The Amarna Letters are a collection of 380 clay tablets from the Office-House of Letters of Pharoah at Amarna, Egypt, now mostly in the British Museum. Conservatives believe that the Exodus was in 1446 BC, while liberal scholars believe that “if” there was an Exodus it was several centuries later. From a conservative date, these letters would be in the time of the early Judges.

Amarna Letter 289 is from the King of Jerusalem to Pharoah complaining that Labayu gave some of the land of Shechem to the “Habiru.” Many other Amarna letters refer to these Habiru. The word “Habiru” refers to fugitives or refugees, so while one can’t definitively say all Habiru are Hebrews, it is possible from a conservative date for the Exodus, that some Habiru were Hebrews.

Why is Shechem important to a Bible student?

Genesis 12:6-8 – “And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land. And the LORD appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the LORD, who appeared unto him. And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Hai on the east: and there he builded an altar unto the LORD, and called upon the name of the LORD.”

During the time of the Amarna letters – Gideon’s son Abimelech tried to set himself up as king.

Judges 9 1-2 – “And Abimelech the son of Jerubbaal went to Shechem unto his mother’s brethren, and communed with them, and with all the family of the house of his mother’s father, saying, Speak, I pray you, in the ears of all the men of Shechem, Whether is better for you, either that all the sons of Jerubbaal, which are threescore and ten persons, reign over you, or that one reign over you? remember also that I am your bone and your flesh.”

Halfway down on the right. Hammurabi’s Code is divided into 12 sections and consists of 282 laws. Some claim Moses just borrowed from Hammurabi, so the Mosaic Code rather than being God-breathed is nothing special. Both the Mosaic Code and the Hammurabi Code impose the death penalty for adultery and kidnapping. Hammurabi’s Code however imposes the death penalty for many more offenses: “If builder’s house collapses and kills owner’s son — builder’s son executed!”

Deuteronomy 24:16 – “The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers: every man shall be put to death for his own sin.”

Also, Hammurabi commands mutilation for many offenses including if a slave disrespects his master. Moses says “an eye for an eye” only in cases of intentional mutilation, thus limiting the damage.

Behind the Hammurabi Code, this brick features the inscription, “Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, provider for Esagila [temple of Marduk] and Ezida [temple of Nabu], eldest son of Nabopolassar, king of Babylon.”

2 Kings 24:1 – “In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant three years: then he turned and rebelled against him.”

Located on your left, halfway down the hall.

Gilgamesh was King of Uruk, and the earliest account of his tale is dated around 1800 BC. Some argue that the Epic was source material for Moses.

In the Epic, Gilgamesh finds Utnapishtim, who was told by a god to build a boat to survive a global flood that killed all of mankind. The flood was caused by man’s sins, there was only one door in the boat, and the boat was covered in pitch. At the end of the flood, they released birds to find land, landed on a mountain, and sacrificed animals. It is possible that this was written by someone who could have met Noah – Noah did live for 350 years after the flood. (Genesis 9:28), even during the time of the Tower of Babel and Nimrod (founder of Uruk).

It is interesting the similarities between Genesis and the Epic. But given problems with the boat dimensions (as shown at the Ark Encounter), it appears the Epic borrowed from Genesis.

Located near the Epic of Gilgamesh.

Who forged a document using someone else’s seal in the Bible?

1 Kings 21:7-8 –“And Jezebel his wife said unto him, Dost thou now govern the kingdom of Israel? arise, and eat bread, and let thine heart be merry: I will give thee the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite. So she wrote letters in Ahab’s name, and sealed them with his seal, and sent the letters unto the elders and to the nobles that were in his city, dwelling with Naboth.”

Formerly at eye level, these are now above the right wall, near paintings depicting what an aerial view of Babylon might have been.

These glazed lions were part of the Ishtar Gate. Babylon, at the time of the fall of the Southern Kingdom of Judaea, had about 200,000 inhabitants, joined by 10,000 Jewish captives. 2 Kings 24:10-16 tells about Nebuchadnezzar’s siege of Jerusalem – “At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against Jerusalem, and the city was besieged. And Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came against the city, and his servants did besiege it. And Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he, and his mother, and his servants, and his princes, and his officers: and the king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign. And he carried out thence all the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king’s house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of the LORD, as the LORD had said. And he carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the mighty men of valour, even ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths: none remained, save the poorest sort of the people of the land. And he carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon, and the king’s mother, and the king’s wives, and his officers, and the mighty of the land, those carried he into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon. And all the men of might, even seven thousand, and craftsmen and smiths a thousand, all that were strong and apt for war, even them the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon.“

The ten thousand captives would have joined the 200,000 people of Babylon in 600 BC.

Psalm 137:1, 8, 9 – “By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion … O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed; happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us. Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones.”

Daniel and his three friends would have been marched as captives through the impressive Ishtar Gates.

Daniel 1:1, 3, 6 – “In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon unto Jerusalem, and besieged it … And the king spake unto Ashpenaz the master of his eunuchs, that he should bring certain of the children of Israel, and of the king’s seed, and of the princes … Now among these were of the children of Judah, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah …”

Welcome to part of Sargon’s throne room – the complete room was as big as a football field. Look to the left for a diagram and in the center for sample flooring.

Archaeologists were often allowed to keep half of what they uncovered. Recently, ISIS destroyed four similar giant lamassu in Ninevah.

Isaiah 20:1 – “In the year that Tartan came unto Ashdod, (when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him,) and fought against Ashdod, and took it …”

Sargon??? Was the biblical writer mistaken???

“For many years, skeptics insisted that the biblical writer must be mistaken. After all, many inscriptions and archaeological finds from the Assyrian Empire had been found, yet not a single one of them mentioned the Sargon of Isaiah 20. In fact, a well-known list of Assyrian kings conspicuously omitted Sargon (Wilson, 1999, 3:78). But in 1843, Paul Emile Botta dealt the deathblow to this argument. Acting on information he had received about the small village of Khorsabad, Iraq, Botta began searching for ancient bricks with cuneiform writing on them. Not only did he find a rich cache of such bricks, but he also stumbled upon one of the most magnificent finds in archaeological history. Occupying the entire side of a hill, buried under centuries of dirt, stood the remains of King Sargon’s palace. This palace was of such size that it has been described as “probably the most significant palace the world has ever seen, covering an area of more than twenty-five acres.” Among the ruins, Sargon left numerous inscriptions detailing his military conquests. Not the least among those inscriptions was a particularly revealing inscription discussing his actions against Ashdod, the very city mentioned in Isaiah 20:1.” (Kyle Butt, M.Div., as published in Apologetics Press)

http://www.apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=13&article=852

On the right side of this room near the Lamassu – the bearded figure is Sennacherib. In the next gallery, you will see why he is one of the most interesting biblical figures.

Past the palace walls in the corner on the left are two amazing finds of biblical significance.

Black Obelisk of Shalmanezer

This is a full-scale replica of the original that is in the British Museum. Shalmanezer was an Assyrian king. On one side, 2^nd row, is Jehu, with his attendants, bowing down paying homage and tribute.

The cuneiform (wedge-shaped writing system) underneath the carving says, “Tribute of Yahua, house of Omri.” It was discovered in 1846 and was the earliest biblical figure confirmed outside of the Bible. The full text is dated to 841 BC and says:

“The tribute of Jehu, son of Omri: I received from him silver, gold, a golden bowl, a golden vase with pointed bottom, golden tumblers, golden buckets, tin, a staff for a king [and] spears.”

Interestingly, the only carving we have of an Israelite king, comes from a pagan source. This is because Israelites were forbidden from making images.

Exodus 20:4 – “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth …”

Why did Jehu need to pay tribute? He started out well, but did not finish well.

2 Kings 10:30-31 – “And the LORD said unto Jehu, Because thou hast done well in executing that which is right in mine eyes, and hast done unto the house of Ahab according to all that was in mine heart, thy children of the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel. But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the LORD God of Israel with all his heart: for he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam, which made Israel to sin.”

Mordechai, Daniel, and the 3 Hebrews would bow to God but could stand before any King. Those who fail to bow to God, will be someone’s slave.

One of the most valuable artifacts in the entire Oriental Institute is this record of Sennacherib of Assyria (Jonah and Nahum prophesied much about Assyria). This is one of 5 prisms (another is in the British Museum), but unlike the Black Obelisk, this is an original. 2 Kings 18, Isaiah 36, and 2 Chronicles 32 all record the account that this prism tells.

Isaiah 36 – “Now it came to pass in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, that Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the defenced cities of Judah, and took them. And the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem unto king Hezekiah with a great army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller’s field.”

In the British Museum is a massive carving of the siege of Lachish. Siege ramps are still visible in Israel near the ruins of Lachish.

“Then came forth unto him Eliakim, Hilkiah’s son, which was over the house, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, Asaph’s son, the recorder. And Rabshakeh said unto them, Say ye now to Hezekiah, Thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence is this wherein thou trustest? I say, sayest thou, (but they are but vain words) I have counsel and strength for war: now on whom dost thou trust, that thou rebellest against me? Lo, thou trustest in the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt; whereon if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all that trust in him. But if thou say to me, We trust in the LORD our God: is it not he, whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away, and said to Judah and to Jerusalem, Ye shall worship before this altar?

This is a reference to Hezekiah removing the “horned altars” – we’ll see one in the next hall.

“Now therefore give pledges, I pray thee, to my master the king of Assyria, and I will give thee two thousand horses, if thou be able on thy part to set riders upon them.”

Deuteronomy 17:16 forbade the Israelites to multiply horses.

“How then wilt thou turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master’s servants, and put thy trust on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? And am I now come up without the LORD against this land to destroy it? the LORD said unto me, Go up against this land, and destroy it. Then said Eliakim and Shebna and Joah unto Rabshakeh, Speak, I pray thee, unto thy servants in the Syrian language; for we understand it: and speak not to us in the Jews’ language, in the ears of the people that are on the wall. But Rabshakeh said, Hath my master sent me to thy master and to thee to speak these words? hath he not sent me to the men that sit upon the wall, that they may eat their own dung, and drink their own piss with you? Then Rabshakeh stood, and cried with a loud voice in the Jews’ language, and said, Hear ye the words of the great king, the king of Assyria. Thus saith the king, Let not Hezekiah deceive you: for he shall not be able to deliver you. Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD, saying, The LORD will surely deliver us: this city shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria. Hearken not to Hezekiah: for thus saith the king of Assyria, Make an agreement with me by a present, and come out to me: and eat ye every one of his vine, and every one of his fig tree, and drink ye every one the waters of his own cistern; Until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of corn and wine, a land of bread and vineyards. Beware lest Hezekiah persuade you, saying, The LORD will deliver us. Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? Where are the gods of Hamath and Arphad? where are the gods of Sepharvaim? and have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? Who are they among all the gods of these lands, that have delivered their land out of my hand, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand? But they held their peace, and answered him not a word: for the king’s commandment was, saying, Answer him not. Then came Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, that was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the recorder, to Hezekiah with their clothes rent, and told him the words of Rabshakeh.”

Isaiah 37:1 – “And it came to pass, when king Hezekiah heard it, that he rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the LORD.”

Why didn’t Hezekiah do this earlier?

Isaiah 37:35-36 – “For I will defend this city to save it for mine own sake, and for my servant David’s sake. Then the angel of the LORD went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.”

“El” is a generic name for “god,” like “Allah” in Arabic, or “God” in English.

The God of Israel revealed His name as יהוה  / YHVH (LORD in the KJV).

Before you are the idols talked about in Hosea 8:4 (“They have set up kings, but not by me: they have made princes, and I knew it not: of their silver and their gold have they made them idols, that they may be cut off.”).

On the right is Baal. 1 Kings 18:21 tells of Elijah on Mount Carmel (“And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word.”).

Interestingly, the name Elijah (El-Jah) means (remember Hebrew is right to left) YH (Jehovah) is the EL (God).

To the left are female fertility statues, 3,000 year old proofs that the Israelites disobeyed God, as Exodus 20:4 records: Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Many Canaanites sought fertility from idols, but in Genesis 30:22, God opened Rachel’s womb – not Baal. 1 Samuel 1:5 records the Lord had shut up her womb. When God gave Hannah a son, she named him Samuel, as 1 Samuel 1:20 recounts Because I have asked him of the Lord.

Solomon & Ahab had thrones of ivory coated in gold

I Kings 10:18 Moreover the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with the best gold.

As did Ahab, I Kings 22:39 Now the rest of the acts of Ahab, and all that he did , and the ivory house which he made , and all the cities that he built , are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

Sometimes the intact altar is on loan – this one appears to be a “destroyed altar”

Now Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the statutes of his father David, except he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places 1 Kings 3:3

Unlike a “Biblical” altar:

Exodus 27:2 And thou shalt make the horns of it upon the four corners thereof: his horns shall be of the same: and thou shalt overlay it with brass.

God did not want altars everywhere, only in Jerusalem –  and Sennacherib noticed Hezekiah took away the bad altars and destroyed them like this one.

2 Kings 18:22 But if ye say unto me, We trust in the Lord our God: is not that he, whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away, and hath said to Judah and Jerusalem, Ye shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem?

Megiddo was a royal city built by Solomon, as evidenced by the style of the capitals (shown in the picture) at the top of the columns.

1 Kings 9:15 And this is the reason of the levy which king Solomon raised; for to build the house of the Lord, and his own house, and Millo, and the wall of Jerusalem, and Hazor, and Megiddo, and Gezer.

Often we think of Israel as just Jerusalem and Bethlehem, but it was a nation of many fortified cites. Megiddo goes back to the time of Joshua

Joshua 12:21 The king of Taanach, one; the king of Megiddo, one;

Megiddo was where good King Josiah was killed by Pharaoh Necho:

2 Kings 23:29 In his days Pharaohnechoh king of Egypt went up against the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates: and king Josiah went against him; and he slew him at Megiddo, when he had seen him.

And is where the battle of Armageddon (mound of Megiddo) will be:

Revelation 16:16 And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.

 

On the far right wall of the Megiddo Room is a fragment of one of the oldest known copies of the Hebrew Bible.

This is a replica of the (mostly) original Stele, housed in the Louvre in Paris.

The smoother surfaced parts are created based on the paper sketch, while the rougher fragments are the originals as they are today.

The Mesha Stele was found in Dibon, Jordan in August 1868 by a missionary. Pretty soon people realized this was very valuable and the Berlin Museum and the French Consulate got into a bidding war. The next year some local Arabs, realizing all that was at stake, laboriously hoisted it out of the earth and lit a fire around it, and after pouring cold water on it they chipped away several large pieces which they distributed among a few of them. Later the French re-assembled 669 of the estimated 1100 consonants from the pieces and preserved the inscription. It now remains in the Louvre Museum in Paris.

The stone is written in Moabite, and refers to the “House of Omri”, Yahweh, and the “House of David.” The Bible talks about Mesha

2 Kings 3:4 And Mesha king of Moab was a sheepmaster, and rendered unto the king of Israel an hundred thousand lambs, and an hundred thousand rams, with the wool. 5 But it came to pass, when Ahab was dead, that the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel.

This stele says “Omri was king of Israel, and oppressed Moab during many days, and Chemosh was angry with his aggressions. His son succeeded him, and he also said, I will oppress Moab.”

During this battle Jehoshaphat joined Ahab, and they ran out of water, and Elisha told them to dig ditches (2 Kings 3:16).

Another violation of the Ten Commandments. This is reminiscent of the Golden calf of I Kings 12:28-30 of Baal.

Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. 29 And he set the one in Bethel, and the other put he in Dan. 30 And this thing became a sin: for the people went to worship before the one, even unto Dan.

Jeroboam may say “Is there anything inherently evil about a bull?” But when Canaanites worshipped animal replicas, God’s people had to be willing to do without to demonstrate their uniqueness to God.