According to the
Book of Ether
The Book of Ether () is one of the books of the Book of Mormon. It describes the Jaredites, descendants of Jared and his companions, who were led by God to the Americas shortly after the confusion of tongues and the destruction of the Tower of Ba ...
in the
Book of Mormon
The Book of Mormon is a religious text of the Latter Day Saint movement, which, according to Latter Day Saint theology, contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the American continent from 600 BC to AD 421 and during an interlude date ...
, Akish () was a prominent figure among the
Jaredites
The Jaredites () are one of four peoples (along with the Nephites, Lamanites, and Mulekites) that the Latter-day Saints believe settled in ancient America.
The Book of Mormon (mainly its Book of Ether) describes the Jaredites as the descendan ...
.
In the book's narrative, Akish first established
secret combinations, nearly destroying their civilization.
Omer
Omer may refer to:
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* Omer (unit), an ancient unit of measure used in the era of the ancient Temple in Jerusalem
* The Counting of the Omer (''sefirat ha'omer''), a 49 day period in the Jewish calendar
* Omer (Book of Mormon), a Jaredite ...
was the legitimate king at the time, however, Omer's son
Jared
Jared is a given name of Biblical derivation.
Origin
In the Book of Genesis, the biblical patriarch Jared (יֶרֶד) was the sixth in the ten pre-flood generations between Adam and Noah; he was the son of Mahalaleel and the father of En ...
desired to take the throne earlier, and employed a scheme devised by his daughter (Omer's granddaughter) to do so. Jared's daughter danced for Akish who then desired to marry her. Jared agreed, on the condition that Akish "''will bring unto me the head of... the king.''" Akish gathered Jared's kinsmen, had them swear an oath to follow him and agree that anyone revealing the plan would be killed. (Ether 8:7, 14) Akish and those loyal to him took the kingdom from Omer. However, Omer and his children (who had not plotted against him) fled past the hill Shem to a place called Ablom along the seashore. Jared became the king, but Akish plotted against him too and had Jared himself killed.
Etymology
''Akîsh'' may be a transliteration of אָכִישׁ (
Achish
Achish ( he, אָכִישׁ ''ʾāḵīš'', Philistine: 𐤀𐤊𐤉𐤔 *''ʾāḵayūš'', Akkadian: 𒄿𒅗𒌑𒋢 ''i-ka-ú-su'') is a name used in the Hebrew Bible for two Philistine rulers of Gath. It is perhaps only a general title of r ...
in the
King James Bible
The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version, is an Bible translations into English, English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and publis ...
).
David Rohl
The New Chronology is an alternative chronology of the ancient Near East developed by English Egyptologist David Rohl and other researchers beginning with ''A Test of Time: The Bible - from Myth to History'' in 1995. It contradicts mainstream ...
writes that the name may be a shortened form of ''
Akishimige'', a
Hurrian
The Hurrians (; cuneiform: ; transliteration: ''Ḫu-ur-ri''; also called Hari, Khurrites, Hourri, Churri, Hurri or Hurriter) were a people of the Bronze Age Near East. They spoke a Hurrian language and lived in Anatolia, Syria and Northern ...
name meaning "the Sun God has given". Before the strong influence of this dialect of Aramaic over Hebrew, which occurred after the Babylonian invasion, אָכִישׁ would (if the vowels are right) have been pronounced "Akîsh".
In the seventh-century B.C.
Ekron inscription
The Ekron Royal Dedicatory Inscription, or simply the Ekron inscription, is a royal dedication inscription found in its primary context in the ruins of a temple during the 1996 excavations of Ekron.Gitin, Dothan, and Naveh, 1997, p. 1 It is known ...
the name "Akîsh" appears as "son of Padi, son of Ysd, son of Ada, son of Ya'ir"; Akîsh by then held enough authority in Ekron to dedicate a temple. A similar name (IKAUSU) appears as a king of Ekron in seventh-century B.C. Assyrian inscriptions, as does Padi. Scholars agree that these two are the same men,
[Berlant, Stephen (2008), "The Mysterious Ekron Goddess Revisited," Journal of The Ancient Near Eastern Society vol. 31 pp. 15–21] although a royal status cannot yet be confirmed for their ancestors Ysd, Ada, and Ya'ir.
This appears to indicate that either the name "Akish" was a common name for Philistine kings, used both at Gath and Ekron, or, as Naveh has suggested, that the editor of the biblical text used a known name of a Philistine king from the end of the Iron Age (Achish of Ekron) as the name of a king(s) of Gath in narratives relating to earlier periods.
Family
References
* Pinegar, Ed J. & Allen, Richard J. ''Book of Mormon Who's Who''
Book of Mormon people
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