Archaeology
Nebo-Sarsekim Tablet
- Era
- c. 595 BC
- Location
- Sippar, Babylon (modern Iraq)
- Discovered
- identified 2007
A 2.5-inch cuneiform tablet recording a temple offering by "Nabu-sharrussu-ukin, the chief eunuch" — the very Babylonian official named in Jeremiah 39:3 as present at the fall of Jerusalem.
The find
The tablet had sat in the British Museum since 1920 until Assyriologist Michael Jursa identified the name in 2007. It records a small gold offering at the Esagila temple in Babylon dated 595 BC. The name "Nabu-sharrussu-ukin" is the Babylonian original of the Hebrew "Nebo-Sarsekim" (Jeremiah 39:3), and the title "chief eunuch" matches exactly.
Why it matters
It's direct, datable confirmation of a minor official mentioned in passing in the book of Jeremiah — exactly the kind of specific detail no late forger would have thought to invent, let alone gotten right.
Cross-linked Scripture
Doctrine check
Sources
- ·Reade, J. & Finkel, I.L. (2007). British Museum acquisitions. Iraq 69
- ·Wiseman, D.J. (1991). Babylonia 605-539 BC. In Cambridge Ancient History III.2
- ·Nebo-Sarsekim Tablet (Wikipedia)
- ·British Museum: Nebo-Sarsekim cuneiform tablet