Part 1: Introduction | Part 2: The Days of Abraham | Part 3: Egypt | Part 4: Canaan | Part 5: David | Part 6: Egypt vs Jerusalem
With Egypt’s decline in the 9th century BC, Assyria rose to dominate the Ancient Near East. Its part in the biblical narrative is significant; it threatens both Israel and Judah, imposes tribute payments, and eventually attacks them both militarily, conquering Israel and exiling its leadership, and conquering much of Judah (2K 18.13) until its siege of Jerusalem is, um, interrupted by the Angel of the Lord (2K 19.35-37).
There are parallels in the ancient soil.
The Black Obelisk
The Black Obelisk was erected by Shalmanezer III (858-824 BC) to proclaim his fame, Ozymandius-style. Among other things, it includes carvings of five different kings paying tribute to him. The second of these is “Yaua of Bit Omri.” Elsewhere it refers to “Yahua, son of Hubiri.”
The Bible does relate that Jehu’s reign as king of Israel overlapped Shalmanezer III’s by nearly 30 years. However, he was not of the “house of [bit] Omri”; he was a commoner who took the throne by force (2K 9.13-14) from Joram, who was Omri’s descendant. Given Omri’s significance, it is easy to see that the Assyrian king might have gotten the genealogy wrong.
The Calah Inscription
A large number of inscriptions was unearthed at Calah (modern Nimrud, near Mosul), Iraq, in the mid-1800s. One of them, by Tiglath-Pileser III (745-727 BC; called “Pul” in the Bible,) mentions a biblical event:
“The land of Bit-Humria [literally Omri-Land, that is Israel] …all of its people […to] Assyria I carried off. Pekah, their king, [I/they ki]lled…and Hoshea [as king] I appointed over them. 10 talents of gold, x talents of silver, [with] their [property] I received from them and [to Assyria I carried] them off.”
This not only describes the deportation to Assyria, but it specifically mentions Pul’s replacing of Pekah with his puppet Hoshea (2K 15.29-39). The biblical account does not say here that Hoshea’s installation was at Pul’s insistence; perhaps it was, or perhaps the emperor just took credit for it. Megalomania was influential in those days.
The Taylor Cylinder
This is perhaps the most well-known Assyrian artifact having to do with the Bible. It describes Sennacherib’s siege of Jerusalem, which I mentioned at the beginning of this post. He besieges the city (2K 18.13ff), and Hezekiah prays to the Lord for deliverance (2K 19.14ff). God responds by slaughtering the entire besieging army as they sleep in their tents (2K 19.35ff), and Sennacherib returns to Nineveh.
The Taylor Cylinder describes this campaign from the perspective of Sennacherib himself. He lists all the cities he has conquered—and they are many. But when he comes to Jerusalem, which of course would be the greatest prize, he says simply,
“I locked [Hezekiah] up within Jerusalem, his royal city, like a bird in a cage. I surrounded him with earthworks, and made it unthinkable for him to exit by the city gate.”
But he does not say he conquered the city. And he does not describe the outcome; Ancient Near Eastern dictators were not inclined to say, “And then, you know, the oddest thing happened … ”
Tribute Sherd
Emek Tzurim National Park is an area in the City of David, south of the Temple Mount, where soil from various archaeological sites is taken to be sifted for artifacts. In 2025 scholars published a significant find: a small sherd (piece of broken pottery, used for paper in those days) with cuneiform writing, dated to about 700 BC. Of course, cuneiform was a Mesopotamian, not Israelite, script. The clay appears to come from Nineveh or thereabouts.
The writing relates that Judah’s tribute payment is overdue. We know that Judah was paying tribute at this time, during the reigns of Hezekiah and Manasseh (2K 18.14). This places Assyrian dominance in Jerusalem in this period.
We’re seeing the connections between biblical and archaeological history grow more frequent—unsurprisingly, since more recent finds are likely to be more plentiful.
Next time, Jerusalem in the Babylonian period.
Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash
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