Archaeologists Discover 2,700-Year-Old Pottery Linked to Biblical Story in 2 Kings 18

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Archaeologists in Jerusalem have uncovered a 2,700-year-old pottery fragment that contains an inscription detailing correspondence between the kings of Assyria and Judah that apparently mirrors a biblical story involving King Hezekiah in 2 Kings 18. The fragment dates to around 700 B.C., during the First Temple period, and contains cuneiform script written in the Akkadian language—evidence of royal correspondence from the king of Assyria to the king of Judah. It was discovered near the Western Wall of the Temple Mount and is the only Assyrian inscription ever found in Jerusalem from that era, according to a news release from the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA).

Researchers believe the inscription dealt with a “delay in the payment of a tax or other obligation.”

“The text specifies a deadline—the first day of the month of Av—and explicitly mentions a ‘chariot officer’ (literally, ‘the one who holds the reins’ in Assyrian), a high-ranking figure responsible for transmitting official royal communications, known from Assyrian administrative archives,” IAA said. 

Such a message would mirror the events of 2 Kings 18, which describes Judean King Hezekiah’s rebellion against the Assyrian empire. In that passage, the Assyrian army destroys the northern kingdom of Israel and then invades the southern kingdom of Judah, capturing several fortified cities and demanding payment.

“So Hezekiah king of Judah sent this message to the king of Assyria at Lachish: ‘I have done wrong,’” 2 Kings 18:14 reads. “Withdraw from me, and I will pay whatever you demand of me.’ The king of Assyria exacted from Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.”

The Israel Antiquities Authority said the “characteristics of the inscription and its dating align” with the reign of Assyrian King Sennacherib or that of his successors, “possibly echoing the biblical account of Hezekiah’s tax rebellion” in 2 Kings.

“The artifact is probably a fragment of a bulla, an inscribed royal sealing that served as a short summary of the content [of the document] it sealed,” Peter Zilberg of Bar-Ilan University, who studied the fragment, told The Times of Israel. “Many of these inscribed sealings sealed official documents or letters addressed to very important people.”

It was, he said, a “period of turmoil” in Judah.

“We have the Hezekiah revolt right against [Assyrian King] Sennacherib. [Hezekiah] delayed paying taxes for a certain period, leading Sennacherib to march on Jerusalem.”

Photo credit: ©Israel Antiquities Authority

Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel. 

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