Labaya

Labaya; possibly Labayu or L'bayu

Canaanite warlord of (probably) the 14th century BCE. Labaya is referred to in several of the Amarna Letters. Little is known of his origins or life beyond what is found in these documents. One possible interpretation of his name is "Lion of YHWH", which begs some tantalizing questions.

Career

Labaya seems to have been based out of Shachmu (Shechem). He and his sons exerted influence over a wide region in Samaria, and threatened many powerful Canaanite towns, including Jerusalem, Gezer, and Megiddo.

The Amarna letters give an incomplete look at Labaya's career. In the first of Labayu's letters thus far discovered (EA 252), he defends himself to the Pharaoh against complaints of other city rulers about him (for example, the complaint that he has hired mercenaries from among the nomadic Habiru.

Labayu admitted to having invaded Gezer and insulting its king Milkilu. He denied any knowledge of his son's alleged collaboration with the Habiru (EA 254). Other Canaanite rulers, such as Abdi-Heba of Jerusalem, complained of Labayu's depredations (e.g., EA 289). He was accused of capturing cities that were under Egyptian protection, and at one point besieged Megiddo. After receiving numerous complaints about his behavior, the pharaoh (probably Amenhotep III finally ordered several Canaanite rulers to take Labayu prisoner and send him to Egypt.

Biridiya, ruler of Megiddo, wrote to the pharaoh that Zurata, governor of Akko, had captured Labaya, accepted a bribe from him and released him. (EA 245).

Labaya was eventually killed by the citizens of Gina (Beth-Hagan, possibly modern-day Jenin). One of Labaya's sons, Mutbaal, ruled Pella in the Trans-Jordanian part of Canaan. His death was reported to Pharaoh's agent, Balu-Ur-Sag, by Labayu's two sons. The sons of Labaya continued to campaign against other Egyptian clients in Canaan. Biryawaza, king of Damascus, was eventually asked to take armed action against Labayu's sons (EA 250).

Tenuous identifications with Biblical figures

Some scholars have identified Labaya with the biblical figure of Abimelech ben Gideon (Judges 9). Still others, such as David Rohl, have advocated a totally revised chronology of ancient Israelite and Egyptian history, and instead identify Labaya with Saul and Mutbaal with Saul's son Ishbaal or Ish-bosheth. These scholars further identify Dadua and Yishaya, two figures mentioned by Mutbaal in a later Amarna Letter, as King David and his father, Jesse/Yishai. The Rohl chronology is not, however, widely accepted and there are wide discrepencies between the Labaya of the Amarna texts and King Saul as he is described in the Books of Samuel.

Bibliography

• Baikie, James. The Amarna Age: A Study of the Crisis of the Ancient World. University Press of the Pacific, 2004.

• Cohen, Raymond and Raymond Westbrook (eds.). Amarna Diplomacy: The Beginnings of International Relations. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002.

• Moran, William L. (ed.) The Amarna Letters. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002.

External Links

• Arguments identifying Labaya with Saul
• A Test of Time Home Page
• A Website Critical of Rohl
• The Revision of Ancient History – A Perspective
• Amarna Letters Concerning the Labaya Affair