Cave of Letters - The Letters

The Letters

The four slats of wood tied together with the other papyri was the only one of the letters that was titled “President over Israel”. The others were titled “Shimeon ben/bar Kosiba”. This letter is written in Aramaic and it addresses two subordinates ordering them to confiscate some wheat from a man and deliver the man and the wheat safely to him, and threatens to severely punish them if they fail. The letter also warns that no one should give shelter to any man from Tekoa. In the time of Nehemiah, the wealthier inhabitants of this city evaded national duties and this could be the recurring issue for which this warning is being made. This warning includes the description of the punishment; “Concerning every man of Tekoa who will be found at your place – the house in which they dwell will be burned and you will be punished” .

Another letter concerned the arrest of Eleazar bar Hitta “Shimeon bar Kosiba, to Yehonathan bar Be’ayan, and Masabala bar Shimeon, that you will send to me Eleazar, bar Hitta immediately, before the Sabbath”. Documents acquired later revealed that Eleazar bar Hitta was a wealthy land owner in En-gedi who didn’t cooperate with Bar-Kohkba. It goes on to describe what is to be done with his property; wheat and fruit are to be confiscated, the herds should not trample the trees ‘and as for the spice fields, no one is to get anywhere near it’. The forcefulness, with which the order is given, shows how valuable the spice fields in particular are, which is also supported in Pliny’s Historia Naturalis, Natural History (Pliny), describing the conquering of En-gedi during the First Jewish Revolt, where the Romans had to fight for every bush, as the Jews wanted to destroy them.

The next letter is a request from Bar-Kohkba to supply the “four kinds”, palm branches, citron, myrtle and willow, required for the feast of Succoth. The request is unusual, in that it is not addressed to his subordinates Yehonathan and Masabla, but to a third party whose name is Yehudal bar Menashe and because of the nature of the request, it has been interpreted as distrust between Bar-Kohkba and his subordinates.

A second letter that was found concerning the same request of the “four kinds”, except this letter was written in Greek. “The letter is written in Greek as we have no one who knows Hebrew .” This passage of the letter is of particular interest to scholars because it might indicate that non-Jews were a part of Bar-Kohkba’s Revolt, a fact that is also supported by the third century historian Dio Cassius, ‘And many outside nations were joining for the eagerness of gain’. Or this could be a case in which no Jewish soldiers at this camp could write in Aramaic or Hebrew. This letter is not from Bar-Kohkba but someone else who was writing to Yehonathan and Masabla. The person that wrote this letter is telling Yehonathan and Masabla that he is sending to them a messenger, and they are to send him back with palm branches and citron.