Panamuwa Inscription
Ancient Near East
This statue Bar-Rakib has set up for his father, Panamuwa, son of Barṣūr, king of Ya’di, in the year of his death. My father, Panamuwa— Because of the loyalty of his father, the gods of Ya’di delivered him from destruction which was in the house of his father. And the god Hadad stood with him. He set his throne. He destroyed the house of his father. He killed his father Barṣūr and seventy brothers of his father.
Date: 733 B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
Source
1 Samuel 9:16
Hebrew Bible
15 Now the day before Saul arrived, the Lord had told Samuel: 16 “At this time tomorrow I will send to you a man from the land of Benjamin. You must consecrate him as a leader over my people Israel. He will save my people from the hand of the Philistines. For I have looked with favor on my people. Their cry has reached me.” 17 When Samuel saw Saul, the Lord said, “Here is the man that I told you about. He will rule over my people.” 18 As Saul approached Samuel in the middle of the gate, he said, “Please tell me where the seer’s house is.”
Date: 6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition) (based on scholarly estimates)
Source
Summary
The Panamuwa Inscription from ancient Ya’di and the biblical story in 1 Samuel 9 both describe divine selection of a king by a patron deity. In each case, the divine intervenes to rescue a chosen ruler from danger and installs him on the throne. This literary pattern highlights a shared idea: kingship is granted by the deity of the land, who may remove unfit rulers and raise up loyal ones in their place.
Notes and References
"... Other deities also were responsible for individual cities or minor realms. In the capacity of patron deity of a particular city or realm, a god was responsible for choosing the human ruler (with the level of official entitled mlk) who served as the regent for the god among the human residents of the region. (Compare KAI 214.2-3 and 1 Samiel 9:16-17; 1 Samuel 16:1-13) The mortal king was viewed as an underling of the patron deity and could be removed by the god if proper care of the territory was not maintained.¹⁰⁷ If the ruler behaved properly, the god was expected to provide for the well-being of the population by means of bountiful crops, basic necessities, and a well-equipped military force ..."
Handy, Lowell K.
Among the Host of Heaven: The Syro-Palestinian Pantheon as Bureaucracy
(p. 114) Eisenbrauns, 1994
* 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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