of Siddim was coveted by the Babylonian
kings. Bitumen, it is true, was found in Babylonia itself near Hit, but
if Amiaud is right, one of the objects imported from abroad for Gudea of
Lagas was asphalt. It came from Madga, which is described as being "in
the mountains of the river Gur(?)ruda." But no reference to the place is
to be met with anywhere else in cuneiform literature.

When Abram returned with the captives and spoil of Sodom, the new king
came forth to meet him "at the valley of Shaveh, which is the king's
dale." This was in the near neighbourhood of Jerusalem, as we gather
from the history of Absalom (2 Sam. xviii. 18). Accordingly we further
read that at the same time "Melchizedek, king of Salem," and "priest of
the most High God," "brought forth bread and wine," and blessed the
Hebrew conqueror, who thereupon gave him tithes of all the spoil.

It is only since the discovery and decipherment of the cuneiform tablets
of Tel el-Amarna that the story of Melchizedek has been illustrated and
explained. Hitherto it had seemed to stand alone. The critics, in the
superiority of their knowledge, had refused credit to it, and had denied
that the name even of Jerusalem or Salem was known before the age of
David. But the monuments have come to our help, and have shown that it
is the critics and not the Biblical writer who have been in error.

Several of the most interesting of the Tel el-Amarna letters were
written to the Pharaoh Amenophis IV. Khu-n-Aten by Ebed-Tob the king of
Jerusalem. Not only is the name of Uru-salim or Jerusalem the only one
in use, the city itself is already one of the most important fortresses
of Canaan. It was the capital of a large district which extended
southwards as far as Keilah and Karmel of Judah. It commanded the
approach to the vale of Siddim, and in one of his letters Ebed-Tob
speaks of having repaired the royal roads not only in the mountains, but
also in the _kikar_ or "plain" of Jordan (Gen. xiii. 10). The possession
of Jerusalem was eagerly coveted by the enemies of Ebed-Tob, whom he
calls also the enemies of the Egyptian king.

Now Ebed-Tob declares time after time that he is not an Egyptian
governor, but a tributary ally and vassal of the Pharaoh, and that he
had received his royal power, not by inheritance from his father or
mother, but through the arm (or oracle) of "the Mighty King." As "the
Mighty King" is distinguished from the "great King" of Egypt, we must
see in him