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Ivory History and Samaria
Because ivory comes from the tusks of elephants, it was hard to get in the Bible lands. Rich families wanted it for jewelry and decorative furniture. Elephants once lived in Syria, but the search for ivory killed off all of them by 800 BC. Most ivory used in the region came from Asiatic elephants. - Craftsmen of Beersheba made ivory figurines and diggings in the Near East have uncovered many ivory carvings, like those at Ugarit. At Megiddo archaeologists found 200 pieces of finely carved ivory below the palace of the governor dated conventionally to ca. 1150 BC. Solomon's merchant ships brought him ivory for his throne (1Ki. 10:18-22). Ahab ordered his artisans to build an "ivory house," because he so admired the fine ivory work done by the carvers of his Phoenician side of the family, 1Ki. 22:39. Pieces of ivory were inlaid in the walls of this house, and it contained many hand-carved ivory figurines. These included figures of people, animals, flowers, plants, and probably also mythological, idolatrous figures. - Ancient sculptures used ivory to make chairs, couches, beds, boxes and caskets. Soon the rich people of Samaria wanted these productions. Because they had gotten their riches by mistreating the people, the prophet Amos (ca. 760-750) foretold that the rich houses of ivory would be destroyed (Amos 3:15). The Assyrians made this prophecy come true when they captured Samaria in 722 BC. They looted the palaces of Samaria and took the ivory to Sargon's palace at Nimrud where they were found in modern times. - When the Assyrians forced the southern kingdom to pay tribute, it included gifts of ivory. The Assyrian records say, "Hezehiah ... 30 talents of gold, 800 talents of silver, precious stones, antimony, large cuts of red stone, couches (inlaid) with ivory, nimedu chairs (inlaid( with ivory ..." [Pritchard, p. 201].
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