Nebuchadnezzar’s siege of Jerusalem. Jeremiah mourning below, Miscellaneous texts, Add MS 11695. Artist: Petrus of Santo Domingo de Silos, c. 10th century. British Library
The Babylonian Officials Who Oversaw the Siege of Jerusalem
Jeremiah 39 describes Nebuchadnezzar’s siege of Jerusalem, and even names some of the officials who were with him and their titles (v.3). Babylonian administrative records uncovered by archaeology revises our understanding of who they were.
Published July 2, 2018
For the texts and detailed introduction to them, see Jean-Jacques Glassner, Mesopotamian Chronicles (Society of Biblical Literature Writings from the Ancient World 19; Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2004), 37–114; 193–262.
For more on these events, see David Glatt-Gilad,“Jehoiachin’s Exile and the Division of Judah,” TheTorah.com(2017).
See The Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, volume M2, 171. Note that, as in most cases, our sources do not formally describe this position, so the interpretation of the role designated by this title is uncertain.
See Radaq on Jeremiah 39:3, who suggests that these same words at the beginning and end of the verse refer to different characters.
The word is Sin-magir, but the n of “Sin” (the name of the moon god) assimilates into the m of “magir.”
“The Court of Nebuchadnezzar,” in James B. Pritchard, ed.Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament(Princeton, 1969), 307–308.
See The Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, volume R, 289.
The re-discovery made headlines. See, for example, Nigel Reynolds, “Tiny Tablet Provides Proof for Old Testament,” The Daily Telegraph, July 13, 2007.
Scholarly treatment of this text can be found in Bob Becking, “The Identity of Nabu-sharussu-ukin, the Chamberlain: An Epigraphic Note on Jeremiah 39:3,” Biblische Notizen 140 (2009):35–46.
It is unlikely that the biblical narrator in the Book of Jeremiah is referring to this particular picture: even if a Judean under Nebuchadnezzar (Jeremiah, for argument’s sake) would have visited Assyria, he would not have seen this specific image, because Sennacherib and his palace were long gone by the time the narrated events occurred.
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