Babylonian King's Eunuch Really Existed

26 Tammuz 5767, 12 July 07 11:52 by Hillel Fendel

(IsraelNN.com) A routine research visit to the British Museum nets a landmark archaeological discovery and proof of the Old Testament's truth.

British newspapers report that ancient Babylonian expert Dr. Michael Jursa of Vienna discovered a small clay tablet that provides proof of the Old Testament's veracity. Though the tablet was unearthed near Baghdad in 1920, only last week was it deciphered for the first time, by Dr. Jursa.

Upon reading the tablet, which records a donation of gold by "the chief eunuch of King Nebuchadnezzar," a man named Nabu-sharrussu-ukin, Jursa suddenly realized that the name sounded familiar. He quickly consulted Jeremiah 39, where he found the man's name listed as one of Nebuchadnezzar's top ministers who took part in the destruction of the First Holy Temple 2,500 years ago. The Biblical account, however, has his named spelled slightly differently: (Samgar) Nevo Sarsekim.

Irving Finkel, assistant keeper in the British Museum's Middle East Department, was very excited: "This is a fantastic discovery," he told The Telegraph, "a world-class find. If Nevo-Sarsekim existed, [then] which other lesser figures in the Old Testament existed? A throwaway detail in the Old Testament turns out to be accurate and true. I think that it means that the whole of the narrative [of Jeremiah] takes on a new kind of power."

Speaking with The Times, Finkel said, “A mundane commercial transaction takes its place as a primary witness to one of the turning points in Old Testament history. This is a tablet that deserves to be famous.”

Dr. Jursa, associate professor at the University of Vienna, said, “It’s very exciting and very surprising. Finding something like this tablet, where we see a person mentioned in the Bible making an everyday payment to the temple in Babylon and quoting the exact date, is quite extraordinary.”

Dr. Jursa has been visiting the museum for over 15 years to study a collection of more than 100,000 inscribed tablets. Reading and piecing together fragments is painstaking work, The Times reports, and more than half are yet to be published.

The full translation of the tablet, as provided in The Telegraph, reads: "[Regarding] 1.5 minas (0.75 kg) of gold, the property of Nabu-sharrussu-ukin, the chief eunuch, which he sent via Arad-Banitu the eunuch to [the temple] Esangila: Arad-Banitu has delivered [it] to Esangila. In the presence of Bel-usat, son of Alpaya, the royal bodyguard, [and of] Nadin, son of Marduk-zer-ibni. Month XI, day 18, year 10 [of] Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon."

"Not Altogether Invented"
On hearing of the discovery, Geza Vermes, the eminent emeritus professor of Jewish studies at the University of Oxford, said it shows that “the Biblical story is not altogether invented."

The reactions of Vermes and Finkel indicate that the discovery has not yet totally shaken the core faith of some who believe that the Bible is not true. The Bible is merely not "altogether invented," one says, and "who knows how many other Old Testament figures may have existed?" However, many websites provide information regarding the truth of the Torah; click here for one sample site.

I just find the timing of the tablet being deciphered really interesting.

Dani you know my study of Jeremiah and how the Lord has slowly taken me through this book. (Only letting me continue reading when He says to move forward) Well yesterday I ended in chapter 38... and today I was to look at 39. The very chapter that is quoted in this piece. Then I was also reminded of our conversation just a day or 2 ago concerning the Eunuchs.... (In 2 Kings and Isaiah 39)


Interesting article for sure!

Love ya,
Valerie
Messiahiscoming

Yeah the timing is right for sure... they know what they're doing; are you sure you know what they're doing?

There will always be those who need proof but will deny it when shown; it's a fruitless endeavor, believe that. That's why it must be taken by faith, all of it.

"they would not believe had one gone to them from the dead."

Faith is hope in things not seen.

Yes,scripture would seem to be a collection of stories which match several other ancient stories ever told. But this one thing they are ignorant of: that scripture was written BEFORE the foundation of the world. The book of the story of this creation was written BEFORE the first word was spoken.

"These [are] the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens, And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew:"

"The word was in the beginning"

"The word was made flesh"

"He was the first and the last"

"Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all those that are far off, even as many as the Lord God shall call."

"And Phillip sayeth unto him, if thou believest with all thine heart thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God."

"That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved."

"Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that [spirit] of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world."

Get that? He that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is the spirit of antichrist.

Have you been filled with the Comforter?

"If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?"

And what was that good gift?

"If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall [your] heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?"

IS COME!

Not HAS COME!

IS COME in evey single Spirit filled Son of God for the past 2000 years and is still coming every time someone believes.

Don't get drawn into proofs of the scriptures as they have been true since ever. Let them of the outside quarrel over such things and run tehmselves ragged; but come, let us be about his work.

"Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent."

What amazes me about that article is the reluctance of men to believe the bible.

What bias against it!

How many other finds by archeologists have been made, but ignored or misunderstood because the bible was prejudged to be ficticious?

It's a type of evidence that's not a breakthrough for it's also widely known that entire cities like Jerusalem or Niniveh exist(ed). The existance of one servant of a king somewhere is not something that can shake people's disbelief. People who believe that Jerusalem existed, or Niniveh, and who don't believe in God, need other means to be convinced.

Of course this discovery is one piece of the proof found about the earthly factualities. And it's contributing to the whole body of proof. But how would one get people to believe the miraculous part of the bible, the supernatural, life itself?

Even if Farizees could see miracles happening right in front of their faces they still managed to interpret it as the work of the devil because they may have known about all the earthly things, but had a bias which was about the supernatural. Like seeing someone cured right in front of their eyes, with all the factualities available as far as the earthly eye can see, and still interpreting it as the work of the devil because of a bias about unearthly things.

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?searc...amp;version=45;

Matthew 13

7Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them out.

8Other seeds fell on good soil, and yielded grain--some a hundred times as much as was sown, some sixty times as much, and some thirty.

9He who has ears [to hear], let him be listening and let him [a]consider and [b]perceive and comprehend by hearing.

10Then the disciples came to Him and said, Why do You speak to them in parables?

11And He replied to them, To you it has been given to know the secrets and mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.

12For whoever has [spiritual knowledge], to him will more be given and he will [c]be furnished richly so that he will have abundance; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away.

13This is the reason that I speak to them in parables: because [d]having the power of seeing, they do not see; and [e]having the power of hearing, they do not hear, nor do they grasp and understand.

14In them indeed is [f]the process of fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah, which says: You shall indeed hear and hear but never grasp and understand; and you shall indeed look and look but never see and perceive.

15For this nation's heart has grown gross (fat and dull), and their ears heavy and difficult of hearing, and their eyes they have tightly closed, lest they see and perceive with their eyes, and hear and comprehend the sense with their ears, and grasp and understand with their heart, and turn and I should heal them.(A)

16But blessed (happy, fortunate, and [g]to be envied) are your eyes because they do see, and your ears because they do hear.

17Truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous men [men who were upright and in right standing with God] yearned to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.

18Listen then to the [meaning of the] parable of the sower:



my thoughts:

verses 11,12

if you are un-repentant, God prevents you from understanding and believing the Gospel.

because,
if you believed, then, God would be obligated to save you from your sins,..........and God doesn't save the un-repentant.

Acts 28;27