mia Backgrounds to the Bible Condensed

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ANCIENT EMPIRES

Sumerian Empire 2600 - 2400 BCEAgade (Akkad) Empire 2400 - 2200 BCE

Babylonian Empire 1950 - 1600 BCE

Kassite Empire 1550 - 1100 BCEAssyrian Empire 1400 - 1200 BCE

Neo - Assyrian Until 612 BCE

Neo ± Babylonian 626 - 539 BCEPersian (Medes) 539 - 330 BCE

Greece 332 - 30 BCE

Rome 30 - ff. AD



ANCIENT EMPIRES

Sumerian Empire 2600 - 2400 BCE



During Sumerian Rule

Temple was center

King was high priest

City State allegiances with city Gods but a

national God for the union of States

Language, culture, and religion were Sumerian



Sumerian Culture

The king as divine steward



Sumerian Culture


Steward to build temples



Sumerian Culture



Steward to Restore Temples



Sumerian Culture




The king as steward of Justice



Sumerian Culture




The king as steward of Justice

The king as shepherd of the people



Genesis 11:1-9Readings from the Ancient Near East



ANCIENT EMPIRES




Readings from theAncient Near East



ANCIENT EMPIRES





Creation Epic



Flood tablet of the Gilgamesh Epic



Flood tablet of the Gilgamesh Epic

READINGS FROM THE

ANCIENT NEAR EAST



I rooted out the enemy above and below;

I made an end of war

I promoted the welfare of our land

I made the people rest in friendly

habitations;

I did not let them have anyone to terrorize

them.The great gods called me,

So I became the beneficent shepherd whose

scepter is righteous;

In my bosom I carried the people of the land of Sumer and Akkad;

They prospered under my protection;

I have governed them in peace;

I have sheltered them in my strength.



³To cause Justice to prevail in the country

To destroy the wicked and evil That the

strong may not oppress the weak´



³ Any person feeling wronged in a legal matter

should go in front of the statue of me as ³ king

of Justice´ and also have my inscribed stele

read out loud to him so he can hear my

precious words and my stele can explain the

case to him. By understanding his legal

situation, he can be comforted.´

³ If (such a leader) has intelligence and wishes to

guide his land aright, he should heed the words

which I wrote on my stele, and it shall surely

show him the road and the way´



ANCIENT EMPIRES


Agade (Akkad) Empire 2400 - 2200 BCE


Kassite Empire 1550 - 1100 BCE



ANCIENT EMPIRES



Babylonian Empire 1950 - 1600 BCEKassite Empire 1550 - 1100 BCE

Assyrian Empire 1400 - 1200 BCE




Chronology of Assyrian Rulers

Ashurnasirpal II (883-859)

Shalmaneser III (858±824 B.C.E.).

Tiglath-Pileser III (744-727)

Shalmaneser V (726-722)

Sargon II (721-705)

Sennacherib (704-681)

Esarhaddon (680-699)

Ashurbanipal (668-627)



Chronology of Key Assyrian Rules

8th & 7th Centuries:Ashurnasirpal II (883-859)




Sargon II (721-705)






Balawat gates

cedarwood

reconstruction,

9th century BC



Ashurnasirpal II from Nimrud



Lion hunt, 9th c Nimrud closeup



Ashurnasirpal symbolic scene, from Nimrud




8th & 7th Centuries:Ashernasirpal II (883-859)




Sargon II (721-705)



Asburbanipal (668-627)



THE TRIBUTE OF JEHU, SON OF OMRI

READINGS FROM THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST

IMPOSED TRIBUTE ON WEALTHY MEN OF ISRAEL 2 KINGS 15:20



THE TRIBUTE OF JEHU, SON OF OMRI


CONQUERS THE TERRITORY OF NORTHERN

ISRAEL

(2 KI. 17:1-6)

REPOPULATED THE NORTHERN TERRITORY

µSAMARITANS¶

(2 KI. 17:24)




8th & 7th Centuries:




Tiglath pileser III, 728 BC




CAPTURES PORTIONS OF NOTHERN ISRAELAND IMPOSED TRIBUTE ON WEALTHY MEN (

2 KI. 15:19,29 )

EXILED TRANSJORDAN TRIBES (2 KI. 15:29)

FINDS UZZIAH (aka Azariah) STOPS PAYING

TRIBUTE (FORGOTTEN THE OATH HESWORE TO ME) ANET.




DAMASSCUS AND ISRAEL WAGE WAR

LATER ON KING AHAZ TO JOIN AN ANIT-

ASSYRIAN COALITION AND TIGLATH-PILESER III COMES TO HIS AID (II KI. 16:7-9;

ISA. 7)

�Ahaz does this against Isaiah¶s counsel

�Pays Tiglath-Pileser with Money fromTemple.

PLACED HOSHEA ON THRONE (2 KI. 15:30)

ERRECTED A PAGAN ALTER IN THE TEMPLE

COMPOUND (II KI. 16:10-14)



Hadad on back of bull, stele from Tiglath-Pileser III's

palace in Arslan Tash







Sargon II (721-705)



Relief of Sargon II

Two key uprisings and regions where thistook place:

Palestine, revolts inspired by theEgyptians

Babylon, revolts inspired by the Elamites



Entrance facade, Sargon II's palace in Khorsabad



Winged bull gateway, Sargon's palace at Khorsabad



Relief of Sargon II

DEPORTED THE ISRAELITES IN SAMARIA

2 Kings 17:6-7

IMPORTED FOREINGERS TO SAMARIA

MENTIONED IN RETROSPECT

Ezra 4:1-10,17







Sargon II (721-705)




Lachish letters



Lachish letters

READINGS FROM THE

ANCIENT NEAR EAST



BABYLON OFFERED TO HELP FIGHT

ASSYRIA WITH THEM. HEZEKIAH TURNEDDOWN THE ADVICE VIA ISAIAH (11

KI. 20:12-19)

ASSYRIA ATTACKED JUDAH WHILE

COLLECTING TRIBUTE FROM THEM

2 KI. 18:13-16



LAID SIEGE TO JERUSALEM BUT LEFT

AFTER A PLAGUE FOR GOD?

2 KI. 18-19

ASSASINATED BY HIS SONS ADRAMMELECH

AND SHARZER

2 KI. 19:37



ASSYRIANS



ASSYRIANS

ASSYRIANS



ASSYRIANS

2 KINGS 14:25

³JONAH PROPHESIES

EXPANSION PRIOR TO TIGLATH

PILESER III´



Sennacherib prism



Sennacherib prism

2 Kings 18:13-19:36

2 Chronicles 32:1 ± 32:22

Isaiah 36:1 ± 37:37

2 Kings 18:13-19:36



Sennacherib prism

gs 8 3 9 36

2 Chronicles 32:1 ± 32:22

Isaiah 36:1 ± 37:37

The envoy sent to read this letter is a

common practice in Assyrian Governing.

The local governor court official would go.

In extreme cases a qurbutu i.e. an official

from the very court of the King of Assyria,was sent. Possibly what took place here

reading this letter to the people.



Sennacherib prism

READINGS FROM THE

FIRST CENTURY WORLD

Josephus, Ant. X.i.4-5

Herodotus II, 141



Sennacherib prism

READINGS FROM THE

FIRST CENTURY WORLD

³As for Hezekiah the Jew who did not submit



Sennacherib prism

As for Hezekiah, the Jew, who did not submit

to my yoke, 46 of his strong, walled cities, as

well as the small cities in their neighborhood,

which were without number,²by leveling with

battering-rams (?) and by bringing up siege-engines (?), by attacking and storming on

foot, by mines, tunnels and breaches (?), I

besieged and took (those cities). 200,150

people, great and small, male and female,

horses, mules, asses, camels, cattle and

sheep without number I brought away from



Sennacherib prism

sheep, without number, I brought away from

them and counted as spoil. Himself, like a

caged bird I shut up in Jerusalem his royal

city. Earthworks I threw up against him,²the

one coming out of the city-gate, I turned back

to his misery.´

The Biblical World in Pictures; BAS Biblical World in Pictures. 2003; 2003. Biblical

Archaeology Society

No mention of the 185,000-man loss is recorded in his annals.



Sennacherib prism

Herodotus II, 141

³During the night they were over run by a



Sennacherib prism

g g y y

horde of field mice that gnawed quivers and

bows and the handles of shields, with the

result that many were killed f leeing unarmed

the next day. And to this day a stone statue of

the Egyptian King stands in Hephaestus

temple, with a mouse in his hand, and aninscription to this effect: µLook at me, and

believe.¶´

Note in this account Herodutus attributes the death

to mice. The black plague was attributed to mice in

the middle ages when in fact it was the f lees on mice

and rats that kill

ed over 1/3 of the known wor l

d.



Sennacherib prism

JOSEPHUS 10.1.4-5



Sennacherib prism

JOSEPHUS

also the king of Assyria wrote an epistle to

Hezekiah

and he threatened, that when he took him, hewould utter ly destroy him, unless he now

opened the gates



Sennacherib prism

JOSEPHUS

Herodotus does indeed give us this history

"Now when Sennacherib was returning from

his Egyptian war to Jerusalem, he found hisarmy under Rabshakeh his general in danger

[by a plague], «

he f led with the rest of his forces to his own

kingdom, and to his city Nineveh«

and died by the hands of his elder sons«



Broad Wall of Hezekiah from east




2 KINGS 20:20



City of David from south



Siloam Pool



View up Central Valley by Pool of Siloam



Siloam Pool

JOHN 7:37-38







Shalmaneser V (726-722)Sargon II (721-705)

Sennacherib (704-681)Esarhaddon (680-699)



A decree was given that Babylon was to lie in

ruins 70 years (like the captivity of Israel in

Babylon that would occur years later)

Esarhadden comes in to rebuild Babylon and

gain the favor of the people

It was said Marduk saw the writing decreed

for 70 years but turned the inscription upside

down making it only 11 when rebuilding

began with Esarhadden (in cuneiform 70 when

turned upside down is 11).









Asburbanipal (668-627)



Ashurbanipal's court scholars list



Babylonian Chronicle, 615-609 BC with Nineveh's destruction




Nahum 1:15

Nahum 3:15

Nahum 3:19

ANCIENT EMPIRES





Kassite Empire 1550 - 1100 BCEAssyrian Empire 1400 - 1200 BCE


Neo ± Babylonian 626 - 539 BCE



Babylonian Chronicle, 605-595 with capture of Jerusalem



Burnt House table and water jar



Nabonidus cylinder with prayer for himself and son Belshazzar



Cyrus Cylinder



READINGS FROM THE ANCIENT NEAREAST

cf. Ezra 1:1-3

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