jan 1, 712 BC - Assyrian Cuneiform 2 Kings 18

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Sensational Neo-Assyrian Artifact Found—in Jerusalem!
‘Excitement on a level I can’t remember ever experiencing’
By Armstrong Institute Staff

Contextually, the late eighth to seventh century b.c.e. was a period of Assyrian dominance in the region. The empire had just conquered the northern kingdom of Israel; the southern kingdom of Judah and neighboring entities had become tributary states. Judean kings Hezekiah and Manasseh, whose reigns spanned most of this period, are both described in the Bible as being under the yoke of Assyria (e.g. 2 Kings 18:7; 2 Chronicles 33:11). In the case of Hezekiah, the Bible describes his refusal to pay tribute to the king of Assyria: “[A]nd he rebelled against the king of Assyria, and served him not” (2 Kings 18:7). This led to what has become known as one of the most heavily represented biblical events in archaeology: Sennacherib’s fateful invasion of Judah.

The account of Hezekiah’s rebellion is especially interesting in relation to this latest discovery, which, according to the press release, “addresses a delay in payment from the kingdom of Judah to the Assyrian Empire,” perhaps indicating a “deliberate tax revolt, such as the Bible describes regarding King Hezekiah rebelling against Sennacherib.”

A video release of the artifact by the City of David states: “Here we actually have a direct letter, signed with the seal of the king of Assyria, addressed to the king of Judah, saying to him, ‘Dear king of Judah, send the tribute quickly by the first of Av—and if not, the consequences will be severe.’”

Assyriologists Vukosavović and Zilberg believe this inscription was part of a type of Assyrian royal seal—one bearing an abbreviated text summarizing the contents of a longer official document sealed by it. “Bullae or sealings of this type bore an impression that was sometimes accompanied by a short inscription in Assyrian cuneiform script noting the dispatch’s contents or its destination,” they wrote. The inscription also “explicitly mentions a chariot officer, the ‘one who holds the reins,’ in Assyrian terms”—a title “indicat[ing] a high-ranking personality, responsible for conveying official messages on behalf of the royal house. Such a figure is indeed well-known from Assyrian administration archives.”

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