Part 1: Introduction | Part 2: The Days of Abraham | Part 3: Egypt | Part 4: Canaan | Part 5: David | Part 6: Egypt vs Jerusalem | Part 7: Assyria | Part 8: Jerusalem
Skipped a week. I was sick. And am now delighted to be better.
During the century or so when Babylon dominated the Ancient Near East (roughly 6th century BC), many artifacts testify to the accuracy of biblical history.
Nebo-Sarsekim Tablet
This small tablet, a little more than an inch wide and about half an inch tall, is clay inscribed with cuneiform, in the manner of the day. Found in Sippor, Iraq, on the southern outskirts of Baghdad, it is an archival report of a donation of 1.5 minas (about 27 troy ounces) of gold to the temple of the god Marduk in Babylon by a Babylonian military commander, “Samgar, Nebo-sarsechim the Rabsaris.” (I bet you saw that coming.) “Nebo-sarsechim” is the man’s name, and “Rab-saris,” “chief eunuch,” is his title.
In the archaeological community there’s broad agreement, not just among conservatives, that this is the official mentioned in Jeremiah 39.3.
Asayahu Bulla
In recent decades the Muslim officials who control the Temple Mount have been excavating dirt under the Mount and dumping it elsewhere in an effort to remove any evidence of Hebrew occupation of the Mount. An organization, The Temple Mount Sifting Project, has been formed to sift this displaced soil to recover any archaeological data. In July 2025 sifters found a bulla (see previous post) with a name, “Yedaiah, son of Asayahu,” clearly impressed on the front by a seal, and remarkably, a fingerprint on the back side.
There was an official named Asayahu (Asahiah) who served King Josiah in Jerusalem (2K 22.12). He was one of the officials involved in the king’s reaction to the discovery of the Scroll of the Law (probably Deuteronomy) in the renovation of the Temple in 621 BC. We can’t be certain that this is the same person, of course, but the fact that it is from Temple Mount soil does raise the odds considerably.
Lachish Letters
Excavations at Tel Lachish have uncovered several ostraca, or pottery fragments, with writing on them. As we’ve noted before, such fragments of broken pottery were frequently used as “paper” in the ancient world, since they were common, essentially free, and reasonably stable.
These ostraca consist of several letters written by a Judahite military officer to the chief commander at Lachish during the Babylonian invasion of Judah before its final destruction in 586 BC. Of particular note is Letter 4, in which the writer notes that he is not seeing the signal fires—which would indicate that the town was still standing against the Babylonians—from Azekah and Lachish.
That’s significant because in the biblical account, Azekah and Lachish were the last two cities to fall before Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem as the crowning act of his campaign in Judah (Jer 34.7).
Cyrus Cylinder
This is technically not a Babylonian document, though it is from the end of that era. Darius the Mede overthrew the city—and empire—of Babylon by invading the city during Belshazzar’s Feast (Dan 5.31). Shortly later Cyrus ascended to the throne.
Cyrus was relatively enlightened as ancient dictators go. While the Cylinder itself is in the British Museum, a copy is in the United Nations building in New York, displayed as a sort of ancient charter of democratic principles—but he was no proponent of democracy. However, it did occur to him that if the conquered and displaced peoples in his empire were happy, they might not revolt as much. So as a statement of his governing philosophy, he had this cylinder produced.
The text inscribed on the Cylinder describes the historical background of Cyrus’s rise to power and then declares his expectations moving forward. Most importantly, he states that displaced persons may return to their homelands and rebuild their temples. He does not mention the Jews in particular, but the statement is consistent with his eventual actions toward the Jews as recorded in Ezra 1.1-4.
Some concluding thoughts next time.
Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash
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