1 jan 407 ano antes da era comum - Sanballat, Governor of Samaria, Mentioned

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Queen Esther wife of Xerxes Chronological, Historical and Archaeological Evidence by Gerard Gertoux

Historical information about the Transeuphratene area “Beyond the river” given by Herodotus and the Bible during Darius I’s reign, as names and titles of rulers, as well as chronological data is extremely reliable27. Similarly, during Artaxerxes I’s reign, according to Nehemiah, the governor of Judah: Then I came to the governors beyond the River, and gave them the king's letters. Now the king had sent with me captains of the army and horsemen. And when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite (...) But when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, heard it, they laughed us to scorn, and despised us (Ne 2:9-10,19). Evidences for the existences of Sanballat (Sin’uballit ‘Sin gives life’), the governor of Samaria, and Geshem (Gashmu ‘rain’), the governor of Arabia (and king of Qedar), have been discovered by archaeologists28.

The details emerging from the papyri concerning the struggle of the Jews in Egypt for permission to rebuild their Temple in Elephantine help to elucidate the historical background, which confirms the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. The two drafts of the letter of 407 BCE to Bagohi84, the governor of Judah, refer to an earlier letter of 410 BCE to Bagohi and to Johanan, the High Priest85, which remained unanswered. The fact that the Jews of Elephantine turned to the Persian governor of Judah and the Jerusalem High Priest for help is most revealing regarding the functioning of Judean authorities. This letter reads: To our lord, Bagohi, governor of Yehud, (from) your servants: Yedaniah and his associates, the priests who are in the fortress of Yeb (Elephantine). May the God of the Heavens perpetually pursue the welfare of our lord greatly and grant you favours before Darius the king and the "sons of the palace" a thousand times more than now. May you be joyful and healthy at all times. Now your servant Yedaniah and his associates testify as follows: In the month of Tammuz, in the 14th year of King Darius [410 BCE], when Arsames departed and went to the king, the priests of the god Khnub, who is in the fortress of Yeb, conspired with Vidranga, who was administrator here, to destroy the temple of Yahu in the fortress of Yeb. So that villain Vidranga sent this order to his son Nefayan, who was in command of the garrison of the fortress at Syene: The temple of the god Yahu in the fortress of Yeb shall be destroyed. Nefayan consequently led the Egyptians with other troops. Arriving with their weapons at the fortress of Yeb, they entered the temple and burned it to the ground. They smashed the stone pillars that were there. They demolished five great gateways constructed of hewn blocks of stone which were in the temple; but their doors (are still standing), and the hinges of those doors are made of bronze. And the roof of cedar in its entirety, with the ... and whatever else was there, were all burned with fire. As for the basins of gold and silver and other articles that were in the temple, they carried all of them off and took them as personal possessions. Now, our ancestors built this temple in the fortress of Yeb in the days of the kingdom of Egypt; and when Cambyses came to Egypt he found it (already) constructed. They (the Persians) knocked down all the temples of the Egyptian gods; but no one damaged this temple. But when this happened, we and our wives and our children wore sackcloth, and fasted, and prayed to Yahu, the Lord ofHeaven, who has let us "see to" Vidranga. The axes removed the anklet from his feet (?) and any property he had acquired was lost. And all those who have sought to do evil to this temple —all of them— have all been killed, and we have "seen to" them. We have (previously) sent letters to our lord when this catastrophe happened to us; and to the high priest Yehohanan and his associates, the priests in Jerusalem; and to Ostan, the kinsman of Anani; and the Judahite elites. They have never sent us a letter. Furthermore, from the month of Tammuz, the 14th year of Darius the king, until today, we have been wearing sackcloth and fasting, making our wives as widows, not anointing ourselves with oil or drinking wine. Furthermore, from then until now, in the 17th year of Darius the king [407
BCE], no grain-offering, incense, or burnt-offering has been sacrificed in this temple. Now your servants Yedaniah, and his associates, and the Judahites, all inhabitants of Yeb, state: If it seems good to our lord, remember this temple to reconstruct it, since they do not let us reconstruct it. Look to your clients and friends here in Egypt. Let a letter be sent from you to them concerning the temple of the god Yahu to construct it in the fortress of Yeb as it was before. And the grain-offering, incense, and burnt-offering will be offered in your name, and we will pray for you continuously —we, our wives, and our children, and the Judahites who are here, all of them— if you do this so that this temple is reconstructed. And you shall have honour before Yahu, the God of the Heavens, more than a man who offers him burnt-offerings and sacrifices worth a thousand talents of silver and gold. Because of this, we have written to inform you. We have also set forth the whole matter in a letter in our name to Delaiah and Shelemiah, the sons of Sanballat, the governor of Samaria. Furthermore, Arsames (the Persian satrap) knew nothing of all that was perpetrated on us. On the 20th of Marcheshwan, the 17th year of King Darius. The letter confirms numerous points from the books of Ezra and Nehemiah:
Ø The God of the Heavens is an expression used particularly during the Persian period (Ezr 1:2; 5:11; Ne 1:4-5).
Ø Darius II (424-405 BCE) was the Persian emperor at that time (Ne 12:22-31)86.
Ø Yahu “Yah Himself” is a substitute of the divine name Yehowah, the Israelite god,
frequently found at the end of theophorous names in –yahu (like Eli-yahu).
Ø Sanballat (Sin’uballit ‘Sin gives life’) was the governor of Samaria under the Persians. He
is mentioned in Nehemiah 2:10; 3:33-4:7; 6:1-14; 13:28.
Ø Yehohanan was the High Priest of Jerusalem (Ne 12:10-11,23).

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