{N}THE TIME OF THE PATRIARCHS{/}

{K}PALESTINE IN THE THIRD MILLENIUM{/}

The development of the agriculture and the domestication of animals that 
had begun at the end of the fourth millenium brought with it an increase 
in the population. The cities in central and northern Palestine began 
multiplying; in the south in the Negueb, we find in Tel Arid, north of 
{N}Bersheba{/}, a city that had two phases of brilliant occupations between 
2900 and 2650 B.C. The commercial relations were extended outside of the 
country, the mines of the {N}Araba{/} from which copper had been extracted 
during the previous centuries were abandoned because this metal was now 
imported. On the other hand, olive oil from Palestine was being sold in 
Egypt. In the cities life was organized and a differentiation of labor 
was established: the cities had their temples and their palaces. Although 
the ethnic and linguistic unity of southern Syria and Palestine was 
achieved, this region still continued to be parceled into numerous small 
states that were frequently confronting each other. It seems that after 
the third eqyptian dynasty (around 2700), the pharaohs had to act with 
authority against those that in the egyptian texts were called "Asians". 
It is in this way that the Ancient Egyptian Empire, in its last efforts 
before its collapse, launched under the reign of Pepi I, several punitive 
expeditions to Palestine, that resulted in the dismantling and the ruin 
of many fortress cities whose growing power had concerned Egypt; this 
happened around 2250 B.C.
{K}THE IRRESISTIBLE PRESSURE OF THE NOMADS{/}

The interventions of Egypt in Palestine are not enough to explain the 
destruction of the civilization that had developed there during the main 
part of the third millenium; besides, all of the Near East was passing 
through a period of grave convulsions between 2200 and 1900 B.C. In 
Mesopotamia as well as in Egypt, the power and its institutions are swept 
away: in reality there are different causes according to the country, but 
the common origin of these political crisis is due to the irresistible 
pressure from the nomads in the Syrian desert, who are known as {C}mar'tu{/} 
in the Sumerian epic poems, and {C}amurru{/} in the acadian texts: they are 
the {N}Amorites{/}. Scorned in the reports from these times as uneducated and 
unworthy beings, who knew nothing about agriculture and urban life, they 
succeeded however in imposing themselves on the old states in the Near 
East. Little by little they began occupying their lands; they adopted 
their ways of city life, and some centuries later, they ascended to the 
thrones of various kingdoms in Mesopotamia.
It is within this framework of the movements of the nomads towards the 
borders of the cultivated territories where the migration of {N}Abram{/} 
coming from {N}Harran{/} is situated, or possibly even from farther, from 
{N}Ur{/}, to the promised Land. Some very precise studies demonstrate that 
the names of Abram, Isaac, and Jacob were of amorite origin, and this 
allow us to place them approximately at the beginning of the second 
millenium B.C. The text from Deuteronomy (26,5) that speaks of Abram as a 
"wandering Aramean" is an anachronism, at least in its formulation. The 
reporter or author, who lived during the first millenium B.C., received 
without a doubt the tradition referring to the nomadic and syrian origin 
of these great fathers, but at the time of these writings, the nomads who 
moved in the region of the Near East were called in the texts with the 
name of Arabians, and therefrom the expression was naturally adopted 
since it was then in use. However the testimony of biblical text is true: 
during more than one thousand a constant pressure of nomads from the 
syrian desert was suffered along the frontiers by the different states in 
the {C}Fertile Crescent.{/} This pressure had consequences where the power 
established was too weak to resist.
{K}A GOLDEN AGE IN PALESTINE{/}

While Mesopotamia and northern Syria were being affected by the movements 
of the populations that were coming from regions further to the north, 
Palestine, on the other hand, where the Amorites had become deeply 
integrated in the local population, knew an era of great prosperity. 
After an eclipse of two or three centuries, cities were reconstructed and 
new fortifications were built. From the ancient Ugarit in Syria to the 
south of central Palestine, a remarkable civilization was developed, 
proof of which coming from the exceptional quality of their ceramics and 
the progresses in bronze metal work. They worked with gold and stone with 
great skill, yet in this as well as in their woodworking, there is 
evidence of the influence of egyptian models.
{K}THE HYKSOS{/}

This region in full development is probably where the Hyksos left from. 
Not in another part, but in Syria-Palestine, is where one must look for 
the origin of the military chiefs who invaded Egypt during the eighteenth 
century B.C., establishing there foreign dynasties along the delta and 
middle course of the Nile. In the egyptian texts the vocabulary used in 
reference to these invaders is the one used centuries ago to designate 
the inhabitants of Syria and Palestine.
But the name that arrived to us is that of {C}Hyksos{/}. Maneton, who would 
have imposed it upon history, translated it as "shepherd kings". This 
egyptian historian was a priest in the sanctuary of Heliopolis, actually 
in the eastern suburb of Cairo, and he lived during the reign of Tolomeo 
I Soter (325-285). He wrote the Chronicles of the Pharaohs from the first 
dynasties until the days of Alexander the Great.
Many signals permit the confirmation of the palestinian origin of the 
Hyksos: in their new capital Avaris, in the Delta, those princes 
inaugurated in the year 1720 B.C. the cult of the God Set, represented 
with characteristics of the canaanite Baal.
During the two centuries in which the Hyksos were seated on the throne of 
Lower Egypt, the movements of the Palestinian nomads towards the delta of 
the Nile were probably easier. These "inhabitants of the sands", 
{C}Retenu's{/} people, using the egyptian expression, were less suspects for 
a Pharaonic administration which, whether they liked it or not, had to 
show a good face to the foreigners. The migration of Abraham to Egypt and 
the promotion of Joseph to the country on the Nile remain in some way as 
the reminder of these occurrences. In these popular stories, read and 
reread throughout the centuries, sometimes in very different cultural 
contexts, the Bible transmits to us an echo of the situation of the 
nomads from the Near East during the second millenium, and this is where 
we find the origins of the People whom God called to the Covenant.
{K}A REREADING{/}

Only during the course of the first millenium before Christ is when the 
traditions related to the Patriarchs are written down. But by then the 
spiritual experiences of Israel had already progressed: the time in the 
desert, the confrontation in Canaan, the early stages of the monarchy, 
where also some of the places where God spoke through his Prophets. The 
regard given then to the patriarchs, their history and their vocation, 
during this royal period, was profoundly influenced by this spiritual 
enrichment. Then there was a place for a "re-reading", as we said today. 
When a modern historian writes the history of the Crusades, he does not 
write nor can he write as if he lived in the twelfth or thirteenth 
century. As we have already seen, God respects man and invites us to 
imitate him, we must then approaching to the Bible, accept this 
phenomenon of the "Re-reading".
{K}THE PROMISE GOD MADE TO OUR FATHERS{/}

In these stories the Patriarchs appear in the first place as men called 
by God. In fact, the one called by God, Abram, leaves his country; 
through a divine intervention Isaac sees the day, and in a dream the 
Eternal One renews his promise to Jacob. A certainty is observed 
throughout all of the popular stories in Genesis: God chose our fathers 
and with this call it was prefigured the call to all the peoples. They 
were made trustees and witnesses of a promise that surpasses time and 
which will be fulfilled in the Incarnation of the Son of God.
The people of Israel project over the Patriarchs the experience of the 
divine protection that they experimented throughout their history: 
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob will pass through many tests which seem to 
hinder the fulfillment of the Promise, but at each opportunity God will 
intervene in favor of his faithful people. From this time a privileged 
relationship between God and the fathers will be established, made from 
faithfulness to his Word, on God's part, and from an unbreakable trust on 
the part of the Patriarchs. All along their way Israelites will be 
invited to see in them the marvels from God in favor of the chosen ones 
as well as the example of a trusting unfailing Faith: {C}By faith Sarah 
herself received power to become a mother, in spite of her advanced age; 
since she believed that he who had made the promise would be faithful{/} 
[Heb_11,11].
