovered at Egyptian Teudjoi (Ankyronpolis) south of Beni Suef, on the east bank of the Nile. 

Genesis 11:3 tells us that the towers in Mesopotamia were built of fired brick. Mud or clay bricks were used to build temples, palaces, entrances to royal tombs, houses, walls, and pyramidal towers called ziggurats. The Mesopotamian ziggurats were built with a core of sun-dried mud brick and an exterior covered with kiln-baked brick. The term "ziggurat" comes from the Akkadian word ziqqurratu, which means "rising building" (from the ancient Akkadian zaqâru, "to rise high").

The Sumerians used bricks to create arched entrances to royal tombs. Sumerian arches were made by stacking bricks on top of each other in steps that met in the center. Around 3000 B.C, builders created a special wedge-shaped brick mold that allowed the bricks to fit even more closely together above a doorway.

The Sumerians and ancient Egyptians built shrine cities and fortifications using clay bricks mixed with straw. According to Exodus 5:7, Pharaoh ordered the Egyptian taskmasters: "You are no longer to supply the people with straw for making bricks; let them go and gather their own straw."

To increase the brick production teams of brick makers competed against each other. This image (above) of men making bricks appears on the wall of the tomb of Rekmara, a ruler of the Eighteenth Dynasty (1550-1292 BC). 

The land of Canaan and its principal cities, such as Hazor, Kadesh, and Jerusalem, were under Egyptian rule during the Eighteenth Dynasty. Cities under Egyptian rule were fortified with walls many feet thick. The north wall protecting Lachish was 17 feet thick and the outer walls of Gezer were 14 feet thick. These fortified shrine cities are called the "high places" in the Bible. 

Jerusalem was named Jebus because it was the city of the Jebusites who built their royal complex on the south-eastern hill of Jerusalem. The old Jebusite wall was made of stone. Most monuments and fortification walls built by high kings were made of stone. It appears that stone masons were a rank above brick makers.

Related reading: Bricks and Urbanization in the Indus Civilization Rise and Decline; The High Places; Ancient Twin Cities; The Tower of Babel; Tar as an Adhesive and Sealant; Pharaoh's Brick Makers

Yebu, Ijebu, Jebusite

 

Jesus greeted as a king in Jerusalem

Alice C. Linsley

The Jebusites were a well-entrenched “Canaanite” population with two main branches. One branch lived in the region of Gilead and the other in and around Jerusalem which was a Jebusite stronghold before David’s time. 1 Chronicles 11:4 – “David and all Israel marched to Jerusalem, that is Jebus, where the Jebusites were, the inhabitants of the land.”

David purchased a threshing floor from the Jebusite chief Araunah and used the site to erect an altar to God. Threshing floors were sacred places among many biblical populations.

The two Canaanite groups of Jebusites maintained their solidarity, giving military aid to each other when needed. They were never defeated or driven out of Canaan by the Israelites. The description of David's conquest influenced how the Jebusites were presented in the Deuteronomistic history, but in fact, Jebusites served in David’s army and court. 1 Kings 9:20-21 makes it clear that Jebusites also served in Solomon’s kingdom.

The Jebusites are a very ancient people who spread into Canaan and westward from the Nile Valley into Nigeria where they are known as “Ijebu.” As with the Canaanite Jebusites, the Ijebu are divided into two groups: the Nago-Jebu and the Ketu-Jebu. Both divisions take the serpent as their totem. Ketu and Naga are two ancient words for serpent. In ancient Egyptian literature the cosmic serpent is called RahuKetu.

The term “Jebusite” is derived from Yebu, which designated sacred shrines such as the one on Elephantine Island (Yebu) on the Nile. Jerusalem was originally called Yebu/Jebu.

Today the two IJebu provinces are called Jebu Remu and Jebu Ode, and the title of their high king is "Awujali.” The IJebu are classified as Yoruba, but the term 'Yoruba' was applied to related tribal groups only after the 18th century. 

In 1892, the New York Times reported on the IJebu control of the water systems of the Benue Trough extending to the Port of Lagos. The headline (shown above) reads that the Ijebu king threatened to attack Lagos.

When the people greeted Jesus as he entered Jerusalem, they greeted him with palm branches as a king to be enthroned. Ceremonial installation of rulers with palms was an ancient tradition and probably goes back to the time when Jerusalem was a Jebusite city. Even today fresh palm tree fronds are used ceremonially at the installation of Ijebu rulers. Jude Adebo Adeleye Ogunade writes in his memoir about growing up Ijebu. He was warned not to touch the leaves of the Igi-Ose tree because, as his Mama Eleni explained, "That tree is the tree whose leaves are used to install Chiefs and Kings of Ijebu and as your grandfather was a custodian of the rites of chieftaincy and kingship you must not play with its leaves."

Related reading: Ethnic and Cultural Diversity in the Bible; Threshing Floors and Solar Symbols; The Judean Palm

Jerusalem Under the Jebusites

Stepped structure of the ancient Jebusite wall

Alice C. Linsley

Under Jebusite rule and earlier, Jerusalem was divided into two cities, the western part called Jeru (Yiru) and the eastern part called Salem (Shalem). Genesis speaks of Melchizedek, the righteous ruler-priest of Jerusalem (Jebu/Yebu). He was likely of the royal house/lineage of Sheba and a kinsmen of Abraham, the Horite Hebrew.

The Jebusites are listed as a people of Canaan in Exodus 3:8, Joshua 12:8, Deuteronomy 7:1, II Chronicles and I Kings 9:20. Genesis 15:19-21 provides this list: "the Kenites, the Kenizzites, Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Raphaim, the Amorites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites."

David purchased a threshing floor from the Jebusite chief Araunah and offered sacrifice there. This would have been located at a high elevation where the wind could carry away the chaff. Threshing floors were sacred places for the Jebusites, the Horite Hebrew, and other peoples in the R1b Haplogroup. It may be that Judah's intercourse with a shrine qadesh took place at Timnah, which had a temple dedicated to Hathor, the overshadowed one. Timnah was directly north of Abdullum in Jebusite territory. Judah went to Timnah to visit with his friend from Abdullum and to help with the harvest. The harvest was a time for the hieros gamos, or sacred marriage. Naomi told her daughter-in-law Ruth to approach Boaz at the threshing floor. 

The hieros gamos may have been a ritual in which it was hoped that the Messiah would be conceived. Among the Horite Hebrew devotees of Hathor this ritual likely did not involve sexual intercourse, but the expectation of solar overshadowing. The threshing floors often had the shape of a sun and the "woman" of Genesis 3:15 (not Eve) was excepted to conceive the Seed by divine overshadowing (cf. Gabriel's explanation to Mary in Luke 1). It appears that the stories of Judah-Tamar and the Boaz-Ruth share narrative elements that should be considered in greater depth.
Prince Rotimi Obadofin believes that the biblical Jebusites were Africans. He has written, “perhaps the Jebusites, that is the original of Jerusalem were Ijebu people of today, since Oke-Eri is owned and inhabited by Ijebu people.”

Eri is related to the huge archaeological monument of Eredo. Eridu is also the name of an ancient Sumerian city. In Akkadian Eridu means "home away from home."

Obadofin supports his position by suggesting that “since Queen of Sheba was said to be visiting home when she met king Solomon, I feel strongly that she must have been one of the descendants of those Ijebu (Jebusites) driven away from Jerusalem by king David." Read more here.


The Jebusites are an extant people

Today the Jebu are classified as Yoruba, but the term "Yoruba" applied only after the 18th century. The Jebu identify themselves as distinct from other Yoruba sub-groups by calling themselves Nago-Jebu. The Jebu are also called Ijebu, and in the Bible they are called "Jebusites."

According to African legend, the Yoruba migrated to the Atlantic coast of Nigeria from the east. Some stopped in the region of Lake Chad where they had kin in Bor'no (land of Noah). Their kin were likely the Kanuri tribe, which may explain why some Yoruba have tribal marks similar to those of the Kanuri.

In 1892, the New York Times reported on the Jebu tribe, which controlled the water systems of the Port of Lagos. The king of the Jebu levied taxes on all products carried through his territory. This is consistent with the biblical information concerning Abraham’s cattle-herding Proto-Saharan ancestors who controlled water systems in Central Africa, the Nile, Canaan, and Mesopotamia.

The Jebusites may be related to the Ijebu, an extant people of Nigeria and Benin. The biblical Jebusites were also related to the Edomites who are called "Edo." The Jebusites had close connections with the Horites of Edom whose rulers are listed in Genesis 36. Abraham's territory was entirely in ancient Edom. It extended between the settlements of his two wives. Sarah resided in Hebron and Keturah resided in Beersheba.

Related reading: Kushite Diversity and Unity; The Jebusites Unveiled; History Channel's Bible Series Scores a C; History Channel's Bible Series: Episode 2; Hazor's Destruction: Another Theory

Jebusites: Extant Biblical Tribe

Alice C. Linsley


The Jebusites have living descendants whose culture, religious beliefs and kinship pattern can be studied today among the Ijebu, a Yoruba people living in Nigeria. This is true of many of the tribes and clans mentioned in the book of Genesis who ancestors spread out of Africa to other continents. For example, there are connections between the Edo of Nigeria and Benin and the Edomites of Petra. The title of their rulers is evidence. The ruler of the Edo is called "Oba" and the first ruler of Petra was the deified Nabataean King Obodas.

This means that peoples who have been regarded as extinct or lost have living descendants who can be traced and studied. These "first peoples" cling to the traditions of their ancestors which means that their present practices and beliefs can shed light on biblical practices and beliefs. Such is the case with the Ijebu who appear to be the living descendants of the Biblical Jebusites.

It is probable that the Jebusites were a Nilotic people originally. Some migrated westward along the connected water systems of central western Africa and settled at the confluence of the Niger and Benue Rivers in Nigeria. Here their rulers controlled the major water ways at the conjunction of the rivers and the Atlantic near modern Lagos. This was documented as recently as 1892 in the New York Times. The New York Times reported on the Jebu control of the water ways of the Port of Lagos. The king of the Jebu levied taxes on all products carried through his territory. This is consistent with the biblical information concerning Abraham’s ruler-priest ancestors who controlled water systems in Nigeria (where Jebu still reside), Canaan and Mesopotamia.

The Jebu also moved eastward into the land of Canaan where Melchizedek, the ruler-prist of Salem (Jerusalem) lived in Abraham's time (Gen. 14:18). Jerusalem was a Jebusite city when David took control of the oldest and highest areas. This is why Abraham payed tribute to Melchizedek and received a blessing from the great ruler-priest (Gen. 14:18-20).

Among the Jebusites there are two main governmental divisions: the Nago-Jebu and the Ketu-Jebu. Of the Ketu-Jebu there is a good deal of information in Genesis. This division resided in Palestine and Arabia. Abraham payed tribute to the Ketu-Jebu priest Melchizedek, who was the ruler of the Jebusite city of Salem (Jerusalem). Abraham's second wife, Ketu-rah was of the Ketu-Jebu, as evidenced by her name. She resided at Beer-Sheba, which took its name from the ruler Sheba who controlled the well there. (Beer means well.) Keturah's firstborn son was Joktan (Yaqtan), and early ruler in Arabia where the the Joktanite clans still reside.

1000 year old Eredo rampart

The western boundary of the Jebu is marked by a 1000 year old rampart that is 70 feet high and 100 miles long. The British archaeologist Patrick Darling is credited with drawing world attention to the discovery of the Eredo system of walls. He reports, "We are not linking what we found to a city, but to a vast kingdom boundary rampart."

The Eredo ramparts are located to the south-west of the Jebu town of Ijebu-Ode in Ogun state in southwest Nigeria. This is the largest single pre-colonial monument in Africa. Local people link the Eredo boundary walls to Bilikisu Sungbo, another name for Sheba, according to Dr Patrick Darling. This discovery confirms the biblical genealogical data that links the clans of Sheba and Jebu (Afro-Arabian peoples).

Itsekiri, an eastern Yoruba dialect, is said to be close to the original Jebusite language.  These Yoruba also recognize Hor (Horus) as a great deity and their connection to Nubia and ancient Egypt has been well established linguistically.

Study of the living Jebusites enables us to trace the origin of certain enthronement practices, such as the use of palm fronds. The two Jebu in Nigeria have two divisions: Jebu Remu and Jebu Ode. The supreme ruler of both is called "awujali” and he is installed with palm branches.

Jude Adebo Adeleye Ogunade writes in his memoir about growing up Ijebu. He was warned not to touch the leaves of the Igi-Ose tree, because as his Mama Eleni explained: “That tree is the tree whose leaves are used to install Chiefs and Kings of Ijebu and as your grandfather was a custodian of the rites of chieftaincy and kingship you must not play with its leaves.” (It is interesting, given the significance of Jesus' blood, that this plant is a blood purifier according to The University of Oxford, 1937 Institute Paper, no. 7 on Medicinal Plants; reference HA1k).

Fresh palm tree fronds are used ceremonially at the installation of chiefs and kings and are used to decorate places of worship. When the people of Jerusalem used palm fronds to greet Jesus as he entered the city, they greeted him as one to be enthroned. To this day, the Ijebu use fresh palm fronds when greeting and installing a ruler or  high priest.



Related reading:  The Edomites: Another Extant Biblical Tribe; Melchizedek, Son of Sheba; Ethiopian DNA Study Ignores Significant Data

The Edomites and the Color Red

Alice C. Linsley

The point of origin for humans is Africa and from the beginning humans exhibited a wide range of physical traits, including skin color, hair textures, eye shape, etc. The San (Bushmen) are one of the oldest people groups of Africa and they have a yellow skin tone. The peoples of the Upper Nile had both black and red skin tones. Images of black and red Nubian appear on ancient Egyptian monuments.

Petrie's study of ancient images suggested to him that Egypt was the product of racial mixture. He found images of Nubians in which some have black skin, others red skin, and some have brown skin. This confirmed what had been discovered by the 1828 Franco-Italian expedition to Egypt led by Jean-Francois Champollion and Ippolito Rosellini. Below is a detail from one of Rosellini's drawings showing both black and red Nubians taken captive by the Egyptians under Rameses II (1279-1213 B.C.).

The red skin tone is especially evident in peoples of Haplogroup R1b. Among these peoples were the Edo of Nigeria and Benin and the Edomites.

The Edo and the Edomites are related genetically. These are among Abraham's ancestors who came out of Africa. These were originally river peoples who moved along river systems and mountain ridges (the "high places"). They dispersed rather widely and settled in different regions including the Tigris-Euphrates River Valley and Southern Europe. Some lived in the red city of Petra, the capital of the Nabataean territory in Edom (modern Jordan).

The Greeks called the Edomites the "Idumea" or red people. Esau of Edom was described as having a red skin tone in Genesis 25:25. He was also described as hairy. Abraham's Ainu ancestors also were hairy and had a red skin tone. Abraham's father was called Tera (Terah) a royal name associated with the Ainu of the Upper Nile. These spread as far as Japan where only about 300 pure-blooded Ainu still remain on the island of Hokkaido. The original name of Tokyo was Edo. Among the Ainu the word "Tera" (Terah) means priest. Abraham's father was Terah, a ruler-priest whose territory along the Tigris River extending between Ur and Haran.

The Edomites of the Bible are related to the Edo or Idu of Nigeria and Benin. The title of their rulers is further evidence. The ruler of the Edo is called "Oba" and the first ruler of Petra was the deified Nabataean King Obodas.


The Clan of Seir the Horite (Genesis 36).

Esau the Elder and Seir were contemporaries and possibly brothers. Therir lines intermarried.

The biblical Edomites are associated with the color red. Edom means red and Genesis 25:25 links Esau to the Edomites. Esau was the name of at least two Edomite rulers. Isaac’s sons were not Jews, but Horites like their father and grandfather Abraham. That is why Esau the Elder married into the line associated with Seir the Horite (Gen. 36) and why Jacob married into the Horite line of Na-Hor. See diagram and note that there are 2 named Esau.  Esau the Elder married Adah, the daughter of the Horite ruler Elon.  Esau the Younger was Esau the Elder's grandson.  Esau the Younger married Oholibamah, a high-ranking Horite maiden.

The Edomites, along with the Jebusites, appear to have belonged to the Horite Confederation which originated in the Upper Nile region.  This is the homeland of Abraham's ancestors and is called Kush in Genesis 10. From ancient Kush, the peoples spread in many directions. Some live today in Nigeria and Benin as the Edo or Idu. 

Edo ruler called "Oba"  (Benin)

Likewise, the Biblical Jebusites have living descendants in Nigeria. They are called the Ijebu. The Jebusites built and controlled Jerusalem. Melchizedek was the priest-king of Jerusalem in Abraham's time. Very likely he and Abraham were kin. Read more here.

The Shasu were related to the Horites of Edom and according to monument inscriptions in Nubia, they called upon the God YHWH.


Related reading:  The Nubian Contecxt of YHWH; The Genesis Record of Horite Rule; Two Named Esau; A Kindling of Ancient Memory; Edo, Edom, Idumea; Edom and the Horites; The Red Heifer; The Bible and the Question of "Race"; Intermarriage Between the Dedanites and the Edomites