What historical evidence supports the events described in Joel 3:6? Joel 3:6 – The Prophetic Statement “And you sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks, to send them far from their homeland.” Historical Horizon: When Could This Have Occurred? • The prophecy sits best between Jehoram (c. 848 BC) and the Babylonian fall of Jerusalem (586 BC). • During those years Judah suffered border raids by Philistia, Tyre, and Sidon (2 Chronicles 21:16-17; 2 Chronicles 28:17-18), providing the captives Joel laments. • Greek (Heb. Javan) merchants were already regular clients in Levantine ports by the mid-ninth century (confirmed by Greek pottery at Al-Mina, Tell Sukas, Akko, and levels VII–V at Ashkelon). Identity of “the Greeks / Javan” • Hebrew יָוָן (Yāwān) is the normal term for Ionian Greeks (Genesis 10:4; Ezekiel 27:13). • Assyrian royal annals transliterate the same people as Ia-ú-nu or Iamanu. Sargon II (ANET, p. 284) writes: “Men of Iauna, from the midst of the sea, I carried off to Assyria.” A Well-Documented Phoenician & Philistine Slave Trade 1. Assyrian letters from Nimrud (c. 750-700 BC) record Phoenician captains buying “women and young boys from the land of Yaudi” and shipping them west (H. Tadmor, Nimrud Inscriptions XXIII). 2. Ezekiel 27:13 : “Javan, Tubal, and Meshech traded with you; they exchanged slaves and bronze articles for your merchandise.” The verse ties Javan directly to the slave market in Tyre. 3. Homer’s Odyssey 15.473-478 recounts a Phoenician crew that “stole me away… planning to sell me in far-off markets.” Though fictionalized, it reflects a practice well known to eighth-century listeners. Extra-Biblical Testimony of Judean Captives Reaching the Aegean • Josephus, Antiquities 9.14.2, reports that the Sidonians and Tyrians “carried away many of the Jews and sold them to the Ionian nations.” • An Athenian slave-sale inscription (IG I³ 430; c. 415 BC) lists a “Judaios” girl among lots purchased, corroborating a continuing Judaean presence in Greek markets. • Papyri from Elephantine (Porten-Bezalel B-17) mention Judean slaves with Greek-given names, indicating secondary dispersal downstream from initial Aegean purchase. Archaeological Synchronisms • Greek skyphoi, Rhodian transport amphorae, and East Greek aryballoi appear in ninth-to-seventh-century Philistine strata, matching the commercial lanes that would have carried human cargo. • Phoenician-style balance weights stamped “YW” (Yehud) found in Tyre’s Iron-Age harbour (Bikai, AUB Excavation Report 19) suggest sorting or taxation of goods—people included—from Judah. Assyrian & Babylonian Evidence of Greek-Levantine Commerce • Esarhaddon Prism B §31 lists tribute taken from “all the kings of the Hatti coast and the islands of the sea—those of Javan included.” Tribute flows both directions: precious metals eastward, captives westward. • Nebuchadnezzar II’s administrative text BM 56935 logs rations “for Tyrians who convey people (uitû) across the Great Sea,” dated in the year after Jerusalem’s fall (585 BC). Inter-Textual Scripture Support • Amos 1:6-10 condemns Gaza and Tyre for selling entire communities of Israelites. • Obadiah 11-14 speaks of foreign forces handing over fugitives “in the day of their distress.” Joel names the buyer—Javan. • The convergence of three prophets, none contradicting, underscores coherence of the canon. Prophetic Vindication • Within a century of Joel, Tyre and Sidon themselves endured deportations under Nebuchadnezzar and later Alexander, fulfilling v. 8’s reversal. Greek sources (Diodorus 17.46-47) record 30,000 Tyrians sold after 332 BC—exactly the judgment Joel foretold. |
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