Hidden treasures

The long summer holidays are here. A trip to the British Museum in London makes a very good day out for a Christian — with a friend or with the family.

Hidden amidst the veritable treasure trove contained within the British Museum are some of the world’s most important objects relating to the Old Testament narrative.

Here we consider just five, each with its own encouraging story, each with its challenge. They beckon new visitors to this shrine of ancient history, and demand that scholars look again at cherished theories.

Creation and Flood

Clay tablets recount parts of the Mesopotamian Creation and Flood stories (Gallery 55, Case 10, Objects WA K 3473 & WA K 3375; Gallery 56, Case 25, Object WA 78941; dated to c.1800, 7th C & 1635 BC respectively). While the Mesopotamian Creation accounts are distinct from the Genesis record, the Flood narratives have similar elements. The Creation stories tell of gods squabbling, and the body of one being split to form the heavens and the earth: quite a contrast to the sober record of Genesis. The Flood narratives, on the other hand, parallel the biblical account in several of their details. They speak of a hero who saves his family and animals by taking refuge in a boat.

Tour guides and scholars alike can be heard to claim that the biblical accounts are derived from the extra-biblical. In fact, the evidence suggests the reverse. How could the writer of Genesis devise an order of creation similar to that held by modern research without inside information? And which hero, with his family and a multitude of animals, would have survived best: the Mesopotamian Utnapishtim in his cubic boat (which would have rolled in just a swell); or the biblical Noah in a boat with its ratio of dimensions similar to those of a modern ocean-going liner?

Such details suggest that even the earliest parts of the Bible have been reliably transmitted. Furthermore, the Genesis text itself retains evidence that it was also originally written on a series of tablets, evidence that would have been lost if transmission was unreliable. The phrase ‘these are the generations of’ means more accurately ‘these are the family histories belonging to’. It is an example of a ‘colophon’ or catch-phrase used in ancient Mesopotamia to indicate the end of a tablet or series of tablets. Indeed, it is worth re-reading Genesis with this corrected translation: you will come to some remarkable conclusions!

Egyptian Judgement Papyrus

The Egyptian Judgement Papyrus from the Book of the Dead (Gallery 62, Case 24, No. 8, Object EA 9901/3; dated to c.1280 BC) transports us to the civilisation of Moses and Joseph, and speaks a different kind of message. Here we see a dead scribe, Hunefer, being led to the place of judgement by Anubis, the jackal-headed god of the dead. The scribe’s heart is weighed: will it be lighter than the feather of Maat, goddess of truth and justice, allowing him to enter the after life; or will it be heavier, causing his heart to be gobbled by the waiting monster Ammut? Ah, the spells have worked: Hunefer’s heart has not given him away. The balance swings in his favour, and the ibis-headed god Thoth records the happy verdict. The scribe proceeds onwards to be presented to Osiris lord of the underworld.

As one gazes upon such papyri, and mills amongst the sarcophagi, it is im-possible to miss the ancient Egyptians’ vain pursuit of spirituality. They realise that there is life after death, but try to preserve the earthly body; they know that they will be judged, but try to escape using spells; they grapple with the eternal, but do not receive truth, for in their world-view human energy re-places divine grace.

Why is it that humans from profoundly different cultures have such similar, yet distorted, views? Surely it is that God ‘has also set eternity in their heart, yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end’ (Ecclesiastes 3.11b). How we need his revelation!

Jericho Tomb

The Jericho tomb (Gallery 58, Case 4; used between the 24th and 15th century BC) leads us to consider the Conquest. It is a silent witness to peculiar events that preserved wood, meat, and even the occupants’ brains for well over 3,000 years. Perhaps a miraculously timed earthquake caused toxic gases from the geological fault beneath Jericho to sterilise these tombs, for the archaeologists found that the fortified city walls of this period had suddenly collapsed creating entry ramps up into the city mound. Whatever the case, Jericho was intentionally burnt in a massive conflagration subsequently. Even the grain stores were destroyed (it was spring so they were still fairly full); and this must have been a ritual burning, for otherwise no one would incinerate a valuable commodity like grain.

While these observations show a remarkable correlation with the book of Joshua (6.1-27), on most current chronologies (dating schemes), all this happened a couple of hundred years or more before Joshua arrived at Jericho. It was this discrepancy that led many scholars to reject the historicity of the early part of the Old Testament, for it seemed to them that the book of Joshua simply incorporated older stories. Perhaps the Conquest never took place, nor by implication the Exodus, thus making Moses nothing more than a mythical figure.

For the past couple of decades a dedicated group of scholars (the ‘New Chronologists’) have been reassessing Egyptian dating schemes which are used to form the backbone of Near Eastern chronology. They claim that once errors have been corrected, many biblically significant finds rise from the dusty pages of journals back into their rightful time frame: for example, they believe that they have identified the patriarch Joseph’s palace and his emptied tomb containing a large statue wearing a coat of many colours.

All this remains hotly debated; but the bricks of Jericho cry out to the church: now is the time for British evangelicals, whether lay or professional, to meet together and begin seriously engaging with these questions.

Black Obelisk

The Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III (Gallery 6; Object ANE 118885; dated to c.827 BC) comes from the Divided Monarchy period. It is an inscribed black limestone pillar set up to the glory of Assyrian King Shalmaneser III, and also mentions Ben-Hadad and Hazael of Damascus (2 Kings 8.7-15). Of particular interest is the depiction of the Israelite king Jehu kneeling before Shalmaneser, on the second row of images down, polished by the fingers of countless visitors. (There are very few contemporary representations of Hebrew kings because of Yahweh’s prohibition on graven images.) The inscription above begins, ‘Tribute of Jehu, son of Omri: I received silver, gold…’

Jehu, although imperfect, was one of the more godly kings. He was famous as a warrior, as a wild charioteer, and for eliminating Ahab’s evil house. His homage to Shalmaneser is not recorded in the Bible, but the obelisk suggests that he was perhaps buying protection from the Assyrians after killing the kings of both Israel and Judah (2 Kings 9). Although Jehu is described on the monument as a ‘son of Omri’, he was not in fact a direct descendant; rather the phrase means that he was an Israelite. Ancient language does not always make such distinctions clear, an important fact in other contexts.

This monument is one of many objects within the British Museum which directly attests to biblical figures. It speaks to those who readily dismiss the Scriptures on historical grounds; it shows the value of archaeology in helping us understand the context of biblical events; and it reminds us that Bible accounts are selective, not in the biased way common to the boastful records of ancient kings, but in a way relevant to the spiritual purpose of Scripture.

Cyrus Cylinder

The Cyrus Cylinder (Gallery 52, Case 6, No. 7, Object ANE 1880-6-17,1941/90920; dated to c.536 BC) brings us towards the end of the Old Testament period, recording the fall of Babylon to Cyrus King of Persia in 539 BC. On it Cyrus says, ‘I returned to the sacred cities on the other side of the Tigris …the images which once lived in them, and established for them permanent sanctuaries. I also gathered their former inhabitants and returned them.’ This exactly parallels Ezra’s record of events (Ezra 1.1-4).

Before the discovery of the Cylinder, scholars balked at the idea that a pagan king would return a captured people to their homeland. This find therefore reminds us that new archaeological discoveries often bring light to difficult biblical passages, and that it is important that the church invests resources in such work.

This review has focused on just a few of the many gems within the British Museum: perhaps it is time for you to visit! Stop by at the Metropolitan Tabernacle bookshop at the Elephant & Castle (020 7735 7076) and pick up a copy of Dr. Peter Masters’s Heritage of Evidence in the British Museum (The Wakeman Trust, 2004); or call in to the British Museum bookshop to obtain the Rev. Brian Edwards & Clive Anderson’s Through the British Museum — with the Bible (Day One, 2004). Both of these recent books make excellent guides (although they do not discuss Jericho and the related issues).

The biblical treasure within the British Museum is waiting for you to discover and claim it!

A visit to the British Museum

Creation and Flood

Egyptian Judgement Papyrus

Jericho Tomb

Black Obelisk

Cyrus Cylinder

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