by
Damien F. Mackey
“‘Are you not as the sons of Ethiopia to Me, You sons of Israel?’ declares the LORD. ‘Have I not brought up Israel from the land of Egypt, And the Philistines from Caphtor and the Arameans from Kir?’”
Amos 9:7
Where is Kir?
And what were the Arameans doing there?
Kir had not seemed to me like an Aramean sort of place, especially in its apparent association with Elam. For, as we read at: https://www.biblicaltraining.org/library/kir
“In Isa.22.6 soldiers from Kir are associated with others from Elam, and this may indicate the general direction in which to look for Kir”.
I need to note here that the correct location of Elam, and the associated land of Chaldea, may have to be hugely reconsidered, based on Royce (Richard) Erickson’s game-changing article (2020):
A PROBLEM IN CHALDAEAN AND ELAMITE GEOGRAPHY
(5) A PROBLEM IN CHALDAEAN AND ELAMITE GEOGRAPHY | ROYCE ERICKSON - ACADEMIA.EDU
A key towards solving the problem of Amos 9:7 is to realise that the Arameans did not originate from Kir, but had been exiled to there. Thus, to the valid question posed at: https://www.reddit.com/r/AcademicBiblical/comments/w73bv8/do_we_know_what_amos_is_referring_to_when_he/
Do we know what Amos is referring to when he talks about the Arameans being brought up from Kir?
Question
zanillamilla responds:
There is no certain place with that name [Kir] in the ANE. Amos 9:7 should be understood in light of the reference to Kir in 1:5 as the destination where Aramaeans will be exiled. 2 Kings 16:9 indeed says that Tiglath-pileser III exiled the inhabitants of Damascus to Kir in 732 BCE, which might be a gloss drawing on Amos 1:5. The most promising identification of Kir is the city-state of Der on the border of Elam. This Sumerian name is derived from Akkadian duru "wall, border", which translates as קִיר "wall" in Hebrew. This identification is supported by Isaiah 22:6: "Elam took up the quiver with the chariots, infantry and horsemen, and Kir uncovered the shield". It is also possible that Tiglath-pileser III exiled people from Der:
"After overcoming the crisis years of the 11th and 10th century, when Assyria had been reduced to its core area in the course of incursions by Aramaean semi-nomads, Assyrian kings resumed the attempts of their successful predecessors of the Middle Assyrian period to enlarge the territory of their state and plunder foreign lands. Assyrian armies began again to cross into neighboring regions, including areas to the south. It was during the reign of Adad-nerari II (911–891) that the Assyrians conquered for the first time the land and the city of Der. The take-over proved to be ephemeral. Perhaps already in 831, and then definitely in 815/814, under Šamši-Adad V (823–811), Assyrian troops had to take once again military action against Der. In 815 or 814, they carried away the statues of Der’s main god, Anu rabû...A few years later, Der slipped away again from the Assyrian sphere of influence. In 795 and 794, Adad-nerari III (810–783) campaigned against the city and, in 785, he returned the divine statues taken away from Der on an earlier occasion. While it remains uncertain whether Tiglath-pileser III (744–727) truly did deport large numbers of people from Der, as his annals might indicate,9 [See the discussion in Postgate & Mattila 2004: 241, n. 16.] it is very likely that it was under the iron fist of this very king that the Assyrians eventually annexed the city" (Eckart Frahm's "Assurbanipal at Der", pp. 52-53; SEO, 2009).
Compare also Ezra 4:8-10 which says that Assurbanipal later deported and settled in Samaria and the rest of Eber-Nari (which includes Aram) people from Uruk, Babylon, and Elam. So what might have happened is that as Der repeatedly fell into Assyrian hands and then fought for its independence once again, the Assyrians deported Aramaeans and inhabitants of Der multiple times, such that it could be said that some of the Aramaeans had been from Der and they could be expected to return there if deported again. ….
[End of quote]
The point to be taken from this is that the prophet Amos had foretold that the Syrians (Aram-eans) would be exiled to Kir (1:5): “‘The people of Aram will go into exile to Kir’, says the Lord”.
And, by the time we reach Amos 9:7, they have been returned: ‘Have I not brought …
the Arameans from Kir?’
The vital questions now become, where was Kir? And, to where were the Arameans brought back?
Der, as suggested above by zanillamilla - wherever it may have been - may turn out not to be the best choice.
To where were the Arameans brought from Kir?
My suggestion would be to Samaria, given that Sargon II had brought back captives to there. Samaria is close enough to Damascus to warrant, perhaps, the Arameans considering that they had been brought back ‘home’.
Dêr does not appear to figure amongst the places from which Sargon II brought exiles to re-populate Samaria (2 Kings 17:24): “The king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Kuthah, Avva, Hamath and Sepharvaim and settled them in the towns of Samaria to replace the Israelites. They took over Samaria and lived in its towns”.
Kir would have to be one of these five sites: Babylon, Kuthah, Avva, Hamath or Sepharvaim.
I would favour Babylon, which I have identified with Carchemish:
Land of Shinar, Nimrod, and the Tower of Babel
https://www.academia.edu/123692973/Land_of_Shinar_Nimrod_and_the_Tower_of_Babel
Kir - Kar - chemish: https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/4027-carchemish
“The Egyptians write "Karakamisha," or frequently "Ḳaraḳamisha." The Assyrians speak of "Gargamish" (earlier "Kargamish") as the principal city of northern Syria, "the Ḥatte-land".”
In Isaiah 22:6 we read: “And Elam bore the quiver with chariots and horsemen, and Kir uncovered the shield”.
Regarding Babylon (Kir?) and shields, Wesley’s Notes tell with reference to Isaiah 21:5:
https://www.ccel.org/ccel/wesley/notes.ii.xxiv.xxii.ii.html
“Princes - Of Babylon: arise from the table and run to your arms. Shield - Prepare yourselves and your arms for the approaching battle. The shield is put for all their weapons of offense and defense. They used to anoint their shields with oil, to preserve and polish them, and to make them slippery”.
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