Ancient pottery illuminates historical events described in Bible

This tiny fragment belied a find of Biblical proportions.

Archaeologists in Jerusalem have unearthed a 2,700-year-old Assyrian inscription in clay that could shine a light on key events detailed in the Old Testament.

“For me as a historian, this is somewhat of a flashlight in the fog of history,” Dr. Peter Zilberg, a Near Eastern Studies expert at Bar-Ilan University who studied the artifact, told The Times of Israel.

The 1-inch pottery fragment — part of a seal that was used to authenticate official documents — had reportedly been unearthed in a drainage canal at Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City, marking the first time that evidence of relations between the Assyrian Empire and the Kingdom of Judah had been uncovered in the city.

By analyzing the clay, researchers were able to trace the shard’s origin to the Tigris basin region, where several Assyrian hubs were located. It was reportedly inscribed with Akkadian cuneiform — the world’s oldest written Semitic language.

Scientists subsequently deciphered the ancient text, discovering what appears to be a complaint by the Assyrian brass over a delayed tax payment by Judah that had been due on the Av, the 11th month of the Hebrew calendar.

From this, researchers deduced that the doc was an ancient tax notice from the Assyrian Emperor to a Judean King, which rang shockingly similar to a Biblical account of how the empire made the Kingdom of Judah their vassal state.

Per a passage in II Kings 18 and 19, during the reign of Judah’s King Hezekiah, “King Sennacherib of Assyria marched against all the fortified towns of Judah and seized them.”

“King Hezekiah sent this message to the king of Assyria at Lachish: ‘I have done wrong; withdraw from me; and I shall bear whatever you impose on me,’” the excerpt read. “So the king of Assyria imposed upon King Hezekiah of Judah a payment of 300 talents of silver and 30 talents of gold.”

Alas, the fragment “does not include the exact year of the inscription, as the part that would have carried it broke off,” per Zilberg. However, based on stylistic and linguistic considerations, experts were able to date the artifact to between the end of the 8th century and the middle of the 7th century BCE — which corresponded to the “period of turmoil” between Judah and Assyria, where tensions over tribute payments reached a breaking point.

“We have the Hezekiah revolt right against [Assyrian King] Sennacherib,” recalled Zilberg. “[Hezekiah] delayed paying taxes for a certain period, leading Sennacherib to march on Jerusalem.”

Coincidentally, this military campaign and its fiscal outcome are highlighted in both the Bible and Assyrian sources, according to the Times of Israel.

Ultimately, the fragment literally helped illuminate political relations in the ancient world, illustrating how even small Kingdoms like Judah were engaged in tense relations with one of the preeminent superpowers of the period.

“While we cannot determine the background for this demand, whether it stemmed from a mere technical delay or carried political significance, the very existence of such an official appeal would seemingly attest to a certain point of friction between Judah and the imperial government,” said Zilberg, according to the Biblical Archaeology Society. “It is a wonderful addition to the history of the relations between Judah and Assyria.”

He said that the fragment’s discovery proves how even the tiniest artifacts can provide essential information.

In this case, it was a missing puzzle piece on where history and the Bible intersect, demonstrating how these Biblical stories are rooted in the historical events of the era.

“This artifact is very, very important in connecting the history of the Land of Israel to the Bible and to the history of the ancient Near East as a whole,” said Zilberg. “There is so much that we do not know, and then these inscriptions come in and shine a very particular light on a very particular subject. It is very exciting.”