Chapter 5 -

People in the Old Testament 

 

 

 

SHISHAK

 

One of the people who appeared in the Old Testament was Shishak, the king of Egypt.

   Writings on the walls of the temple of Karnak in Egypt have been found that list the towns and villages that Shishak conquered. They also describe how Shishak’s troops stormed into Gilead. In addition to those references, a memorial stone bearing Shishak’s name was dug up in Megiddo.

 

- (1 King 14:25-26) And it came to pass in the fifth year of king Rehoboam, that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem:

26  And he took away the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king’s house; he even took away all: and he took away all the shields of gold which Solomon had made.

 

NEBUCHADNEZZAR

 

Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, is a person mentioned quite often in the Bible, especially in the Book of Daniel where he is described in detail. Among other things, he is reported to have said, “Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honor of my majesty?” (Dan 4:30)

   Several discoveries prove that King Nebuchadnezzar existed. The following text is similar to one recorded in the Book of Daniel. In it, the king boasts of Babel, a town he had built. The following text bearing his name was found inscribed on a flagstone:

 

I am Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, the son of the king of Babylon, Nabopolassar. I have paved the streets of Babylon with sadu stones for the parade of the great ruler Marduk. Marduk, my lord, please give me everlasting life.

 

A vase was found in Susa. On the vase is a text that refers to Nebuchadnezzar and Amel-Marduk (Evilmerodach, 2 King 25:27- 30), and to the king’s palace:

 

The palace of Amel-Marduk, King of Babylon, the son of Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon.

 

- (Dan 4:28-30) All this came on the king Nebuchadnezzar.

29  At the end of twelve months he walked in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon.

30  The king spoke, and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honor of my majesty?

 

- (Jer 27:6) And now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant; and the beasts of the field have I given him also to serve him.

 

- (2 King 24:1) In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant three years: then he turned and rebelled against him.

 

BELSHAZZAR

 

- (Dan 7:1) In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon Daniel had a dream and visions of his head on his bed: then he wrote the dream, and told the sum of the matters.

 

Just like people doubted the existence of Nebuchadnezzar, they also for a long time doubted whether another Babylonian king, Belshazzar, was a historical person. Many even thought that he was a fictitious person. They also thought that Belshazzar could not have been the last king of Babylon as recorded in the Bible, because in all well-known archives it was mentioned that Nabonidus was the last one.

   However, the discovery of a document in Babylon changed people’s minds. The text states that Belshazzar was the son of Nabonidus, the last king of Babylon, and that he ruled together with his father until the fall of Babylon. His father Nabonidus had been "on leave" and had gone to Arabia for 10 years.

   So Belshazzar was really a king in Babylon together with his father. His status as the second ruler of Babylon is also suggested in the following text taken from Daniel. This verse reveals that Daniel was promised the status of the third highest ruler – not the second highest – in the kingdom, if he could explain the writing that appeared on the wall. We can conclude that at that time there were two rulers in Babylon, and Belshazzar was one of them:

 

- (Dan 5:16) And I have heard of you, that you can make interpretations, and dissolve doubts: now if you can read the writing, and make known to me the interpretation thereof, you shall be clothed with scarlet, and have a chain of gold about your neck, and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.

 

R.P Dougherty, a professor of Yale University, compared the Book of Daniel to other ancient writings and commented on this issue:

 

The account of the Bible can be regarded better, because it mentions Belshazzar’s name and it expresses that Belshazzar had the powers of a king, and also because the Bible knows that there were two rulers in the kingdom. (15)

 

CYRUS

 

Cyrus was the "king who set people free," as described in the Bible.

   His impact on history is recorded on the cylinder of Cyrus. He describes the conquest of Babylon and the return of prisoners to their home countries.

   Aside from this cylinder, other accounts were recorded by Greek historians.

 

- (2 Chron 36:22) Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD spoken by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying,

 

JOB

                                                          

Job was one of the most severely tested people described in the Bible. Besides the book named after him, Job was mentioned in the Book of Ezekiel together with Noah and Daniel:

 

- (Job 1:1) There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.

 

- (Eze 14:13-14, 20) Son of man, when the land sins against me by trespassing grievously, then will I stretch out my hand on it, and will break the staff of the bread thereof, and will send famine on it, and will cut off man and beast from it:

14  Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, said the Lord GOD.

20  Though Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, as I live, said the Lord GOD, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter; they shall but deliver their own souls by their righteousness.

 

- (Jam 5:11) Behold, we count them happy which endure. You have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy. 

 

DAVID

 

King David is certainly one of the most important people in the Old Testament. He is mentioned in several books.

   In addition, we can find proof of David’s existence because in 1993 in Tel Dan, North Israel, his name was found inscribed on a piece of a flat rock. It refers to his family of rulers:

 

"The room of David"

 

- (Ruth 4:22) And Obed begat Jesse, and Jesse begat David.

 

- (Ps 18:50) Great deliverance gives he to his king; and shows mercy to his anointed, to David, and to his seed for ever more.

 

- (Isa 29:1) Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelled! add you year to year; let them kill sacrifices.

 

- (Jer 22:2) And say, Hear the word of the LORD, O king of Judah, that sit on the throne of David, you, and your servants, and your people that enter in by these gates:

 

- (Amos 6:5) That chant to the sound of the viol, and invent to themselves instruments of music, like David

 

- (Matt 15:22) And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried to him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, you son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.

 

- (Acts 2:29) Men and brothers, let me freely speak to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulcher is with us to this day.

 

- (Rev 22:16) I Jesus have sent my angel to testify to you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.

 

THE PROPHET NATHAN

 

The prophet Nathan lived at the same time as King David, and he could be called the "court prophet" of the king, because the Lord often sent him to David. He is also mentioned in several books of the Bible:

 

- (2 Sam 12:1) And the LORD sent Nathan to David. And he came to him, and said to him, There were two men in one city; the one rich, and the other poor.

 

- (2 Chron 9:29) Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, first and last, are they not written in the book of Nathan the prophet, and in the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and in the visions of Iddo the seer against Jeroboam the son of Nebat?

 

BENHADAD

 

Benhadad, king of Syria, was one of the many kings of foreign countries. 

   As far as his historicity is concerned, a flat rock that was found in Northern Syria in 1940 has his name inscribed on it, proving his existence. In addition, the black obelisk of Shalmaneser lll, king of Assyria, has writings about him and Ahab, king of Israel (1 King 16:28-30):

 

I crossed Euphrates; in Karkar I destroyed 1,200 chariots, 1,200 horsemen and 20,000 men from Ben-Hadad, and 2,000 chariots and 10,000 men from the Israelite Ahab.

 

- (1 King 20:1) And Benhadad the king of Syria gathered all his host together: and there were thirty and two kings with him, and horses, and chariots; and he went up and besieged Samaria, and warred against it.

 

SARGON

 

The Bible mentions several Assyrian kings: Shalmaneser, Tiglatpileser or Pul, Sennacherib and Sargon. References to all of them have been found in other sources.

   The next inscription of Sargon, the king whose existence was doubted for a long time, was found in his palace in Khorsabad:

 

I laid siege to Samaria and I conquered it. I took 27,290 of its residents. (…) I gave them to others (other countries). I put my officials to rule them and to pay the tax of the former king.

 

- (Isa 20:1-2) In the year that Tartan came to Ashdod, (when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him,) and fought against Ashdod, and took it;

2  At the same time spoke the LORD by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, Go and loose the sackcloth from off your loins, and put off your shoe from your foot. And he did so, walking naked and barefoot.

 

SENNACHERIB

 

Sennacherib was one of the kings of Assyria and he tried to conquer other countries. A text has been preserved which speaks of the siege of Jerusalem. Hezekiah, King of Judah, is also mentioned there:

 

I confined Hezekiah in Jerusalem, his royal city, like a cage bird.

 

- (2 Chron 32:1) After these things, and the establishment thereof, Sennacherib king of Assyria came, and entered into Judah, and encamped against the fenced cities, and thought to win them for himself.

 

- (Isa 36:1-2) Now it came to pass in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, that Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the defended cities of Judah, and took them.

2  And the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem to king Hezekiah with a great army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller’s field.

 

OMRI

 

Even though Omri, King of Israel, is not mentioned often in the Bible, his name can be found in other sources. He and his son Ahab are mentioned in the famous stone of Moab, which was found in the 1800s. In addition, since the times of Omri, Israel was known by the name of Bit-Humri, or Omri’s room, which probably refers to the appreciation of Omri in other foreign kingdoms.

 

I am Mesha, the son of Chemosh (…) the king of Moab, Dibonite. (…) The king of Israel, Omri (…) oppressed Moab for a long time, because Chemosh had gotten angry with his country. And his son became the king instead of him and said, “I will oppress Moab (…)”

 

- (1 King 16:22,23) But the people that followed Omri prevailed against the people that followed Tibni the son of Ginath: so Tibni died, and Omri reigned.

23  In the thirty and first year of Asa king of Judah began Omri to reign over Israel, twelve years: six years reigned he in Tirzah.

 

- (Micah 6:16) For the statutes of Omri are kept, and all the works of the house of Ahab, and you walk in their counsels; that I should make you a desolation, and the inhabitants thereof an hissing: therefore you shall bear the reproach of my people.

 

JEHU

 

One of the many kings of Israel was Jehu. His name appears at least on the black obelisk of Shalmaneser lll that is preserved in the British Museum. Omri’s name is also mentioned on the same obelisk:

 

This is the tax of Jehu, who is the son of Omri. I got from him silver, gold, a gold bowl, a gold tankard, iron goblets, golden goblets, lead bars for the king's bed, and spears.

 

- (2 King 10:36) And the time that Jehu reigned over Israel in Samaria was twenty and eight years.

 

JEROBOAM ll

 

The Old Testament mentions two kings called Jeroboam, the latter being Jeroboam ll. A seal was found in Megiddo bearing his name:

 

Shema, the servant of Jeroboam.

 

- (2 King 14:23) In the fifteenth year of Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel began to reign in Samaria, and reigned forty and one years.

 

MANASSEH

 

One of the worst kings of Judah was certainly Manasseh, until he repented during the latter part of his life. Of the kings of Assyria, both Esarhaddon (681 –669) and Assurbanipal (669–626) mentioned him in their documents.

 

- (2 King 21:9) But they listened not: and Manasseh seduced them to do more evil than did the nations whom the LORD destroyed before the children of Israel.

 

- (Jer 15:4) And I will cause them to be removed into all kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh the son of Hezekiah king of Judah, for that which he did in Jerusalem.

 

PEKAH

 

Assyrian sources mentioned some of the kings of Judah and Israel, adding up to at least ten; one of them was Pekah. The following text is written about him and Hosea, Tiglath-Pileser:

 

Their king Pekah they had overthrown. I placed Hosea as their leader. From him I received ten talents of gold and a thousand talents of silver.

 

- (2 King 15:29-30)  In the days of Pekah king of Israel came Tiglathpileser king of Assyria, and took Ijon, and Abelbethmaachah, and Janoah, and Kedesh, and Hazor, and Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali, and carried them captive to Assyria.

30  And Hoshea the son of Elah made a conspiracy against Pekah the son of Remaliah, and smote him, and slew him, and reigned in his stead, in the twentieth year of Jotham the son of Uzziah.

 

JEHOIACHIN

 

One of the last kings of Judah was Jehoiachin, who had to surrender to the king of Babylon. It can be mentioned that in Babylon, near the gate of Ishtar, 300 cuneiform tablets were found where the name of Jehoiachin appears along with other imprisoned princes.

   Handles of ceramic pots have been found in Tell Beit Mirsim and Beet-Semes bearing the name of Jehoiachin. The inscription says:

 

This belongs to Eliakim, the housekeeper of Jehoiachin.

 

- (2 King 24:12) And Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he, and his mother, and his servants, and his princes, and his officers: and the king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign.

 

- (Jer 52:31) And it came to pass in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, in the five and twentieth day of the month, that Evilmerodach king of Babylon in the first year of his reign lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah, and brought him forth out of prison.

 

- (Eze 1:2-3) In the fifth day of the month, which was the fifth year of king Jehoiachin’s captivity,

3  The word of the LORD came expressly to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and the hand of the LORD was there on him.

 

DANIEL

 

One of the wisest people mentioned in the Bible is the prophet Daniel. He was a contemporary of the prophet Ezekiel, and the Book of Ezekiel speaks of his wisdom:

 

- (Dan 1:17) As for these four children, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom: and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.

 

- (Eze 28:3) Behold, you are wiser than Daniel; there is no secret that they can hide from you

 

SANBALLAT, TOBIAH, AND JOHANAN

 

Sanballat, Tobiah and high priest Johanan were men who lived during the times of Nehemiah. Sanballat and Johanan are mentioned at least in the famous papyrus findings from the Island of Elefantine. In addition, Tobiah’s family grave was found in Jordan, in Araq El Emir near Amman. The first two were strongly against building the wall:

 

- (Neh 2:19) But when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, heard it, they laughed us to scorn, and despised us, and said, What is this thing that you do? will you rebel against the king?

 

- (Neh 12:23) The sons of Levi, the chief of the fathers, were written in the book of the chronicles, even until the days of Johanan the son of Eliashib.

 

ISAIAH

 

One of the major prophets in the Old Testament is Isaiah. We see his name recorded in many other books of the Bible:

 

- (2 King 19:1-2) And it came to pass, when king Hezekiah heard it, that he rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the LORD.

2  And he sent Eliakim, which was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz.

 

- (2 Chron 26:22) Now the rest of the acts of Uzziah, first and last, did Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, write.

 

- (Isa 1:1) The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.