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Let the king my lord consider the city of Ajalon. I am not able to direct my way to the king my lord according to his instructions. Behold, the king has established his name in the country of Jerusalem for ever, and he cannot forsake the territories of the city of Jerusalem. To the secretary of the king my lord thus speaks Ebed-Tob thy servant. At thy feet I prostrate myself.
Malchiel, the colleague of Labai in his attack upon Gezer, as afterwards upon Ebed-Tob of Jerusalem, does not appear to have been of Beduin origin. But as long as the Beduin chief could be of use to him he was very willing to avail himself of his assistance, and it was always easy to drop the alliance as soon as it became embarrassing.
Let the king listen to Ebed-Tob thy servant, and let him despatch troops and restore the country of the king to the king. But if no troops arrive, the country of the king is gone over to the men even to the Confederates.
They do not say before the face of the king my lord that the country of the king my lord is destroyed, and that all the governors are destroyed, if no troops come this year. What have I done against the king my lord? They have slandered me, laying wait for me in the presence of the king, the lord, saying: Ebed-Tob has revolted from the king his lord.
Etakkama, however, as Etu-gama spells his own name, professed to be a loyal servant of the Egyptian king, and one of the Tel el-Amarna letters is from him. We next hear of Namya-yitsa in Accho or Acre, where he had taken refuge with Suta, or Seti, the Egyptian commissioner. Seti had already been in Jerusalem, and had been inquiring there into the behaviour of Ebed-Tob.
In this "Mountain of Jerusalem" it is difficult not to see the "temple-Mount" of later days. In the cuneiform texts of Ebed-Tob and the later Assyrian kings the name of Jerusalem is written Uru-Salim, "the city of Salim."
As we shall see, Labai and his ally, Malchiel, were among the chief adversaries of Ebed-Tob of Jerusalem. On one occasion, however, Labai was actually made prisoner by one of the Egyptian officers.
It is this same mighty king, Ebed-Tob assures the Pharaoh in another letter, who will overthrow the navies of Babylonia and Aram-Naharaim. Here, then, as late as the fifteenth century before our era we have a king of Jerusalem who owes his royal dignity to his god. He is, in fact, a priest as well as a king.
To the Secretary of the king, Ebed-Tob thy servant: make a clear report of my words to the king: 'Abundant good fortune be unto thee! I am thy servant." The country of the king has gone over to the Khabiri. Let the king listen to Ebed-Tob thy servant, and let him despatch troops that I may restore the country of the king to the king.
"If auxiliaries come this year," writes Ebed-Tob of Jerusalem, "the provinces of the king my lord will be preserved; but if no auxiliaries come the provinces of the king my lord will be destroyed." To these entreaties no answer could be returned. There was civil and religious war in Egypt itself, and the army was needed to defend the Pharaoh at home.
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