“The Amarna letters comprise approximately 382 cuneiform tablets discovered at el-Amarna, Egypt, dating to the mid-14th century BCE (reign of Pharaoh Akhenaten, ca. 1353–1336 BCE). These are diplomatic correspondences primarily between Egyptian vassal rulers in Canaan and the pharaoh, reporting local conflicts, requests for aid, and political intrigues. The term Ḫabiru (or ʿApiru in variant spellings) appears in over 50 letters, often describing groups engaged in raiding, mercenary activities, or social disruption in Canaanite city-states (e.g., letters EA 68, 73–74, 286–289 by Abdi-Heba of Jerusalem)” (xAI, Grok 4, 2025).
Reader’s note: The primary people group of Habiru in the Southern Levant mentioned in the Amarna letters are the ancient Israelites who conquered areas of Canaan (after their exodus from Egypt) which eventually became Israel, named after the Hebrew Israelite conquerors.
“The Amarna period overlaps with traditional biblical chronologies placing the Israelite conquest or emergence in Canaan around the Late Bronze Age (ca. 1400–1200 BCE), as inferred from Exodus 1:11 and Joshua. Habiru activities are concentrated in the central highlands and Shechem region (e.g., EA 289 mentions Lab’ayu of Shechem allying with Habiru), areas later associated with early Israelite settlement in biblical narratives (e.g., Joshua 24). Habiru are depicted as semi-nomadic raiders challenging urban centers, akin to biblical accounts of Israelite incursions under Joshua (e.g., conquest of Ai, Jericho). Letter EA 286 describes Habiru led by figures like Yapahu capturing cities, which some interpret as paralleling Joshua’s campaigns” (xAI, Grok 4, 2025). Etc.
Despite the archaeological evidence and historical parallels clearly demonstrating that the primary Habiru people group who were invading the Southern Levant and conquering Canaanite kingdoms are the ancient Israelites, atheist scholars continue to contest this from a presumption that the Israelites came later (or never lived in Egypt and left in an exodus from Egypt but instead were simply Canaanite rebels involved in a peasant revolt). That is not what a correct interpretation of the aggregate of the evidence shows; but if atheist scholars admit the obvious, that the primary people group of Habiru conquerors in the Southern Levant are the ancient Israelite conquerors who left Egypt in an exodus, that truth will not advance the anti-biblical position which they are committed to hoisting.
Each of us has a worldview that affects interpretation; however, consider the extent off course they’ve drifted that there are now among them a growing number of professors at public universities (which receive significant funding from government tax dollars) who make six figures a year teaching such fallacies as Jesus, Solomon, Moses, Abraham, etc. never even existed as historical people.
The author William L. Moran (08/11/1921 - 12/19/2000) was an American Assyriologist well versed in the Akkadian language, Biblical lexicon, and related ancient literature who was a professor of Assyriology at Harvard University and then the Andrew W. Mellon Professor of the Humanities Emeritus before being made a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (see the book “Biblical And Oriental Essays In Memory Of William L. Moran” published in 2005 by Gregorian and Biblical Press for more information about his work).
For a chronology of the Amarna Letters, Edward Fay Campbell (Doctor of Philosophy, Johns Hopkins University) put them in order in his 1964 publication titled “The Chronology of the Amarna Letters, With Special Reference to the Hypothetical Coregency of Amenophis III and Akhenaten” which can be viewed on the Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/chronologyofamar0000camp
Joel P. Kramer (staff archaeologist of Shepherds Theological Seminary and author of the book “Where God Came Down”) has a short 30-minute video introduction:
Archaeologist Dr. Gary Byers (Co-Director and Senior Archaeologist of the Shiloh Excavations, Israel and Dean of the College of Archaeology at Trinity Southwest University in Albuquerque, NM) discusses the ancient Egyptian Amarna Letters and the Exodus.
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