New article reexamines the history of the Jewish settlement on the island of Yiv on the Nile, its military-ritual character, its unusual temple, and the possibility that its name carried a deep Jewish-religious meaning.
This time I am diving into the depths of Jewish/Egyptian history in the ancient era, namely the island of "Yev" (the Yed with a hyphen from now on) on the Nile in philological-semantic aspects and roots in the context of the word/name/term "Yev" (and again, as mentioned, with a hyphen). This list seeks to examine the nature and essence of the military settlement in ancient Egypt, with one of the questions of the research in question being: Does the name of the Jewish center on the island in question involve some phonetic pronunciation of the "explicit name", the sacred and known (Yahweh) and this in a particular pronunciation? Is it abbreviated? Or perhaps in the context of the nature of the Jewish community that settled there at some time, and perhaps it is generally shrouded in thick fog, with around it that settlement with military/ritual/temple foundations, which left Judea in several waves and established a kind of "little temple" on that island in question? Or perhaps even the basis for a broad Jewish settlement, When, in the background of the events, a real danger loomed for the very existence of the ancient Jewish settlement in Judea on the one hand and Samaria/Israel on the other?
This is a kind of summary of the establishment of a Jewish military base in ancient Egypt, in "Yev", which would later be called "Elephantina" (the "noon" in purple) in Greek, which means "Elephant Island" on the Egyptian Nile River from the eighth century BCE onwards. This was due to the abundance of elephants in the area in question.
Let us begin with a historical introduction as follows - at the end of the First Temple period, perhaps in the eighth century BCE, or perhaps following the destruction of the ancient Kingdom of Israel, a kind of military colony of Jewish mercenaries arose in Egypt, in the south, on the border with the Kingdom of Kush and Nubia, called the "Hela (the eighth in the axis notation) Yehudiah," meaning the Jewish army, which was intended to protect the southern border of Egypt and reached its peak during the Persian occupation from 525 BCE.
Indeed, how? Well, this settlement was held at the navel of the island "Yeb", as it is called, it seems, following that Jewish settlement on the Nile River in Egypt. And this is certainly an important statement here, and later I will talk even more about it.
It is not known explicitly, at this stage, whether the name "Yav" preceded the aforementioned settlement phenomenon or not?! Although historical circumstances show that it did.
It should be noted and clarified that Egypt at that time, for various reasons, became an almost natural center of attraction for immigration into it, and in this case, of Jews for economic and political reasons, and perhaps with the help of Jewish priests who were persecuted by Manasseh, King of Israel (642-697 BCE), who renewed pagan worship in Judah and found refuge in Egypt. These were absorbed, as mentioned, into service in the Egyptian army, such as the immigration
Johanan ben Korah and his army officers and soldiers headed towards Egypt, as well as after the murder of Gedaliah ben Ahikam after the death of Zedekiah, king of Judah (586-597 BCE) and settled in Migdol and Tahpanhes in Lower Egypt, in Noph (isn't that Memphis) and in the southern land of Pathros, isn't that Upper Egypt. And indeed, during all these dates, that is, between 664 BCE and 589 BCE, which are the days of the royal reign of Pharaoh Psamtik II, and during whose days Jewish soldiers served in his royal army, the affair of the Jewish military settlement on the island that would since then be called Zedekiah began, as mentioned.
It should be noted that this phenomenon of combining a military-ritual-settlement aspect... when it comes to that Jewish immigration and settlement there, is instructive in terms of the overall issue that is at the center of our discussion here.
Elephant Island
That Jewish military colony was established, as mentioned, on the island of "Yev", aka "Elephantina" (Zira, Sagol, Kemetz, Shva, Hirik Mala and Segol) (="The Island of Elephants"), as it was later called in the Greco-Hellenistic era. This move was carried out with the approval of the Egyptian king on the one hand and later with the seal of the Persian royal house on the other. And this will not be easy in our eyes, especially when it comes to sending that group with a military background, under the orders and guidance of the ancient Egyptian royal house, to the southern region of great importance to the overall well-being of the aforementioned Egyptian kingdom. In other words, the Egyptian royal house based its hands on this move, and perhaps even its direction, on the basis of the professional or quasi-professional military character on the one hand and the cohesive social character on the other hand of that colony.
This military-political-religious-ritual move appears in biblical literature, such as in the prophets Isaiah (chapter 20:3-6) and Jeremiah (chapter 19:18-20 and chapter 43:5-7) and is confirmed in ostraca, papyri, parchment scrolls, and numerous epigraphs found in the "12" region and indirectly confirmed in the writings of Herodotus, the classical Greek historian (2:161). The above-mentioned cross-reference between the sources is very important to the subject of our discussion.
This is nothing less than the establishment of a Jewish temple on the island of "Yeb," one that was close, so similar, in form and dimensions to those of the Mishkan, the ancient Jewish temple in Jerusalem during the days of the First Temple, from the days of David and Solomon, many, many years earlier. Again, let us not take the above matter lightly, one of unprecedented significance in the history of the Jewish people, when there is no doubt that this is a revolutionary move, largely unprecedented. Various intentions were evidently embedded in this move, the main one perhaps being to completely break away from the Temple in the Land of Israel and perhaps even to later periods.
The Decline of Classical Greece and the Return of Zion from Babylon
The aforementioned temple was called by the local Jews as "Agora zu Yehu El-Ahiyu", and it is amazing to what extent the local Jews combined the Greek ("Agora") as the center of the Hellenic polis in the center of which stood the temple in its glory, and this alongside the place of assembly of the people. Moreover, the literal combination of "El-Ahiyu" is nothing but "El-Ahiyu" - his God, God ... and so on. Incidentally, the combination of "El-Ahiyu" seems to teach how they expressed the explicit context, linguistically of course, of "Yahweh". Furthermore, the kind of linguistic box at the beginning of the inscription, namely - "Yahweh" and perhaps in the combination "Yahweh El ..." is hidden the hidden hint of the pronunciation of the name of God, at least according to the knowledge of the founders of the temple. Interesting ... ?!?
It should be noted that this temple was destroyed, by the way, in 410 BCE. Somewhere at the end of the ancient era, during the decline of classical Greece, in the midst of the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta, and in a rather interesting chronological-historiographic context, when the Second Temple had already been erected, inaugurated, and operated in Judea at that time, from 516 BCE, following the famous declaration of Cyrus, that is, of the "Return of Zion" generation, and later - of Ezra and Nehemiah.
No matter how we approach this, literally or figuratively, that is, in a clear context or in the absence of any connection to the aforementioned historical events that took place in the Land of Israel, in a kind of transitional era between Persian rule in the Land of Israel and the Hellenic-Hellenistic one, we are faced with a bold, unprecedented attempt to break away from the ancient sacred center in Jerusalem, i.e. the First Temple of David and Solomon. And this, of course, in light of the conjunctive circumstances of the process of the destruction of Israel and Judah, and not in the sense of declaring some kind of "outrage", but rather creating some kind of "little temple" in light of the fateful circumstances that befell both Israel/Samaria and Judah at that time. And perhaps, as mentioned, as a kind of temporary theological center until the erection of the ancient Jerusalem Temple.
In short – intentional or not, timed or not, the establishment of the Jewish Temple in Egypt, in light of the above historical circumstances, certainly contains a treasure trove of conclusions, interesting in one way or another, "embarrassing" – in the words of a detective… a detective… or not?!
Jewish leadership
Detaching somewhat from the above textual complexity, it should be noted that the Jews of the "Twelfth" had their own religious leadership (A. Kasher, The Jews of Hellenistic and Roman Egypt, Tel Aviv University, 1977, p. 47 ff.), headed by a supreme religious leadership, that is, a respected, accepted and blessed leadership, as well as a council of priests as a social crown on the one hand and sacral on the other for the benefit of the Jewish center of the Twelve. These leaders oversaw the sacred work of the aforementioned temple and served as the official representation vis-à-vis the authorities, in a political sense, and perhaps (Kosher, ibid., p. 48), whose collective title for the leadership was "the owners of the twelve" (Hecateus of Abdira, in Josephus, against Apion 205-186), perhaps even in terms of an interesting proprietary connection as appears in the Bible, such as "the owners of Shechem" (Judges 9:6), "the owners of Keilah" (1 Samuel 23:11), "the owners of Jabesh-gilead" (2 Samuel 21:12), and more.
The connection between the Jewish community in "Elefantina" and the Jews of the Land of Israel has unfolded throughout history, and in this context, the figure of Hezekiah the priest who served during the reign of Ptolemy I Soter (283-367 BCE), the Hellenistic Egyptian king, will be mentioned, and perhaps even the term, which was formulated there as "Elefantina" (Elefantina), was formed and formulated following the aforementioned king. This was, as stated above, a military colony ("Katoikeia" or "Politoima", which was based "according to the laws of the fathers" as worded there, just like the privilege that the Jews of the Land of Israel were granted in the Hellenistic period and which was programmed under the name "the right to live according to the laws of the fathers". And it is very interesting to emphasize that the first privilege was granted in the Hellenistic Land of Israel many years earlier, namely during the time of Alexander the Great, somewhere in 327 BC, when he authorized the Jews of the Land of Israel, at the initiative of the High Priest who asked him to allow the Jews to "observe the laws of their fathers" (Josef ben Matityahu, Antiquities of the Jews 11 338). This privilege was finally and in detail approved by the signature of Antiochus III, the Seleucid king in 200 BC in the charter of rights for the Jews, emphasizing the central paragraph as follows: "...and to all the people (the Jew) A regime will be established in accordance with the laws of the fathers…” (Ancient Jewish History 12, 142).
It should be noted that the same Seleucid, i.e. Syrian-Hellenistic, privilege may or may not have influenced Egyptian Ptolemaic (Ptolemaic) policy, but this assumption cannot be completely ruled out.
Order of release from King Ptolemy
Well, as mentioned, long before the privilege of Antiochus III, the Jews, under the rule of Ptolemy II, "Philadelphius" (246-308 BC), the Hellenistic king of Egypt, received the edict, the decree, which granted liberation to the Jewish community in "Zeb", which in his day would be called Elephantine ("Island of Elephants"). And this privilege was equivalent, in my opinion, to "the right to live according to the laws of their ancestors". Moreover, it allowed the entry/service of the members of the Jewish community into the ranks of the local Hellenistic army. And let us not forget that the members of the Jewish community in Egypt had a previous military background when they came to Egypt. This is a very important point, as the basis for supporting this article. In other words, the basis for granting the right to establish the Jewish community in Egypt, with local-governmental privileges, of a military-governmental-community-Jewish nature. And this, as a reason and perhaps even as a result of the Egyptian desire to reciprocate on the one hand Jewish community and, on the other hand, to utilize the special skills of its residents to solve security problems in Egypt itself, especially in the south.
This privilege persisted during the time of his successors, namely the kings of the Ptolemaic dynasty, and perhaps this is where the name/nickname/term "Yav" (the "Yav" is dotted with a hyphen) comes from, in terms of identifying the Jew as an individual on the one hand and as a member of a community on the other, which only means in the Greek language and perhaps its origins are in an earlier term, something biblical, which will be presented later at the end of this article from a linguistic-historical-archaeological perspective. And even if not, it is clear that for the Egyptians, the Jewish communal presence was an important asset.
This evidence, it should be emphasized, and the conclusions I present in this article, are well-embedded in the treasure trove of papyri of "Yeb" in the language spoken in Egypt at the time of the Muslim conquest in the seventh century CE, such as was used in the Coptic church and was called "Yeb", or in Latin script Eihb, Iub.
We are therefore "left" to try and deal with the word/phrase/name/nickname "Yav".
Well, as mentioned, there is a hypothesis that "Yeb" was called in Greek by the name "Elephantina", meaning "Elephant Island" after the supposed presence of elephants in the area and perhaps after the rocks that were scattered there in the shape of reclining elephants. And it may have been named after the "ivory" that comes from elephant tusks, when ivory was used to produce various art objects and jewelry, and perhaps the "tooth of the ibe", when "ibe" may be connected to the word "aibe" in Coptic, and above "aibe" or "youb" and perhaps even from "abu" or "yeb". And perhaps to connect the above with the aforementioned geo-historical name, i.e. "Yeb".
And I maintain, with all my heart and soul, that perhaps the connection between the Jews who settled on the island of "Yab" and served as soldiers and holy men/priests, existed, at least phonetically-linguistically, with the explicit name "Yahweh", "Yave" or even the abbreviation of the word "Hebrew".
And maybe-maybe, and without falling into the pit of wild imagination, the word/term "12" somehow symbolizes the number of the twelve tribes, which may have been the intention of the settlers who migrated from Judah, and maybe-maybe they later adopted the numerical name for themselves as a connection with the ancient region they abandoned in Israel. Who knows?
In any case, that Jewish community that settled in Egypt was a kind of connection between a military group and ritual holiness and over a long period called itself a settlement on the island of "Yab." It established for itself no less than a Hebrew, Jewish temple, which was identical in size and shape to the one built and operated in ancient Israel. It is therefore not surprising that the aforementioned community took upon itself the name "Yab," between which and the explicit name a sacred semantic/phonetic connection was created, and that perhaps under certain circumstances the aforementioned community could be called "Holy Warriors," "God's Warriors," as is customary and known throughout biblical literature.
And perhaps, perhaps the word/verb/term/name is related to the expression "Yahav" that appears in the Book of Psalms, such as "Cast your burden on the Lord, your strength..." (55:23), when the word "Yahav" has the same meaning - confidence, courage, and boldness, which may certainly be related to the subject of our discussion, i.e., the Jewish community fighting in ancient Egypt.
And what was the attitude of biblical literature towards the above phenomenon? Negation? Cancellation, rejection? … Absolutely not, and that means preaching.
"Yab" was therefore a Jewish military colony with a religious-faith-ritual character that became a kind of imagined continuation of biblical Judah, and perhaps even as a kind of alternative to it, with a temple at its center that was identical to the ancient biblical temple. And perhaps that is why it called itself the "Yab Community." And let us not forget that from the perspective of the Egyptian government at the time, its main mission was to protect the southern border of Egypt. Well, entrusting this border to the aforementioned Jewish community in Egypt, beyond the issue of its loyalty to the center of Egyptian government at the time, reflected the fact of its military skills from the point of view of the Egyptian monarchy at the time, which seems to me to be a phenomenon, a very interesting situational picture relative to the relationship between: between a kind of somewhat unique Jewish representation, and the central Egyptian government at the time.
More of the topic in Hayadan:
5 תגובות
Hello to the commenter. If I were you, I would not rule out either a priori or ex-priori the assumption that behind "12" lies the name Yahweh. I raised this as an assumption among all other assumptions, when the one who rules out is ruled out, as is accepted, at least by me, in all my modesty.
12 means elephant in ancient Egyptian. Shan-Hab is elephant's tusk. The speculations about the name Yahweh are irrelevant.
Hello Ohad. Thank you for your answer. Indeed, yes, indeed, this is what I mentioned in my article as one of the options for interpreting the name, the title of "Elephant Island."
https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%9E%D7%9B%D7%AA%D7%91%D7%99_%D7%99%D7%91#:~:text=%D7%93%D7%A3%20%D7%96%D7%94%20%D7%A0%D7%A2%D7%A8%D7%9A%20%D7%9C%D7%90%D7%97%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%A0%D7%94%20%D7%91%D6%BE19%20%D7%91%D7%9E%D7%A8%D7%A5%202026%2C%20%D7%91%D7%A9%D7%A2%D7%94%2008:44.
I read somewhere that the port city of 'Yab', which was secured by Jews, was a center for trading in elephant tusks, and hence their name 'Shan-Hab' was established.
And it was also once published about a papyrus found in the area containing halachic questions from Jews to religious scholars in the country, about how to behave on holidays since they could not make the pilgrimage to the Jewish Temple.