Posted on 07/10/2007 5:48:08 PM PDT by blam
Tiny tablet provides proof for Old Testament
By Nigel Reynolds, Arts Correspondent
Last Updated: 7:33pm BST 10/07/2007
The sound of unbridled joy seldom breaks the quiet of the British Museum's great Arched Room, which holds its collection of 130,000 Assyrian cuneiform tablets, dating back 5,000 years.
But Michael Jursa, a visiting professor from Vienna, let out such a cry last Thursday. He had made what has been called the most important find in Biblical archaeology for 100 years, a discovery that supports the view that the historical books of the Old Testament are based on fact.
Searching for Babylonian financial accounts among the tablets, Prof Jursa suddenly came across a name he half remembered - Nabu-sharrussu-ukin, described there in a hand 2,500 years old, as "the chief eunuch" of Nebuchadnezzar II, king of Babylon.
Prof Jursa, an Assyriologist, checked the Old Testament and there in chapter 39 of the Book of Jeremiah, he found, spelled differently, the same name - Nebo-Sarsekim.
Nebo-Sarsekim, according to Jeremiah, was Nebuchadnezzar II's "chief officer" and was with him at the siege of Jerusalem in 587 BC, when the Babylonians overran the city.
The small tablet, the size of "a packet of 10 cigarettes" according to Irving Finkel, a British Museum expert, is a bill of receipt acknowledging Nabu-sharrussu-ukin's payment of 0.75 kg of gold to a temple in Babylon.
The tablet is dated to the 10th year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II, 595BC, 12 years before the siege of Jerusalem.
Evidence from non-Biblical sources of people named in the Bible is not unknown, but Nabu-sharrussu-ukin would have been a relatively insignificant figure.
"This is a fantastic discovery, a world-class find," Dr Finkel said yesterday. "If Nebo-Sarsekim existed, which other lesser figures in the Old Testament existed? A throwaway detail in the Old Testament turns out to be accurate and true. I think that it means that the whole of the narrative [of Jeremiah] takes on a new kind of power."
Cuneiform is the oldest known form of writing and was commonly used in the Middle East between 3,200 BC and the second century AD. It was created by pressing a wedge-shaped instrument, usually a cut reed, into moist clay.
The full translation of the tablet reads: (Regarding) 1.5 minas (0.75 kg) of gold, the property of Nabu-sharrussu-ukin, the chief eunuch, which he sent via Arad-Banitu the eunuch to [the temple] Esangila: Arad-Banitu has delivered [it] to Esangila. In the presence of Bel-usat, son of Alpaya, the royal bodyguard, [and of] Nadin, son of Marduk-zer-ibni. Month XI, day 18, year 10 [of] Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon.
Check out GEN 12:1-4...
"Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram [was] seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran. And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son..."
A throwaway detail in the Old Testament turns out to be accurate and true
***once again.
The reason the Bishop miscounted the years since Noah was due to the fact that Moses removed every story from the ancient texts that had any animal other than a snake in it.
By not taking the lead in the very important family business of finding husbands for her daughters, she turned to stone.
The more recent version in the Bible is filled with rabbinical commentary that is at best misinformed.
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It is the same city, however. It would make sense that “Nabu-sharrussu-ukin” and “Nebo-Sarsekim” would be different transliterations for the same name
Like the subjects of evolution, global warming, and intelligent design, people are going to read into anything what reinforces their existing belief.
I suppose it’s safe to say he wasn’t paying for a load of condoms.
Silly. The Bible wasn’t written until 1650 to cover Cromwell’s war crimes in the British Civil War and his atrocities against the Scottish and Irish. /sarcasm
read later
Looks like shredded wheat!
IT’s Greek to me.......
Chief eunuch dude sure kept his receipts in a safe place. I wonder if the Babylonian Internal Revenue Service will credit him a tax deduction for his generous donation.
I’ll stay out of the fray, too; but found it quite interesting reading.
Makes me wonder what else is buried in those hollowed halls of the Brit’s basements.
When did they haul it out of Nashville? Did we get The Stroganov palace in return?
(I know; but every time I see that name used for the Russian museum, I just can't help myself.)
Ru Paul is trying his hand at politics these days.
I'd hate to think he was McCartney, too... whoa.
They knew better than that; Lot begged the angels not to send him into the mountains, and he & his family were granted refuge in Zoar, which was spared for his sake.
It was AFTER the other cities of the plain were destroyed that 'he feared to stay in Zoar'; he and his daughters THEN fled to the very mountains, and a cave, where he had earlier begged off of being sent.
Re-read Genisis 19.
Yo, playa.. you’re posting gang tags!
Ruh roh!
Nebuchanezzer is gonna be pissed
The Jews made sure that they were copied correctly. They were extremely strict about that. Every jot and every tittle had to be just so. It seems I recall that if they made a mistake, it was their last one—get what I mean?
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