Iraq is a treasure trove for Christian artifacts. Samarian cities once flourished in this area. So did their language. One might conclude Sumaria to be close to the original Noah civilization. One profound clay tablet found in this area of south-east Iraq is the Sumerian Kings list. The Cuneiform Tablet (The Epic of Gilgamesh) listing the pre-flood kings was discovered in the early 1900s by German American scholar Hermann Hilprecht. A bible student or researcher must keep in mind that the Noah Flood would have changed the face of earth due to water force and the runoff of the flood. 

Some church going people know what Isaiah 11: 6-9 is all about. It is End Time prophecy about the peace on earth after Jesus returns to earth to establish his King on earth. The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf, the lion, and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed alongside the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. (NIV). What a Bible student seldom know is the ancient prophecy of Isaiah is depicted on a serpentinite bowl from southern Mesopotamia c. 3300–2900 B.C.E. This is long before the time of Isaiah, yet it shows a graphic illustration of what Isaiah prophecies.  

Queen Esther: Little is talked about this Jewish queen of Ahasuerus (aka Xerxes), King of Persia. However, did the reader know her personal palace’s inner and outer court, including the palace garden has been excavated and identified as belonging to the queen? How do we know King Ahasuerus and his queen(s), Vishta then Esther, had their own palace? Read verse 1:9.  

Accad: One of the cities reported in Genesis 10 to have been built by Nimrod is Assad but also known as Sippar. This name means something like Book Town. It was a center for library holdings. 

Susa, a place in which Daniel hung out as a Babylonian Chieftain, is where Hammurabi’s Code of Justice tablet was found in 1902. Abraham lived during the time of Hammurabi.  

How does one pronounce a word beginning with the letter “J”? Did you know such a letter did not exist until the 1500s? This is why original Bible words beginning in “J” were pronounced with a “Y” sound.  

Babylonian records that predate Abraham have been unearthed. They record history that is remarkably like the Bible’s telling of the Great Flood. The same is true of other ancient cities in the same area. 

Abraham had an army of 300 solders that accompanied him on his travels. We read in Genesis that his nephew Lot was taken captive by forces mentioned in Genesis 14. They were not trying to capture Lot, but he lived amongst those they overran. Abraham used his army to retrieve Lot. Amazingly, Hammurabi (1700s B.C.), named Amraphel in the Book of Genesis, was defeated by Abraham’s forces. 

Sodom and Gomorra, as read in Genesis 18 and 19, were burned to a crisp by a cataclysmic event. Scripture says it was fire and brimstone by the hand of God. It is also where Lot and his family lived. Such a description of two ancient cities was unearthed in 1924. Where? At the southeast corner of the Dead Sea. Archeological evidence shows that both cities and population abruptly ended around 2,000 B.C. 

The above are interesting facts that support scripture. We have hundreds more examples, but not in this Blog. 

Rev. Dr. Jstark – 2024