The Value of the Amarna Letters to Old Testament Research

        The Amarna Letters, one of the major archaeological finds of the late nineteenth century, continue to be a valuable supplemental resource to the Old Testament over one hundred years later. As a matter of fact, interest in the documents, unlike other discoveries that quickly made headlines and just as rapidly disappeared from the public eye, has not diminished with the passing of decades.


        In 1887 a series of recently discovered clay tablets baffled archaeologists. Akhetaten, the capital of the heretic pharaoh Amenophis IV/Akhenaten, yielded the find not to the excavations of Sir Flinders Petrie, but a group of Egyptian peasants. They had unknowingly stumbled upon the “‘Place of the Letters of the Pharaoh,’ the storehouse of Egypt’s diplomatic correspondence” during the Amarna Period: "To the east of the King’s House lay . . . buildings that made up Akhetaten’s official section: police and     military headquarters, and the foreign office, which housed the archives of international correspondence that in modern times have become famous as the Amarna Letters" (Watterson, 82). A thorough inspection of the site eventually uncovered hundreds of documents, of which “there are 382 surviving tablets [residing] in London, Berlin, Paris and St. Petersburg, and in several private collections (Ibid).”

        Of the 382 archives known to exist, 350 of the documents consist of letters and inventories. The remaining thirty-two tablets are of diverse nature: Some belong in the Mesopotamian scribal tradition: myths and epics (EA 340, 356-59, 375), syllabaries (EA 348, 350, 379), lexical texts (EA 351-54, 373), a god-list (EA 374). On one is a tale of Hurrian origin (EA 341); on another (EA 368), an unparalleled list of Egyptian words written in syllabic cuneiform with equivalences in Babylonian written either syllabically or logographically. One tablet is perhaps an amulet (EA 355). The genres of the other 14 (EA 342-47, 349, 360-61, 372, 376-77, 380-81), which are often very fragmentary, remain to be determined. Thus the Amarna Letters provide a wealth of information concerning a wide variety of topics unavailable before the discovery.

        A significant percentage of the letters begin with an extended praise of the king of Egypt, EA 148 being an example of this practice: “I fall at the feet of the king, my lord, [seven] times and [seven] times.” Often pharaoh is represented as “my lord, my Shamash, my god, the breath of my life.”

        One finds such subjects in the Amarna Letters as gifts of Egyptian furniture to a Babylonian palace, loyalties, gold, dowry, gifts, a necklace, friendship, and missing golden statues. Other issues relate to Mittanian-Egyptian relations, passports, Hittite marriage negotiations, the loyalty of Ugarit, and balsam. One of the most important topics discussed in the Amarna Letters is the Habiru attack of Syro-Palestine.


        The Amarna Letters have proven to be a treasure trove for those who study the Old Testament. The archives provide a deepened understanding of the Pentateuch in at least three areas.

        First, the political landscape of Syro-Palestine during the period of the Exodus becomes sharper focused. The Amarna Letters demonstrate how Akhenaten’s fanaticism resulted in neglect of the region and failure to assist the peoples weakened Syro-Palestine. God used the delusions of the pharaoh in order to allow the Israelites entrance into Canaan without fear of Egyptian retaliation.

        The Amarna Letters, second, lend “perspective to Biblical history during the years before the Monarchy” of Israel (Pfeiffer, 54). The events of pre-Davidic Israel did not occur in a vacuum, but as a result of interaction with the people groups and religions that surrounded the Promised Land. None of the information uncovered by the Amarna Letters differs from the portrait presented in the Old Testament.

        Third, numerous biblical cities previously uncontested outside of the Bible appeared in the Amarna Letters. Since a number of these cities would not have been known centuries later, the Documentary Hypothesis suffers; how could editors of the Pentateuch have obtained such information if it was not available in their day?

        In conclusion, the Amarna Letters are a valuable set of resources that validate the Old Testament!


Selected Bibliography


Barbara Watterson, Amarna: Ancient Egypt’s Age of Revolution (Charleston, SC: Tempus Publishing Inc., 1999). 

Charles F.Pfeiffer, Tell El Amarna and the Bible (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1963).

William L. Moran, ed., The Amarna Letters (Baltimore: The John Hopkins University Press, 1992).