Tiny Tablet Provides Proof For Old Testament

[♦ nivek ♦]

Tiny tablet provides proof for Old Testament

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml.../ntablet111.xml

By Nigel Reynolds, Arts Correspondent

Last Updated: 2:28am BST 11/07/2007

 

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.

 

A fragment of cuneiform - Tiny tablet provides proof for Old Testament

This fragment is a receipt for payment made by a figure in the Old Testament

 

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.

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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.

[pandora]

Chief eunich?

[Ouroboros]

Chief Unix?

 

Anyway, quite interesting find. I wonder if they can find any similar evidence for the "less" important people like Moses or Jesus? But hey, you have to be at least an eunuch to get into the historical books.

[Heimdall]

They must be really desperate to “prove” that their superstition is the truth! Just because a scholar found a name that is similar to a name in their book of mythology, they are jumping up and down with joy. That is similar to taking an ancient mention of Mac Bethad (the Mac Beth of Shakespeare’s play) and presenting this as proof that “Mac Beth” is factually the truth and that Banquo actually lived, neither of which is true. Since the OT seems to have been written during or shortly after the Babylonian Exile (nearly a century later), the fact that Nebo-Sarsekim was a high official of Nebuchadnezzar would be well known and would add believability to the story being concocted. Hell, these folk can’t even show textual or material evidence of David or Solomon, two individuals who were supposed to be power players just shortly before the dispersion of the 10 Lost Tribes of Israel, until they can show something that actually proves more than the historic existence of minor characters their mythology will remain just that – MYTHOLOGY! - Heimdall

[Reka]

Is it really any surprise that they are doing this much of a reach, though? Sometimes I am in awe at the stretches of logic that they will do just to prove themselves right.

[Evolution_beyond]

It proves that other minor characters might also be real?

 

 

It proves that this minor character actually existed. Nothing more, nothing less.

 

 

There is still no evidence for the existence of: Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, David, Jesus. One eunuch from the time of Nebuchadnezzer (a period of Bible history which is definitely real and backed up by other historical evidence) doesn't prove anything. We still don't have any independent historical evidence for the period of the Exodus and before or the whole Jesus event. In other words the key events behind the formation of Judaism and the formation of Christianity. hmmm...

[mwc]

On one hand, neat, I always like little things like this, but as others have said, this proves what? That one detail, not in the OT, but in one book that is in the OT, is right and it is during a period that no one really disputes.

 

I can't recall his name but the guy who did the curse, but then blessed them instead, during the Exodus is also shown to have actually existed but the rest of the story is a bust.

 

I can show that certain cities and people exist but did Beavis and Butthead really travel to these places in search of their stolen television? According to the logic presented here...yes.

 

Oh well, they need to keep these finds coming because I keep hoping that one day they will find something that will further the case for the documentary hypothesis.

 

mwc

[Valgeir]

Doesn't this also make it rather telling that we can find evidence of a nobody eunuch but we can't find evidence of the others? I mean, if even THIS is turning up... why haven't we heard from Jesus lately?

[Sceadugenga]

... and of course finding something like this will make you a name in the academic world, and if your greedy/a 'believer' a good run lecturing at "Christian" colleges or seminars.

[mwc]

Here's the relevant portion of Jeremiah 39:

 

1 In the ninth year of King Zedekiah of Judah, in the tenth month, King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem and besieged it; 2 in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, a breach was made in the city. 3 When Jerusalem was taken, F119 all the officials of the king of Babylon came and sat in the middle gate: Nergal-sharezer, Samgar-nebo, Sarsechim the Rabsaris, Nergal-sharezer the Rabmag, with all the rest of the officials of the king of Babylon. 4 When King Zedekiah of Judah and all the soldiers saw them, they fled, going out of the city at night by way of the king's garden through the gate between the two walls; and they went toward the Arabah. 5 But the army of the Chaldeans pursued them, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho; and when they had taken him, they brought him up to King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon, at Riblah, in the land of Hamath; and he passed sentence on him. 6 The king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah at Riblah before his eyes; also the king of Babylon slaughtered all the nobles of Judah. 7 He put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him in fetters to take him to Babylon. 8 The Chaldeans burned the king's house and the houses of the people, and broke down the walls of Jerusalem. 9 Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard exiled to Babylon the rest of the people who were left in the city, those who had deserted to him, and the people who remained. 10 Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left in the land of Judah some of the poor people who owned nothing, and gave them vineyards and fields at the same time. (NRSV)

 

He gets just the one mention but I put the whole section for context (looks to me like those Babylonians came, killed and captured the rich elite and handed over their land to the poor...sort of a Robin Hood tale...sadly it allows for the rise of a most evil religion ).

 

mwc

[woodsmoke]

It proves that this minor character actually existed. Nothing more, nothing less.

 

Seems to me it doesn't even prove that much. As Heimdall state, all this proves is an individual with a vaguely similar name lived during the same period of time.

 

I'll admit to being pretty well wholly ignorant in this are of history, but making Nebo-Sarsekim out of Nabu-sharrussu-ukin seems a bit of a stretch.

 

Never mind the fact it's obviously impossible for a Michaelangelo and a Michael to live during the same period of time in the same culture.

[Sceadugenga]

It proves that this minor character actually existed. Nothing more, nothing less.

 

Seems to me it doesn't even prove that much. As Heimdall state, all this proves is an individual with a vaguely similar name lived during the same period of time.

 

True... but the odds of this being the same source "character" for the Biblical account is pretty good (timeframe, social status, fact that "joe shmoe" is rarely recorded) - doesn't fundamentally change the accuracy of the Biblical account of "history" in any way, or at least any more than finding an inscription referencing an Arthurian minor character changes the accuracy of the Arthurian acount of "history".

 

I'll admit to being pretty well wholly ignorant in this are of history, but making Nebo-Sarsekim out of Nabu-sharrussu-ukin seems a bit of a stretch.

 

Not really - it's a pretty close phoentical match, and one consistant with other "Hebrewization" of names (kinda like how non-English names get "Anglosized")

 

Never mind the fact it's obviously impossible for a Michaelangelo and a Michael to live during the same period of time in the same culture.

 

Actually this is closer to the difference between finding a 1525 reference in Latin to a artist named Michealangelus... sure it could be some other dude, but chances are very good that it's Michaelangelo.

[mwc]

It proves that this minor character actually existed. Nothing more, nothing less.

 

Seems to me it doesn't even prove that much. As Heimdall state, all this proves is an individual with a vaguely similar name lived during the same period of time.

 

I'll admit to being pretty well wholly ignorant in this are of history, but making Nebo-Sarsekim out of Nabu-sharrussu-ukin seems a bit of a stretch.

 

Never mind the fact it's obviously impossible for a Michaelangelo and a Michael to live during the same period of time in the same culture.

What you, and others in this thread are overlooking, is that this shows that the ancient Babylonian figures...even the minor ones...are real. This holds no support for a single Jewish hero (such as the famed Jeremiah that supposedly wrote all this). So history time and again supports that the supporting characters for the Jewish stories are REAL but the Jewish heroes (not all the characters obviously) themselves are apparently just myths inserted into these realities (since Judah just wasn't a player in their early history). I personally have no problem with that at all.

 

mwc

[woodsmoke]

True, and good point. Thanks for the clarification.