A historical event where we see a lot of correspondence between the Biblical Text and archaeology is with the Assyrian attack against the kingdom of Judea and Jerusalem. In Isaiah chapter 36 of the Hebrew Bible it is written:
2 Kings 18
“ In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s reign, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them. Then the king of Assyria sent his field commander with a large army from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem.”
From this we see that the King of Judah was Hezekiah and the Assyrian king was Sennacherib. Not only that but the Assyrian king had conquered Lachish and now he was headed to conquer Jerusalem.
What is rare about this story is that we have the extra biblical text from Sennacherib himself. In 1830 Colonel Robert Taylor while excavating at Nineveh found a prism with Akkadian writing on it. It was eventually deciphered. On it reads:
”As for the king of Judah, Hezekiah, who had not submitted to my authority, I besieged and captured forty-six of his fortified cities, along with many smaller towns, taken in battle with my battering rams. … I took as plunder 200,150 people, both small and great, male and female, along with a great number of animals including horses, mules, donkeys, camels, oxen, and sheep. As for Hezekiah, I shut him up like a caged bird in his royal city of Jerusalem. I then constructed a series of fortresses around him, and I did not allow anyone to come out of the city gates. His towns which I captured I gave to Mitinti , king of Ashdod; Padi, ruler of Ekron; and Silli-bel, king of Gaza.”
Sennacherib does not boast about capturing Jerusalem, only other towns of Judah. If he had captured Jerusalem, he certainly would have boasted about it being the capital of Judah. Why was Sannacherib not able to capture Jerusalem? Every town the Assyrians besieged they captured all except Jerusalem. According to Second Book of Kings chapter 14 and 15 it says:
“ In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s reign, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them. So Hezekiah, king of Judah sent this message to the king of Assyria at Lachish: “I have done wrong. Withdraw from me, and I will pay whatever you demand of me.” The king of Assyria exacted from Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. So Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the temple of the Lord and in the treasuries of the royal palace.
In the prism written during Sennacherib’s reign it says:
“As for Hezekiah, the terrifying splendor of my majesty overcame him, and the Urbi (Arabs) and his mercenary (?) troops which he had brought in to strengthen Jerusalem, his royal city, deserted him (lit. took leave). In addition to the 30 talents of gold and 800 talents of silver, (there were) gems, antimony, jewels (?), large sandu-stones, couches of ivory, house-chairs of ivory, elephant hide, ivory (lit. elephant’s “teeth”) ebony (?), boxwood (?), all kinds of valuable (heavy) treasures, as well as his daughters, his harem, his male and female musicians, (which) he had (them) bring after me to Nineveh, my royal city. To pay tribute and to accept (lit. do) servitude, he dispatched his messengers.”
Here we see the exact amount of gold as 30 talents of gold in both the Bible and the prism. The amount of silver is not the same but the fact both say Hezekiah gave silver is correct. From both the Hebrew Bible and the account from Sennacherib we see there is a lot of correspondence. the Bible correctly names the Hezekiah King of Judah and Sennacherib King of Assyria. The Bible correctly says towns in Judah were conquered but Jerusalem was not conquered.
All those who argue for the mythical character of the Bible do so from an argument of silence that we have not uncovered yet extra biblical texts corroborating the Bible. However when we do have such extra biblical texts, as we do here, then it shows that the Bible is not a mythical text. Besides being a religious text it is also a historical text. (Image of Tyler prism detailing Sennacherib’s Attack of Judah and Jerusalem)
