Friday, July 06, 2018

Jeremiah 39: getting the Babylonian names right

EPIGRAPHY AND ONOMASTICS: The Babylonian Officials Who Oversaw the Siege of Jerusalem (Prof. Shalom Holtz, TheTorah.com).
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.
Prof. Holtz's conclusions seem to agree with those of Dr. Lawrence Mykytiuk. Regular readers will remember Dr. Mykytiuk's list of 50 biblical persons mentioned in inscriptions, later updated to 53 persons. The updated list includes the second Nergal-sharezer who is noted here by Prof. Holtz.

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