 A brief note - A number of remarkable clay tablets, discovered at Tell-el-Amarna in Upper Egypt, are the most important historical records ever found in connection with the Bible. They most fully confirm the historical statements of the Book of Joshua, and prove the antiquity of civilization in Syria and Palestine.The writers are Phoenicians, Amorites, and Philistines, but in no instance Hittites, though Hittites are mentioned. 
 There occur the names of three kings killed by Joshua, Adoni-zedec, king of Jerusalem, Japhia, king of Lachish (Josh. 10:3), and Jabin, king of Hazor (11:1); also the Hebrews (Abiri) are said to have come from the desert. 
 
Israel
  To unify the people in the face of the Philistine threat, the prophet Samuel anointed the guerrilla captain Saul as the first king of the Israelites. Only one year after his coronation, however, the Philistines destroyed the new royal army at Mount Gilboa, near Bet Shean, southeast of the Plain of Yizreel (also known as the Plain of Jezreel and the Plain of Esdraelon), killing Saul and his son Jonathan. 

 Facing imminent peril, the leadership of the Israelites passed to David, a shepherd turned mercenary who had served Saul but also trained under the Philistines. Although David was destined to be the most successful king in Jewish history, his kingdom initially was not a unified nation but two separate national entities, each of which had a separate contract with him personally. King David, a military and political genius, successfully united the north and south under his rule, soundly defeated the Philistines, and expanded the borders of his kingdom, conquering Ammon, Moab, Edom, Zobah (also known as Aram-Zobah), and even Damascus in the far northeast. His success was caused by many factors: the establishment of a powerful professional army that quelled tribal unrest, a regional power vacuum (Egyptian power was on the wane and Assyria and Babylon to the east had not yet matured), his control over the great regional trade routes, and his establishment of economic and cultural contacts with the rich Phoenician city of Tyre. Of major significance, David conquered from the Jebusites the city of Jerusalem, which controlled the main interior north-south route. He then brought the Ark of the Covenant, the most holy relic the Israelites possessed and the symbol of their unity, into the newly constituted "City of David," which would serve as the center of his united kingdom. 

 Despite reigning over an impressive kingdom, David was not an absolute monarch in the manner of other rulers of his day. He believed that ultimate authority rested not with any king but with God. Throughout his thirty-three-year reign, he never built a grandiose temple associated with his royal line, thus avoiding the creation of a royal temple-state. His successor and son Solomon, however, was of a different ilk. He was less attached to the spiritual aspects of Judaism and more interested in creating sumptuous palaces and monuments. To carry out his large-scale construction projects, Solomon introduced corves, or forced labor; these were applied to Canaanite areas and to the northern part of the kingdom but not to Judah in the south. He also imposed a burdensome tax system. Finally, and most egregious to the northern tribes of Israel, Solomon ensured that the Temple in Jerusalem and its priestly caste, both of which were under his authority, established religious belief and practice for the entire nation. Thus, Solomon moved away from the austere spirituality founded by Moses in the desert toward the pagan cultures of the Mediterranean Coast and Nile Valley.

 Israel may not trade religion techs" An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord:" AND"Thou shalt not seek their peace nor their prosperity all thy days for ever."
 If you do trade techs Israel will spiral into defeat, "idle worship" will cause Israel to self- destruct.


 Edom
 The Edomites were Semites, closely related in blood and in language to the Israelites.
 
 The tribes of Edom were in contact with the cultured scribes and traders of Ma'in [Southern Arabia]. The art of writing was blazoned not only on the temples of the gods, but also on the dwellings of the rich and powerful. 

 Their formidable warlike appearance, as described by the spies sent to search the land, filled the Israelites with terror. They seem to have identified them with the Nephilim, the "giants" (Gen. 6:4; Num. 13:33) of the antediluvian age. There were various tribes of Anakim descendants of Esau brother of Jacob.The Edomites remembered the old quarrel between the brothers, and with fierce hatred they warred against Israel. 

 At the time of the Exodus they churlishly refused permission to the Israelites to pass through their land , and ever afterwards maintained an attitude of hostility toward them. It is conjectured that while David was leading his army against the Ammonites and Syrians, the Edomites invaded the south of Judah, and that David sent Joab or Abishai against them, who drove them back and finally subdued Edom.

 There are many prophecies concerning Edom (Isa. 34:5, 6; Jer. 49:7-18; Ezek. 25:13; 35:1-15; Joel 3:19; Amos 1:11; Obad.; Mal. 1:3, 4) which have been remarkably fulfilled. The present desolate condition of that land is a standing testimony to these prophecies. After an existence as a people for above seventeen hundred years, they have utterly disappeared, and their language even is forgotten for ever. In Petra, "where kings kept their court, and where nobles assembled, there no man dwells; it is given by lot to birds, and beasts, and reptiles." 

 
 Moab
 The designation of a tribe descended from Moab, the son of Lot (Gen. 19:37). Ba'al-pe'or - lord of the opening, a god of the Moabites worshipped by obscene rites {Mesha in offering his own son a sacrifice on the walls}.A settled farming tribe with warlike tendancies.It bears the modern name of Kerak. Artistic and legacy driven tribe. Allies with Ammon.

 After the Conquest of Canaan, the Moabites maintained hostile relations with the Israelites, and frequently harassed them in war.The story of Ruth, however, shows the existence of friendly relations between Moab and Bethlehem. By his descent from Ruth, David may be said to have had Moabite blood in his veins. Yet there was war between David and the Moabites , from whom he took great spoil.
 
 (2 Samuel 8) " And he smote Moab, and measured them with a line, casting them down to the ground; even with two lines measured he to put to death, and with one full line to keep alive. And so the Moabites became David's servants, and brought gifts."

 Moa'bite Stone-a basalt stone, bearing an inscription by King Mesha, which was discovered at Dibon by Klein, a German missionary at Jerusalem, in 1868. It was 3 1/2 feet high and 2 in breadth and in thickness, rounded at the top. It consisted of thirty-four lines, written in Hebrew-Phoenician characters. It was set up by Mesha as a record and memorial of his victories.


  Ammon
  The usual name of the descendants of Ammon, the son of Lot.This tribe is closely associated with the Moabites. The Ammonites were probably more of a predatory warlike tribe, moving from place to place. They were of Semitic origin, and closely related to the Hebrews in blood and language. 

 They showed no kindness to the Israelites when passing through their territory, and therefore they were prohibited from "entering the congregation of the Lord to the tenth generation" (Deut. 23:3). They afterwards became hostile to Israel.
 (1 Samuel 1)-"Then Nahash the Ammonite came up, and encamped against Jabeshgilead: and all the men of Jabesh said unto Nahash, Make a covenant with us, and we will serve thee. And Nahash the Ammonite answered them, On this condition will I make a covenant with you, that I may thrust out all your right eyes, and lay it for a reproach upon all Israel."

 They were signally defeated by Saul . David also defeated them and their allies the Syrians. After David had subdued all their allies in a great war, he sent Joab with a strong force to take their capital city. For two years it held out against its assailants. When Rabbah was taken by David, the crown of their idol was among the spoils. The weight is said to have been "a talent of gold" (above 100 lbs.)

 Mo'loch the national god of the Ammonites, to whom children were sacrificed by fire. He was the consuming and destroying and also at the same time the purifying fire.This god became Chemosh among the Moabites.  
   
 

 Philistines
 Da'gon the fish-god; the national god of the Philistines. This idol had the body of a fish with the head and hands of a man. It was an Assyrio-Babylonian deity, the worship of which was introduced among the Philistines through Chaldea. The most famous of the temples of Dagon were at Gaza and Ashdod. 
 Ba'al-ze'bub  fly-lord, the god of the Philistines at Ekron . This name was given to the god because he was supposed to be able to avert the plague of flies which in that region was to be feared.

 Caph'tor the original seat of the Philistines . The name is found written in hieroglyphics in the temple of Kom Ombos in Upper Egypt also being termed Palastu and Pilista in the Assyrian inscriptions.. But the exact situation of Caphtor is unknown, though it is supposed to be Crete. At this period the Philistines were not, as at a later period, under a kingly government. There were five such lordships, Gath, Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, and Ekron. 

 The Philistines were a warlike people possessing iron weapons and organized with great discipline under a feudal-military aristocracy. Around 1050 B.C., having exterminated the coastal Canaanites, they began a large-scale movement against the interior hill country, now mainly occupied by the Israelites.They were not finally dispossessed till the time of Alexander the Great.The prophets foretold its destruction (Jer. 47:1-7)

 This powerful tribe made frequent incursions against the Hebrews. There was almost perpetual war between them. They sometimes held the tribes, especially the southern tribes, in degrading servitude at other times they were defeated with great slaughter.

  Repha'im - giants, The aborigines of Palestine, They were known to the Moabites as Emim, i.e., "fearful", and to the Ammonites as Zamzummim. Some of them found refuge among the Philistines, and were still existing in the days of David. 

 

 Phoenicians
 They were a Canaanite branch of the race of Ham a strip of land of an average breadth of about 20 miles along the shores of the Mediterranean, from the river Eleutherus in the north to the promotory of Carmel in the south, about 120 miles in length.The Phoenicians have been usually regarded as the inventors of alphabetic writing.Phoenicia lay in the very centre of the old world, and was the natural entrepot for commerce with foreign nations. It was the "England of antiquity."The far-reaching commercial activity of the Phoenicians, especially with Tarshish and the western world, enriched them with vast wealth, which introduced boundless luxury and developed among them a great activity in all manner of arts and manufactures. The Phoenicians were renowned in ancient times for the manufacture of glass, and some of the specimens of this work that have been preserved are still the wonder of mankind...In the matter of shipping, whether ship-building be thought of or traffic upon the sea, the Phoenicians surpassed all other nations. 

 Ash'toreth  the moon goddess of the Phoenicians, representing the passive principle in nature, their principal female deity.This deity is spoken of as Ashtoreth of the Zidonians. She was the Ishtar of the Accadians and the Astarte of the Greeks.

 

 Aramaeans
 Aram the son of Shem son of Noah.elevated region extending from the northeast of Palestine to the Euphrates. It corresponded generally with the Syria and Mesopotamia of the Greeks and Romans. These were separate little kingdoms the dominate being Aram-Zobah, afterwards becoming subject to Damascus.Damascus became at length the capital of these several smaller kingdoms comprehended under the designation "Aram" or "Syria. The language of commerce and of social intercourse in Western Asia was Aramaic - Chaldee.The northern portion of this fertile plateau was the original home of the ancestors of the Hebrews.

 Hanun, the king of the Ammonites, hired among others the army of Hadadezer to assist him in his war against David. Joab, who was sent against this confederate host, found them in double battle array, the Ammonities toward their capital of Rabbah, and the Syrian mercenaries near Medeba. In the battle which was fought the Syrians were scattered, and the Ammonites in alarm fled into their capital. After this Hadadezer went north "to recover his border". Then followed another battle with the Syrian army thus recruited, which resulted in its being totally routed at Helam. Damascus was made tributary to David. All the spoils taken in this war, "shields of gold" and "very much brass,"

  Rezon a prince, son of Eliadah. Abandoning the service of Hadadezer, the king of Zobah, on the occasion of his being defeated by David, he became the "captain over a band" of marauders, and took Damascus, and became king of Syria . For centuries after this the Syrians were the foes of Israel. He "became an adversary to Israel all the days of Solomon." 
 
 We learn from the Tell-el-Amarna tablets that Palestine had been invaded by the forces of Aram-Naharaim  more than once, long before the Exodus, and that at the time they were written the king of Aram-naharaim was still intriguing in Canaan.The petty, independent tribes of this region, each under its own prince, were warlike, and used chariots in battle. While in the north the confederate tribes of the Hittites held back the armies of the kings of Aram. They maintained their independence till after the time of David, when they fell under the dominion of Assyria, and were absorbed into the empire  


 Baal, The sun-god, under the general title of Baal. Each locality had its special Baal, and the various local Baals were summed up under the name of Baalim, or "lords." Each Baal had a wife, who was a colourless reflection of himself.  
 