Texts in Conversation
2 Chronicles 12 uses the political meaning of servant found in the Ugaritic letter KTU 2.23 to contrast loyalty to God with submission to a foreign king, making lost freedom a lesson about misplaced allegiance.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
KTU 2.23:3
Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit
Ancient Near East
And thus spoke the Sun, the Great King, my lord: […] […] the embassy of his servant he sends to your lord […] my embassy with him […] the embassy of your servant, when it arrives, the embassy of the Sun, the Great [King], my [lord] […] I know […] [the Sun], the Great King, my [lord] […] […] [the Sun], the Great [King], […] [my lord]. And I […] I ask [for life for the] Sun, the [Great] King, [my lord]. Indeed I [ask] for life of [soul] before Baal of Sapan, my lord, and length of days for my lord, before Amun and before the gods of Egypt, who guard the soul of the Sun, the Great King, my lord.
2 Chronicles 12:8
Hebrew Bible
7 When the Lord saw that they humbled themselves, the Lord’s message came to Shemaiah: “They have humbled themselves, so I will not destroy them. I will deliver them soon. My anger will not be unleashed against Jerusalem through Shishak. 8 Yet they will become his subjects, so they can experience how serving me differs from serving the surrounding nations.” 9 King Shishak of Egypt attacked Jerusalem and took away the treasures of the Lord’s temple and of the royal palace; he took everything, including the gold shields that Solomon had made. 10 King Rehoboam made bronze shields to replace them and assigned them to the officers of the royal guard who protected the entrance to the royal palace. 11 Whenever the king visited the Lord’s temple, the royal guards carried them and then brought them back to the guardroom.
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Notes and References
“... 312Ug. 'bd is used in Ugarit to denote the vassal of the Great King (KTU 2.23:3;
2.39:6), like the Akkadian word ardu, "slave" (PRU IV:49, line 12). The use of
עבדin this text is the typically political language for vassalage (cf. also 2 Kings
16:7; 17:3; 24:1; Ezra 9:10; 2 Chron. 12:8) and forms a parallel to the bringing
of tribute; ...”
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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