Victory is being broadcast Wednesday morning, around 10am, in most major North American cities. It’s hard to take time off work, but play hooky and go hear the narration.

Of course, the victory in question may not be USA over Iran, with most of the world sitting on the sidelines. The victory narrated Wednesday morning is the defeat of the first major international empire, which terrorized the Near East 3500 years ago, and forced the rulers of what is now Lebanon to say “I bow at the emperor’s feet seven times forward and seven times backwards” (El-Amarna letters 110, 111, and many others). The terror of the ancient Near East was Egypt’s “New Kingdom,” under the 18th and 19th dynasties, who extracted resources and exploited the land that is now Lebanon, Israel, Syria, and Jordan. The local rulers had no choice but to submit, given the Egyptians’ dominance in chariots of war, drawn by specially-trained horses.

All empires eventually crumble. By 1300 BCE, the formerly-terrorized city-states of the region were resisting the Egyptians. By 1274 BCE, the Egyptians had been constrained to give up claims to most of Syria by the more powerful Hittite Empire. Over the next century, the Egyptians lost control of the land they called Canaan, to the extent that they felt obligated to do battle against a newly-arrived group, the Semitic-speaking “Israel” in 1209 BCE.  The evil empire was falling, the people were taking control of their lands.

The process of the Egyptian collapse was........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)