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Book of Jeremiah Confirmed?-Scholars link biblical and Assyrian records
Archaeology ^ | 23 July 2007 | Laura Sexton

Posted on 07/26/2007 7:40:28 AM PDT by BGHater

Austrian Assyriologist Michael Jursa recently discovered the financial record of a donation made a Babylonian chief official, Nebo-Sarsekim. The find may lend new credibility to the Book of Jeremiah, which cites Nebo-Sarsekim as a participant in the siege of Jerusalem in 587 B.C.

The tablet is dated to 595 B.C., which was during the reign of the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar II. Coming to the throne in 604 B.C., he marched to Egypt shortly thereafter, and initiated an epoch of fighting between the two nations. During the ongoing struggle, Jerusalem was captured in 597, and again in 587-6 B.C. It was at this second siege that Nebo-Sarsekim made his appearance.

He ordered Nebo-Sarsekim to look after Jeremiah: "Take him, and look well to him, and do him no harm; but do unto him even as he shall say unto thee." (Jeremiah 39.12)

As the biblical story goes, the victorious Babylonian king departed the city with numerous Jewish captives. Desiring to spare the prophet Jeremiah, he ordered Nebo-Sarsekim to look after him: "Take him, and look well to him, and do him no harm; but do unto him even as he shall say unto thee." (Jeremiah 39.12). Nebo-Sarsekim obeyed these orders by taking Jeremiah out of the Babylonian court of the prison, and ensuring he was escorted home to Jerusalem to live among his people.

Aside from serving in the military, Nebo-Sarsekim evidently also fulfilled religious duties. Jursa was studying Babylonian tablets at the British Museum when he came across Nebo-Sarsekim's name. According to Jursa, the tablet contained the record of a donation to a Babylonian temple, and his interpretation was later verified by curators at the British Museum. However, one can't infer too much about Nebo-Sarsekim's life from this transaction. Museum spokesperson Hannah Boulton states that it would have been quite common for a high-ranking official to contribute religious donations. It is not necessarily the case, therefore, that Nebo-Sarsekim was particularly pious or religious.

The tablet may not reveal information about Nebo-Sarsekim's lifestyle or personal beliefs, but it does lend credibility to the Book of Jeremiah. It is important because it shows that a biblical character did actually exist. Jursa states, "Finding something like this tablet, where we see a person mentioned in the Bible making an everyday payment to the temple in Babylon and quoting the exact date is quite extraordinary." Boulton proposes an even deeper significance, suggesting that the finding may confer credibility to the rest of the Bible. "I think that it's important in the sense that if [his name] is right, then...presumably a great deal of other info in [the Book of Jeremiah], but also generally in the Bible, is also correct."

The tablet is important because it shows that a biblical character did actually exist.

On the other hand, the tablet also exposes the danger of multiple translations. The Greek Septuagint (LXX) and the Hebrew Masoretic text (MT) contain the two main versions of the Book of Jeremiah surviving from antiquity. Scholars agree that the name was translated incorrectly in both of these texts. Vowels and entire syllables were sometimes omitted, transforming the proper Babylonian rendering, "Nabu-sharussu-ukin," into the traditional spelling, "Nebo-Sarsekim," as well as a few variants. Remarkably, Juris showed that the different spellings referred to the same person by using contextual information from the tablet, including the title of occupation and date of transaction.

Spelling variations may seem like a minor problem, but they highlight a greater issue, namely the inconsistency between archaeological evidence and biblical text. One notorious discrepancy involves the 701 B.C. Babylonian campaign against Jerusalem. According to the Bible, Sennacherib, the Babylonian king who reigned from 701-681 B.C., was unsuccessful in his attempt to sack the city of Jerusalem. The Old Testament states that an angel came during the night to kill 185,000 soldiers, forcing Sennacherib and his weakened army to retreat (II Kings 18-19).

King Sennacherib, however, left a conflicting report on an artifact now known as the Prism of Sennacherib. Standing 38 cm high, the hexagonal clay prism contains 500 lines of writing on six columns. In direct opposition to the Bible, it states that Sennacherib captured settlements belonging to the King of Judah, took the king's daughters and enforced a heavy tribute. Both historical accounts cannot be completely correct, but in the absence of further archaeological evidence, historians can only speculate about what actually occurred.

The British Museum's collection of Babylonian tablets could hold answers to this question, as well as other lingering historical mysteries. There are currently more than 100,000 undeciphered tablets housed at the British Museum, containing letters, recipes, receipts, and scholastic works. Scholars have already extracted information about the Old Testament flood story, observations of Halley's Comet, and rules for the world's oldest board game. It is likely that future researchers will come across further information about the biblical era.

Cuneiform experts worry that their unique window to the past is being irreversibly closed by violence in Iraq.

Even so, cuneiform experts worry that their unique window to the past is being irreversibly closed by violence in Iraq, including the current situation and the Gulf War. With countless other cuneiform scripts scattered throughout the Middle East, the British Museum's collection is just the tip of the iceberg. Unfortunately, the tablets are easily smashed and broken, making it likely that only fragments of larger scripts will be recovered. Looting is also common, so they may be separated from the archaeological site and artifacts to which they refer. It is difficult to know what exactly has been lost so far, Boulton admits: "I mean we just have no idea really, but the prospect [that something important was lost] is certainly there; and that's why it's such a tragedy that these tablets are being lost all over Iraq at the moment because who can say what might be written on them."


TOPICS: Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: assyrian; bible; biblicalarcheology; cuneiform; godsgravesglyphs; jeremiah
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1 posted on 07/26/2007 7:40:32 AM PDT by BGHater
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To: SunkenCiv

Ping


2 posted on 07/26/2007 7:40:56 AM PDT by BGHater (Bread and Circuses)
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To: blam

Ping!...


3 posted on 07/26/2007 7:46:37 AM PDT by Red Badger (No wonder Mexico is so filthy. Everybody who does cleaning jobs is HERE!.......)
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To: BGHater
it's such a tragedy that these tablets are being lost all over Iraq at the moment because who can say what might be written on them

Bush's fault.

4 posted on 07/26/2007 7:46:55 AM PDT by mtbopfuyn (I think the border is kind of an artificial barrier - San Antonio councilwoman Patti Radle)
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To: BGHater

“The tablet is dated to 595 B.C”

At first I thought it said “The tablet is dated 595 B.C”
that would not have made them looklike scholars.


5 posted on 07/26/2007 7:49:51 AM PDT by bilhosty
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To: BGHater; highimpact; nanetteclaret; guppas; ExtremeUnction; ripnbang; starlifter; CincinnatiKid; ...
+

Freep-mail me to get on or off my pro-life and Catholic Ping List:

Add me / Remove me

Please ping me to all note-worthy Pro-Life or Catholic threads, or other threads of interest.

6 posted on 07/26/2007 7:50:51 AM PDT by narses (...the spirit of Trent is abroad once more.)
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To: mtbopfuyn
Cuneiform experts worry that their unique window to the past is being irreversibly closed by violence in Iraq.

3000 years of violence in Iraq and NOW they are worried?......

7 posted on 07/26/2007 7:51:32 AM PDT by Red Badger (No wonder Mexico is so filthy. Everybody who does cleaning jobs is HERE!.......)
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To: Red Badger; BGHater
Thanks for the ping.

Tiny Tablet Provides Proof For Old Testament

8 posted on 07/26/2007 7:59:03 AM PDT by blam (Secure the border and enforce the law)
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To: BGHater

:’) Thanks!

Tiny Tablet Provides Proof For Old Testament
The Telegraph (UK) | 7-10-2007 | Nigel Reynolds
Posted on 07/10/2007 8:48:08 PM EDT by blam
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1863897/posts

Babylonian King’s Eunuch Really Existed!
Arutz Sheva | 11 july, 2007 | Hillel Fendel
Posted on 07/11/2007 3:24:29 PM EDT by ScaniaBoy
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1864362/posts


9 posted on 07/26/2007 7:59:15 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Profile updated Thursday, July 26, 2007 https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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Thanks BGHater.

To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. Thanks.
Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on or off the
"Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list or GGG weekly digest
-- Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)

10 posted on 07/26/2007 8:00:03 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Profile updated Thursday, July 26, 2007 https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: BGHater

Of course it is confirmed; and so is Genesis, and so is every other Biblical book; now it’s only up to Archeology/Geology to “catch up”!


11 posted on 07/26/2007 8:42:41 AM PDT by JSDude1 (Republicans if the don't beware ARE the new WHIGS! (all empty hairpieces..) :).)
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To: BGHater

bump


12 posted on 07/26/2007 8:43:34 AM PDT by VOA
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To: BGHater

Didn’t this come up a few weeks ago? And even if this supposed connection was solid, how does it prove another thing in Jeremiah?


13 posted on 07/26/2007 8:54:36 AM PDT by hunter112 (Change will happen when very good men are forced to do very bad things.)
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To: JSDude1

“Of course it is confirmed; and so is Genesis, and so is every other Biblical book; now it’s only up to Archeology/Geology to “catch up”!”

and imagine their surprise when the book of Revelation comes to pass and all the things God said in the Bible will be confirmed!


14 posted on 07/26/2007 8:59:08 AM PDT by cjohnson1
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To: JSDude1

100% agreement here.


15 posted on 07/26/2007 9:24:38 AM PDT by twonie (Keep your guns - and stockpile ammo.)
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To: hunter112

by credibility; Jeremiah wasn’t ‘making things up’


16 posted on 07/26/2007 10:24:00 AM PDT by JSDude1 (Republicans if the don't beware ARE the new WHIGS! (all empty hairpieces..) :).)
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To: JSDude1

So, if I write a book about people and places that you can verify exist, it’s not fiction?


17 posted on 07/26/2007 12:52:42 PM PDT by hunter112 (Change will happen when very good men are forced to do very bad things.)
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To: VOA

mark for later


18 posted on 07/26/2007 1:03:54 PM PDT by billbears (Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it. --Santayana)
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To: hunter112
"Didn’t this come up a few weeks ago? And even if this supposed connection was solid, how does it prove another thing in Jeremiah?"

What is proof to you for something that happened 2500 years ago? Certainly all the external evidence that conincides with the book of Jerimiah confirms it and none contradicts it. This is true with the entire bible. Whatever your standard of proof we have much more evidence (by very large margins) for the veracity of the Bible than we do for whether a gereral named Hannibal ever even existed, much less crossed the alps - Same for a leader named Julius Caesar, particularly his Galic, Spanish and African campaigns. Only a handful of texts have ever been discovered that these things really happend although no scholars really dispute them.

19 posted on 07/26/2007 1:40:58 PM PDT by joebuck
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To: joebuck
Well, that's it, then, wow! One little piece of ancient rock, and the whole bible is true!

So, tell me, how did this pebble help you figure out exactly which sect to belong to?

20 posted on 07/26/2007 2:01:59 PM PDT by hunter112 (Change will happen when very good men are forced to do very bad things.)
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