The Passover papyrus

[FreezBee]

I have mentioned this in another forum on this site, but it might fit in here as well, the Passover papyrus from Elephantine.

K.C. Hanson has a page about it here:

http://www.kchanson.com/ANCDOCS/westsem/passover.html

(Note that KCH list both Aramaic original and English translation).

The papyrus is from the 5th year of Darius II, that is, it is from 419 bce.

Elephantine (Aramaic "Yeb" from Egyptian "Abu" = "Elephant") is an island in the Nile marking the border between Egypt proper and Nubia (Cush). On the island was a colony of Judean origin, who served as garrison on a fortress. To the colony belonged a temple serving three gods, one of who was Yahu ("YHW", an abbreviation of "YHWH" = "Yahweh"). From excavations have been found a number of papyri from the 5th century bce, and it is a reasonable guess, but not certain, that the colony was established by Darius I.

The Passover papyrus is from Hananiah, presumably a Jewish secretary of Arsames, the Persian satrap of Egypt, and it is sent to "Yedaniah and his colleagues of the Judahite garrison". We know this Yedaniah as high priest from another letter, so the papyrus is sent to the priests of the Yahu temple.

The papyrus instructs the priests to keep the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. No details are given for the Passover, but detailed instructions are given for the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

It should be noted that the feast would disrupt the guard duties of the garrison, so we should not necessarily understand the papyrus as a royal command against the wishes of the garrison, rather the king may have considered the situation safe enough to allow the Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread.

The instructions for the Feast of Unleavened Bread is mostly compatible with Exodus 12.


Have a nice day

- FreezBee

 

[FreezBee]

Just two minor points:

1. As for the establishment of the Jewish colony on Elephantine, tradition has it that it was connected with the Judeans fleeing together with Jeremiah in the 580ies. These Judeans settled in Tahpahnes (Greek: "Dahpnae") in the Nile delta, the main trading port of Egypt at the time. However, tahpahnes later lost this position to the Greek colony Naucratis, and we cannot disprove that as part of that change, some resettlement of Judeans from Tahpahnes to Elephantine might have occured. The only objection (when assuming that Judean refugees settled in Tahpahnes in the first round, that is) is that all the Aramaic papyri from Elephantine are from the 5th century, and there are no Hebrew papyri.

2. Dr. Michael D. Magee (www.askwhy.co.uk) claims that the Passover papyrus is part of the Persian construction of Judaism. It is a difficult matter to settle, but I personally tend to disagree with Magee. Certainly, Egypt was a difficult province to rule, and the Persians had a clear interest in a friendly province nearby, and in that province having a religion that considered "rebellion" the worst possible kind of action. Magee claims that Ezra and Nehemiah weren't pious Jews, but Persian officials sent to secure the province of Yehud and to establish Jerusalem, not as a religious center, but as a center of taxation. The question though is, if Magee does not let his theory run away with him, e.g. suggesting that "ha'Torah Moshe" should be, what the inhabitants heard, when Ezra spoke of "Ahura Mazda"?


- FreezBee