Archaeology Magazine - September/October 2024 - 41

additional places of worship, such as Jeroboam, who is punished
by God in the Book of Kings for constructing a sacrificial altar
outside the holy city.
The governor of Yehud and officials from Samaria both
A papyrus unearthed on Elephantine contains a letter
suggesting that members of the Judean community may have
observed Passover by refraining from eating leavened bread.
Khnum. Tensions came to a head and, in 410 b.c., on a day
when a papyrus says the Persian governor was away, Egyptians
demolished the Judeans' temple.
After their temple was destroyed, the papyri record, the
Judean community entered a period of mourning and ceased
making sacrifices. They wrote to priestly authorities in
Jerusalem and to the Persian governor of Yehud, as Judah was
known at the time, asking for help. They also sent letters to
officials in Samaria, where temples of Yahweh stood in both
the regional seat and on Mount Gerizim, in the hill country.
" They were looking for a benefactor to help them rebuild, "
Edelman says. The letters show that the Elephantine Judeans
considered themselves connected with others who worshipped
the same god. " Our forefathers built this temple in the fortress
of Elephantine back in the days of the Kingdom of Egypt, "
the Elephantine priests wrote to the governor of Yehud. " If
they do thus until that Temple be (re)built, a merit you will
have before Yahweh, the God of Heaven. " The letters provide
evidence that, just as it was permissible to worship multiple
gods, it was acceptable to have multiple temples. This contrasts
sharply with the Torah, which states that there is only one
God-Yahweh-who should be worshipped in only one place.
The Judeans believed this was the Temple in Jerusalem. The
Hebrew Bible contains cautionary tales of those who build
replied, according to the papyri, giving the Judeans permission
to rebuild their temple but decreeing that they should make
offerings only of grain, not animals. " Was that because animal
sacrifices had gotten them in trouble with the Egyptians and
led to the temple's destruction, or were the authorities saying
there was only one legitimate place for these kinds of animal
sacrifices? " asks Edelman. " We really don't know. " The
papyri record that the Elephantine temple was indeed rebuilt.
Archaeologists found evidence that the area enclosing the new
structure was reduced in size, possibly to accommodate the
enlargement of the nearby Egyptian temple complex.
A
bout a decade after the temple was rebuilt, the
story of the Judean community on Elephantine comes
to an end. No Aramaic papyri or other evidence of the
community has been found on the island dating to later than
the very early fourth century b.c., by which point Egyptian
rebellions had ended Persian rule. During excavations,
archaeologists found signs that the temple had been abandoned
around this time. Barnea and van der Toorn believe the
Judeans of Elephantine may have moved elsewhere in Egypt,
becoming part of one of a handful of early Jewish communities
known to have existed there from the late fourth to late first
century b.c. " It does make sense that the community stuck
together, " Barnea says. " It would have been too far and too
dangerous to go back to Judah or Samaria. " He adds that they
may have moved to Edfu, an Egyptian city about 70 miles
north of Elephantine, where late fourth-century b.c. papyri
record the existence of a Yahweh-worshipping population.
Archaeologists have found evidence of a similar community
in the Fayum Oasis in western Egypt.
Van der Toorn points to a document known as Papyrus
Amherst 63, a third-century b.c. text written in Aramaic using
an Egyptian script, which contains biblical psalms and prayers,
as evidence that people from Judah and Samaria continued
to live in communities around Egypt. " This particular document
is unprovenanced, so we don't know exactly where it
was found, but it is further evidence of Yahweh worshippers
making their way to live in Egypt, " he says. " Eventually, early
Jewish communities became very important there. " Van der
Toorn notes that, in the second century b.c., Jewish scholars in
the northern Egyptian city of Alexandria translated the Torah
into a Greek version known as the Septuagint.
The island of Elephantine continued to thrive as a trade hub
This document, known as Papyrus Amherst 63, contains psalms
and prayers establishing that Judeans continued to live in
Egypt into the third century b.c.
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for centuries, while remnants of its Judean community were
lost and remained buried until the late nineteenth century. " The
community is a tiny blip on the radar in terms of Egyptian history
on Elephantine, " Barnea says. " At the same time, it remains
the most important site we have in terms of the history of Yahweh
worshippers and Jewish life before the Greek period. " n
Sara Toth Stub is a journalist based in Jerusalem.
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Archaeology Magazine - September/October 2024

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