Ianhama of El Amarna as Na’aman the Syrian
by
Damien F. Mackey
That
a transformation of some kind had come over this Iaanhamu
Velikovsky
inferred from Rib-Addi’s revised attitude towards him;
an
attitude that had changed dramatically in the course of Rib-Addi’s reign.
Amongst Dr. Immanuel Velikovsky’s intriguing match-ups of
historical figures in the C14th BC El Amarna (EA) series with C9th BC biblical
characters (in Ages in Chaos I, 1952), was the variously spelled Ianhama (Ianhamu,
Iaanhamu, Yanhamu), identified as the leprous Syrian captain, Na’aman.
In my university thesis (2007) I wrote a section on this
(Volume One, pp. 103-1o8). Here is a part of it:
….
Velikovsky referred to a couple of facts in the Naaman story that he
said seemed “somewhat strange” ….
In … the [Naaman] story, two facts are somewhat
strange. First, inasmuch as Ben-Hadad himself was at the head of the thirty-two
captains of his army, why, in the story of the wondrous healing, is the
deliverance of Syria credited to a captain Naaman?
Second, the king of Israel was a lifelong rival of the
king of Damascus. Why, then, did this request to cure a sick captain inspire in
the king of Israel such a dread that he rent his clothes?
Velikovsky then proposed his identification for this Naaman in the EA Letters:
For an explanation of the real role of this captain
Naaman we shall look to the contemporaneous letters.
A man by whom Syria received deliverance must be
identifiable in the letters.
We recognize him in the person of Ianhama, called also
Iaanhamu ... the pharaoh’s deputy in Syria, [who] was sent to the king of
Damascus with prerogatives similar to those which Aman-appa had.
Velikovsky continues, with a quote from Mercer: ….
... Naaman’s title in the Scriptures - sar [Hebrew: שַׂר] - is also used in the letters. He was a
plenipotentiary of the king of Egypt, in charge of the army and walled cities
of Amuru land (Syria), later also the overseer of stores of grain. He had great
influence in all matters of Syrian administration. Judged by his name, he was
of Syrian origin, as were some other dignitaries at the court of Thebes.
Ianhama is a Semitic name: “Ianhamu was a powerful Egyptian agent in Syria,
where he was respected as a good and wise man, and where he proved himself to
be the most faithful of the pharaoh’s servants”.
That a transformation of some kind had come over this Iaanhamu Velikovsky inferred from Rib-Addi’s revised attitude towards him;
an attitude that had changed dramatically in the course of Rib-Addi’s reign:
In [Rib-Addi’s] early letters ... his fear of the
mighty deputy of the pharaoh is plainly expressed. In one letter he wrote to
the pharaoh: “Thou must rescue me out of the hand of Iaanhamu”. He asked the
pharaoh to inform his deputy that he, Ianhama, would be responsible if anything
should happen to [Rib-Addi’s] person ....
“Say to Ianhamu: ‘Rib-Addi is even in thy hands, and
all that will be done to him rests upon thee’.”
But, Velikovsky continued (typically substituting
Samaria for EA’s Sumur):
Later on, when Aman-appa left Samaria ..., [Rib-Addi]
... wrote to the pharaoh asking him to appoint Ianhama governor in Samaria ...:
“May it seem right to my lord to send Ianhama as his
deputy. I hear from the mouth of the people that he is a wise man and all
people love him”.
We recall the scriptural words about Naaman, that he
was an “honourable” man.
The reason for the official’s change in attitude,
Velikovsky suggested, was to be found in the Scriptures:
In another letter [Rib-Addi] again asks the pharaoh to
send Ianhama and in the next one he praises him in these words: “There is no
servant like Ianhama, a faithful servant to the king”.
... The letters do not show why the fear of [Rib-Addi]
... changed into confidence with respect to the Syrian deputy. The Scriptures
provide the explanation in the story of the healing of Naaman by the prophet of
Samaria. Naaman was very grateful to the prophet ... (II Kings 5:15). Elisha
even declared that he would heal Naaman in order to help the king of Israel
politically.
So [Ianhamu] became a friend.
[End of quotes]
….
Velikovsky then went on to point out what he called
“certain other features of the role and character of Ianhama, reflected in the
letters, [and] shown also in the Scriptures”.
For example:
He was a generous man. This appears in the story of
the healing: he gave to the servant of the prophet two talents of silver and
two changes of garments, more than the servant had asked for, when the prophet
refused to take ten talents of silver, six thousand pieces of gold, and ten
changes of raiment.
It is of interest to find that, according to the
letters, Ianhama was in charge of the pharaoh’s treasury in Syria, being over
“money and clothing”.
... The el-Amarna letters also speak of him as the
generous patron of a Palestinian youth, who was educated in Egypt at his
expense. The man “by whom the Lord had given deliverance unto Syria” ... was
Ianhama. How this captain changed his attitude and became a supporter of the
king of Samaria is recorded in the letters and is explained by the Scriptures.
Hirsch et al.
tell of this interesting Rabbinical tradition in regard to Naaman: ….
According to the Rabbis, Naaman was the archer who
drew his bow at a venture and mortally wounded Ahab, King of Israel (I Kings
xxii. 34). This event is alluded to in the words “because by him the Lord had
given deliverance unto Syria” (II Kings v. 1), and therefore the Syrian king,
Naaman’s master, was Benhadad …. Naaman is represented as vain and haughty, on
account of which he was stricken with leprosy ….
That Naaman, though a leper, regarded himself as
being an official of no small importance may be reflected in his initial
response to the fact of Elisha’s merely sending a messenger to advise him: ‘… I
thought that for me he would surely come out’ (5:11).
אָמַרְתִּי
אֵלַי יֵצֵא יָצוֹא
Here we have the biblical instance of Naaman’s riding up “with his
horses and chariots”, to Samaria, to seek a cure from Elisha. ….
And, later, Naaman will return to thank the prophet, “he and all his
company”; Naaman himself certainly riding in his chariot at the time (cf. 2
Kings 5:9; 5:21).
….
There is also a reference to “Naaman the Syrian” in
the New Testament (Luke 4:27).
….
What Velikovsky’s equation Naaman = Iaanhamu
adds to all this is the further dimension of the Egyptian connection. This facet of the life of our ‘Syrian’
commander, which will become of the highest importance in Chapter 10 (pp. 219ff.), is simply ignored however by the biblical
scribes (see previous comments on ‘biblical perspective’), as is Jehu’s
ethnicity as a ‘Syrian’.
I now take up the relevant parts of Campbell’s
narrative concerning this important EA official, Iaanhamu: ….
Yanhamu began his service under Amenophis III.
….
Yanhamu appears, then, to have held an extremely
important position in Syria throughout the period of Rib-Adda’s [Rib-Addi’s]
correspondence. The later letters of Rib-Adda show this prince defending
Yanhamu and asking for his appointment as rabiṣ
in Sumur. One might almost imagine that Yanhamu’s rebuff of Aziru described in
171 led Rib-Adda suddenly to realize that he had a true ally in Yanhamu.
This Iaanhamu
was, according to Campbell, in charge of grain supplies: ….
In the early group of letters from Rib-Adda, Yanhamu
seems to have held a position having to do with the supplying of the vassals
from a store-city of Egypt (83:27ff., 39f.; 85:23f., 48ff.; 86:15f.). This
source of supply is named Yarimuta in many places in the Rib-Adda
correspondence, and that Yanhamu was its chief appears clear from 85:12-35.
In this passage, Rib-Adda first explains that he has
had to “pawn” virtually everything of value in his city in return for grain
from Yarimuta. Sons and daughters of his serfs have been sold into slavery at
Yarimuta in return for grain. Grain is needed simply to keep the people alive
and able to protect their city.
… From the context it is not certain that Yanhamu is
chief of Yarimuta, but everything points that way. Being the chief of the grain
supply would place Yanhamu in a very powerful position.
That Iaanhamu was
of a high rank in relation to pharaoh is borne out by this testimony of
Campbell’s:[1]
“[Iaanhamu] bears an extremely important title, that of “Fan-Bearer at the
king’s right-hand” (musallil) ….
Abdi-Hiba of
Urusalim
Abdi-Hiba
of Jerusalem, whom I shall here - following James and Sieff - be identifying
with the Judaean king, Jehoram, appears to express a certain dissatisfaction
with Iaanhamu in EA 285:9ff. Campbell
has pointed to this, adding: ….
The objection of Abdi-Heba [Abdi-Hiba]
against the rule of Yanhamu is further expressed in 286, for here Yanhamu has
taken away the garrison force which had been assigned to Abdi-Heba. ….
Comments