Digging Up the Bible: The Elephantine Papyri

DIGGING UP THE BIBLE
Important Archeological Finds that help Us Understand Scripture
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Linda Manuel—1996

Elephantine Papyri
(6^th-4^th century BC)

These papyri, folded neatly and sealed with clay bullae, are part of a cache of documents discovered on the Egyptian island of Elephantine (at Aswan along the Nile River). The hoard consists of legal contracts and personal correspondence, mostly in Aramaic, providing insight to the Jewish presence in Egypt during the Persian Period.

The Elephantine community probably started during Manasseh's reign as a military outpost. In 650 B.C. the king sent a small contingent of soldiers to support Pharaoh Psammetichus I in his fight against the Nubians in the south and against the Assyrians in the north. With his help, Psammetichus was able to declare independence (for a short time) and drive back the Assyrian forces. Israel, however, was not able to stop the invasion of its territory. The Northern Kingdom had already fallen to Assyrian forces (722 B.C.), and the Southern Kingdom became a vassal state. The Jewish soldiers at the outpost chose to remain in Egypt after Manasseh's defeat and deportation:

The king of Assyria took Manasseh prisoner, put a hook in his nose, bound him with bronze shackles and took him to Babylon. (2 Chr 3:11)

Perhaps as incentive to stay (on the first line of defense between Egypt and the ever-advancing Assyrian military), Pharaoh allowed the displaced Jews to build a temple to their God on the island of Elephantine. This was not an isolated accommodation; Egypt also allowed Arameans stationed on the mainland to build temples to their many gods.

Why the Jewish military outpost needed a temple is not clear. Some scholars think that clergy and laity loyal to the faith who fled Manasseh's state-sponsored paganism joined the garrison in Egypt to create a new community, and Isaiah's prophecy may have inspired them to build a temple:

In that day there will be an altar to the LORD in the heart of Egypt, and a monument to the LORD at its border. (Isa 19:19)

The Egyptian Jews did not have extensive resources, but they duplicated the dimensions and basic structure of Solomon's temple. They also performed the offerings biblical law required.

Although the date of construction is not certain, one of the papyri in the Elephantine collection states that the temple was standing before the Persian invasion in 525 B.C.:

During the days of the kings of Egypt [i.e., when Egypt was independent] our forefathers built that temple in the Elephantine fortress, and when [the Persian ruler] Cambyses entered Egypt, he found that temple built.

The temple remained untouched until 410 B.C. when Egyptian priests of the ram god Khum along with a wayward Persian official named Vidranga destroyed it.

Jedaniah, leader of the Jewish community at Elephantine, wrote to Baghohi, the Persian governor of Judah, to intercede on his behalf for the rebuilding of the temple:

Your servants Jedaniah and his colleagues and the Jews, all (of them) citizens of Elephantine, thus say: If to our lord it is good, take thought of that temple to (re)build it. Regard your obligees and your friends who are here in Egypt. May a letter from you be sent to them about the temple of the Lord the God to (re)build it in Elephantine the fortress just as it had been built formerly. And the meal offering and the incense and the burnt-offering they will offer on the altar of the Lord the God in your name and we shall pray for you at all times...

The reply to this letter was probably an oral message to Jedaniah through the person who delivered the letter to Bogohi. A small note, in the first person, did get permission to rebuild on the condition that they make only certain offerings there:

You may stay in Egypt before Arsames about the altar-house of the God of heaven which is in Elephantine the fortress was formerly built was formerly before Cambyses (and) which Vidranga, that wicked (man) demolished in year fourteen of King Darius: to (re)build it on its site as it was formally, and the meal offering and the incense they shall offer upon the altar just as formerly was done.

During the period of the first Elephantine temple, Manasseh's pagan reign ended and Josiah's major reforms centralized worship in Jerusalem again. Josiah's primary concern was to eliminate idolatry and to correct the perversion of blood sacrifices. His reforms, however, did not extend beyond the land of Israel. During the Persian Period, when the Elephantine Jews asked the governor of Judah to intercede with the Egyptian authorities for permission to rebuild their temple, the governor consulted the Jewish council in Jerusalem. The council agreed on condition that the Egyptian Jews not make animal sacrifices but did not restrict other offerings, perhaps in light of Malachi's prophecy:

"My name will be great among the nations, from the rising to the setting of the sun. In every place incense and pure offerings will be brought to my name, because my name will be great among the nations," says the LORD Almighty. (Mal 1:11)

In another letter, Jedaniah agreed to this condition:

If our lord [...] of our temple of the Lord the God be (re)built in Elephantine the fortress as it former[ly] was [bu]ilt—and sheep, ox, and goat as burnt-offering are [n]ot made there but (only) incense (and) meal-offerings [they offer there]—and shall our lord mak[e] a statement [about this, then] we shall give to the house of our lord si[llver...and] a thousand ardabs of barley.

Given this compromise (and an added bribe), the Persian governor of Judah persuaded the Egyptian authorities to grant permission for the construction of a second temple.

The establishment of a temple at Elephantine seems contrary to God's command that there should be only one temple:

To the place the LORD your God will choose as a dwelling for his Name—there you are to bring everything I command you: your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and special gifts, and all the choice possessions you have vowed to the LORD.... Be careful not to sacrifice your burnt offerings anywhere you please. Offer them only at the place the LORD will choose in one of your tribes, and there observe everything I command you. (Deut 12:10-11, 13-14)

Perhaps the residents of Elephantine saw an exception in Ezekiel's prophecy of an exilic sanctuary (although that promise was most likely metaphorical not literal):

Although I sent them far away among the nations and scattered them among the countries, yet for a little while I have been a sanctuary for them in the countries where they have gone. (11:16)

Cf. A time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. (John 4:21)

Still, they probably realized the limitation of Solomon's words:

Will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built! (1 Kgs 8:27)

Significance for Biblical Studies: The Elephantine papyri reveal much about life in the Jewish diaspora of Egypt. They also make some interesting connections with Manasseh's paganism, Josiah's reforms, and certain prophecies. Above all, they show that wherever God's people live, wherever they migrate, they are to be "a light for the Gentiles" (Isa 42:6; 49:6).

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