I spent the day at the British Museum today with some people from the University of Nottingham, and saw a few items of Biblical interest…
Here are some curse tablets, written to bring supernatural curses on enemies. Bruce Winter has an interesting suggestion regarding the section in 1 Corinthians which he interprets as “No one who has the Spirit can say ‘Jesus, Curse!’”… That is, Winter suggests that the Corinthians were taking on this convention of ‘cursing’ people, invoking the supernatural name of Jesus.
Pictured here in a 700BCE wall segment from Nineveh are some prisoners playing their lyres… remind you of a psalm?
This Assyrian wall segment depicts Sennacharib’s invasion of Lachish, Judah – as described in the Old Testament. If you look closely you can see Israelites being impaled by the Assyrians.
More Assyrian stuff: Here we see a depiction of the ‘tree of life’ – a relatively common icon in Ancient Near Eastern religions.
not MORE Assyrian stuff, surely??? Yep – here depicting people of Israel bringing tribute to Shalmaneser III
And finally, some writing materials that would have been in use in the time the New Testament was being written – you can see inkpots, writing implements, pottery, and (up the top) a wooden notebook.
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On your typical American “Truth of the Bible” documentary, they will say plenty of times that there are no archaeological records to support the stories of the OT, and no proof that a kingdom of Israel ever existed. So, what’s the deal? Do historians say that the depictions include Israel and Judah?
Being an American, I’ve only been to London on trips (six of them to be exact), and every time I’ve gone since the age of 11 when I first went to London, I’ve spent a day at the British Museum. I have pictures of myself next to the Rosetta stone from 11 years old, 18 years old and at 24 years old with my wife, haha. Looking at the pictures makes me want to go again…if I could choose to spend a day anywhere in the world, there’s a good chance it would be there.
Hmm that’s peculiar: Yes, the plaques and explanations make it clear that the items I have pictured are depicting Judah & Israel – including written inscriptions referring to Israel in the 850BCE Assyrian depiction of people bringing tribute to Shalmaneser III. The depiction of the attack on Lachish, a town of Judah, is very extensive, covering perhaps 50 metres of wall.
I have to agree that the British Library is worth visiting. I only wish I’d had more time to explore.