Jewry 24. Archeology about northern Reich of Israel under Omrid dynasty 884-842 B.C.

The Israeli Omrid Reich with an army, gorgeous towns and a well developed administration - and the Old Testament says practically nothing about it

-- king Omri is constructing one of the strongest armies (p.188), a professional army (p.189)
-- king Ahab is achieving a brilliant international reputation for the Omrid kingdom
-- the marriage with the Phoenician daughter of the Phoenician king Ethbaal [today's Lebanon] is a diplomatic maneuver - according to Finkelstein / Silberman (p.188)
-- the Omrid dynasty is building gorgeous towns as administration centers
-- king Ahab is continuing with the amplification of the army
-- all in all territories in the North and on the East Bank are occupied
-- Omri and king Ahab are not "pious", but sometimes they are even freakish and brutal as all monarchs in the Middle East are basically (p.188).

All in all the Omrid Reich (Bible says: "kingdom of Israel") is the first right Jewish "kingdom" with all possible achievements. The Old Testament conceals this Omrid Reich (p.189). After the destruction of the Canaanite coastal towns the rulers of the northern highlands realize their Empire which has a multiplex character with dominance over rich agricultural regions and with international trade routes (p.211). Military, architecture and administration are well developed in this Omrid Empire (p.214) [but inscriptions are missing].

But there are other consequences by this amplification of the Omrid Reich, above all there is a multi ethnic society
-- with Israelite villages in the core land around Samaria
-- with Aramaic Syrian culture in the far North
-- with Phoenician culture at the coast (p.211)

-- the Israeli population stays in the highlands
-- the Canaanite population stays in the Jezreel plain
-- the disposal of the villages does not change under the Omrids (p.212).

In a parallel way to the rise of the Omrid dynasty there are Damascus, Phoenicia and Moab trying to extend their power. So, fortresses at the borderlines are absolutely necessary. The composed population can be used for agriculture, building projects and for wars and indispensable (p.212).

Archeology about the Omrid Empire: economic growth by trade with the Phoenician coastal towns - multiplex Omrid Empire

The findings with the buildings confirm for the Omrid times a "Golden Age" of Israelite kings. Bible never mentions this wealth of the northern kingdom, but only mentions palaces in Samaria and Jezreel (p.198).

Samaria: ruins of palaces in the northern Empire of Israel

Samaria: ebony reliefs in the palace of northern Reich of Israel (northern kingdom of Israel), Egypt style

The trade relations with the Phoenician coastal towns [today's Lebanon] are developing in a very intensive way. Marriage of king Ahab with a Phoenician princess is surely not just a coincidence. Emerging of many vessels in Cyprus Phoenician style is only explainable with intensive trade relations with the Phoenicians (p.213).

The Omrid buildings are similar to those in the Canaanite capital towns in the Late Bronze Age (p.213).

The excavations of ruins at Samaria are executed from 1908 to 1910 and in the 1930s. The Samaria of the Omri times has got it's site in an region rich of agriculture on a little hill. Before the Omrid times this site is a village or a little town- according to archeology (p.198).

All in all this Omrid Empire is not especially "Israeli", but is an absolute mixed Empire (p.213). The historian of the faked OT rates this policy as a "sinful behavior", and the punishment of the ruin of the dynasty would be just (p.214). The faked stories in the Old Testament are systematically concealing the true and proved history of Israel which is proved by archeology since decades (p.215).

Archeology did not see the Omrid period for a long time - big water systems

For a long time archeology said that all palaces in Palestine would be from the faked king of Solomon (p.202). For a long time archeology did not see the Omrid period as a decisive period of Israel. About king Ahab and queen Jezebel simply was no further research because in the outdated OT was this "clear" moral stories about them. Only by the new precise methods of determination of time and by new archeology [field research and comparing research] the contradictions between Solomon period and Omrid period can be solved (p.205), for example in reference to the big city gates (p.206), and by the cognition of the wrong age determination the contradictions can be solved (p.205).

The Omrids are said having installed also great water systems against sieges of their towns. In certain distances these water systems have shafts for control. Later king Mesha of Moab also let install big water systems and had Israeli war prisoners for their construction (p.204). Eventually the water systems have to be dated in a later period (p.209).

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