More on the Esarhaddon treaty tablet

CUNEIFORM DAY! A report (with tablet photo) on a public lecture on the recently discovered Esarhaddon vassal treaty tablet by the site's excavator:

Canadian archeologists discover Old Testament-era tablet

By Jennifer Green , The Ottawa Citizen April 8, 2010

Canadian archeologists in Turkey have unearthed an ancient treaty written in cuneiform that could have served as a model for the biblical description of God’s covenant with the Israelites.

The tablet, dating from about 670 BC, is a treaty between the powerful Assyrian king and his weaker vassal states, written in a highly formulaic language very similar in form and style to the story of Abraham’s covenant with God in the Hebrew Bible, says University of Toronto archeologist Timothy Harrison.

Although biblical scholarship differs, it is widely accepted that the Hebrew Bible was being assembled around the same time as this treaty, the seventh century BC.

“Those documents … seem to reflect very closely the formulaic structure of these treaty documents,” he told about 50 guests at the residence of the Turkish ambassador Rafet Akgunay.

[...]

Via Joseph Lauer.

Background and links here and here.