JOSEPH
In my studies on the life of Joseph, I made some interesting discoveries concerning the Hyksos. Here for instance in Arad in Israel they built ramparts.
They also occupied Beit Shean for some time. This is also the place where the bodies of Saul and Jonathan were nailed on the temple wall.
At Lachish they built a double wall and added a moat. This all happened before they invaded Egypt and ruled there for many years.
I was very excited when I visited the ruins of the newly excavated city of Qatna in Syria. The Hyksos also built a temple here.
When you read the messages on the clay tablets you discover that the Hyksos too were hurting because of shattered dreams.
MARI
Another interesting site I visited next to the Euphrates River is called Mari. Clay tablets from site gives you in indication of how people lived in those days.
The last king who ruled here was called Zimrilim. He was defeated by the famous Babylonian king Hamurabi in 1750 BC. The city of Mari was destroyed and disappeared beneath the Mesopotamian sands.
When I visited Babylon I saw a replica of his famous law code. When the Persia king Xerxes destroyed Babylon in 480 BC. he took the statue to his winter palace in Susan, modern Iran.
When the French excavated the site of ancient Susan, they found the statute in three pieces. They took it to the Louvre and put all together.
THE LETTER
Let me read you a letter that was discovered in the Mari archives. It comes from the king of Qatna and is addressed to two brothers called Ishme-Dagan and Yasme-Dagan:
“The matter is unspeakable, yet I must speak and relieve my feelings: you are a great king; you asked me to two horses, and I had them sent to you.”
As I looked at the Mari inscriptions in the Louvre I thought again of the words:
“The matter is unspeakable, yet I must speak and relieve my feelings.”
Something serious was bothering the king of Qatna who used to live here. Do you have anxious thoughts like him right now? Have you been treated unfair?
Let’s continue reading the correspondence:
“The matter is unspeakable, yet I must speak and relieve my feelings: you are a great king; you asked me to two horses, and I had them sent to you. And now you sent me only 20 minas (10 kilograms) of tin.
It is such a privilege to visit these ancient sites and relive their history of joy and pain.
Listen the conclusion of the letter. I find it so typical human. I can identify:
“Is it not the case that, without any quibbling and in full, you got (what you wanted) from me? And you dare to send me this paltry amount of tin! If you had sent nothing at all, by the god of my fathers, I could not have been so angry!”
This is not only the story of Mari and Qatna, this is the story of your life and my life. How do you cope? Or are you not coping.
You cannot afford to miss the next presentation on the experience of Joseph in Egypt when the Hyksos ruled the country. You may experience a paradigm shift concerning your unfair treatment of the past and the present.
In the meantime I want to leaf the meaning of the Sumerian name of Hamurabi with you. It means: “Calm down, my lord.”
If you listen very attentively, you will hear a voice say: “Let not your hearts be troubled. Don’t get upset. I am planning for you a stress less future. Soon, very soon I will come and take you home.”