As to the Proper Place to Be Assigned to Slavery in the Context Of

ON THE mas 'obed DURING THE PERIOD OF THE UNITED MONARCHY OF ANCIENT ISRAEL*

MASAO TAKAHASHI

Dokkyo University

I. Introduction II. Slaves, Sources of Slaves and Various Forms of Slaves III, mas 'obed IV. Conclusion

I. Introduction

As to the proper place to be assigned to slavery in the context of the whole structure of the society of the Ancient Near East, there are two opposing views of the "European" school and of the "Soviet" school.(1) The former, while recognizing the existence of slavery in the history of the Ancient Near East, assesses its economic and social role as subsidiary and recognizes feudal relations in the society of the Ancient Near East. The latter recognizes positively the stage of slavery as a stage-wise division of social structure or a stage of socio- economic development and asserts that slavery was an inevitable developmental stage, in sharp opposition to the former view. As the work or paper discussing the problem of mas 'obed in ancient Israel, so far as the writer knows, there are only those by I. Mendelsohn(2) and A. Briam(3) (which I have not seen yet).

* This paper was published in Japanese in Bulletin of the Society for Near Eastern Studies in Japan (Nihon Orient Gakkai), Vol. IX, Nos. 2-3 (1967), pp. 63-82. (1) Ishimoda, Sho et al (ed.): Kodaishi Koza (Lectures on Ancient History), Vol. 7, Tokyo, 1963, pp. 28-32. (2) Mendelsohn, I.: "State Slavery in Ancient Israel," Bulletin of the American Schoolsof Oriental Research (=BASOR), 85 (1942), pp. 14-17. Mendelsohn, I.: Slavery in the Ancient Near East, 1949. (3) Biram, A.: "mas 'obed," Tarbiz, 23 (1952), pp. 137-142 (in Hebrew), in Malamat, A.- Reviv, H. (ed.): A Bibliography of the Biblical Period-with Emphasis on Publications in Modern Hebrew-, Jerusalem, 1964, p. 30.

47 In this book, the former attaches importance to considering, from the viewpoint of comparative economic history, the slavery in Babylonia, Assyria, Syria and Palestine from the middle of the third millennium B.C. to the end of the first millenium B.C., while no mention is made of the difference in terms of structure and stage between the different periods. The present paper is an attempt to ascertain the social structure of Ancient Israel and is written to grasp the reality of mas 'obed (the king's slave) in the days of Solomon (ca. 961-22B.C.) which may afford an important clue for clarifying it, in the light of both the Old Testament and archaeological materials, without being bound by the aforementioned two different views, to consider how it had been produced in what relationship to the establishment of the kingdom, and to ask for the instructions of his predecessors in this line of study.

II. Slaves, Sources of Slaves and Various Forms of Slaves

The existence of slaves in the society of the Ancient Near East, has been known since the protoliterate period (later Uruk period, ca. 3500B.C.) by pictures, sculptures and picture words. However, it is from ca. 2800B.C. in the case of Mesopotamia, that is, the period of change of supremacy, when the struggle for power among city-states became intensified that it is attested, and in the case of Egypt in the early dynasties period (the first and the second).(4) The Old

(4) From hieroglyphs it may be gathered that the ancient sources of slaves had been prisoners of war (war captives). The early Sumerian words meaning a male slave and a female slave respectively are compound ideographs: the word for a male slave: nita (male)+kur (foreign country)=eri3, while the word for a female slave: munus (female)+kur (foreign country) =geme3 [cf. Deimel, P.A.: Sumerisches Lexikon, II Teil, Band 1, Heft 3, 1927, S. 95, Nr. 51: 1), II Teil, Band 4, Heft 18, 1933, SS 1026-30, Nr. 558: 1),2). Тюменев, А.И.: Госу-

парственное хозяйство древнело Шумера, Москва, 1956.; Kayama, Yohei (trans. & ed.): Doreisei Shakai no Shomondai (Problems of Slavery Society), Tokyo, 1958, p. 26. As for kur, see Thurean-Dangin, F.: Archiv Orientalni, 1 (1929) p. 272]. These words show, as a 'male or female of foreign country' does, at the same time, 'a male or female slave', that the first enslaved persons in the Sumerian community had been captives of a different tribe in mountaineous districts. Members of a different tribal community who became captives in a tribal war were formerly killed or reduced to a subordinate position as a non-member of the community. Consequently, in the case of these tribes, war captives were killed in most cases. Subsequently, war between city-states became the rule. In addition, with the progress of class differentiation resulting from the development of private ownership, captive slaves came to take on a greater social significance. Thus, slaves came to be regarded as part of chattels, and this situation required the reform by which war prisoners who had been killed were to be saved and employed. In this

48 ON THE mas 'obed DURING THE PERIOD OF THE UNITED MONARCHY OF ANCIENT ISRAEL

Testament reports their existence as early as the period of patriarchs (in the first half of the second milleium B.C.).(5) In the Old Testament, the following three different words(6) are mostly used to mean 'a slave': (1) For a male slave, 'oeboedis used. This is the most general use, was original- ly derived from the verb 'bd (to work, to do) and expresses 'servitude' of various concepts. For example, the ruled against the ruler, the subject against the king, the minor against the superior and the servant as against the Lord. Consequently, 'oeboedmeans a man working for (or serving) another. (2) For the a female slave, 'amah and sifehah, and on rare occasions miqenat- koesoep (aperson bought for silver or for money) are used. (3) na'ar(7) (a young man, a servant, an attendant) and noepoes(a person) also

respect, it has to be noted that, employment of many male slaves who had thus far been free warriors, by reducing them to slavery must have been greatest danger to the existing social and national systems. For this was only possible under the conditions that productivity was remarkably developed and an overwhelming armed force, particularly military techniquc, exists. (As regards the Sumerian period and the Accad Dynasty, see Дьяконов,

И. М.: Becmнuк npeвнeu ucmopuu (1952-1); by Kayama, Y. (trans. & ed.) pp. 44-45.) Then, more female captives who were more obedient were presumably employed than male captives. This presupposes a certain measure of development of productivity and indicates that there came into existence various material conditions which would permit anyhow the survival of the people who were not the component members of the community and who had thus far been killed, whether as slaves, an improvement of the state of affairs for slaves as well as their owners. Jemdet Nasr documents which are presumed to be dated around 3000B.C. mention gim (female slave). In those days, female slaves were then yet to assume any important economic significance(see Tюменев, А. И.: op. cit.; trans. and ed. by Kayama, pp. 26- 27). In the later Sumerian period, slaves had been called simply 'sag'. For example, 'sag nita' for a male slave and 'sag geme' for a female slave. This 'sag' is a term derived from the image of man's head, first indicates mainly 'person' and the 'number of persons' or means the 'head' or 'supervisor' and at the same time a 'strong man' or 'person capable of heavy physical labour', but came gradually to mean a 'labourer'. In Accadian, 'wardu(m)' is used to mean a male slave and 'amtu(m)' a female slave, and these terms are often placed before the determinative resu (rasu) (head) (cf. Ungnad, A.: Babylonische Briefe aus der Zeit der Hammurabi-Dynastie, 1941, SS. 295, 260, 378). In Ugaritic documents 'bd(m) is used to mean a male slave and amt (amht) a female slave (cf. Gordon, C. H.: Ugaritic Manual II, 1955, p. 302, No. 1361; p. 238, No. 147.). (5) e.g, see Genesis xii, 16. (6) As regards (1), (2) and (3) below, refer to the corresponding sections in Kaehler, L.- Baumgartner, W.: Lexicon Vetris Testamenti Libros, 1958. (7) As to na'ar, see Shibayama, Sakae: "On the Translation of na'ar in the Old Testament", Bulletin of the Society forNear Eastern Studies in Japan (Nihon Orient Gakkai), Vol. 8 No. 2 (1966), pp. 25-42.

49 express a male or female slave. These words are employed as synonyms for 'oeboed and 'amah. Words in (1), (2) and (3) above each mean that one is under restraint by another. The Accadian, Ugaritic and Hebrew for a slave are often employed to express a unfree person of a low status, religiously, socially and economically, as against the king or the God. On the other hand, the adjective 'iberi is sometimes used for a native or alien unfree person in the records of the Old Testaemnt, unlike the usages of the Sumerian, the Accadian and Ugaritic. For example, 'oeboed 'iberi (a Hebrew slave) or 'is 'iberi, na'ar 'iberi (a Hebrew male or female). In some cases, no express distinction is made specifically between a male slave and a female slave. Incidentally, sakir (an employee) or waged labourer was not a slave. piloegoes (a concubine) usually had the status of slave, but it is suspected that this word expresses an aspect of the ancient matriomonial institution rather than the ancient institution of slavery. As stated above, the use of the word meaning 'slave' in the Old Testament is considerably fluid (religiously, socially, and economically). What were then actually the sources and forms of these slaves? The sources and uses of slaves, usually enumerated, had been produced in the developmental process of slavery. On the assumption that slaves had existed since the oldest period traceable by relevant literature, we presume that major sources of slaves had been, according to the records of the Old Testament, as in countries of the Ancient Near East, (1) prisoners of war, (2) purchase of slaves (3) sale of minors by their parents who were free-born people, (4) self-sale, (5) insolvency and the like. (8) The major sources of slaves of the king were, as will be stated later, prisoners of war. According to the records of the Old Testament, part of such slaves were dedicated(9) to temples as part of the spoils of war, in conformity to practice, or divided as 'gifts' among overlords and officers, according to the ancient practice

(8) As to the problem of sources of slaves, reference is requested to be made to my article "On the Sources of Slaves in Ancient Israel", Dokkyo Daigaku Kyoyoshogaku Kenkyu, No.1 (1967), pp. 34-55. (in Japanese). (9) Numbers xxxi, 32-47; Joshua ix, 23-27; Ezekiel xliv, 7-9; Ezra viii, 20. As to historic materials on the Egyptian side, see Pritchard, J. B. (ed.): Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament (=ANET), 1955, pp. 260-2.

50 ON THE mas 'obed DURING THE PERIOD OF THE UNITED MONARCHY OF ANCIENT ISRAEL of neighbouring countries.(10) Some of the latter slaves were made to engage(11) in farm labour and the like in royal domains as helpers of labourers subject to the corvee,while others were sold over to private individuals.(12) The forms of ownership of slaves in Palestine of the Old Testament period, were, in the same way as in the case of Babylonia and Assyria,(13) broadly divided into two kinds:(14) privately owned slaves and Stateowned slaves. The former were domestic slaves and the latter temple slaves and the king's slaves. No direct and definite mention is made of temple slaves and the king's slaves in the stipulation(15) for slaves in the Old Testament. Meanwhile, the former are netinim (servants of temples) which are noted in Ezra ii, 43-54 and Nehemiah vii, 46-56, while the latter are mas 'obed attested by the archaeological excavations by Nelson Glueck. In the next place, I shall inquire into the reality of mas 'obed with reference to both literature and archaeological materials.

III. mas 'obed

The three terms appearing in the Old Testament, namely mas, mas 'obed and 'obde selomo,attest to the existence of the king's slaves in Ancient Israel. mas and mas 'obed are found twenty-three times in the Old Testament (Genesis xlvii, 15;

Exodus i, 11; Deuteronomy ii, 11; Joshua xvi, 10, xvii, 13, Judges i, 28・30・33・ 35; 1 Samuel xx, 24; 1 Kings iv, 6, v, 27 [Japanese translation v, 13, twice],

28 [14], ix, 15・25, xii, 18; Isaiah xxxi, 8; Proverbs xviii, 24; Lamentations i, 1; Esther x, 1; 2 Chronicles viii, 8, x, 18. 'al-ha-mas (high-ranking official) was appointed to supervise State activities and revenues,(16) and the economic role of the king's slaves is presumed to have been very important.

(10) Deuteronomy xx, 10-14, xxi, 10; Judges, v, 30. (11) 1 Samuel viii, 14-18, xxii, 27; 1 Kings ix, 11-13; Ezekiel xlviii, 21; 1 Chronicles, xxvii, 25; 2 Chronicles, xxi, 3, xxvi, 9-10, xxxii, 27-29. (12) Amos i, 9; Deuteronomy xvii, 16. (13) cf. Meissner, B: Babylonien und Assyrien, 1, 1920, SS. 113, 121. Olmstead, A. T.: History of Assyria, 1961, p. 539. (14) Mendelsohn divides them into three types, namely domestic slaves, temple slaves and state slaves (cf. Mendelsohn, I.: BASOR, 85 (1942), p. 14.). (15) Exodus xxi; Deuteronomy xv; Levite xxv. (16) Exodus i, 11; 2 Samuel xx, 24; 1 Kings xiv, 6; xii, 18; 2 Chronicles x, 18.

51 The term mas was used in the Old Testament in the following threefold sense;

(1) According to the accounts of Numbers xx, 11, Joshua xvii, 13, Judges i, 28・

30・33・35, when used in reference to conquered nations, particularly to Cana-

anites, it means the payment of tribute. To cite an instance,"……when Israel became strong, they put them to forced labour, but they never completely drove them out." (Judges i, 28) (2) According to the accounts of 1 Kings v, 13, ix, 15, when used in reference to Israelites it means 'corvee'. For example, "King Solomon raised a forced levy from the whole of Israel amounting to thirty thousand men." (1 Kings v, 13). (3) mas 'obed appearing three places that is, in Genesis xlix, 15, Joshua xvi, 10 and 1 Kings ix, 21 means the kings's slave. For example, it runs in Joshua xvi, 10 that "They did not however drive out the Canaanites who dwelt in Gezer; the Canaanites have lived among the Ephraimites to the present day but have been subject to forced labour in perpetuity." Incidentally, 2 Chronicles viii, 8 states that "-that is their descendants who survided in the land, wherever the Israelites had been unable to exterminate them-were employed by Solomon on the forced labour, as they still are." Here mas is employed singly, but when considered with reference to 1 Kings ix, 21, is it not proper that 'obed should be added next to mas? According to the accounts in the Old Testament, the Canaanites in the days of Solomon were subjected to collective labour as mas 'obed (the king's slave). Meanwhile, it is stated in 1 Kings ix, 22, 2 Chronicles viii, 9, etc. that "But Solo- mon put none of the Israelites to forced labour; they were his fighting men, his captains and lieutenants, and the commanders of his chariots and of his cavalry." (1 Kings ix, 22). So the Israelites were not 'abdim (slaves) but, as it is stated in 1 Kings v, 13, xi, 28, etc. that "Now this Jeroboam was a man of great energy; and Solomon, seeing how the young man worked, had put him in charge of all the labour-gangs in the tribal district of Joseph." (1 Kings xi, 28), were subjected to mas or corveeduties. Consequently, in so far as is known from the Old Testa- ment, labour of 'obde selomo(17) (Solomon's slaves, servants) was institutionalized on the pre-condition of a certain measure of development of productivity. This treatment to both Canaanites and Israelites was closely connected with the formation and the economic development of the David-Solomon Kingdom.

(17) 1 Kings ix, 27; 2 Chronicles viii, 18, ix, 10. In later times, called "slaves, servants of Solomon" or "slaves of the king" (see Ezra ii, 55-58; Nehemiah vii, 57-60, xi, 3).

52 ON THE mas 'obed DURING THE PERIOD OF THE UNITED MONARCHY OF ANCIENT ISRAEL

On the other hand, the existence of state slavery in the days of David and Solomon was brought to light by the epochal excavations in Wadi el-Arabah conducted by Nelson Glueck. First, precious materials were provided by excavations of Khirbet Nahas, which means the remains of copper mines in Arabic, located about fifty km south- east of the Dead Sea, East Palestine, conducted from 1932 to 1934. As a result, (18) the fact was demonstrated that the place was the site of the copper mines under Solomon and the first smelter-refining of the copper ore was effected in connexion with it. From the fragments of the earthen ware discovered there it was attested that it had been used during and after the reign of King Solomon. And it was brought to light that in the neighbourhood of the mines there had been the land covering an area of about 91m sq. enclosed by walls about 1.8m thick and that there had been the ruins of several buildings and heaps of slaps. Glueck con- cludes(19) that apparently the remains had been those of the living quarters of captives or prisoners who had been subjected to forced labour for mining and that thier centre had been formed in and around these ruins. However, the view that these walls had been intended mainly to prevent the flights of people under forced labour seems to be one-sided. When the geographical condition of South Palestine is taken into consideration, it may be considered that the original dwellings had been built and used for the purpose of guarding against attack of Palestine. In either case, the remains undoubtedly bespeak the fact that workers who had engaged in mining had been subjected to forced labour.(20) Second is the excavation, conducted from 1937 to 1940, of the ruins standing on the hill in Tell el-Kheleifeh situated in the middle of both eastern and western banks at the northern tip of the Gulf of Aqaba.(21) The locality is Ezion-geber ('oesejon-goeboer) appearing in the Old Testament and is the site of an old port in the days of King Solomon.(22) Through the investigation of the earthen-ware excavated there it was confirmed that they were of the same type as those previously discovered by Glueck from the ruins in Khirbet Nahas and

(18) Glueck, N.: The Other Side of Jordan, 1940, pp. 50-88. (19) cf. Glueck, N.: "King Solomon's Copper Mines," Illustrated London News, 1934. (20) As for temple architecture, refer to 1 Kings v, 13-18. (21) Glueck, N.: "The First Campaign at Tell el-Kheleifeh," BASOR, 71 (1938), pp. 3-17., "The Second Campaign at Tell el-Kheleifeh," BASOR , 75 (1939), pp. 8-22., "The Third Campaign at Tell el-Kheleifeh," BASOR, 79 (1940), pp. 2-18. (22) Numbers xxxiii, 35; Deuteronomy ii, 8; 1 Kings ix, 26; xxii, 49 [48]. 2 Chronicles viii, 17, xx, 36. As for recent researches, refer to Glueck, N.: "Ezion-geber," The Biblical Archaeologist, 28 (1965), pp. 70-87.

53 Wadi el-Arabah. It may therefore he presumed that people had been living there mainly in the days of King Solomon or immediately thereafter. Glueck discovered a large building in the northeast corner of the hill in Tell el-Kheleifeh and demonstrated that it had been King Solomon's smelter- refinery of copper. Thus, his excavations produced very fruitful results. Once F. Petrie discovered smaller but similar remains in Gerar,(23) Tell Jemmeh, south of Gaza, from 1935 to 1937. But, nothing comparable in scale to this copper smelter- refinery in Ezion-geber has as yet been discovered elsewhere in the world of the Ancient Near East.(24) This copper smelter-refinery, belonging to the first-layer, is the oldest one of its kind in this area. It is a furnace built of bricks hardened by high tempera- ture and composed of five small chambers, on the walls of which were two large rows of flues related with ventilation about 1.2m above the bottom of the furnace. Each chamber of the furnace so constructed was carefully measured and made to turn towards a fixed direction so that a wind may be sent in to the fire in the furnace, taking full advantage of the strong wind blowing from north-east and that the fire may continue to burn without bellows. It was confirmed that the colour of the walls in the chamber had been changed to green by the smoke of the copper ore burnt and melted by an intense heat. These facts show that the same principle as that of the modern Bassemer blowing furnace had already been applied in those days. The copper ore undergoing the first refining process must have been refined into pure copper. As mentioned above, this copper smelter-refinery of King Solomon's is the most refined of its kind ever to be discovered by archaeologists. Glueck calls this one at Ezion-geber "Pittsbung of Palestine.(25) In his report on the third campaign(26) Glueck says, in effect, as follows: "The idea previously expressed as a result of the first two seasons of excavations, and based also partly on literary evidence, that the smelter and foundries and factories at Ezion-geber: Elat were manned by slave labour, was further supported as a result of the finds and experiences of the work of the third season.

(23) Genesis x, 19; 2 Chroniscles xiv, 12-13 [13-14]. cf. Aharoni, Y.: "The Land of Gerar," Eretz-Israel, 3 (1954), pp. 108-11 (in Hebrew).; Israel Exploration Journal, 6 (1956), pp. 26-32. (24) Albright, W. F.: The Archaeology of Palestine, 1960, p. 127. (25) Glueck, N.: "On the Trail of King Solomon's Mines," The National GeographicMagazine, Feb. 1944, pp. 233-56. (26) Glueck, N.: BASOR, 79 (1940), p. 4.

54 ON THE mas 'obed DURING THE PERIOD OF THE UNITED MONARCHY OF ANCIENT ISRAEL

The fumes and smoke of the smelter-refinery alone, coupled with the severity of the natural conditions, would have made life there intolerable to the freeborn and impossible for slaves. The welfare of the latter, however, would hardly have been taken into consideration. The rate of mortality among the slaves must have been terrific……" Sources of these slaves were mainly war captives and it is not difficult to presume, if geographical conditions are also taken into account, that they were partly freeborn Canaanites and Edomites. Presumably they were subjected to labour under David and Solomon. In other words, they were assuredly the king's slaves. The Book of Job xxviii, 1-11, presumably the work of about 500-300B.C., gives a vivid account of the hardships and privations of mining labour. This book describes mining by the Israelites and Egyptians in the Sinai district of those days on the basis of fairly accurate information. Thus, the eastern district oppo- site to the western district of the Sinai Peninsula to which the Egyptians had made repeated expeditions from the period of Old Kingdom, that is, the entire area of Wadi el-Arabah from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Aqaba had been the centre of mining and metallurgical industry in the days of Solomon. Mines in this region were initially developed by Kenites meaning 'blacksmith' from the early bronze age (ca. 3000-2000B.C.) to the middle bronze age (ca. 2000-1500B.C.), and later by Edomites who had learned the arts of mining and of metallurgy from Kenizzites of the same race as Kenites and developed the region. When David conquered Edomites,(27) the mine came into the hands of Israelites and presumably he could continue to utilize these mines. But it was King Solomon who built up the mining industry of Arabah to that on a truly national scale by his ability and power. This Ezion-geber belonged to the territory of the Judah Kingdom still in the age of Jotham (ca. 742-35B.C.), and a ring with a seal on which the name of this king was carved discovered from the layer of the 8th century B.C. The mining work was kept up until the subsequent Byzantine to Islamic periods.(28) Although the productive labour of state-owned slaves was institutionalized after the victories of David, the metallurgical industry in the Arabah presented

(27) See 2 Samuel viii, 13 et seqq; 1 Kings xi, 15 et seqq; 1 Chronicles viii, 11 et seqq. (28) Finnegan, J.: Light from the Ancient-The Archeological Background of Judaism and Christianity-, 1959, p. 182. tr. jointly by Prince Mikasa, Akashi, M. and Nakazawa, K .: Kodaibunka no Hikari, Tokyo, 1961, p. 187. As to the Kenites, see Grant, F. C.-Rowley, H. H. (ed.): Dictionary of the Bible, 1963 (Revised ed.), p. 548, s.v. KENITES (Driver, S. R.-Gray, J.).

55 a new field for slave labour, as the explorations by Glueck attest. The king's slaves must have come to undertake an important economic role in Palestine after the conquest of Wadi el-Arabah. The existence of forced labour and state slaves(29)presupposes the establishment of a centralized state. Then, how was mas 'obed related to the formation of the kingdom? The distinctive feature of the formation of the kingdom of the Israelites lies in that it was not brought about naturally from an inner motive which had taken root in tribal groups of the previous age and was bound to bear fruit, sooner or later, but needed a powerful impact from outside.(30) The period immediately following the formation of the kingdom is the period of Judges (ca. 1200-1200 B.C.), when various Israelite tribes who had settled in Palestine were as yet unable to realize unification.(31) Consequently, no forced labour or state slavery existed in Palestine of those days. However, Israelite tribes faced a serious crisis and menace when the Philistines, a seafaring nation, who proceeded eastward from around the Aegean Sea, invaded Canaan. As is described in 1 Samuel x, 5, the Israelites were beaten in the war with the Philistines and consequently west Jordan was brought under the control of the Philistines. Garrisons of the Philistines were assigned to the towns where the Israelites used to live. The case of the Ammonites described in 1 Samuel x, 27b-xi, 15 shows an instance in which the neighbouring tribes attempted to expand their control as the Israelites became weakened. Against this historical background, the initial kingdom of Saul which was militarily based on the principle of 'charismatic' leadership of the period of 'Judges' and the conscrition system inconsistent with it. Meanwhile, this secular kingdom which had been started, being fraught with such contradic-

(29) Inscriptions of King Rimush (ca. 2185-75B.C.) Dynasty of Agade (Barton, G. A.: Royal Inscriptions of Sumer and Akkad, 1929, p. 119, No. 1; p. 121 Nos. 3・4・5; p. 123, Nos. 6・9 and 10) report that the generals who had won a victory in war brought home many war captives together with spoils of the war. These inscriptions tell that the majority of the prisoners of war were reduced to slavery and became part of the king's property, in this period when the communal controls had still been working vigorously. They may be the first 'state-owned slaves' ever to be recorded in history. (30) Alt, A.: "Die Staatenbildung der Israeliten in Palastina," 1930, in Kleine Schriften zur Geschichte des Volks Israel, Band II, 1953, S. 11. Ishii, Yoshihiro: Kodai Seijishi- soshi Ronko (A Study of the History of Ancient Political Thought), Tokyo, 1959, p. 6. (31) Geographical reasons may be given for it. They were cut off from both Manasseh and Ephraim by Ezrel Plain then under the control of the Canaanites and Jerusalem, the important strategic point for Canaanites was situated between Mount Judah, and Mount Ephraim.

56 ON THE mas 'obed DURING THE PERIOD OF THE UNITED MONARCHY OF ANCIENT ISRAEL tions, came to lose the support of various Israelite tribes as well as Samuel shortly after its establishment.(32) Saul and his children who fell in their fighting with the Philistines in the Plain of Jezreel saved the way for the united kingdom of Davied. 2 Samuel ii, 1 and the following pages convey the situation in which David proceeded to Hebron, the center of Judah, by way of Ziklag after the death of Saul and became the King of the house of Judah, being anointed there by various Judaean tribes. 2 Samuel v, 1 and the following describe how David was, several years later, entrusted with the king's power over Israel by elders of various tribes, under an agreement between the king and the people, and how he came to rule the two kingdoms established on a different basis, in the form of league under the same crown with David as the personal link. David ruled the two kingdoms in Hebron for some time, but, after defeating the Philistines, moved the seat of capital to Jerusalem, a town of the Jebusites, which was geographically located in the centre of both the northern and southern kingdoms, but which belonged to neither of them, in order to strengthen political unity. Since then, the united kingdom, annexed the city-states in Canaan to its territory and conquered the border countries east of the Jordan, such as Aram, Ammon, Moab and Edom. Thus, its territory expanded into Central Syria in the northwest, the Gulf of Aqaba in the south and the Euphrates in the northeast. Thus, the Kingdom of David became the leading power in the world of those days. The territory of the Philistines in the western coastal areas from Carmel to Juffo became the territory of David, and he imposed the duty of tribute and forced subsidiary relationship on the five major cities of the Philistiness-Ashdod, Gaza, Ash- kelon, Gath and Ekron. Most of the spoils of war became the financial sources of the court, while part of them must have been used to support the mercenaries and court officials. Among the spoils were many war captives. Is it that they had been driven for the construction of Israel, the capital partly as mercenaries who owed the duty of allegiance to the king and partly as the labour-slaves? After the death of David, Solomon acceded to the throne with the support of his trusted men in Jerusalem as well as under the instructions left by his father. He carried on an epochal economic policy instead of a positive military policy in the international climate under which the neighboring powers were steadily declining. In other words, Egyptian dynasty of the South had already been on the

(32) See 1 Samuel xiii, 1.

57 wane and, under incompetent rulers, could not afford any longer to intervene in Asia. In the meantime, Assyrian dynasty of the North under Tigrat Piresel II (ca. 966-35B.C.) had been in a depressed state after the death of Tigrat Piresel I. The citystate of the Sidonians had been engrossed in the development of maritime trade and commerce with Tyre as the capital; the Aramaeans, who had been completely beaten by David, began to regain their power. On the other hand, internally, the Philistines, the formidal enemy, had been declining steadily. This international climate had produced an international 'vacuum' zone which enabled the kingdom of Solomon to develop economically. With all this excel- lent political ability of Solomon, no such development of the kingdom of Solomon would have been possible without such external historical conditions. Thus, Solomon, making ingenious use of the prevailing international situation in those days, opened trade with Phoenicia, Egypt, South Arabia and adjoining areas(33) by land or sea, and further with North Syria, Cilicia of Hittites and became related closely with the neighbouring countries by virtue of trade or marriage. For example, he married an Egyptian princess, presumably daughter of a king of Egypt of the 21st dynasty,(34) and entered into an alliance with that country; concluded with Hiram I (ca. 969-36B.C.) of Tyre a trading agreement(35) which had an important bearing on public works; and erected at Ezion-geber referred to above a copper refinery with the aid of Phoenicia, all these acts tending toward maintaining international peace externally, and enhancing national wealth internally. It appears that underlying the fact that the capital Jerusalem made an attraction to the queen of Sheba and the "kings of the Arabs" were trading interests,(36) and they were no less important than the friendly relations with Phoenicia. On the other hand, it has been proved unmistakably by the excavation carried out at Megiddo where charioteers had been garrisoned that Solomon maintained a powerful standing army, having the chariot force as the main body for the defence of the kingdom against external aggression. It was also disclosed that stables for 450 horses had existed in this place alone.(37) However, Megiddo was only one of the many bases of chariot corps.(38) Even if there was considerable exaggeration in the description that Solomon had 1,400

(33) 1 Kings x, 28 and 2 Chronicles i, 16. (34) 1 Kings iii, 1, ix, 16. (35) 1 Kings v, 1-12. (36) 1 Kings x, 1-3・13. (37) cf. Lamon, R. S. -Shipton. G. M.: Megiddo, I, 1939, pp. 43 ff. (38) 1 Kings ix, 15 ff. & x, 26.

58 ON THE mas 'obed DURING THE PERIOD OF THE UNITED MONARCHY OF ANCIENT ISRAEL chariots,(39) 4,000 horses and 12,000 horsemen,(40) all these must have meant a considerable military strength, utterly different from the infantry units of David. As is shown in the accounts in 1 Kings, Solomon never attempted an expedi- tion as David, his father, did, but, having a good command of such financial resources at home, constructed citadels at various places, supplied horses, and also started the construction of the sanctuary attached to the palace, and a series of civil engineering works in Jerusalem.(41) The fact that Gezer, Megiddo and Hazor had formed important strongholds was attested by the excavations there. We have already referred to the stables at Megiddo and a smelter-refinery of copper in Ezion-geber. These activities needed enormous financial power and labour. Solomon reorganized the taxation system as part of this financial policy. Accord- ing to 1 Kings iv, 7-19, he replaced the administrative units of the country divided by tribes by 12 administrative districts. He assigned his confidants as officer to each administrative district, which was under the obligation to provide food for the king and his household for one month a year. Presumably, tributes from his territory were concentrated in the cities of the Canaanites or the 'warehouse-towns' which had been incorporated into it in the days of David and brought to Jerusalem, the capital. On this organization, the head of officers under the king's direct control was set up as a fixed official position. These show the transition from a community to an ancient centralized State. However, these policies alone were not sufficient to sustain the royal economy in the age of reforms. Therefore, Solomon subjected the Esdraelon just conquered, subjected the Canaanites in coastal plains and frontiers in Galilee to mas 'obed and institutionalized this. It may be that he compulsorily subjected to public works, as state slaves, the people of Edom, Moab and Ammon, the conquered Sta- tes, and that he employed part of them for manufacture of weapons, although no records exist that he ever attempted military action externally. Furthermore,

(39) 1 Kings x, 26. (40) 1 Kings iv, 26. (41) In the following points Phoenician influence is predominant: (1) The layout of the palace and the temple. (2) Details of cutting off, construction and convex architecture of stones which mark the stone buildings of Solomon in striking contrast to those of Saul and David. (3) Other details of proto-Ionian chapiters and decorations. cf. Albright, W. F.: The Biblical Period from Abraham to Ezra, 1963, p. 55.; The Archaeology of Palestine, pp. 123 ff.; Wright, G. E.: Biblical Archaeology, 1962, pp. 130 ff.

59 freeborn Israelites were called to public works and subjected to mas in such a way that they were assigned to Lebanon for a month and back home for two months. (42) However, it is not hard to imagine(43) that even Solomon never drove freeborn Israelites to forced labour for projects other than the construction of temples and other buildings in which they had common interests.

IV. Conclusion

Part of the social structure of Ancient Israel is conveyed by the "Mesha inscription" (a stone monument for Mesha, king of Moab in the kingdom of Northern Israel) discovered in Dibon (Diban of today) north of the Arnon in 1868. In the day of Ahab of the Kingdom of Northern Israel (ca. 869-50B.C.), the Kingdom of Moab was a tributary to the Kingdom of Israel. In iii, 4-5 of 2 Kings it is stated that "Mesha king of Moab was a sheep-breeder, and he used to supply the king of Israel regularly with the wool of a hundred thousand lambs and a hundred thousand rams. When Ahab died (ca. 850B.C.), the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel." As Ahaziah (ca. 850-49B.C.), the successor of King Ahab was in the throne only for two years, King Jehoram (ca. 849-42B.C.) took the field to fight with Mesha, King of Moab. Further, 2 Kings iii, 27, states, amidst this battle, Mesha "took his eldest son, who should have succeeded him, and offered him as a whole-offering upon the city wall. The Israelites were filled with such consternation at this sight, that they struck camp and returned to their own land." This Mesha inscription conveys the then political relations between Israel and Moab and describes that King Mesha saved Moab from the 40 years' pressure of Israel. This monument is presumed to be dated around 830B.C. However, there is a clear discrepancy between the record of King Mesha and the statement in 2 Kings iii, 4-27, as a reverse account being given of the issue of the battle. It is not clear whether these two conflicting accounts are given of the same battle or another. Any- how, this 'Mesha inscription' (The Moabite Stone) was written on the side of Moabites, and the account in 2 Kings iii, 4-27 on the side of the Israelites. It is obvious that each side put on record by picking out only the favourable portion of the fact.

(42) 1 Kings v, 13-18. (43) Albright, W. F.: The Biblical Period from Abraham to Ezra, 1963, pp. 53-55.

60 ON THE mas 'obed DURING THE PERIOD OF THE UNITED MONARCHY OF ANCIENT ISRAEL

Lines 14 to 17 of this inscription(44) run:

"…… And, Kemosh said to me, "Go, take Nebo against Israel." And I went by night and fought against it from the break of dawn till the

noontide, and I took it and slew all 7,000 m[en], and…and women and…

and damsels feamal slaves(45) for I had devoted it to 'Ashtar-Kemosh……" This statement shows that the city of Nebo was mainly composed of freeborn inhabitants. Lines 21 to 26 run: "I built QRHH, the wall of Yeearim, and the wall of the Mound; and I built the gates thereof, and I built the towers thereof; and I built the king's house; and I made the sluices(?) of the reserv[oir(?) for water in the mid[st] of the city. And there was no cistern in the midst of the city, in QRHH; and I said to all the people, Make you each a cistern in his house. And I cut the cutting for with the help of prisoners of Israel. I

build eAroeer, and I made the highway by the Arnon……" Thus, it is stated that King Mesha constructed buildings by employing slaves. And freeborn Moabites were each ordered to construct their own cistern. On the other hand, it is reported that all public works on a national scale were carried on by slaves. Thus, the labour force that engaged in the construction of ramparts and moats mentioned in the inscription came mainly from slaves. Such was the society of the Kingdom of Moab in the middle of the 9th century B.C. It may therefore be presumed that the society of the United Kingdom of Israel before the 9th century B.C. was roughly similar to it. By the second exploration of Tel Zeror (July to August, 1965),(46) copper furnaces were discovered at several places in the strata of the later bronze age (ca. 1500-1200B.C.) halfway down the southern part of Tell, together with large numbers of melting pots, bellows and slags. This may attest to the fact that the then centre of the copper industry, though on a small scale, had existed there. Also, many fragments of Cyprian earthenware were discovered in the

(44) As to the original and notes, see Cook, G. A.: A Text-Boox of North-Semitic Inscriptions, 1903, pp. 1-14. Pritchard, J. B. (ed.): ANET, pp. 320-21. The Japanese translation is from that by Sugi, Isamu: Seiyo Shiryo Shusei (Collection of Western Historical Materials), 1956, p. 56. (45) In the original 'rhmt' (in 17th line) is used. This is equal to the term 'raham rahamotim' and means 'female slave' (cf. Cook, G. A.: op. cit., p. 12). (46) As to the report on the First Exploration (July-August, 1964), refer to "Tel Zeror I 1964" (1966) ed. by Ohata, Kiyoshi. The present writer participated in the Second Exploration (July-August, 1965) and witnessed the results.

61 layer of the same altitude. This may suggest that, through the trade between the locality and Cyprus (or through the intermediary of the Philistines), copper was probably imported from Cyprus, and products were made of it by skilled artisans and domestic slaves. It is impossible to reconstruct the original social structure by these excavations. But it may at least be presumed that the institution of slavery of the ancient Israelitec society had been that of general slavery, that its general form has been domestic slavery concealed in the family relations of freeborn citizens and that the 'system of the king's slaves' institutionalized by Solomon had been a very peculiar form under the system of autocratic, corvee and tribute. Throughout the history of the Ancient Near East, what we may conclude of the sources or uses of slaves in Ancient Israel and their role from the socio- economic historical point of view is that they present an astonishing resemblance to those of the countries in the Ancient Near East, as noted by Mendelsohn.(47) As Mesopotamia was dependent on the irrigation system, no important change generally arose in the nature of national construction. Meanwhile, as Solomon relied on commerce with neighboring countries, and this caused an important change in the nature of national construction each of Judah and Israel after the division of his kingdom. Anyhow, the economic basis in the period of the United Kingdom of Israel was, unlike that of the Classical An- tiquity, sustained mostly by freeborn, native labourers. Consequently, in the spheres of handicraft and agricultural production, slave labour performed a secondary role as that of domestic slaves. On the other hand, in the sphere of public works on a national scale, even though mas 'obed was secondary, auxiliary labour to the Israelites who performed the duty of forced labour and the freeborn, native labourers who were paid wages, it had an important, economic role to play in the age of Solomon. As to the legal status of slaves, the writer wishes to inquire into it on another occasion.

(47) cf. Mendelsohn, I.: Slavery in the Ancient Near East, 1949, pp. 121-23.