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Elephantine Papyri

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isle in the Nile

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we have extra-Biblical evidence of a community that lives in Egypt

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has a garrison of Persian troops

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one of them is from Judah

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there is a body of Papyri

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relate to the Jewish communal life there

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495-399 BCE

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not about military operations

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insights into the ways the Judahites lived among themselves and with other communities

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the Bible presents a view of how Judahites lived in Egypt

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Elephantine Papyri present an unorthodox way of living

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holiness of the Sabbath

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"I'll meet you down by the docks to load a boat on the Sabbath"

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intermarriage

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temple officials who marry Egyptian women or slaves to Judahites

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not just among the common people but to priests

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temple of Yahweh

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an early temple had been destroyed

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the Judahite community write letters to the Egyptians that it be rebuilt

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they are sending these letters back to Jerusalem and Samaria

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responses

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indicate that they are all ok with the temple being rebuilt

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one caveat should not be used for meat sacrifices, the highest form

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this is strange that there should only be one temple, and that should be in Jerusalem

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according to the Bible depiction

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but we know from this archive of letters that they were fine with these other temples

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letters which say, "may the gods seek your welfare" instead of "may Yahweh seek your welfare"

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odd because this is not monotheistic as the Bible suggests Israelites were at this time

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a response about how to keep the festival Passover

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yet the Judahite community does not appear to know how to keep these laws

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they right and find out

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get response

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but why didn't they just read the Torah scroll

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they do not seem to have a Torah scroll

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in the response, the writer is not citing the Torah scroll

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the one authorization that is mentioned is not of the Torah at all but of Darius the King of Persia who let these things be done

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these are Judahites living on the edge of the Persian empire being good Persian subjects

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does not observe all the laws of Moses

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writes letters to Judah to ask them to help

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responses are not in keeping with Biblical law