DIGGING DEEP – 7 by Abidan Paul Shah
Digging Deep
Ancient Mesopotamia (2500-1100BC)
- Sumerian & Akkadian Eras:
- Nimrod is known as the first ruler (Babel, Erech, Akkad, Calneh) – Genesis 10:10.
- Sumerians in Southern Mesopotamia were the first literate civilization in the world. They wrote on cuneiform tablets.
- Gilgamesh of Uruk is the most well known Sumerian king. He went to interview Utnapishtim, a survivor of the Flood.
- Next, Akkadian (probably Northern Mesopotamia) rulers became dominant.
- Founder of the first Mesopotamian kingdom was Sargon (The King is Legitimate).
- He conquered as far as Anatolia (Turkey) and traded as far as modern day Bahrain, Southern Iran, and India.
- The multilevel temple known as ziggurats were built.
- Amorite Dynasties:
- Elamites sacked Ur and broke Sumerian control. (2000-1750BC)
- Famous king Hammurabi (1792-1750BC) of Babylon gave law codes to his people.
Ancient Egypt (2500-1100BC)
- Most of our information about the various Egyptian dynasties is coming from an Egyptian priest Manetho (3rd cent BC). Also from the Palermo Stone and Herodotus (5th cent BC).
- It is complicated because Egyptian kings had 5 different names: Horus name, Nebty name, Golden Horus name, Prenomen, and Nomen.
- In a 1992 article in the Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, famous Egyptologist William A Ward wrote an article on Egyptian chronology. Listen to the summary—“The current debate on Egyptian chronology is characterized by divergent opinions on the value of the Manethonian tradition, the lengths of reigns of individual Egyptian kings, the existence of coregencies, and the astronomical evidence. In each of these categories, there is little consensus and a wide range of possible solutions; a precise Egyptian chronology is therefore not possible.”
- Here’s a proposed chronology:
- Pre-Dynastic and Old Kingdom – (Genesis 10:6, Genesis 12, 13)
- Middle Kingdom – (Genesis 37:28, Exodus 1:8; 5:1)
- New Kingdom – (I Kings 11:15-20; 3:1; 10:1; etc…)
- Third Intermediate and Late Periods (II Kings 19:9, Jeremiah 44:30)
Hebrews (1150-850BC)
- United Monarchy (11-10 century BC) – Saul, David, Solomon
- Divided Kingdoms (from 931BC) into Northern (Israel) and Southern (Judah)
Assyrians (900-612BC)
- Shalmanesser III invaded Israel (Hosea 10:14-15)
- Tiglath-Pileser (745-727) first Assyrian king to rule over Babylonia.
- Ahaz of Judah appealed to him for help against the King of Damascus and King of Israel and he came (2 Kings 16:7-9)
- Shalmanesser V besieged Samaria for 3 years (II Kings 17:3-6)
- Sargon II (721-705) deported the 10 northern tribes according to Assyrian policy of deportation and relocation.
- Assyria fell to the Chaldeans of Southern Mesopotamia.
Neo-Babylonians (625-539BC)
- Nebuchadnezzar was the greatest and most well known king.
- Captured the Southern Kingdom of Judah. In 587 BC, Nebuchadnezzar, the King of Babylon came and destroyed Jerusalem and destroyed the temple and destroyed the walls and drove the people of Judah out of their homes. He forced them to march 700 miles across the hot desert to a land they had never seen.
- He later repented for his pride before God.
Medes and the Persians (850-331BC)
- Captured Babylon in 539BC and issued the edict to let the Jewish people return (Ezra 1:1-4).
- Esther queen of Xerxes (486-465BC)
- Nehemiah returned under Araxerxes I to rebuild the walls. (444-445BC)
Greeks (1500-165BC)
- Alexander the Great is prophesied of in Daniel 8:5-8.
- The spread of Greek culture.
Test Passages:
- Jonah 3:1-3 & Genesis 10:9-11
- I Samuel 8:1-9
- 2 Kings 20:12-18; Isaiah 39:1-8
- Daniel 2