In May of 1893, while clearing collapsed debris from a room overlooking the ancient ruins of
The location had once been used as a business archive by the wealthy and influential Murashu family of
Although not commonly known about, the Murashu archive provides invaluable information for multiple areas of study, including the History of Ancient Finance and Commerce, Biblical Studies, Linguistics, Paleography, Onomastics, Archaeology, and more.
The bulk of the inscriptions, aside from a usual cylinder seal impression here and there, are in Cuneiform - similar to other Near Eastern Archives. Yet many of the tablets bear a second inscription or endorsement - a paleo-form of Aramaic - a Semitic and alphabetic language that would eventually replace Cuneiform as the Lingua Franca of the ancient world.
The Paleography of the texts reveals the development of the Cuneiform script – becoming more simplified and abbreviated over time (degeneration).[2] With the simplification of the Cuneiform, we simultaneously witness the development of Aramaic.
Names [containing] –yaw do not occur in Neo-Babylonian sources before the [Israelite] Exile, and their increasing frequency in the late sixth and fifth centuries can reasonably be associated with the gradual emancipation and increased prosperity of Judean exiles in Mesopotamia.[3]
A large number of these Jewish exiles were carried away by Nebuchadnezzar and settled in the region of
The prophet Ezekiel also mentions in multiple places “the community of the exiles by the
These references suggest that the growing number of Jewish exiles began to hold positions of prestige, and conducted business like everyone else. Some references seem to support that a few Jews may even have amassed great wealth which would support the Biblical claim to large contributions of silver, gold and precious goods towards the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem (see Ezra 1:5-6 and 2: 68-69).
Despite the distance of time and space, these clay tablets still speak of a story long forgotten. For within the Murashu archive is a wealth of knowledge. Despite their having been recovered now for over 100 years, much work is still to be done. Further study needs to be carried out on the texts, those that produced them, and their influence for us today. Indeed, William Goetzmann of
[1] H.V. Helprecht, The Babylonia Expedition of the
[2] Hilprecht, Ibid. 16.
[3] Michael David Coogan. West Semitic Personal Names in the Murashu Documents, (Missoula: Scholars Press, 1976), 119.
[4] William N. Goetzmann. Financing Civilization, (Taken from a chapter excerpt posted online – http://viking.som.yale.edu/will/finciv/chapter1.htm#wall%20street) 11.
Fantastic. Thank you for highlighting this information. The minimalists have been getting too much attention with a negative portrayal of historical evidence for Biblical history.
I will also keep the Murashu archive in mind as I get into Ezekiel studies.
Derek Leman
Derek,
Thanks for stopping by. Indeed, the minimalists have been getting quite a bit of attention lately. However, there is also much that can be supported archaeologically.
A professor of mine noted that the history of Israel is quite supported up to the divided monarachy. It is really there (around David and Solomon) that it starts to get a little more complicated. But, "complicated" does not = 'fiction.'
That is why I also appreciate many of the blogs you have been posting lately which also look deeper into many of these ideas.