The Song of Deborah gave us a complete list of the tribes of Israel at that time. While it can be noticed that only a few of these tribes banded together what is more interesting is what the Song DOESN'T MENTION.
Simeon, Levi and Judah are absent! None. Nada.
Judah will be dealt with extensivly later as will Simeon. Levi is the oddball. The name is actually Egyptian and means 'Joining'. (It works out the same in Hebrew)
Thus by their very name the Levites were NOT Israelite. They were Egyptian scribes and learned men. But when did they come? With Shishak? If there any tradition of the Shishak invasion in the Hebrew Bible that has come down other then the quick mention in 1 Kings 14? (And the parallel in Chronicles)
The answer would be no unless we come to accept a text very few have ever seen.
The Greek Septuagint. (LXX)
Although some may laugh and state that the LXX dates from the 200s BCE that is not entirley true. The earliest portions of the Hebrew Bible are:
1. A mention of the preiestly blessing around 600 BCE (I will deal with this soon)
2. The Dead Sea Scrolls which date from 150 BCE- 70 CE
3. The MT (Masoretic Text)which is the version most Hebrew Bibles are based on. Sadly the earliest version of this dates from the 900CE!
While the Dead Sea Scroll often line up with the MT there are times the texts are fliud and match the LXX. THUS THE LXX MUST BE CONSIDERED!
The so-called 'addition' in 1 Kings 11 of the LXX portrays Jeroboam I as coming with an army from Egypt into Israel.
Some may object reading 1 Kings 11 saying the Jeroboam in this story is in exile. Running from Solomon. However the very next chapter is identical in the MT and the LXX and both show Jeroboam as leading the northern tribes.
What we have then is a man leading the northern tribes that came out of Egypt and will form the new Kingdom of Isreal! That is a big tradition the later editors (Deuteronomists) could not really ignore.
Futhermores note 1 Kings 12 gives a list of Jeroboam's "sins":
12:25Then Jeroboam built Shechem in the
hill country of Ephraim, and lived in it; and
he went out from there, and built Penuel.
Remember what the Song of Deborah said? Those in Ephriam came from Amalek.
12:28Whereupon the king took counsel, and
made two calves of gold; and he said to them,
“It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem.
Look and see your gods, Israel, which brought
you up out of the land of Egypt!” 12:29He set
the one in Bethel, and the other put he in Dan.
This might sound very familier. It should, because in Exodus 32 it says:
32:3All the people took off the golden rings
which were in their ears, and brought them to
Aaron. 32:4He received what they handed him,
and fashioned it with an engraving tool, and
made it a molten calf; and they said, “These are
your gods, Israel, which brought you up out of
the land of Egypt.”
32:5When Aaron saw this, he built an altar
before it; and Aaron made a proclamation, and
said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to Yahweh.”
32:6They rose up early on the next day,
and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace
offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to
drink, and rose up to play.
This is put simply SHOCKING!
Why is Aaron connected to Jeroboam I?
If that is not enough who are Jeroboams sons?:
Abijam and Nadab.
Aarons sons:
Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, Ithamar
What happenes to the sons of Jeroboam I and the first two sons of Aaron? They are killed.
This simlarity was noted by many bible schoolars and recently by Israel Finkelstein in a public lecture as being a shocking parallel.
The last clue to this puzzle is the name Aaron is Egyptian. It is not a name. It is a title. OVERSEER.
Remember 1 Kings 12:
12:31He made houses of high places, and made
priests from among all the people, who were
not of the sons of Levi. 12:32Jeroboam ordained
a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day
of the month,......
...he did so in Bethel,
sacrificing to the calves that he had made: and
he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places
that he had made. 12:33He went up to the altar
which he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth
day in the eighth month, even in the month
which he had devised of his own heart: and he
ordained a feast for the children of Israel, and
went up to the altar, to burn incense.
An overseer indeed. This is what I beleive happened in the 920s BCE in Israel:
1. Shishak (I will use the Israelite version of his name) invaded Israel and took control of the main tribes in the highlands and the tribes in the Trans Jordan allied with them.
2. He set up an Aaron-Overseer who set up two shrines in Dan and Bethel (Likely Dan was Laish at the time ) for El likely but porbably accepted Yahweh as an Israelite god.
3. Sisera died but Israel still was under Egyptian rule (at least partially) again.
4. The tribal leader of the Israelites before MIGHT have been Saul but this is very slim for evidence.
5. Despite Aaron (Jeroboam I) wanting to keep power as we know later his sons were overthrown later by Israelites. (The topic of our next chapter)
6. Egypt sent learned men in to teach new priests. Likely they accepted Yahweh and Baal and El and Asherah however at this point WRITING WILL INCRESE IN ISRAEL!
This chapter will shock some. More shocking was the overthrow yet to come.