Mutbaal
Encyclopedia
Mutbaal was a Canaanite
king of the Amarna Period
. He is identified in the Amarna letters
as a son of Labaya
, the ruler of the hill country north of Jerusalem, including the territory in the vicinity of the city of Shachmu
(biblical Shechem).
Mutbaal may be the son whose association with the Habiru
raiders Labaya denounced in EA 254. He ruled in Pella
on the eastern side of the Jordan river. After his father's death at the hands of the citizens of Gina
, Mutbaal and his brother continued their assaults on other Canaanite rulers and their holdings, employing Habiru mercenaries. Eventually Biryawaza
of Damascus
was ordered by the Egyptian
court to take armed action against the sons of Labaya. (EA 250)
David Rohl
and a minority of scholars identify Mutbaal with Ishbaal or Ish-bosheth, the son of the Israelite
King Saul, but the chronology that would make this identification feasible is not accepted by the majority of scholars. It cannot be denied that the names have exactly the same meaning, but two people may have the same name and still belong to different time-periods.
Another interesting parallel is that while both fathers (Labaya, Saul) had their capitals west of the Jordan, the sons had theirs in Transjordan
.
In Rohl's historical view, it would not have been Mutbaal but Jonathan who displeased Labaya by associating with the Habiru. Mutbaal's brother in the post-Labaya period would be David
, his brother-in-law.
Canaan
Canaan is a historical region roughly corresponding to modern-day Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, and the western parts of Jordan...
king of the Amarna Period
Amarna Period
The Amarna Period was an era of Egyptian history during the latter half of the Eighteenth Dynasty when the royal residence of the pharaoh and his queen was shifted to Akhetaten in what is now modern-day Amarna...
. He is identified in the Amarna letters
Amarna letters
The Amarna letters are an archive of correspondence on clay tablets, mostly diplomatic, between the Egyptian administration and its representatives in Canaan and Amurru during the New Kingdom...
as a son of Labaya
Labaya
Labaya was a Habiru, possibly Canaanite, warlord who lived contemporaneously with Pharaoh Akhenaten . Labaya is mentioned in several of the Amarna Letters , which is practically all scholars know about him...
, the ruler of the hill country north of Jerusalem, including the territory in the vicinity of the city of Shachmu
Shechem
Shechem was a Canaanite city mentioned in the Amarna letters, and is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible as an Israelite city of the tribe of Manasseh and the first capital of the Kingdom of Israel...
(biblical Shechem).
Mutbaal may be the son whose association with the Habiru
Habiru
Habiru or Apiru or ˁpr.w was the name given by various Sumerian, Egyptian, Akkadian, Hittite, Mitanni, and Ugaritic sources to a group of people living as nomadic invaders in areas of the Fertile Crescent from Northeastern Mesopotamia and Iran to the borders of Egypt in Canaan...
raiders Labaya denounced in EA 254. He ruled in Pella
Pella, Jordan
Pella is a village and the site of ancient ruins in northwestern Jordan. It is half an hour by car from Irbid, in the north of the country....
on the eastern side of the Jordan river. After his father's death at the hands of the citizens of Gina
Gina (Canaan)
Gina, mentioned in the Amarna Letters, was a town in ancient Canaan. The citizens of Gina were responsible for the death of Labaya. The town was later known as Beth-Hagan and was probably located roughly on the spot of the modern town of Jenin....
, Mutbaal and his brother continued their assaults on other Canaanite rulers and their holdings, employing Habiru mercenaries. Eventually Biryawaza
Biryawaza
Biryawaza was king of Damascus in the middle fourteenth century BC. In the Amarna letters, he was ordered by his Egyptian overlords to take armed action against Labaya's sons ....
of Damascus
Damascus
Damascus , commonly known in Syria as Al Sham , and as the City of Jasmine , is the capital and the second largest city of Syria after Aleppo, both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major...
was ordered by the Egyptian
Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...
court to take armed action against the sons of Labaya. (EA 250)
David Rohl
David Rohl
New Chronology is the term used to describe an alternative Chronology of the ancient Near East developed by English Egyptologist David Rohl and other researchers beginning with A Test of Time: The Bible - from Myth to History in 1995...
and a minority of scholars identify Mutbaal with Ishbaal or Ish-bosheth, the son of the Israelite
Israelite
According to the Bible the Israelites were a Hebrew-speaking people of the Ancient Near East who inhabited the Land of Canaan during the monarchic period .The word "Israelite" derives from the Biblical Hebrew ישראל...
King Saul, but the chronology that would make this identification feasible is not accepted by the majority of scholars. It cannot be denied that the names have exactly the same meaning, but two people may have the same name and still belong to different time-periods.
Another interesting parallel is that while both fathers (Labaya, Saul) had their capitals west of the Jordan, the sons had theirs in Transjordan
Transjordan
The Emirate of Transjordan was a former Ottoman territory in the Southern Levant that was part of the British Mandate of Palestine...
.
In Rohl's historical view, it would not have been Mutbaal but Jonathan who displeased Labaya by associating with the Habiru. Mutbaal's brother in the post-Labaya period would be David
David
David was the second king of the united Kingdom of Israel according to the Hebrew Bible and, according to the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, an ancestor of Jesus Christ through both Saint Joseph and Mary...
, his brother-in-law.
List of Mutbaal's 2 letters to Pharaoh
-
- EA 255—title: "No destination too far"–See: Karaduniyash
- EA 256—title: "Oaths and denials".
EA 256 is about Mutbaal, and PellaPellaPella , an ancient Greek city located in Pella Prefecture of Macedonia in Greece, was the capital of the ancient kingdom of Macedonia.-Etymology:...
-(Pihilu); a list of cities in the letter, in the Golan Heights=(Garu)—Udumu, Aduru, Araru, Mešta-(Meshta), Magdalu, Heni-anabi-(Kheni-anabi), Sarqu, Hayyunu, & Yabiluma. People mentioned in this letter include Dadua, Yishuya and Ayab, whom Rohl identifies with DavidDavidDavid was the second king of the united Kingdom of Israel according to the Hebrew Bible and, according to the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, an ancestor of Jesus Christ through both Saint Joseph and Mary...
, JesseJesseJesse, Eshai or Yishai, is the father of the David, who became the king of the Israelites. His son David is sometimes called simply "Son of Jesse" ....
, and JoabJoabJoab the son of Zeruiah, was the nephew of King David and the commander of his army, according to the Hebrew Bible.- Name :...
.
Resources
- Baikie, James. The Amarna Age: A Study of the Crisis of the Ancient World. University Press of the Pacific, 2004.
- Cohen, Raymond and Raymond Westbrook (eds.). Amarna Diplomacy: The Beginnings of International Relations. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002.
- Moran, William L. (ed. and trans.) The Amarna Letters. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002.