government or the influence of the Amorite chiefs. If Rib-Hadad spoke
the truth, Ebed-Asherah had "sent to the soldiers in Bit-Ninip, saying,
'Gather yourselves together, and let us march up against Gebal, if
therein are any who have saved themselves from our hands, and we will
appoint governors throughout all the provinces;' so all the provinces
went over to the Beduin." Provisions began to be scarce in Gebal, and
the governor writes to Egypt for corn.

Rib-Hadad now threatened the Pharaoh with deserting to his enemies if
succour was not forth-coming immediately, and at the same time he
appealed to Amon-apt and Khayapa, the Egyptian commissioners who had
been sent to inquire into the condition of affairs in Canaan. The appeal
was so far successful that troops were despatched to Zemar. But it was
too late: along with Arka it had already been occupied by Ebed-Asherah,
who thereupon writes to the Pharaoh, protesting his loyalty to
Khu-n-Aten, declaring that he is "the house-dog" of the king, and that
he guards the land of the Amorites for "the king" his lord. He further
calls on the Egyptian commissioner Pakhanate, who had been ordered to
visit him, to bear witness that he was "defending" Zemar and its fields
for the king. That Pakhanate was friendly to Ebed-Asherah may be
gathered from a despatch of Rib-Hadad, in which he accuses that officer
of refusing to send any troops to the relief of Gebal, and of looking on
while Zemar fell. Ebed-Asherah goes on to beg the king to come himself,
and see with his own eyes how faithful a governor he really was.

The letters of Abimelech of Tyre told a different tale, and the
unfortunate Pharaoh might well be excused if he was as much puzzled as
we are to know on which side the truth lay, or whether indeed it lay on
either. Abimelech had a grievance of his own. As soon as Zimridi of
Sidon learned that he had been appointed governor of Tyre, he seized the