Archaeology Series 24: Rations of Jehoiachin

Archaeology Series 24: Rations of Jehoiachin

BRIEF NOTES

*The Reference is from the many Discovered administrative tablets discovered in King Nebuchadnezzar's palace in Babylon. These texts record rations of oil to captives from many nations. One of them is Jehoiachin, the exiled king of Judah together with several of his sons and likely what were his servents or leading officials

TRANSLATION

32 pints (15 Liters) (of sesame oil) for Jehoiachin king of Judah

pints (2.5 litres) (of sesame oil) for (the 5) sons of the King of Judah

8 pints (4 litres) (of sesame oil) for 8 men of Judah: 1 pint (1/2 liter) each

BIBLE REFERENCE

2Ki 24:8

2Ki 24:8 Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign; and he reigned in Jerusalem three months: and his mother's name was Nehushta the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem.
2Ki 24:9 And he did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, according to all that his father had done.
2Ki 24:10 At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up to Jerusalem, and the city was besieged.
2Ki 24:11 And Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came unto the city, while his servants were besieging it;
2Ki 24:12 and Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he, and his mother, and his servants, and his princes, and his officers: and the king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign.
2Ki 24:13 And he carried out thence all the treasures of the house of Jehovah, and the treasures of the king's house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold, which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of Jehovah, as Jehovah had said.
2Ki 24:14 And he carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the mighty men of valor, even ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and the smiths; none remained, save the poorest sort of the people of the land.
2Ki 24:15 And he carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon; and the king's mother, and the king's wives, and his officers, and the chief men of the land, carried he into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon.
2Ki 24:16 And all the men of might, even seven thousand, and the craftsmen and the smiths a thousand, all of them strong and apt for war, even them the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon.
2Ki 24:17 And the king of Babylon made Mattaniah, Jehoiachin's father's brother, king is his stead, and changed his name to Zedekiah.

**************

Ki 25:27 And it came to pass in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, that Evil-merodach king of Babylon, in the year that he began to reign, did lift up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah out of prison;
2Ki 25:28 and he spake kindly to him, and set his throne above the throne of the kings that were with him in Babylon,
2Ki 25:29 and changed his prison garments. And Jehoiachin did eat bread before him continually all the days of his life:
2Ki 25:30 and for his allowance, there was a continual allowance given him of the king, every day a portion, all the days of his life.

In the News: Herod's Temple Quarry Found

Report: Herod's Temple Quarry Found

By SEAN GAFFNEY – Sep 24, 2007

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli archaeologists said they have discovered a quarry that provided King Herod with the stones he used to renovate the biblical Second Temple compound — offering rare insight into construction of the holiest site in Judaism.

The source of the huge stones used 2,000 years ago to reconstruct the compound in Jerusalem's Old City was discovered on the site of a proposed school in a Jerusalem suburb.
Today, the compound Herod renovated houses the most explosive religious site in the Holy Land, known as the Temple Mount to Jews and the Noble Sanctuary to Muslims.

"This is the first time stones which were used to build the Temple Mount walls were found," said Yuval Baruch, an archaeologist with the Israeli Antiquities Authority involved in the dig. Quarries mined for the massive stones, each weighing more than 20 tons, eluded researchers until now, he said Sunday.

Baruch said coins and pottery found in the quarry confirm the stone was used during the period of Herod's expansion of the Temple Mount in 19 B.C.

But researchers said the strongest piece of evidence was found wedged into one of the massive cuts in the white limestone — an iron stake used to split the stone. The tool was apparently improperly used, accidentally lodged in the stone and forgotten.

"It stayed here for 2,000 years for us to find because a worker didn't know what to do with it," said archaeologist Ehud Nesher, also of the Antiquities Authority.

Nesher said the large outlines of the stone cuts indicated the site was a massive public project worked by hundreds of slaves. "Nothing private could have done this," Nesher said. "This is Herod's, this is a sign of him."

Herod was the Jewish proxy ruler of the Holy Land under imperial Roman occupation from 37 B.C. Herod's most famous construction project was the renovation of the Temple, replacing a smaller structure that itself replaced the First Temple, destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 B.C.

Stephen Pfann, president of the University of The Holy Land and an expert in the Second Temple period, said the discovery was encouraging.

"It would be very difficult to find any other buildings in any other period that would warrant stones of that size," said Pfann, who was not involved in the dig. He said further testing of the rock is necessary to confirm the findings.

The Second Temple was leveled by Roman conquerors in A.D. 70. The Western Wall, the holiest prayer site for Jews, is the best known surviving remnant.

Atop the adjacent compound, where Jews believe the Temple once stood, now stand two of the holiest sites in Islam, the al-Aqsa Mosque and the gold-capped Dome of the Rock.

The site is at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with both sides claiming the area. Israel captured Jerusalem's Old City from Jordan during the 1967 Mideast war. While retaining security responsibility for the site, Israel allows Muslims to handle day-to-day responsibilities there.

Photos:http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/popup?id=3642720

Archaeology Series 23: The Gezer Calendar

The "Gezer calendar "

*It is a tablet of soft limestone inscribed in a paleo-Hebrew script. It is one of the oldest known examples of Hebrew writing, dating to the 10th century BCE. It was discovered in excavations of the Biblical city of Gezer, 30 miles northwest of Jerusalem, by R.A.S. Macalister in his excavations between 1902 and 1907.

*Gezer was one of Solomons fortress cities

*The calendar describes monthly or bi-monthly periods and attributes to each a duty such as harvest, planting or tending specific crops.

*Scholars have speculated that the calendar is either a schoolboy's memory exercise or perhaps the text of a popular folk song, or child's song. Another possibility is something designed for the collection of taxes from farmers.

The Gezer Calendar is now in the Museum of the Ancient Orient in Istanbul, along with the Siloam inscription and other archaeological discoveries found before World War I.

TRANSLATION AND INTERPRETATION

Visit this site: http://www.kchanson.com/ANCDOCS/westsem/gezer.html

Archaeology series 22: Sargon II Inscriptions

REIGN: 721-705 BCE



BASIC INFO


*During the siege of Samaria (lasting for three years) by the Assyrians, Shalmaneser V died and was succeeded by Sargon II of Assyria,

*Under Sargon II the Assyrians completed the defeat of the Kingdom of Israel , capturing Samaria after a siege of three years and exiling the inhabitants, which comprised the ten tribes.

*Sargon is the biblical form of his name, in Akkadian it is Šarru-kinu "legitimate king"

*Originally there was a united monarchy which split into two, the Kingdom of Israel and the Kingdom of Judah. The Kingdom of Israel had existed from roughly 930s BCE, until until about 720s BCE.


INSCRIPTIONS OF SARGON II


COS 2.118A, p. 293

[the Samar]ians [who had agreed with a hostile king]...I fought with them and decisively defeated them]....carried off as spoil. 50 chariots for my royal force ...[the rest of them I settled in the midst of Assyria]....The Tamudi, Ibadidi, Marsimani and Hayappa, who live in distant Arabia, in the desert, who knew neither overseer nor commander, who never brought tribute to any king--with the help of Ashshur my lord, I defeated them. I deported the rest of them. I settled them in Samaria/Samerina.

COS 2.118D, pp. 295-296, Nimrud Prisms

[The inhabitants of Sa]merina, who agreed [and plotted] with a king [hostile to] me, not to do service and not to bring tribute [to Ashshur] and who did battle, I fought against them with the power of the great gods, my lords. I counted as spoil 27,280 people, together with their chariots, and gods, in which they trusted. I formed a unit with 200 of [their] chariots for my royal force. I settled the rest of them in the midst of Assyria. I repopulated Samerina more than before. I brought into it people from countries conquered by my hands. I appointed my eunuch as governor over them. And I counted them as Assyrians.

COS 2.118E, pp. 296-297, The Great "Summary" Inscription

I besieged and conquered Samarina. I took as booty 27,290 people who lived there. I gathered 50 chariots from them. I taught the rest of the deportees their skills. I set my eunuch over them, and I imposed upon them the same tribute as the previous king (Shalmaneser V).
Yaubi'di, the Hamathite...with no claim to the throne, an evil Hittite, was plotting in his heart to become king of Hamath. He caused...to rebel against me , had unified them, and prepared for battle. I mustered the masses of Ashshur's troops and at Qarqar, his favorite city, I besieged and captured him, together with his warriors. I burned Qarqar. Him I flayed.

COS 2.118F, p. 297

Small Summary Inscription

I plundered Sinuhtu, Samerina and the entire land of Bit-Humria (Israel).

COS 2.118G, p. 298
Pavement Inscription at Kur Sharrukin:
[Sargon II] who conquered Samaria and the entire land of Bit-Humria (Israel); who plundered Ashdod...

COS 2.118I, p. 298
Nimrud Inscription
[Sargon II]...subduer of Judah which lies far away....

Azekah Inscription
COS 2, 304, 2.119D

With the power and might of Ashur, my lord, I overwhelmed the district of Hezekiah of Judah...Azekah, his stronghold, which is located between my land and the land of Judah...I besieged by means of beaten earth ramps, by great battering rams brought near its walls, and with the attack of foot soldiers [...] They had seen the...of my cavalry and they had heard the roar of the mighty troops of the god Ashur, and their hearts became afraid. I captured this stronghold, I carried off its spoil, I destroyed, I devastated, I burned with fire. I approached Ekron, a royal city of the Philistines, which Hezekiah had captured and strengthened for himself....His skillful battle warriors he caused to enter into it. 701 BCE or 712, during the reign of Sargon II.

Archaeology Series 21: Shalmanaser V

Shalmaneser V
Reign: 727 to 722 BC


INSCRIPTIONS

Babylonian Chronicle
COS 1.137, p. 467
On 27th Tebet (727 BCE) Shalmaneser (V) ascended the throne in Assyria and Babylonia. He shattered Samaria.
Year 5: (722 BCE) Shalmaneser died in Tebet. Five years Shalmaneser ruled Babylonia and Assyria. On 12th Tebet Sargon ascended the throne in Assyria. In Nisan Merodach-baladan ascended the throne in Babylon.

BIBLE REFERENCES

2 Kings 17 and 18

Archaeology Series 20:Tiglath-pileser III inscriptions

REIGN: Tiglath-pileser III reigned from 745-727 BCE

INSCRIPTIONS


The third year of Nabu-nasir, king of Babylon: Tiglath-pileser III ascended the throne of Assyria. In that same year he went down to Akkad, plundered Rabbilu and Hamranu, and abducted the gods of Shapazza.

Neo-Babylonian Chronicle 1.
ANET 282 In the subsequent course of my campaign, I received the tribute of the kings...Azriau the Judahite


COS 2, 285, 2.117A
Calah Annals ca. 738-37
I received the tribute of...Rezin, the Damascene, Menahem, the Samarian, Hiram, the Tyrian....



COS 2, 286, 2.117A
Calah Annals
Rezin the Damascene...With the blood of his warriors I dyed a reddish hue the river....That one (Rezin) in order to save his life, fled alone; and he entered the gate of his city like a mongoose. I impaled alive his chief ministers....I confined him like a bird in a cage. His gardens...orchards without number I cut down; I did not leave a single one.
[16] districts of Bit-Humri (Israel) I leveled to the ground.

COS 2, 287, 2.117B
The Iran Stela ca. 739-38
...Rezin, the Damascene, Menahem, the Samarian, Tuba'il, the Tyrian, etc...I imposed on them tribute of silver, gold, tin, iron, elephant hides, elephant tusks (ivory), blue-purple and red-purple garments, multi-colored garments, camels, and she-camels.

COS 2, 288, 2.117C
Summary Inscription ca. 731
I carried off to Assyria the land of Bit-Humria (Israel), [its] auxiliary [army]...all of its people,...[I killed] Pekah, their king, and I installed Hoshea [as king] over them. I received from them 10 talents of gold, x talents of silver, [with] their [possessions] and [I car]ried them [to Assyria].

COS 2, 289, 2.117D
Summary Inscription
I received the tribute of...Sanipu, Ammonite, Salamanu, Moabite,...Mitinti, the Askhelonite, Jehoahaz, the Judahite [= Ahaz]

COS 2, 291, 2.117F
Summary Inscription 9-10
The wide [land of Bit]-Haza'ili (Aram-Damascus) in its entirety, from Mount [Leb]anon as far as the city of Gilea[d], Abel...[on the bor]der of Bit-Humria (Israel) I annexed to Assyria. [I placed] my eunuch [over them as governor].

COS 2, 292
Summary Inscription 13, 2.117G
[The land of Bit-Humria (Israel)], all [of whose] cities I leveled [to the ground] in my former campaigns...I plundered its livestock, and I spared only (isolated) Samaria. [I/they overthrew Pek]ah their king.
The second year [of Nabu-mukin-zeri]: Tiglath-pileser III ascended the throne in Babylon. The second year: Tiglath-pileser III died in the month Tebet For eighteen years Tiglath-pileser III ruled Akkad and Assyria. For two of these years he ruled in Akkad. Neo-Babylonian Chronicle 1:24-26

BIBLE REFERENCES

2 Kings 15:19; 15:29; 16:9; 1 Chron. 5:26; 2 Chron 28:20

Archaeology Series 19: Inscriptions of Adad Nirari III

REIGN: Adad Nirari III reigned from 811 to 783 BCE

INSCRIPTIONS

Tell Al Rimah Stela of Adad-Nirari III 797 BCE
COS 2.114F, p. 276
I received the tribute of Joash the Samarian, of the Tyrian (ruler), and of the Sidonian (ruler).
Calah Slab of Adad-Nirari III


COS 2, 276, 2.114G
I subdued from the bank of the Euphrates, the land of Hatti, the land of Amurru in its entirety, the land of Tyre, the land of Sidon, the land of Israel, the land of Edom, the land of Philistia, as far as the great sea in the west. I imposed tax and tribute on them.

Archaeology series 18: More Shalmanaer III inscriptions(pt 3)

REIGN: c. 859-824 BCE

INSCRIPTIONS


Kurba'il Statue of Shalmaneser III 839-838 BCE
COS 2.113E, p. 268

At that time [841], I received the tribute of the Tyrians, the Sidonians, and Jehu, the man of Bit-Humri (Omri).


Calah Bulls of Shalmaneser III 841 BCE
COS 2.113C, p. 2.267


At that time, I received the tribute of the Tyrians and the Sidonians, and of Jehu, man of Bit-Humri.

Marble Slab inscription of Shalmaneser III 839 BCE
COS 2.113D, p. 268
[In 841] I marched to the mountains of Ba'li-ra'si at the side of the sea and opposite Tyre. I erected a statue of my royalty there. I received the tribute of Ba'al-manzer, the Tyrian, and of Jehu, the man of Bit-Humri. (Bit-Humri=House of Omri)

Archaeology Series 17:Hazael King of Syria

DATE: 842-805 BCE

BASIC NOTES

Hazael (Hebrew Hazael, meaning "God has seen") was a court official and later an Aramean king who appeared in the Bible. He was first referred to by name in 1 Kings 19 when God told the prophet Elijah to anoint him king over Syria.

Years after this, the Syrian king

Hadadezer was ill and sent his court official Hazael with gifts to Elijah's successor Elisha. Elisha asked Hazael to tell Hadadezer that he would recover, but he revealed to Hazael that the king would die. The day after he returned to Hadadezer in Damascus, Hazael suffocated him and seized power himself.

During his approximately 37-year reign (c. 842 BC-805 BC), King Hazael led the Arameans in battle against the forces of King Jehoram of Israel and King Ahaziah of Judah. After defeating them at Ramoth-Gilead, Hazael repelled two attacks by the Assyrians, seized Israelite territory east of the Jordan, the Philistine city of Gath, and sought to take Jerusalem as well (2 Kings 12:17). A monumental Aramaic inscription discovered at Tel Dan is seen by most scholars as having being erected by Hazael, after he defeated the Kings of Israel and Judah. Recent excavations at Tell es-Safi/Gath have revealed dramatic evidence of the siege and subsequent conquest of Gath by Hazael. King Joash of Judah forestalled Hazael's invasion by bribing him with treasure from the royal palace and temple, after which he disappears from the Biblical account.

http://www.wikipedia.org/

BIBLE REFERENCES:

(1 Kings 19:15, 17; 2 Kings 8:7-15, 28-29; 9:14-15; 10:32-33; 12:17-18; 13:3, 22, 24,25; Amos 1:4).

Archaeology Series 16: Esarhaddon reference to King Manasseh and others

REIGN: 681-669 BCE

INSCRIPTIONS

Esarhaddon's Syro-Palestinian Campaign (681-669 B.C.)

I called out the kings of the Hatti-land and the Trans-Euphrates area; Ba'al, king of Tyre, Manasseh, king of Judah, Qaushgabri, king of Edom, Musuri, King of Moab, Sil-Bel, king of Gaza, Metinti, king of Ashkelon, Ikausu, king of Ekron, Milki-ashapa, king of Gebal, Matan-ba'al, king of Arvad, Abi-ba'al, king of Samsimuruna, Pudu-il, king of Beth-Ammon, Ahi-milki, king of Ashdod – 12 kings of the sea coast. Ekishtura, king of Edi'il (Idalion), Pilagura, king of Kitrusi (Chytrus), Kisu, king of Sillu'a (Soli), Ituandar, king of Pappa (Paphos), Erisu, king of Silli, Damasu, king of Kuri (Curium), Atmesu, king of Tamesi, Damusi, king of Qartihadasti, Unasagusu, king of Ledir (Ledra), Bosusu, king of Nuria – 10 kings of Iadnana (Cyprus), an island; – a total of 22 kings of the Hatti-land, the seashore and the island. I sent all of these to drag with pain and difficulty to Nineveh, the city of my dominion, as supplies needed for my palace, big beams, long posts and trimmed planks of cedar and cypress wood, products of the Sirara and Lebanon mountains, where for long they had grown tall and thick; also from their place of origin in the mountains the forms of winged bulls and colossi made of ashnan-stone, of breccia both large and fine grained, of yellow limestone, of pyrites.

BRIEF NOTES

*Esarhaddon was a king of Assyria who reigned 681 BC-669 BC, the youngest son of Sennacherib and the Aramean queen Naqi'a (Zakitu), Sennacherib's second wife.

*Invaded Egypt

IMAGES

Click on the image for higher resolution