Then all the officials of the king of Babylon came and sat in the middle gate: Nergal-sar-ezer of Samgar, Nebu-sar-sekim the Rab-saris, Nergal-sar-ezer the Rab-mag, with all the rest of the officers of the king of Babylon.
Jeremiah 39:3
"A clay tablet recently deciphered in the British Museum contains a receipt issued by a high official of Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon.
The receipt is for gold donated to a temple in Babylon. The full translation reads:
‘(Regarding) 1.5 minas (0.75 kg) of gold, the property of Nabu-sharrussu-ukin, the chief eunuch, which he sent via Arad-Banitu the eunuch to [the temple] Esangila: Arad-Banitu has delivered [it] to Esangila. In the presence of Bel-usat, son of Alpaya, the royal bodyguard, [and of] Nadin, son of Marduk-zer-ibni. Month XI, day 18, year 10 [of] Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon.’
Michael Jursa, a visiting professor from Vienna, made the discovery. The name on the tablet, Nabu-sharrussu-ukin, seemed familiar and he recalled that Jeremiah 39:3 mentions ‘Nebo-Sarsekim a chief officer’ of Nebuchadnezzar who came into Jerusalem when Jerusalem was besieged and conquered. The tablet is dated to the 10th year of Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon (595 BC) or 12 years before the siege of Jerusalem. Jeremiah dates the visit of this man to Jerusalem as in the 11th year of Zedekiah, 16 months after Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem.
Dr Irving Finkel, a British Museum expert, said, ‘This is a fantastic discovery, a world-class find. If Nebo-Sarsekim existed, which other lesser figures in the Old Testament existed? A throwaway detail in the Old Testament turns out to be accurate and true. I think that it means that the whole of the narrative [of Jeremiah] takes on a new kind of power.’"
CMI
