In this final lesson of the biblical archaeology survey, David Capoccia answers questions about Patterns of Evidence: Exodus, discusses the importance of seal impressions for confirming biblical persons archaeologically, and presents archaeological findings related to Nebuchadnezzar II, Belshazzar, and Cyrus the Great.
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we almost never hear about any of this information normally we never encounter information about biblical archeology so I’m glad that we could take the summer to investigate it together over the last two weeks we’ve listened to an argument asserting archaeological evidence for Israel’s Exodus through the film patterns of evidence Exodus according to the documentary despite what many of the leading archaeologists and Scholars today say the evidence for the evidence the evidence for the Exodus is actually quite remarkable if one is willing to question some of the assumptions most archaeologists make about the Exodus now you saw that film you heard that argument we don’t have time to recap all the specific evidence or arguments from the film but I do want to take a little bit of time now at the beginning of Sunday school of this Sunday school class to answer questions remaining questions you had from the film there are at least two questions I can think of just based on some of the conversations I have with you um for some of you two weeks ago and then I’ll open it up to any more questions one question you might have is why did the film include interviews with Shimon Perez and Benjamin Netanyahu as political leaders their opinions don’t seem very relevant for questions of archaeological or biblical interpretation why do you why do you bring them in well I’m not sure specifically but my suspicion is it’s in consideration of a Jewish audience you probably noticed that this film is not or the the film was not overtly Christian in fact when I looked at some of the advertising materials associated with the documentary I noticed that the film was marketed to both churches and synagogues so therefore while we might not see much point we ourselves might not see much Point including Israel’s top leaders political leaders in the film a Jewish audience might appreciate that much more so that’s my guess as to why they were included bigger question is another question I thought of does this film present the only possible answer to the conundrum of evidence for the Exodus people say there’s no evidence for the Exodus is this film The only answer to that objection while I do think rethinking Egyptian chronology is the best answer the best solution to The Exodus evidence problem it is not the only solution if you’re not ready to buy the argument presented in the film that Egyptian chronology needs to change it does not necessarily mean that you think archeology disproves The Exodus or disproves the Bible you may have noticed even in the documentary that certain archaeologists while they agree that evidence for the Exodus has been overlooked they nevertheless do not support a drastic alteration of Egyptian chronology they would say instead for example that only certain pieces of evidence need to be redated so they would say it’s not the timeline that’s the problem it’s the dating of the individual objects that’s the problem now I’m persuaded that the problem is more fundamental it’s more than just a few misstated artifacts but understand we should not misconstrue that those opposed to chronological revisionism that is those who don’t want to change the timeline they are not necessarily anti-bible or anti-inerrancy some of them are but if you don’t support a whole new chronology that doesn’t necessarily mean you think archeology disproves the Bible other questions though about what I just presented or about the film or information from the film uh that’s a good question Bill’s asking does the Usher chronology that’s the one James Usher he’s the the person whose chronology Answers in Genesis uses as part of its chronology does his chronology support an exodus in the Middle Kingdom I can’t remember I think so uh I know that there are a number of interpreters and commentators who will put the Exodus around 1450 which is more in line perhaps very well in line with the Middle Kingdom Exodus but the traditional archaeological date of 1250 I don’t believe I think James Usher is not close to that at all so yeah I think so but I I could be wrong I’d have to double check yeah Danielle very recently yeah one of the documentary came out 2014.
that’s a good question how was it received by I guess archaeologists you’re asking I’m not sure I know that the documentary won a number of awards I’m sure that just because you even see it in the film there are a number of archaeologists who very clearly State I don’t agree that we should change their chronology like I think I mentioned before we started looking at the video that some of the archaeologists featured in the film like um oh and now I forget his name Israel Finkelstein and um B Tech I forget his first name but they are some of the top archaeologists and they very clearly State no The Exodus could not have taken place in the Middle Kingdom it had to be uh a late Kingdom Affair so I imagine that when they saw the film they say well I agree with what I said before and I don’t think we should change their chronology but in terms of officially looking at responses I haven’t I haven’t looked at that other questions yeah really that’s a good question wasn’t on was it put on television or was it put on the History Channel not that I know of I know that when it first came out it was actually in theaters at least I think it was it was you know how the Hollywood movie The Exodus there there’s a one about the Exodus that I think it came out last year this one came out closely after that so it’s kind of like a lot of people are interested in The Exodus let’s let’s um let’s give a more realistic or let’s let’s do a film that’s actually about the reality of The Exodus rather than the theatrics of The Exodus but as far as I know it hasn’t been featured on television yet other questions yeah Greg okay two really good questions Greg so the first is is the Ramses reference the only reason that people date The Exodus to around 1250 BC I think it’s more than that though that is one of the main pieces you may remember in one of our beginning Sunday School classes I mentioned how monathos history affects a lot of Egyptian chronology or Egyptian chronology chronological understanding that doesn’t have to do with Ramses so much as it just has to do with how many dynasties there were in Egypt and so even though they don’t treat that document minato’s history of Egypt as totally accurate they do it did form a basis especially at the beginning for understanding the dynasties of Egypt which means you had to have a long period a longer period of history for Egypt then Answers in Genesis and other other Christian organizations would would assert so I think it’s more than just the Ramses references but that’s that’s a big part the other question is are there other instances in the Bible where a location is given a name that wasn’t the the name at the time it was actually a name from from later on I think so because even when you’re I haven’t I haven’t looked at this super specifically but even when we look at Abraham and the description of his sojourn and Canaan it talks about various places that he visited and it names them by their Israelite city names even though those cities weren’t there that was that was long before um Israel was certainly in that region and some of those cities those locations had not been established yet but they’re called by the names that Israel would recognize so again I think so I’d have to look at that again more specifically but some of the names given in the Old Testament were not necessarily the names of the people who who are actually interacting with them at that time they could be the names that that would be consistent with when Israel was going into the Promised Land or things similar to that yeah Noah well that’s a great question Noah what do those who hold their traditional date of The Exodus around 1250 what do they actually characterize the Exodus as was it just the the departure of a few slaves it’s a contradictory position where they say it had to take place in 1250 BC because of this reference in the Bible to the city of Ramses and yet there’s no evidence of a mass migration they’re looking for a mass migration because that’s what the Bible describes so it’s like it has took place at this time but it couldn’t have taken place at this time so I don’t understand I don’t understand the logic of that position but essentially they say it has to take place to this time but it didn’t take place at this time so they’re looking for a mass migration they’re not just looking they’re not just saying well the excess was just a lot smaller than we think no they think or when looking to describe the Exodus they are looking for a mass movement of the Israelites out they just think it didn’t happen or it happened oh yeah some archaeologists would not necessarily say it didn’t happen but it happened in a way different than the Bible describes I don’t think they mean just smaller but just not the way it’s described in the Bible other questions yeah Roy when Abraham was instructed by God well that was Jerusalem that that area okay so you mentioned that mount Moria or the the mountains of Moya where Abraham sacrificed Isaac it’s not called Jerusalem at that time even though that would be the same location now that account was given in um as given as part of the pentateuch so at that time we would expect that the location names would be consistent with what the Israelites knew when they went into the promised land we wouldn’t expect necessarily the New Testaments location names to be supplied in in that area now what was the land of Jerusalem considered at the time did they call Jerusalem do they call Salem do they call something else uh I don’t I’m not sure exactly I don’t think the name Jerusalem appears in the pentateuch but shortly thereafter in judges and in Joshua we hear the name Jerusalem because that’s specifically one of the cities that they attack so it’s not necessarily true that every name is replaced with the most up-to-date version in the pentateuch or in the Old Testament the up-to-date version of the writer but apparently some of them were that’s the idea yeah great that’s a that’s a good point that you raise Greg if if it’s true if we would expect that only somebody from Moses’s time or only only Moses could have supplied the name Ramses then could that possibly work because Ramsay seems to be after the time of Moses and so why would he have called it Ramses I don’t know if I have a good explanation for that it could be that this this idea of an anachronism is not necessarily true that’s what David rules suggests I think that there might be another explanation it could be I I don’t think it was simply someone other than Moses being like let me update that for you I my suspicion is that there’s some other explanation for it one thing that’s not pointed out in the film though I do think I saw somewhere else is that Ramses is a very significant name for Egyptian rulers not just Ramses the Great because Ramses what does it mean it means son of raw and every Pharaoh would claim that title and so to have a city named after Ramses could be any Pharaoh so it might simply be that we haven’t seen the connection yet between another pharaoh and this city called Ramses we just assume okay Ramses the Great he must have made this city called Ramses but that’s just a theory yeah another question so it’s kind of like that seems like it would have been inserted by someone else not Moses writing about himself saying that he was not this man that ever lived so Oakland Road over you know rantees or whatever the name of the city that would be that’s interesting you mentioned that we do have that comment about Moses that he was the homeless man that ever lived and that that we would think that that makes sense for somebody else to write that because who writes that about himself though I do think we we introduced some issues when we say Okay somebody else also wrote part of the books that Moses wrote and I think that has some that raises some questions of inerrancy and inspiration and things like that so probably safer for us to say Moses wrote that even that statement about his own humility by the Holy Spirit and he was able to say that now to us that seems really weird but the Holy Spirit was guiding him on what to write other questions all right well some if you have other questions about the film about the specific pieces of evidences come talk to me about that also after class but I really thought was some valuable information and some good things good things to expose ourselves to because there are a lot of things that do seem to line up with the Exodus if we’re willing to just um rethink some of the assumptions that we make anyways and the rest of today’s class we’re going to transition to something else now and the rest of today’s class we’re looking at archeology again from Israel’s Exile and return few weeks ago we looked at evidence related to snack a rib and Nebuchadnezzar they’re invasions of Judah this morning we’re going to continue to look at Nebuchadnezzar and then examine his successor belshazzar and then consider the line of rulers in the Region’s next great Empire the Persian Empire and we’re going to start and spend most of our time on Cyrus the Great before all that though there was something else that I wanted to talk to you about but couldn’t because I forgot the handout we’re going to talk about that first at the beginning and then we’ll come back to Babylon and Persia let’s pray father you are the king of History everything in your scriptures is true we see perhaps some some ways that we can explain the evidence or lack of evidence that we see O Lord but ultimately the secret things belong to you God there is an explanation for every potential problem with with the scriptures or with evidence we might not know it yet but there is an explanation and we praise you for that God we can trust your scriptures you’ve shown us reality through your scriptures I pray Lord that we would love it more and that we’d be encouraged by how archeology intersects with the Bible give me the ability to explain in Jesus name amen okay so pull out that handout if you if you picked it up just one page handout a chart let’s talk about that seal impressions in 1867 or since 1867 archaeologists have been investigating a certain section of Jerusalem that the Bible calls the city of David now you may remember that King David had captured this section of Jerusalem from the jebusites and then made it into his fortified Royal quarter we hear about this in second Samuel and Jerusalem was a city that was attacked multiple times we see that in the The Book of Joshua Judges and in second Samuel I think those three books but when David attacks it it’s to get the city of David second Samuel 5 6-7 says this now the king and his men went to Jerusalem against the jebusites the inhabitants of the land and they said to David you shall not come in here but the Blind and lame will turn you away thinking David cannot enter here nevertheless David captured the stronghold of Zion that is the city of David so the stronghold of Zion also known as the city of David David captured it he makes it into a special section well the city of David features a number of notable archaeological pieces of information one find I want to highlight is this the area’s vast collection of clay seal Impressions these clay SEALS or boulier would have been used like signatures on various documents the seals indicated that something belonged to what was written by a certain person documents associated with these seals fortunately have not survived probably due to the burning of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar so these seals are once associated with documents documents have perished but the seals have survived the clay has hardened probably preserved by the Flames of Jerusalem’s destruction and this collection of seals spans centuries or seals and seal Impressions it spans centuries and features the names of many biblical persons now look over the list for just a moment we’re not going to go through each of these specifically you can see the names on the left from the scriptures you can see in the middle the inscription that actually appears on the seal or on the seal impression and then you see the scripture where that person’s name is mentioned and we see all kinds of people on this on these seal Impressions kings and queens like Jezebel or jeroboam II Hezekiah we also see various officials sand ballot you see at the bottom of the chart he’s mentioned one of the seal Impressions he was one of the villains in the account of Nehemiah in the Old Testament and there’s even a seal for Baruch the son of naraya who was Baruch yeah Judy that’s right Jeremiah ascribed Jeremiah 36 4 says then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of naraya and Baruch wrote on a scroll at the dictation of Jeremiah all the words of the Lord which he had spoken to him and these two pictures I have here that’s the clay seal of Jezebel here on the left and that’s the seal impression of Baruch up on the top right an amazing collection confirming for us once again that the Bible is trustworthy in both the big and small details some of these are Big names and some of these are just casually mentioned in the bible but we see records of these very same people and in these seal Impressions outside of the Bible you can examine more specifically the names and the information on this list later but questions about the seal impressions yeah correct that’s the good question how how can you tell that that says Jezebel I looked at the explanation of it I don’t know if I totally remember it but Jezebel was a daughter I think of a Phoenician King she was not from Israel but this seal is Phoenician and it the the name Jezebel I believe breaks down into four different characters in Hebrew and those characters are spread throughout the spread around the seal I think one or two of the characters might be a little bit defaced because of that um that damage to the top of the seal but I think you can make out some of those letters and certainly make sense that this seal this Phoenician seal that features most of the name of Jezebel would belong to Jezebel and we’ve also seen the scriptures that she was frequently um involved with official documents in the name of her husband but yeah that’s the that’s the reason why they say that’s Jezebel other questions okay well back to Babylon back to Babylon and Persia again Nebuchadnezzar Nebuchadnezzar is one of the most famous rulers of the Bible but not just because of his conquest of Judah or his snazzy name you may remember that God makes a special example out of Nebuchadnezzar when Nebuchadnezzar makes a certain boast let’s open our Bibles to Daniel we’ll read this for ourselves Daniel chapter 4 Daniel chapter 4 verses 28 to 30.
very famous boast look at verse 28 Daniel 4 it says all this so some preceding context happens and Nebuchadnezzar the king 12 months later he was walking on the roof the Royal Palace of Babylon the king reflected and said is this not Babylon the great which I myself have built as a royal residence by the might of my power and for the glory of my Majesty pause there for a second very foolish boast not just because we know what happens next but because of the preceding context what had just happened earlier in Daniel chapter 4.
yeah Danielle right at the very beginning of the chapter we do see the humility that you’re talking about Danielle he’s acknowledging the most high God he’s acknowledging his wonders but that’s kind of like um it’s like a a sandwich Around The Narrative of what’s happening in this text because even though he says at the very beginning that’s kind of like the Preamble the actual events show that he is not thinking that way about God at first because remember something happens to Nebuchadnezzar before he makes this boast yeah Steve he has a dream has a dream and Daniel interprets it and Daniel’s interpretation of the dream is you’re going to become like a beast you’re going to lose all your power until you acknowledge that the Lord is is the exalted one and he gives power to whomever he wishes I’m telling you Nebuchadnezzar don’t be proud acknowledge the Lord now so these things don’t happen to you so he warned him Daniel said this is what’s going to happen I’m telling you don’t go against the Lord 12 months later we see Nebuchadnezzar either forgot that advice or had totally disregarded it and in Pride he boasts in his own glory and accomplishments how great was Nebuchadnezzar why would he have looked at the city of Babylon and boasted in his own Majesty well archeology can give us some more context to that question Nebuchadnezzar was not only a great conqueror but he was a great builder in fact that’s what he’s most known for he built magnificent eight structures massive City walls a large ziggurat various temples administrative buildings several palaces and the famous Hanging Gardens many of the structures were built using baked bricks stamped with Nebuchadnezzar’s name on them so we know he was the Builder archaeologists estimate Nebuchadnezzar caused 14 million baked bricks to be made and used in various building projects and we actually see Nebuchadnezzar boasting about the buildings he’s made in some clay cylinders that were found in the foundations of certain construction projects these are some Foundation records these these clay cylinders what’s the foundation record well according to the British museum it was common especially by Nebuchadnezzar’s time to bury inscribed cylinders in the foundations of grand buildings so that one later kings were renovating those structures they would find the cylinders and then read about their illustrious forebears or they’d get some some warning or some advice about the person who had actually made the building here’s an excerpt from such a cylinder one of the Nebuchadnezzar cylinders when Marduk the great Lord made me the rightful son to rule the land to be the shepherd of his people to care for the city to rebuild the temples he bestowed upon me great power tremblingly I was obedient to Marduk my Lord I completed m gorbell in the midibel the Great Walls of Babylon the mighty city the city of his exalted power at the extent at the entrance of the great Gates I erected strong Bulls of bronze and terrible serpents standing upright my father did that which no previous King had done with mortar and Bricks he built two moat walls about the city and I with motor and Bricks build a third Great Wall and joined it and United closely with the moat walls of my father I laid its foundation deep to the water level I raised its Summit Mountain High I constructed a moat wall of burn bricks about the West wall of Babylon this is just part of the cylinder but what main construction project is Nebuchadnezzar commemorating in this cylinder what is it the walls the expansion and the building of babylon’s walls the city now had not one not two but three sets of walls and three sets of moats next to these walls very impressive not just from a visual standpoint but from a tactical standpoint three sets of walls and three Moats and this third wall according to Nebuchadnezzar was apparently very large it Rose from the water level to some height Nebuchadnezzar compares to a mountain Summit the rest of the cylinder goes on to describe how Nebuchadnezzar also renovated and adorned with precious materials various temples and the King then asks the gods to see his devotion and therefore bless his Reign and bless him with long life another cylinder I’m not going to read you the the text of the cylinder just the description of the cylinder because it’s a little bit quicker this describes the Palaces that Nebuchadnezzar built for himself this comes from the British museum where that cylinder is currently on display this clay cylinder was found in the ruins of the city of Babylon the Canadian form text describes the three palaces which Nebuchadnezzar II built for himself in Babylon first palace was a rebuilding of the palace used by his father nabo plaster which Nebuchadnezzar says had become dilapidated when he had finished he decided that it was not Grand enough so he built himself a new Palace on the Northern edge of Babylon this Palace had a blue parapet and was surrounded by Massive fortification walls later Nebuchadnezzar erected new city of walls around the east side of Babylon and built himself a third Palace next to the river Euphrates this is known today as his Summer Palace as it had ventilation shafts of a type still used today for cooling houses in the near East all three palaces were built a baked brick and bitumen with roofs and doors constructed from fine imported Timbers Cedar Cypress and fur so he’s building all this stuff in Babylon and in the Empire of Babylon palaces temples renovating temples walls we have many records of Nebuchadnezzar’s great building projects but we also have one of the works that he made itself one of those Majestic works or we have more than one but the one I want to show you is the Ishtar gate builds around 600 to 575 BC it was one of the gates to the city of Babylon the Ishtar gate was uncovered during excavations in ancient Babylon from about 1899 to 1914.
now a reconstruction of the original Ishtar gate now stands in the pergamum museum in Germany which is that picture on the left you can see the people at the bottom rather small compared to this Brilliant Blue Stone Gate now some of the original bricks are actually part of that but the rest of it is reconstructed I actually got to see this myself it’s very very impressive originally the gates bricks were apparently covered with lapis lazuli which gave it that beautiful blue color lapis lazuli was a very coveted semi-precious Stone in ancient times especially in Mesopotamia and Babylon this gate on this gate where 60 lines of dedicatory text and they were preserved here’s a translation oh by the way that picture on the right is a reconstruction of how it may looked in ancient Babylon but this is how it the Reconstruction looks today here are the lines of a dedicatory text Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon the faithful Prince appointed by the will of Marduk the highest of princely princes beloved of Naboo a prudent Council who was learned to embrace wisdom who fathomed their Divine being and reveres their Majesty the untiring governor who always takes to Heart the care of the cult of izaglia and azita those are two temples and it’s constantly concerned with the well-being of Babylon and borsippa the wise The Humble their caretaker of izaglia azagala and azita the firstborn son of navaplaster the king of Babylon both gate entrances of Imgur alil and nemedia Lil following the filling of the street from Babylon had become increasingly lower therefore I pulled down these Gates and laid their Foundations at the water table with asphalt and bricks and have them made of bricks with blue stone on which wonderful bulls and Dragons Were depicted I covered their roofs by laying Majestic Cedars lengthwise over them I hung doors of Cedar adorned with bronze at all the gate openings I placed wild bulls and ferocious dragons in the gateways and thus Adorn them with luxurious Splendor so that people might Gaze on them and wonder I let the Temple of a sister sister awesome name the highest Festival House of Marduk the lord of the Gods a place of joy and celebration from the major and minor Gods be built firm like a mountain in the precinct of Babylon of asphalt and fired bricks Okay so one second why did Nebuchadnezzar say he built this gate why did he build it what happened to the previous Gates they had gotten too low it apparently sunken somehow or maybe they just didn’t look as big when the the area nearby got built up so we tore them down and built up some new gates that were higher and that people could Gaze on and wonder before describing the purpose of the gate however Nebuchadnezzar says some things about himself how does Nebuchadnezzar describe himself yeah Danielle wise yes he has fathomed the Divine being of the Gods but he’s also humble what else exactly so Nebuchadnezzar is humble too apparently what else does he say about himself it’s not just why it’s not just humble yeah he concludes his pedigree he says I’m the first point son of an ABBA Palazzo yeah faithful Governor he talks about how tirelessly he’s just working to care for the people and to care for the Empire and to care for the gods I mean he’s such a Pious guy just trying to make sure that the gods that he’s taking care of their temples he’s building their temples he’s an exalted wise diligent Pious caring and humble ruler according to this inscription now even without those direct descriptions Nebuchadnezzar was certainly making a statement about himself and the City of Babylon by building such a magnificent gate by the way the Ishtar gate was apparently considered one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World before being bumped off the list by the Lighthouse of Alexandria some two centuries later so it was a grand gate it was one that apparently many people in the ancient world were talking about this beautiful gate of Babylon so an example of the kind of majestic buildings that Nebuchadnezzar was responsible for he was truly one of the greatest Builders of ancient times his works for many they were Majestic and despite his and despite his claims of humility based on these Works he saw himself worthy of Glory but what does God say to Nebuchadnezzar back in Daniel 4 well we know you remember what God says but let’s read it again Daniel 4 31 while the word was in the king’s mouth a voice Came From Heaven saying King Nebuchadnezzar to you it is declared sovereignty has been removed from you and you’ll be driven away from Mankind and your Dwelling Place will be with the beasts of the field you’ll be given grass to eat like cattle and seven periods of time will pass over you until you recognize the most high is ruler over the realm of mankind and bestows it on whomever he wishes and this is just what took place Nebuchadnezzar lived as a beast for seven periods of time until God granted him reason again and Nebuchadnezzar confessed that all power and Majesty truly belongs to God and you see at the very end of the chapter Daniel 4 37 now I Nebuchadnezzar praise exalt and honor the king of Heaven for all his works are true and his way is just and he is able to Humble those who walk in Pride and so it is today the Lord lifts up and brings low if you are prosperous it is because of God the good things all good things we have come from him we are not deserving of or have we have not earned any of it questions about Nebuchadnezzar and his building projects all right Nebuchadnezzar reigned from approximately 605 BC to 562 BC and when he died there was some instability in the Empire Nebuchadnezzar’s son emel Marduk also known as evil meredak in the scriptures inherits the throne he’s the one that actually releases the Judean King jehoiah chin and gives jehoi chin a place at the king’s table but evil meredak was murdered after only two years on the throne dying in 560 BC neraglesar was next on the throne but he died after only four years and then his son labashi Marduk ascends the throne while just a boy and is murdered after nine months finally some stability comes again under nabinitis was appointed as the ruler after labashi marduk’s murder nabinitis range from approximately 556 BC to 539 BC when Babylonia was conquered by the Persians now first this line of succession poses a problem for us who believe the Bible because according to Daniel when Babylon is overthrown the ruler of Babylon is not named nabanitis but what belshazzar belshazzar where’s belshazzar if you just go over to chapter five in Daniel we’re already in chapter four so just look over the next page or so we see that the whole chapters episode takes place with belshazzar and Daniel that’s the whole writing on the wall episode Daniel foretells based on that writing that babylon’s destruction is coming Daniel 5 29-31 record verse 29 then belshazzar gave orders and they clothed Daniel with purple and put a necklace of gold around his neck and issued a proclamation concerning him that he now had Authority as the third ruler in the Kingdom that same night belshazzar the Chaldean King was slain so Darius the mede received the Kingdom at about the age of 62.
okay now why did the bible say that belshazzar ruled when Babylon fell when archaeologists say it was nabinitis or at least that’s what it seems to be at first now you know what the Skeptics response would be to this problem namely what Bible’s wrong see Bible’s inaccurate can’t be trusted but by now we should know better the Bible is always true if there appears to be a discrepancy between it and Archeology or whatever else either there’s some explanation we haven’t considered yet or the evidence is out there and simply hasn’t been found yet if you haven’t found anything about belshazzar there’s some explanation or it simply hasn’t been found yet well in 1854 J.G Taylor discovered four identical cylinders in the foundations of a ziggurat in or they’re in ER a prayer at the end of the cylinder’s inscriptions reads this way as for me nabanitis king of Babylon save me from sinning against your great godhead and Grant me as a present a lifelong of days and as for belshazzar the eldest son my Offspring and still reverence for your great godhead and his heart and may he not commit any cultic mistake may he be stated with a life of plenitude ah there’s belshazzar who is he according to this cylinder he’s the son of nabinitis he’s the son of navinitis moreover we read more about belshazzar in the nabanitis chronicle an abonite is Chronicle records all important historical happenings from about 556 to 539 BC this surviving tablet it’s probably from the fourth to first century BCS but it’s a copy of an older original probably written contemporaneously with the events that it describes one relevant section of this Chronicle this clay tablet says this when the third year was about to begin he that’s nabinitis entrusted the Army to his oldest son his firstborn the troops in the country he ordered under his command he let everything go and trusted the kingship to him and himself he started out for a long journey the military forces of akhad marching with him he turned to Tema deep in the west it started out the Expedition on a path leading to a distant region when he arrived there he killed in battle the prince of tema slaughtered the flocks of those who dwell in the city as well as in the countryside and he himself took residence in Tema the forces of akkad were also stationed there he made the town beautiful built there a palace like the palace in Babylon he also built walls for the fortification of the town and he surrounded the town with Sentinels so it’s not merely that belshazzar is an abinitis’s sun and air but what did nabinitis do to belshazzar yeah he made him a co-ruler he left him in charge when naminitis went on a trip ah that would all make sense due to nabinitis’s Expedition or Expeditions away from Babylon belshazzar becomes a co-regent and therefore can be rightly called rightly be called King in Daniel 5. we’re over this also explains why Daniel is given the third highest rank in the Kingdom because ranks one and two have already been helped navinitis is number one belshazzar is number two so Daniel can only be number three Bible’s details are again confirmed and now nearly all Scholars and archaeologists accept the historicity of belshazzar questions about these two guys navinitis and belshazzar yes Noah well we’re about to find out we’re gonna about to find out what happened to navinitis because it all has to do with the Persians laughs other questions Babylon enjoyed being the bully in the Middle East for a while but gone raised up another kingdom to replace it the Persian Empire under Cyrus II also known as Cyrus the Great the Persian Empire was the under Cyrus and under his successors was the largest world Empire seen up until that time this Cyrus Cyrus the Great is the one foretold in Isaiah 100 years before Cyrus was even born here’s what Isaiah 45 1-3 says thus says the Lord to Cyrus is Anointed whom I have taken by the right hand to subdue Nations before him and to loose the loins of Kings to open doors before him so that Gates will not be shut I will go before you and make the rough places smooth I will shatter the doors of bronze and cut through their iron bars I will give you the treasures of darkness and hidden wealth of secret places so that you may know that it is I the Lord the god of Israel who calls you by your name though the Babylon Babylonian Empire I’ll go back for just a second Babylonian Empire had been dominant in the Middle East for most of the 6th Century BC it was not the only Empire in existence in fact during its expansion Babylon was allied with the median Empire which existed further to the north and east so if Babylon was going to mostly exist in that middle section to the north and east and kind of surrounding it was the median Empire the median Empire however was overthrown in 550 BC by Cyrus by Cyrus the Great and he replaced it with the first Persian Empire syerson expanded this Empire West into turkey and eventually South into Babylon in a 539 BC Babylon is overthrown just as Daniel 5 says now you may remember that verse that we just read in Daniel 5 31 and there’s a problem because Daniel seems to indicate that the Conqueror of Babylon was Darius and not Cyrus look again at verse 5 or chapter 5 verse 31.
it says or we’ll start in verse 30. that same night belshazzar the Chaldean kingless Lane so Darius the mede received the Kingdom at about the age of 62.
why does the Bible say Darius received the kingdom and not Cyrus is this an error well this is puzzling I don’t know if I have the best explanation for this but there must be some explanation and the MacArthur Study Bible MacArthur says perhaps the name Darius is a title and not a name and verse 31 is really talking about Cyrus even though it says Darius whoever that does not seem like the best solution to me another explanation could be a little bit more plausible and that would be this that verse 31 does not immediately follow in time verse 30. that there’s a chronological gap between belshazzar’s destruction and the fall of Babylon and the next section that’s talking about the reign of Darius why would this be the case well if you’re if you’re familiar with the Book of Daniel you’ll notice that it’s not in a strict chronology one chapter will begin with a certain ruler and then a couple chapters later it goes back in time to another ruler or a vision that took place during that ruler’s Reign so it’s not necessarily true that the whole book has to follow a strict chronology second in Daniel 1 21 at the beginning of this book we hear this you don’t have to turn there but you can if you want after Daniel hananiah Michelle and Azariah are no that’s my summary that’s actually diverse verse 19 to 21 talks about Daniel hennana and Michelle and Azariah they entered the king’s personal service and says ask for every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king consulted them he found them 10 times better than all the magicians and conjurers who were in all his realm and Daniel continued until the first year of Cyrus the king what did Daniel continue based on verses 19 and 20.
yeah Danielle yeah his role in the government whatever uh counselor or service role he had he apparently continued it until the first reign of Cyrus then what happened it says until that time which would indicate that he did not continue in that role afterwards his role changed so we put this together at the end of Daniel 5 it may be that Daniel did not have a prominent role in government under Cyrus it was only under Cyrus’s later successor Darius that Daniel again Rises to a high position that’s another possible explanation anyways back to Cyrus Cyrus apparently was the Conqueror of Babylon and his historicity is attested in many ways the most important artifact though to bring up when it comes to Cyrus is the Cyrus cylinder this Acadian cuneiform clay cylinder dated to the 6th Century BC that was probably written very shortly after the conquest of Babylon in 539 BC cylinders written in the first person by King Cyrus this cylinder was discovered in 1879 by Hormuz Rossum in the ruins of ancient Babylon and currently resides like so many other artifacts of biblical archeology in the British museum here’s an excerpt from the cylinder lines 28-35 at marduk’s exalted command all Kings who sit on the Thrones from every quarter from the upper sea to the lower sea those who inhabit remote districts and the Kings the land of amuru who live in tents all of them brought their weighty tribute into shuwana that is Babylon and kissed my feet from shawana I sent back to their places to the city of Asher and Souza akan and the land of ashnuna the city of zambin the city of maternu dare as far as the board of the land of guti the sanctuaries across the river Tigris whose shrines that earlier become dilapidated the gods who lived therein and made permanent sanctuaries for them I collected together all of their peoples and returned them to their settlements and the gods of the land of Sumer and akkad which nabanitis to the fury of the lord of the gods have brought into shawana at the command of Marduk the great Lord I return them unharmed to their cells in their sanctuaries that make them happy may all the gods that I return to their sanctuaries every day before Bella Nabu asked for a long life for me and mention my good deeds okay on this cylinder Cyrus claims to have done a couple of good deeds what is it that Cyrus claims to have done that’s right so under nabinitis apparently all the gods have been collected in Babylon and he sent them back he sent all the gods and all their holy objects back to where they came from and built shrines for them if they’re and if their shrines have become dilapidated he repaired them what else did he do didn’t just send the gods back he also sent the people back yeah I collected all their peoples and returned them to their settlements I sent the people back too and they can worship their own gods and their own land this is just like what the scripture says right if you remember about Cyrus he’s very important to the people of Israel according to Ezra 1 1 to 4 we here are very similar account of what Cyrus did verse 1 and Ezra now in the first year of Cyrus King of Persia in order to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus King of Persia so that he sent a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing saying thus says Cyrus King of Persia the Lord the god of Heaven has given me all the caimism of the earth and has appointed pointed me to build him a house in Jerusalem which is in Judah whoever there is among you of all his people may his God be with him let him go up to Jerusalem which is in Judah and rebuild the house of the Lord the god of Israel he is the god who is in Jerusalem every Survivor at whatever place he may live let the men of that place support him with silver and gold with goods and cattle together with a free will offering for the house of God which is in Jerusalem a couple verses later Ezra 1 7-9 also says also King Cyrus brought out the articles of the house of the Lord which Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and put in the House of his gods and Cyrus King of Persia had them brought out by the hand and mithrath the treasurer and he counted them out to Bazaar the prince of Judah so put these two things together the cylinder and the statement these statements from Ezra it’s not simply that Cyrus had a soft spot for the Jewish people but according to the cylinder Cyrus made it a policy or likely made it a policy to allow all people to return to their lands to rebuild their temples to take their gods or whatever holy items they had and worship their own Gods in their own temples this was how God was going to use the Pagan King to bring specific holy promises to pass for Israel very significant even those who do not believe the Bible additionally or even for those who don’t believe the Bible many see the Cyrus cylinder as extremely significant because it essentially outlines freedom of religion and freedom to live where you wish they therefore see this document as the earliest Declaration of Human Rights no I would say the Bible is the earliest because in my mind when the Bible says that you have to treat people with dignity because they’re made in the image of God that’s essentially a Declaration of Human Rights now it’s worth pointing out that technically the Cyrus cylinder is a little bit Limited in what it proclaims because if we look again at the inscription which people groups are specifically identified as being able to return home with their gods people love Sumer and akad Mesopotamia who’s not mentioned in that group the Israelites so some say or no here’s the explanation certainly having just overthrown the Babylonian Empire the people of Mesopotamia Cyrus may have wanted to give them special treatment to win their support and that special treatment didn’t necessarily extend everyone so some say that this cylinder cannot be used to directly confirm the proclamations of Ezra and others in the Bible nevertheless the cylinder certainly makes more plausible the proclamations recorded in Ezra and other places they would be consistent with what’s proclaimed here on the Cyrus cylinder even though the Jews themselves are not specifically mentioned some have also maintained that the assertions made by the cylinder should not be taken too seriously it was apparently common practice for new rulers to make promises of reform in order to pacify newly conquered peoples it’s kind of like our presidential candidates right elect me I’m gonna do all this stuff as soon as they get elected like yeah I’ll still do all that stuff but a lot of it doesn’t end up happening so it might be true that this was true in year one but then the policy kind of fell off because it wasn’t important to make those promises anymore however in response to that there’s another aspect of the Cyber cylinder that’s very intriguing and that is that the cylinder in the British museum is not the only copy in fact fragments of the Cyrus cylinder have been found all over the Middle East and even as far away as China you see some pictures here this is very very strange but there’s a horse bone found in China that has part of the Cyrus cylinder inscribed on it that’s that’s the cuneiform there on the right didn’t really know what to make of this like why would someone do that and why is it in China the multitude of copies not just this one but many others fragments suggest that the Cyrus cylinder was not merely a record but something more what would a king issue and then take required to be taken to the edges of his Empire and even Beyond not just a record of what happened but yeah an edict a proclamation a policy an announcement for all the people to hear and to know so the the number of copies and fragments of this cylinder over many places makes more plausible the idea that this was a genuine governing policy from Cyrus it wasn’t just a promise he made in the first year but it was his policy to allow peoples to return to their homelands and worship their own Gods so Cyrus similar very very significant after conquering Babylon Cyrus doesn’t live too much longer he ran for nine more years and then died in battle in 530 BC his tomb is still visible today in the ruins of parsigiety in Iran running short on time so let me just go through this last part here spent most of our time on Cyrus but let’s just briefly outline the other rulers that the Bible mentions that come from Persia Cyrus’s son campuses II inherits the empire in 530 BC and expands it by conquering Egypt as that purple portion the bottom left that was not originally part of the Empire but campisis adds it he however dies under suspicious circumstances in 522 BC when attempting to put down a rebellion his successor was also very quickly thereafter killed by a group of Nobles and one of those Nobles included a man named Darius Darius the first also known as Darius the great then seized control the Persian Empire and he enjoyed a successful and prosperous rule ruling from 522 BC to 486 BC many Old Testament books mentioned Darius including Daniel hagai Zechariah Ezra and Nehemiah Darius by the way is the Persian king who made war with Greece and lost at the Battle of Marathon which is where we get the marathon run Darius died of poor health in 486 BC and his son Xerxes the first took the throne Xerxes the first also mentioned the Bible but by a different name likely called azurius he ruled from 46 to 465 BC those names are actually very similar when you go back to the old Persian for Xerxes is featured most in which Old Testament book Esther the Book of Esther though he’s also mentioned in Ezra azurus that is Xerxes the first is also notable historically for his disastrous campaign against Greece they’ve heard of the Battle of Thermopylae which 300 Spartans decimated thousands of invading Persians that were attacking through a narrow mountain pass who was the leader of that Persian assault Xerxes as a result of the failed campaign Persia lost its foothold in Macedonia and lost part of turkey and this is where Greece really starts to become strong as a power Xerox used the first was murdered in 465 BC and artist Xerxes the first his son inherits the throne artist Xerxes the first had a long rule ruling from 465 BC to 424 BC he’s mentioned the books of Ezra and Nehemiah and he’s the king who commissions Nehemiah to return and rebuild the walls of Jerusalem last books of the Old Testament including Nehemiah Malachi were likely written during the reign of artist Xerxes after the reign of artists she’s the first the Persian Empire would last about another hundred years before succumbing to the conquest of Alexander the Great in 330 BC that takes us to the end of the Old Testament into the inter-testamental period and therefore to the end of our course any final questions on Persia or biblical archeology as a whole okay well I hope you enjoyed and benefited from this summer series on biblical archeology if you’d like to learn more about biblical archeology especially New Testament archeology since we didn’t get to that I definitely recommend this book this is the handbook the popular Handbook of archeology in the Bible which I use for part of my material and I would also recommend the website for the associates for biblical research I’ve mentioned some of their material also throughout this course and that website is www.biblearcheology.org they have a number of Articles related to each period of archaeological information so both in the Old Testament and New Testament some great articles there next week we resume our answers Bible curriculum study quarter four so our classes will once again be split by age groups so make sure you go to your appropriate class if you will be in the adult class however and you would like a student guide please see me after class I have those for you if you would like a family devotional to use during the week after we go through each lesson please see me about that too because I have those let’s close in prayer Holy Father thank you for being our father thank you Lord that you are in control of History and it always unfolds just as you have ordained it Lord as we take part in what you’re doing now your will be done let let your perfect purposes come to pass and Lord we would like to see your name exalted and we praise you God because we know it will be exalted you will always be faithful to yourself just as you have been thank you for being our God Amen