Biblical Hebrew Blog by ClassicalHebrew.com

Assyrian Archer

It is of no surprise to hear another personal seal has been uncovered in one of the many on-going excavations in the Old City of Jerusalem (the Western Wall Plaza). What may be the twist in this tale is the possibility that the seal may have been planted - a fake.

Anyone who has seen the beautiful depictions of King Sennacherib’s assault on the Judean city of Lachish (701 BCE) will recall the rows of Assyrian archers sending a hail of arrows into the defending city. The depiction of the Assyrian archer is a well-known stylized form - a man walking right with his left hand on the bow as his right hand (the stronger one) pulls back the string. This image is duplicated so two archers appear together side-by-side as in battle formation.

What then becomes interesting and slightly suspicious, is to see this new discovery showing a single archer wearing two quivers of arrows (as if two men were standing together), and he is standing (when impressed into the seal/wax) back-to-front! His weaker arm (the left hand) pulls the string back and his feet are reversed.

Assyrian Archer

One would expect a seventh-century artisan who makes and manufactures artifacts that reflects the images of his own age, would know that the archer needs to be inscribed in the reverse on the stone- thus only when impressed in the wax - does it appear in the stylized format with the right hand on the strong string and his left hand steadying the bow.

This seal has correctly reversed the inscription “for Hagab” - a Hebrew name (appears in Ezra 2:46) - on the stone. The image is not reversed, though! It is a possibility that this seal is the result of a simple and recent sketch of a walking Assyrian archer as lifted from (the inscription of the destruction of Lachish?) any source depicting Assyrian archers.

Let’s wait for more news. After all, there may have been a military commander in Jerusalem famed for his mighty left-handed feats and dexterity!

The seventh century BCE seal uncovered in the excavations (Photo: Clara Amit, Israel Antiquities Authority)

The Reign of Kings and a Prophet

In the years prior to the Babylonian destruction of the temple and city of Jerusalem, the Judahites had enjoyed a religious revival and cleansing that had been implemented by the hands of King Josiah (641-609 BCE) and had been encouraged by the voices of the kingdom’s prophets. This period of revival occurred in the lull between the fall of the Assyrians and the rise of the Neo-Babylonians of whom Nebuchadnezzar is perhaps the most memorable figure. From the time of Josiah until the end of the nation we see three of his sons (Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim and Zedekiah) and one grandson (Jehoiachin) sit on the throne of Judah and throughout all this time we have one prominent prophet, Jeremiah, speaking to the kings and the people.

How Jeremiah became Public Enemy Number One

Jeremiah had not been satisfied with King Josiah’s reforms nor the heartening knowledge that the Assyrian Empire had come to an end. His mouth was full of prophecies of doom directed at the Israelites. These messages astounded the people who reacted with fists and imprisonment to his threats (Jer 19:14-20:3; 26). His message went completely against the trust they had, that God would save them as he had done in the days of Sennacherib and Hezekiah. Furthermore his message was a paradox they did not understand- surrender to a heathen king to save yourselves. The call to surrender had nothing to do with sin and repentance, but rather accepting that it was God’s will that every nation should put on the yoke of the Babylonians, and thus survive (Jer 27-28). However the notion of surrendering to the Judeans meant not trusting in God for their salvation and so they ignored and despised him as a raving lunatic. When the Babylonians finally besieged Jerusalem Jeremiah was being half-staved in a miry pit for inciting insurrection amongst the people and army.

Jeremiah’s Unknown End

The hard-necked people of Judea did not surrender and for their insolence, (as seen by the Babylonians), they were dealt with decisively. The age-old temple established by their forefathers was razed to the ground and the population, in a series of waves, was exiled into the east for work-projects. For thirty-eight years Jeremiah had cried a message that had fallen on unhearing ears, his logic being inconceivable to them. In the end he was forced against his will into exile in Egypt where he died in an unknown place.

His life was one of deep service not only to those in Jerusalem- his last recorded prophesy deals with the idolatry he found when he arrived in Egypt. Jeremiah should be remembered as a man whose heart was broken for his people. For he deeply believed in the sanctity of this nation and its covenant with God, and through this conviction was cut by the continuing blindness of the people. However Jeremiah should be remembered for the promise from God he imparted to them, that if they return to God with “all their heart” then God “will give them a heart” to know and fear him (Jer 24:7, 32:39).

Background

The years 738-734 BCE had been frightening for Judah and her neighbor Israel as they watched the Empire of Assyrian attack and annex into their growing State the strong nations of Syria, Phoenicia, Media and Urartu in succession. The possibility that they too would fall victim to the Assyrian war-machine and lose their independence caused them to react in a variety of ways.

Israel and Judah Become Enemies

Israel went into a league with other smaller nations that previously had been her enemies. The idea was that unity would give them strength. Those nations that refused to sign up to this Syro-Ephraimitic League were considered as enemies and were to be politically isolated and attacked in order to intimidate them into joining. This is how Judah became an enemy of Israel. Judah refused to join the League knowing that it represented only a small and ultimately pointless resistance to the might of the Assyrian Empire who would stop at nothing to reach the Mediterranean and beyond.

Judah Joins Assyria

By not joining the League Judah became vulnerable and open to attack. In this situation Hezekiah’s father Ahaz petitioned the aid of Assyria and made a decision to side with the most powerful Empire in the world. This ultimately placed the kingdom of Judah under Assyrian domination, but did so on the terms of Judah. There was no bloodshed, no cities were destroyed and Judah was able to remain semi-autonomous due to her early capitulation. Everything in Judah thus continued as before, with the monarchy intact, and the religious system in operation. Sadly for Israel her rebellion led to her being absorbed into the Assyrian Empire; her land was destroyed and her people carried off into exile. Israel was never a kingdom again.

Judah Changes her Policy

Ahaz taught his son Hezekiah to continue this policy of subjugation to the mighty Assyrian Empire, and it was a policy that Hezekiah maintained when he became King. However when Sargon II of Assyria died in 705 BCE, Hezekiah decided to use Assyria’s momentary weakness to lead a rebellion against the Empire and break-free completely from its grasp.

Aftermath

It was the wrong decision to make. Assyria’s new King Sennacherib proved to be as brutal as his father- and destroyed the Kingdom of Judah for her rebellion. It was the beginning of the end for Judah. She never really recovered. After all her cities were destroyed she lived on for a hundred years until in her weakened state she too was exiled like Israel before her.

Jerusalem’s Origins

We know that from the beginning when Abraham, Isaac and Jacob entered and dwelt in Canaan, Jerusalem did not feature on their religious map. It was other places such as Bethel that became important places where the presence of God was felt, be it in a dream with angels and a ladder, or in other ways (Genesis 18). Jerusalem instead was a small town fortunate to make its living off the trade routes that passed east and west, and north and south through the town. She was established and lived as a Canaanite city.

The bible mentions that for a brief time there was some healthy connection with this city and Abraham- through his meeting with Malchizedek the king of Salem (Jerusalem) (Genesis 14:18-20). Later however, in the period of Joshua and the Judges we see that Jerusalem was an inhospitable place, one that Israelites feared to lodge in at nights (Judges 19:10-12). This status of Jerusalem continued only until David attacked the stronghold and made it his own. The beginning of Jerusalem’s sanctification began with David.

Jerusalem As Capital

David a man of Judah ruled his growing kingdom from his tribal city of Hebron. In many regards this was a disadvantage to the king who increasingly wanted to unite the tribes that lay spread out between the Mediterranean and east across the Jordan river; the tribes of Israel. For this reason and others, he turned Jerusalem a city that did not belong to Judah, and had no historical connections with any of the tribes, into their new capital. So now when coming to visit the king one did not have to enter the heartland of Judah, but rather instead go up to Jerusalem a place that now represented all the tribes. David wanted everyone to know that his kingdom was not a kingdom for Judah, but one for Israel.

Jerusalem As a Holy Center

Making Jerusalem historically relevant to the people of Israel was relatively easy when he gave it the status of capital for his new kingdom- however making it religiously significant was a more difficult matter. To rectify this spiritual void that Jerusalem represented he decided to introduce to the city the symbol of the presence of God, the ark, that had almost been left forgotten at Kiriath-jearim (1 Sam 7:1-2). He organized a welcoming ceremony and procession to accept the ark into Jerusalem where he erected a tent to cover it and made plans to build a permanent structure to house the presence of Yahweh. It was this move that immediately put Jerusalem on the religious map for all the Israelites.

Even when the kingdom split in the time of David’s grandson we see that Jerusalem had become a site of great veneration. The northern kingdom thus decided to establish their own religious sites such as Bethel, to distance them from the power that the religious center of Jerusalem had over the hearts of all the Israelites.

However Jerusalem’s identity as the invincible stronghold of the Lord was truly forged many centuries later when she withstood and survived a terrible siege from the Assyrian king Sennacherib in 701 BCE (2 Kings 18). This event cannot be underestimated. Not only did it launch Jerusalem into the status of a safe haven, but she also became a symbol of God’s salvation and his protective presence in the city. The theological ramifications of this historical event and the people’s spiritual reaction and interpretation of it, only helped further to fix Jerusalem’s character as the religious center for the people of Israel, a process that David had began many centuries earlier.