WESLEYAN LIVE, Fall 2012

Tuesdays, Noon – 1:00 p. m.

9, 16, 23, 30 October and 6, 13 November

with

Professor David B. Peabody

E-mail Questions/Comments to:

Mel Luetchens: mluetche@NebrWesleyan.edu

Israel Among the Nations.

The Bible in Context

Israel's Next Door Neighbors (8th Century BCE)

What is "The Holy Land"?

David's Kingdom at Its Height10th Century BCE

Map of Assyrian Empire

9th – 7th Century BCE

Alexander's Empire ca. 325 BCE

Eastern Hemisphere , ca. 100 CE

Cuneiform (Wedge Shaped) Tablet

From Gilgamesh Epic – Tablet 11

24 Man of Surippak, son if Ubara-Tutu!

25 Tear down (your) house, build a ship! (Genesis 6:14)

26 Abandon (your) possessions, seek (to save) life!

27 Disregard (your) goods, and save (your) life!

28 [Cause to] go up into the ship the seed of all living creatures. (Genesis 6:19-20)

29 The ship which you shall build,

30 Its measurements shall be (accurately) measured;

31 Its width and its length shall be equal. (Genesis 6:15)

Michelangelo's Vision of the Ark – Sistine Chapel, Vatican

City

Multiple Cuneiform Documents at Ankara, Turkey

Cylinder Seals

Cylinders and Their Images

Mesopotamian Gods on Cylinder Seal

Sky God, Earth God, River God

Votive Statue of GudeaRuler of Lagash, ca. 2144-2124

BCE

Note the flowing

waters of the Tigris

and the Euphrates

coming out of the

offering flask.

From Series Dealing with a Lion Hunt

from Friezes in Palace at Nimrud, Assyria

Wounded Lion Retaliates

A Dying Lion

From Lion Hunting to Vicious Military Activity. Assyrians Lay

Siege to City

Assyrians Attack with Siege Engine From

Nimrud Palace

Mer-Ne-Ptah SteleNow Housed in Cairo Museum

Discovered in Thebes, Egypt by Flinders Petrie in 1896. Contains the first probable extra-Biblical testimony to the people of Israel.

The Mer-Ne-Ptah (Egyptian Pharaoh, 1213-1203 BCE) or

"Israel" Stele Translation of the Closing lines from the Stele:

The princes lie prostrate, saying, "Salaam!"Not one lifts his head among the Nine Bows.Destruction for the Tehenu! Hatti is pacified.Canaan is plundered with every evil;Ashkelon is taken; Gezer is captured;Israel (I-si-ri-ar) lies desolate; its seed is no more;Hurru has become a widow for To-meri;All the lands in their entirety are at peace.Everyone who was restless, he has been bound by the King of Upper and Lower Egypt; Ba-En-Re, Meri-Amon, the son of Re, Mer-Ne-Ptah. Hotep-hir-Maat, given life like Re every day.

Mummy and Shabti/Osirid Image of/for Mer-Ne-Ptah

Lachish

Divided Kingdoms of

Israel and Judah(931-721 BCE)

Hebrew Exiles from Lachish

Josh. 10:23 They did so, and brought the five kings out to him from the cave, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, and the king of Eglon. Josh. 10:31 ¶ Next Joshua passed on from Libnah, and all Israel with him, to Lachish, and laid siege to it, and assaulted it. Josh. 10:32 The LORD gave Lachish into the hand of Israel, and he took it on the second day, and struck it with the edge of the sword, and every person in it, as he had done to Libnah. Josh. 10:33 ¶ Then King Horam of Gezer came up to help Lachish; and Joshua struck him and his people, leaving him no survivors. Josh. 10:34 ¶ From Lachish Joshua passed on with all Israel to Eglon; and they laid siege to it, and assaulted it; Josh. 10:35 and they took it that day, and struck it with the edge of the sword; and every person in it he utterly destroyed that day, as he had done to Lachish. Josh. 12:11 ¶ the king of Jarmuth one ¶ the king of Lachish oneJosh. 15:39 Lachish, Bozkath, Eglon,

Assyrians Impale the Dead Israelites of

Lachish

2Kings 14:19 They made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish. But they sent after him to Lachish, and killed him there.

2Kings 18:14 King Hezekiah of Judah sent to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, “I have done wrong; withdraw from me; whatever you impose on me I will bear.” The king of Assyria demanded of King Hezekiah of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.

2Kings 18:17 The king of Assyria sent the Tartan, the Rab-saris, and the Rabshakeh with a great army from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. They went up and came to Jerusalem. When they arrived, they came and stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which is on the highway to the Fuller’s Field.

2Kings 19:8 ¶ The Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah; for he had heard that the king had left Lachish.

2Chr. 11:9 Adoraim, Lachish, Azekah, 2Chr. 25:27 From the time that Amaziah turned away from the LORD

they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish. But they sent after him to Lachish, and killed him there.

After Taking Lachish, Assyrians Flay Hebrews Alive

2Chr. 32:9 ¶ After this, while King Sennacherib of Assyria was at Lachish with all his forces, he sent his servants to Jerusalem to King Hezekiah of Judah and to all the people of Judah that were in Jerusalem, saying, Neh. 11:30 Zanoah, Adullam, and their villages, Lachish and its fields, and Azekah and its villages. So they camped from Beer-sheba to the valley of Hinnom. Is. 36:2 The king of Assyria sent the Rabshakeh from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem, with a great army. He stood by the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Fuller’s Field. Is. 37:8 ¶ The Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah; for he had heard that the king had left Lachish. Jer. 34:7 when the army of the king of Babylon was fighting against Jerusalem and against all the cities of Judah that were left, Lachish and Azekah; for these were the only fortified cities of Judah that remained. Mic. 1:13 Harness the steeds to the chariots, inhabitants of Lachish; it was the beginning of sin to daughter Zion, for in you were found the transgressions of Israel.

An Original Black Stela of Shalmaneser III, with Other Stelae in the British

Museum, London

Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III, King of Assyria, 858-824

BCESecond Panel from Top

Israelite King Jehu (841-814 BCE) Does Obeisance to

King Shalmaneser III of AssyriaContains the Oldest Graphic

Reference and one of the oldest references to the ancient

Hebrews among the Artifacts of Other Ancient Cultures; also the earliest ,known reference to the

Persian people.

Israelite King Jehu Does Obeisance to Shalmaneser III of Assyria, 858-

824 BCE

Note the Presence of a Symbol of an Assyrian God Above

Part of Text from Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser, Face B, Lines 97-99

In the eighteenth year of my rule I crossed the Euphrates for the sixteenth time. Hazael of Damascus put his trust upon his numerous army and called up his troops in great number, making the mountain Senir, a mountain, facing the Lebanon, to his fortress. I fought with him and inflicted a defeat upon him, killing with the sword 16,000 of his experienced soldiers. I took away from him 1,121 chariots, 470 riding horses as well as his camp.

He disappeared to save his life (but) I followed him and besieged him in Damascus, his royal residence. (There) I cut down his gardens (outside of the city, and departed). I marched as far as the mountains of Hauran, destroying, tearing down and burning innumerable towns, carrying booty away from them which was beyond counting.

Shalmaneser V in the Catholic Bible

2Kings 17:3 King Shalmaneser of Assyria came up against him; Hoshea became his vassal, and paid him tribute. 2Kings 18:9 ¶ In the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of King Hoshea son of Elah of Israel, King Shalmaneser of Assyria came up against Samaria, besieged it, Tob. 1:2 who in the days of King Shalmaneser of the Assyrians was taken into captivity from Thisbe, which is to the south of Kedesh Naphtali in Upper Galilee, above Asher toward the west, and north of Phogor. Tob. 1:13 the Most High gave me favor and good standing with Shalmaneser, and I used to buy everything he needed. Tob. 1:15 But when Shalmaneser died, and his son Sennacherib reigned in his place, the highways into Media became unsafe and I could no longer go there. Tob. 1:16 ¶ In the days of Shalmaneser I performed many acts of charity to my kindred, those of my tribe. 2Esdr. 13:40 these are the nine tribes that were taken away from their own land into exile in the days of King Hoshea, whom Shalmaneser, king of the Assyrians, made captives; he took them across the river, and they were taken into another land.

Jehu (King of Israel, 842-814 BCE), "Of the House of Omri," (King of Israel, 885-874

BCE) According to This Inscription

I (also) marched as far as the mountains of Balirasi which is a promontory (lit: at the side of the sea) and erected there a stela with my image as king. At that time, I received the tribute of the inhabitants of Tyre, Sidon, and of Jehu, of the house of Omri.

Translation, lightly edited, from James A. Pritchard, Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament, Third Edition with Supplement (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1969, Third Printing, 1974): 280. Translation by D. D. Luckenbill, Ancient Records of Assyria and Babylonia, 1 (Chicago, 1926). ¶ 578.

Note the Similar Symbol Related to Ahura Mazda in Zoroastrian Religion on Tomb of the Persian King Darius I (Ruled 550-486

BCE)

Tomb of Cyrus of Persia

(ca. 590-530 BCE)

Is. 44:24 ¶ Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, who formed you in the womb:

I am the LORD, who made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who by myself spread out the earth;

Is. 44:25 who frustrates the omens of liars, and makes fools of diviners;

who turns back the wise, and makes their knowledge foolish;

Is. 44:26 who confirms the word of his servant, and fulfills the prediction of his

messengers; who says of Jerusalem, “It shall be inhabited,”

and of the cities of Judah, “They shall be rebuilt,

and I will raise up their ruins”; Is. 44:27 who says to the deep, “Be dry—

I will dry up your rivers”;

Is. 44:28 who says of Cyrus, “He is my shepherd, and he shall carry out all my purpose”; and who says of Jerusalem, “It shall be rebuilt,” and of the temple, “Your foundation shall be laid.” Is. 45:1 ¶ Thus says the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped to subdue nations before him and strip kings of their robes, to open doors before him— and the gates shall not be closed: Is. 45:2 I will go before you and level the mountains, I will break in pieces the doors of bronze and cut through the bars of iron, Is. 45:3 I will give you the treasures of darkness and riches hidden in secret places, so that you may know that it is I, the LORD, the God of Israel, who call you by your name. Is. 45:4 For the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel my chosen, I call you by your name, I surname you, though you do not know me.

Sargon II (Assyrian King, 722-705 BCE) in

the BibleIsa. 20:1 In the year that the commander-in-chief, who was sent by King Sargon of Assyria, came to Ashdod and fought against it and took it ---Isa 20:2 at that time the Lord had spoken to Isaiah, son of Amoz, saying, "Go, and loose the sackcloth from your loins and take your sandals off your feet," and he had done so, walking naked and barefoot.Isa 20:3 Then the Lord said, "Just as my servant, Isaiah, has walked naked and barefoot for three years as a sign and a portent against Egypt and Ethiopia, Isa 20:4 so shall the king of Assyria lead away Egyptians as captives and the Ethiopians as exiles, both the young and the old, naked and barefoot, with buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt.Isa 20:5 And they shall be dismayed and confounded because of Ethiopia their hope and of Egypt their boast.Isa 20:6 In that day the inhabitants of this coastland will say, "See, this is what has happened to those in whom we hoped and to whom we fled for help and deliverance from the King of Assyria! And we, how shall we escape?

Tiglath-Pileser III, From Nimrud Palace, ca.728 BCE, Now in British

Museum

Assyrian KingRuled 745-727

BCE

Tiglath-Pileser in the Bible

2Kings 15:29 ¶ In the days of King Pekah of Israel, King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria came and captured Ijon, Abel-beth-maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali; and he carried the people captive to Assyria. 2Kings 16:7 Ahaz sent messengers to King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son. Come up, and rescue me from the hand of the king of Aram and from the hand of the king of Israel, who are attacking me.” 2Kings 16:10 ¶ When King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria, he saw the altar that was at Damascus. King Ahaz sent to the priest Uriah a model of the altar, and its pattern, exact in all its details.

Prince Sennacherib (left) Before King Sargon II (right)

Sargon II Assyrian King,722-705 BCE

(See Isa 20:1-6)

Sargon II in Isaiah 20:1-6Is. 20:1 ¶ In the year that the commander-in-chief, who was sent by King Sargon of Assyria, came to Ashdod and fought against it and took it— Is. 20:2 at that time the LORD had spoken to Isaiah son of Amoz, saying, “Go, and loose the sackcloth from your loins and take your sandals off your feet,” and he had done so, walking naked and barefoot. Is. 20:3 Then the LORD said, “Just as my servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot for three years as a sign and a portent against Egypt and Ethiopia, Is. 20:4 so shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptians as captives and the Ethiopians as exiles, both the young and the old, naked and barefoot, with buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt. Is. 20:5 And they shall be dismayed and confounded because of Ethiopia their hope and of Egypt their boast. Is. 20:6 In that day the inhabitants of this coastland will say, ‘See, this is what has happened to those in whom we hoped and to whom we fled for help and deliverance from the king of Assyria! And we, how shall we escape?’”

Prince Sennacherib(Part of Previous Frieze in Louvre,

Paris

Sennacherib (Assyrian King, 705-681 BCE)

Six Sided Stelae/Prisms of Sennacherib

Sennacherib in the Catholic Bible

2 Kings 18:13, 19:16, 19:20, 19:36 2 Chron. 32:1-2, 9-10, 22 Isa 36:1, 37:17, 21, 37 Tobit 1:15, 18, 22 Sirach 48:18, 2 Maccabees 8:19, 15:22 3 Maccabees 6:5 (Apochryphal) 2 Esdras 7:110 [40]

Esarhaddon(Assyrian King, 681-669 BCE)

Defeated Peoples, Depicted as Diminutives

at Esarhaddon's Feet

Esarhaddon in the Catholic Bible

2 Kings 19:37

Ezra 4:2

Isa 37:38

Tobit 1:21-22, 2:1

1 Esdras 5:69

Assurbanipal (Assyrian Ruler, 669-631 BCE)

Asshur in the Bible

Gen 10:22

Num 24:22, 24

1 Chron 1:17

Ezekiel 27:23

Fall of Nineveh and the Assyrian Empire to the Babylonian Empire, 612 BCE

The Burning of Babylon. A Modern Imaginative Depiction

Babylon's Processional WayA Reconstruction in the Pergamum Museum,

Berlin

Gate of Ishtar, Babylon

Ishtar Gate

The Last Known Living

Aurochs, A Female, Is Reported to Have Died in

theJaktorów Forest

in Poland in 1627 CE.

An Aurochs, "Bull of Heaven," Associated with Ishtar,

Goddess of War, Fertility, Love and Sex

Lion, Symbol of Ishtar, Goddess of War and

Fertility

Mythical Beast/Dragon, Associate of the Babylonian Sun

God, Marduk

Head/Body/Tail of Serpent,

Front Feet of Lion, Back Feet of Fowl.

Stele of Laws of Hammurabi, King of Old Babylonian Empire

(1728-1686 BCE)

Hammurabi Receives Law from

God

Detail Stele of

Hammurabi

Here Law is Derivedfrom the Divine, not

the Political Ruler.Therefore, even the King

is now bound by "The Laws of God."

Ancient Depiction of Ziggurat at Ur, ca. 604-562 BCE

Diagram from this Stele

Ziggurat at Ur(19th Century

Remains)

Saddam Hussein's Ziggurat

Reconstruction

Model of Ziggurat at Rosicrucian Museum, San Jose, CA

Imagined Ziggurat Reconstruction

U. S. Troops In Iraq Climb Ziggurat of Ur

Rosetta Stone, The Key to Deciphering

HieroglyphicsSame Story inHieroglyphics

Demotic

Greek