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Explorations and Discoveries in Nineveh

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Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Oct 14, 1875

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 46, No. 15.

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Explorations and Discoveries in Nineveh.

By Dudley Marvin Canright

“MR. GEORGE SMITH’S late work, giving a detailed account of his discoveries in Nineveh in 1872 and 1873, deserves a somewhat more extended notice than has yet appeared in the columns of the Interior. It may be known to your readers that Mr. Smith, becoming interested some years ago in Oriental Antiquities, applied to Sir H. Rawlinson for permission to examine the large collection of paper casts of Assyrian Monuments in the British Museum, and there found and deciphered a set of tablets containing the Chaldean account of the Noachic deluge. The interest which was awakened by the publication of this valuable relic of antiquity led the proprietors of the London Daily Telegraph to offer one thousand guineas for further researches in Nineveh, and Mr. Smith, selected to conduct the expedition, gives us the results in his recently published work. These results we summarize as follows:—
“1. The discovery of additional tablets containing many lines wanting to make the previously found account of the deluge complete. We now have nearly the whole of the Chaldean record of this important event.
“2. The discovery of tablets containing fragments of the history of Sargon, king of Assyria, detailing the expedition of this monarch against Ashdod, mentioned in Isa. 20:1.
“3. The discovery of an important syllabary which furnishes a key by the Assyrians themselves, by which the cuneiform characters may be deciphered, and the correctness of former readings tested.
“4. The discovery of sculptures and mounds, yielding inscriptions, stating that they came from the temples of Nebo and Merodach, two noted names frequently met with in Scripture history.
“5. The discovery of bricks inscribed to Tiglath-Pileser who conquered Israel about B. C. 745.
“6. The discovery of a terra-cotta inscription of Sennacherib, the well-known assailant of the chosen people, whose disastrous expedition into Palestine, B. C. 726, is mentioned in 2 Chron. 32.
“7. The discovery of tablets whose inscriptions make frequent reference to Erech, the city named in Gen. 10:10. In one of the tablets, named by Mr. Smith the “deluge series,” the conquest of this city is described.
“8. The discovery of a tablet whose inscription confirms the Mosaic account, that in the days of Abraham Babylonia was under the dominion of Elam, or Persia.
“9. The discovery of a tablet containing on one side a deed of land given by Merodach Baladin, king of Babylon, mentioned in 2 Kings 20:12, 13, and Isa. 39:1, 2; and on the reverse side emblems of gods whose aid is invoked to punish any violations of the rights and privileges granted by the deed.
“10. The discovery of tablets with inscriptions relating to Shalmaneser, the Assyrian king reigning 1,300 years B. C., and mentioned prominently in 2 Kings 17:18.
“11. The discovery of a tablet containing such a minute history of Assyrian conquests that Sennacherib’s statements to the children of Judah contain no idle boast. Compare 2 Chron. 32:9–17, with Smith, pp. 243–245.
“12. The discovery of a tablet of Tiglath-Pileser in which the name of ‘Azariah of Judah’ is frequently and specifically named, and his defeat by this Assyrian king distinctly recorded.
“13. The discovery of other tablets of the reign of Tiglath-Pileser, in which the names of Azariah and Jehoahaz, of Judah; Menahem, Pekah and Hoshea, of Israel; Rezon, of Damascus, and Hiram, of Tyre, are prominently mentioned, and many historical incidents with which these persons are connected in Scripture explained and confirmed. Tiglath-Pileser’s campaign into Syria to assist Ahaz, king of Judah, is also given. This is a very valuable tablet, fully confirming many statements in 1st and 2d Kings.
“14. The discovery of tablets which supplement and confirm M. Botta’s previous discoveries touching the expedition of Sargon against Ashdod; still further illustrating the statement in Isaiah 20:1.
“15. The discovery of several new inscriptions concerning Esar-Haddon, son and successor of Sennacherib, prominently mentioned in 2 Kings 19:37; Ezra 4:2, and Isa. 37–38.
“16. The discovery of an inscription upon the eye-ball of an image of Nebo, making mention of Nebuchadnezzar; also the discovery of three other cuneiform texts of the reign of this monarch on dated contract tablets.
“17. The discovery of one text of Evil-Merodach, the son of Nebuchadnezzar, the king who released Jehoiakim from prison. 2 Kings 25–27.
“18. The discovery of a tablet belonging to the reign of Nergal-Sharezer, who ascended the throne of Babylon on the death of Evil-Merodach. Compare Jer. 39:3, with Smith, p. 386.”
The above is from the Interior, Chicago. These late discoveries are of great value in establishing the truthfulness of the Bible records. An abundance of such evidence is constantly being brought to light. In this skeptical age God is willing to give his people the strongest evidence on which to rest their faith.
D. M. CANRIGHT.