THE AMARNA TABLETS.

The Amarna Tablets are an archive, written on clay, primarily consisting of correspondence between the Egyptian representatives in Canaan and the rest of the Great Powers and independent kingdoms, between 1360-1332 BC. The recovery of the Amarna Tablets in our time was the result, in part, of their storage in ancient times in the Royal Records Office in the kingdom of Egypt. They total 382 ordered chronologically and geographically and the time in between the correspondence spans a period of at most 30 years. Several Tablets dates back to the rule of Amen'Hotep III (1390-1353 BC), father of Akhen'Aten, meaning that they were brought to the new royal city from an older archive. The primary reason for the storage is explained practically by the information recorded in them -recent ceremonial promises, requests, gifts and tribute- tangible traces of important contracts forged across long distances that needed to be checked or verified by the future generation of rulers.
Most of the Tablets are ceremonial correspondence written from rulers of the lands North of Egypt and received by the Egyptians, and only a few of them were written by the Egyptian king. Some of the letters, written on the clay surface, seem to have been made to be visually impressive, with larger tablet sizes and bold handwriting as well as carefully planned margins or marked-off sections.
Like other rulers who wrote to the Egyptian king, Abi-Milku and Ashur-Uballit sought to achieve  specific goals: -one practical like the assurance of safety and protection, -the other ideological and status-oriented like establishing contact with Egypt and acquiring knowledge of the foreign land. Other correspondence are inscribed with myths, epics, syllabary, lexical texts belonging to the kind used to learn cuneiform writing. Also some of them contain instructions for ceremonial training purposes, the exchanged correspondence requests or send a list of gifts asking something in return.These information is divided into Tablets that exchanged correspondence between Great Powers and the ones with correspondence to independent kingdoms only.
-The Great Powers were considered an exclusive group in which kingdoms were treated equally. They were the most influential and prosperous. Egypt only entered this group after the campaigns of Thut'Mose III. The others were Babylon, Hatti, Mitanni, and Assyria. They had a brotherly relationship and had to employ a specific pattern when writing to each other. At first, they had to identify who was writing and for whom the letter was written, then, report their wishes to the other, as showed in this example : "Say to Nap'Hurreya, the king of Egypt, my brother, my son-in-law, whom I love and whom loves me: Thus Tush'Ratta, Great King, the king of Mittani, you father-in-law, who loves you, your brother. For me all goes well. For Tadu-Heba, my daughter, your wife, for the rest of your wives, for your sons, for your magnates, for your chariots, for your horses, for your troops, for your country, and for whatever else belongs to you, may all go very, very well."  The rest of the correspondence was less stereotypical, making requests or listing the items being sent.
- The Independent Kingdoms are only two places, which is Ar'Zawa and Al'Ash'Iya.   Ar'Zawa was located on the South of the Anatolian coast. The alliance with Egypt was made via marriage.  Al'Ash'Iya was on Cyprus and was known as a source of copper.
The Amarna Tablets were discovered around 1887 CE, in Upper Egypt (Land of Reeds), by local Egyptians who secretly dug most of them from an area located in the center of the ruined city, the short lived capital of Akhen'Aten, founded by pharaoh, Akhen'Aten (1350s-1330s BC) and sold them in the antiquities market.
Akhen'Aten, known before the 5th BC as Amen'Hotep IV (Amun is satisfied), was a pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty who ruled for 17 years and died in 1336 BC. He is noted for abandoning traditional Egyptian polytheism and introducing worship centered on the Aten, an aspect of the god Ra, focusing on the monotheistic religion of Atenism. He tried to shift the traditional Egyptian religion to the monotheistic one. The shift was not widely accepted. After his death, his monuments were dismantled and hidden, his statues destroyed, and his name excluded from the king lists. Traditional Egyptian practices were gradually restored and years later, new rulers without clear rights of succession from the 18th Dynasty climbed into power, they founded a new dynasty, discrediting Akhen'Aten and his immediate successors, referring to Akhen'Aten himself as "the enemy" or "that criminal" in archival records. He was all but lost in history until the discovery of the Amarna Tablets.
In 1891- 1892 the ruins of the site of Akhen'Aten, the city built and designed for the worship of Aten, were explored more by an English digger and archaeologist by nature, with no formal education, but instructed at home as a surveyor by his own father. He uncovered 21 fragments. Then, since 1903, more tablets, or fragments, have been found, either in Egypt, or identified in the collections of various museums in Germany, England, Egypt, France, Russia, and the United States.
The Tablets were found in Upper Egypt (named: "the Land of Reeds,"a strip of land on both sides of the Nile between Nubia to Lower Egypt), at Amarna, the modern name for the ancient Egyptian capital of Akhet'Aten (el-Amarna), founded by pharaoh, Ahken'Aten (1350s-1330s BC) during the 18th dynasty of Egypt (classified as the 1st of the Ancient New Kingdom period lasting from 1549 to 1292 BC). This dynasty boasts several of Egypt's most famous pharaohs, including Tutankh'Amun.
The Amarna  Tablets are of great significance for Scriptural studies since they shed light on the ancient culture and language of the Canaanite people several centuries prior to their actual manifestation. The tablets are mostly written in Akkadian cuneiform, rather than of ancient Egypt, and heavily colored by the mother tongue of the writers, who spoke an early form of Canaanite, the language family which later evolved into its daughter languages, Hebrew and Phoenician.
The Tablets of Amarna proofs that the history of the Scriptural writings and the conquest of the Promise Land under Joshua leadership, is true. The Hebrew conquest of Canaan took 8 Years to complete but it was not counted until he began the conquest of Southern Israel, followed by the conquest of Northern Israel. Aaron died on the 1st Day of the 5th Month of the 40th Year of the wilderness wandering. Shortly after mourning Aaron for 30 Days, the people left Mount Hor, defeated Trans'Jordan nations, and then mourned for Moses 30 Days. They crossed the Jordan on the 10th Day of the 1st Month of the 41st Year, 4 Days before the Passover, which was exactly 40 Years to the Day they left Goshen.
From Joshua 14 we know that Caleb was given Hebron 45 Years after Moses promised it to him. This correspond with the 5th Year after crossing the Jordan.
The Habiru (also spelled Apiru) who are attacking the ones who are writing the Amarna Tablets, are the Hebrews under the command of Joshua. The etymology of "Hebrew" is "one who wanders." The 1st time the word "hebrew" is used in the Scripture is in Genesis 14 when it is applied to Abraham.
The Amarna Tablets make the connection of Habiru with Hebrew and tells about the Hebrews taking possession of the Land of Canaan shortly after they crossed the Jordan River under the command of Joshua. They are a secular witness to the Power of God and the truthfulness of the Scriptural record.