I love reading about the archaeological discoveries, but responses by naysayers always come, with purported facts against. This always reminds me that ultimately, it is faith that is our guide, not “facts.” If you have faith in God and Bibilical accounts, then facts supporting the Bible ring true; if you have faith that God does not exist or that Biblical accounts are myth, then the “facts” against ring true. It always comes down to faith.

As part of a 1 day retreat I am spending the day at the British museum so will get to see this. Thanks for the post, will be helpful.

Amazing. How did King Hezekiah dig a tunnel that long through a rock without any modern sophisticated tools???

[...] # on 21 Jul 2010 Archaeology Comments (0)Related Posts Top Ten Biblical Discoveries in Archaeology – #10 Assyrian Lachish Reliefs [...]

So it is in reference to Egypt. I guess some still connect these stories given the parallels involved, but I agree you can’t say with any confidence they referene the same event.

[...] Pen and Parchment blog at Reclaiming The Mind has started an interesting 10-part series on archeology and the Bible. This is worth the time to review for those seeking archaeological support for the Bible. [...]

Hey Casey.

Unfortunately YHWH doesn’t get the credit for this one. The story is actually associated with the Assyrian invasion of Egypt:

“Next morning they commenced their fight, and great multitudes fell, as they had no arms with which to defend themselves. There stands to this day in the temple of Vulcan, a stone statue of Sethos, with a mouse in his hand, and an inscription to this effect – ‘Look on me, and learn to reverence the gods.’:

Scott F,

Yes, Greek historian (I think) Herodotus writes of an account of the siege of Jerusalem where something like a plague of rats devours the Assyrians’ bows andleather, devasting the army, or something like that. Very bizarre, but is comparable to the Bible’s record.

The more complete Assyrian version of events [emphasis added]:

” .. and Hezekiah himself I shut up in Jerusalem, his capital city, like a bird in a cage, building towers round the city to hem him in, and raising banks of earth against the gates, so as to prevent escape… Then upon Hezekiah there fell the fear of the power of my arms, and he sent out to me the chiefs and the elders of Jerusalem with 30 talents of gold and 800 talents of silver, and diverse treasures, a rich and immense booty… All these things were brought to me at Nineveh, the seat of my government.”

Thus saith the Holy Wiki!

Perhaps Hezekiah pulled a French maneuver and gave in to protect the capital. 2 Kings 18:14-16 indicates that the king paid a tribute of 300 talents of gold and silver. The Assyrian version of events stops there. So the invasion of Judah and siege of Lachish are well attested but we are left with a single source for a Jewish victory at Jerusalem.

So we do not have HD video that “completely supports the biblical account.” Just most of the Biblical account.

Do we have more evidence for the breaking of the siege other than 2 Kings vs the cuneiform prisms?