Just recently I visited the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, the oldest public museum in the UK and carefully noted the exhibits relating to biblical archaeology. Admission is free. I was able to park at Seacourt Park and Ride and walked the 1.6 miles from there to the Ashmolean in just over twenty minutes. Conveniently, most of the items specifically relating to the Scriptures were predictably either in room 19 (Ancient Middle East), Room 23 (Ancient Egypt and Sudan) or on the Ground Floor or Lower Floor.
Room 19
Room 19 is on the Ground Floor and easily located upon entering the museum. On entering room 19, to the left of a visual display there is information about how artefacts were collected with a little but not much information regarding Leonard Woolley and T.E. Lawrence who excavated for the British Museum in Syria between 1911 and 1914. They purchased items from locals for the Ashmolean and from private collectors. There is also an information board regarding Gertrude Bell who was appointed Iraq’s Honorary Director of Antiquities and wrote the Kingdom’s first antiquities laws.
There is a mention of Kathleen Kenyon who was sponsored by Oxford University in the 1950’s and carried out excavations in Jericho but it would have been interesting and certainly useful if there were more detail about her methods employed in Jericho and the findings of those before and after her. Interestingly, this was similar compared with the Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. Kenyon is mentioned though there is little detail concerning later findings of the excavation of Jericho which is of important biblical significance.
An information board highlights some of the questionable means undertaken to obtain artefacts and considers the matters of ownership and repatriation. On the other hand, it is undoubtedly a good thing that these artefacts have been preserved. In the case of the Moabite Stone a few Arabs attempted to generate more money from the stone by smashing it into a few pieces with the aim of selling those parts for a greater profit. More positively and as recently as in 2023, there have been joint projects between Iraq and France, the United States and Italy to excavate and restore parts of various palaces and gates at Nineveh.[i]
Small Replica of Moabite Stone
In the same section there is also a small replica of the Moabite Stone. The information board includes the fact that there is an early mention of Israel but does not mention King Omri, King of Israel or appear to make the connection with the almost certain reference to the ‘House of David’. However here is some further information.https://messiahprophecyandhistory.co.uk/2022/07/15/the-moabite-stone/ .
The Sumerian King List
In the case behind one can view the Sumerian King List. Whilst the Sumerian King List does not reference biblical characters there is some degree of agreement between the two accounts. Firstly, the longevity of the kings is far longer than even the first patriarchs, who themselves had lifespans that greatly exceed our own. Secondly the king list is divided between those before a great flood and those after a great flood. When one considers the Gilgamesh Epic, although the details vary, the common denominators include a worldwide cataclysmic flood, building a ship, family and animals on the ship, birds sent out and an altar used in sacrifice.
The Assyrian Empire- Royal Seal Impression
Although the Royal Seal Impression does not reference a particular biblical character it does contribute to our understanding of Assyria and the book of Nahum. This clay seal impression from Nimrud depicts an Assyrian king stabbing a retreating lion with his sword. The Assyrian nobility was notorious for lion hunts which were cruelly stage managed. This is further demonstrated in the numerous murals illustrating the same in the British Museum. In Julian Reade’s British Museum publication ‘Assyrian Sculpture,’ a whole chapter is assigned to the hunts of Ashurbanipal.[ii]
The Assyrians were a violent and arrogant people and the rulers took perverse delight in slaying lions, in effect to lionise themselves. Nonetheless, in a way reminiscent to that of how the Lord afflicted the Egyptians with the ten plagues that mimicked their deities, i.e. sun worship was punished with darkness, the Nile River that was worshipped was then turned into blood, the lion like leaders of Assyria would be judged by the Lord in Nahum 2:11-13.
“Where is the dwelling of the lions,
And the feeding place of the young lions,
Where the lion walked, the lioness and lion’s cub,
And no one made them afraid?
The lion tore in pieces enough for his cubs,
Killed for his lionesses,
Filled his caves with prey,
And his dens with flesh.“Behold, I am against you,” says the Lord of hosts, “I will burn your chariots in smoke, and the sword shall devour your young lions; I will cut off your prey from the earth, and the voice of your messengers shall be heard no more.”
Royal Jar Handles
These royal jar handles date back to around 700BC which is significant because that was during the reign of King Hezekiah of Judah. King Hezekiah is listed as one of the 53 characters in the Tanakh (Old Testament) attested by archaeology in the Biblical Archaeological Review[iii]. Discoveries relating specifically to Hezekiah include Hezekiah’s royal seal, Hezekiah’s tunnel and Sennacherib’s prism. Since a large quantity of pottery items have been excavated from Judah, this illuminates our understanding of the administration.[iv]
The Hebrew inscription transliterated lmlk, is an abbreviated form of ‘lemech,’ means ‘belonging to the king.’[v] The stamps on the four handles refer to four cities, Sokoh, Ziph, Hebron and unknown Mmsht which provides some indication of the royal territory[vi]. The jars were most likely used to collect taxes in the form of oil and wine from royal vineyards.[vii]
Dead Sea Scroll Jar
I was not able to locate the Dead Sea Scroll jar at the Ashmolean (I may have just missed it through my own error). Nonetheless, it is definitely worth visiting the Israel Museum in Jerusalem where the Dead Sea Scrolls are kept, or see my article on the significance of the Dead Sea Scrolls https://messiahprophecyandhistory.co.uk/2020/04/17/the-discovery-origins-and-importance-of-the-dead-sea-scrolls/ .
The Jasper Seal-‘Belonging to Hannah’
This seal was discovered in Lachish, which was an important city in ancient Judah. Sennacherib successfully defeated Lachish, but not Jerusalem. The siege of Lachish is graphically depicted in a series of reliefs in the British Museum. The inscription of the seal, ‘belonging to Hannah’ is noticeable since it is the earliest reference to the name Hannah from outside the Scriptures and although many Hebrew seals have been found that belonged to men, few that belonged to women have been discovered. The winged sphinx shown on the Jasper Seal demonstrates the influence of Egyptian culture on the ancient Hebrews also involving trade.[viii]
Stone shekels
Shekels are referred to in Scripture frequently. The earliest mention is in Genesis 23:15-20 when Abraham insisted on paying Ephron the Hittite 400 shekels of silver so that he could bury Sarah in the field of Machpelah. An infamous reference is that of Joseph who was betrayed by his brothers and sold to the Ishmaelites for 20 shekels of silver (Genesis 37:28). Similarly, Joseph was a type of Jesus who was betrayed by Judas for 30 pieces of silver (Matthew 26:15).
A shekel is a monetary unit but also refers to a weight, hence the early use of stone shekels. It is somewhat remarkable that Israel has retained the shekel to this day and it is noteworthy that Ezekiel spoke of a time still future in the Messianic Kingdom when the shekel would be used (Ezekiel 45:12). When placed with other artefacts mentioned, these stone shekels show the accuracy and historical reliability of the biblical record. Since these stone shekels originate from around the time of the Babylonian conquest of Judah, this helps us to piece together significant findings relating to that era.
Passover Potsherd
This letter was written in Aramaic and it is one of the earliest known references to Pesach. Other than a couple of verses, Genesis 31:47 and Jeremiah 10:11, the two longer sections of the Tanakh that are written in Aramaic are in Ezra 4:8-6:18; 7:12-26 and Daniel 2:4-7:28. This is dated to 475BC and located in a then thriving Jewish community in Elephantine, Egypt. Clay potsherds were an economical means of sending brief communications when compared with papyrus.
It is noticeable that Ezra arrived in Jerusalem in 458BC and to note that the descendants of the captivity kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month (Ezra 6:19-20). The Passover commenced in Exodus 12 as the children of Israel were delivered from Pharoah in Egypt. There are 49 references to the Passover in the Tanakh (Old Testament) and there are also 27 occurrences of the same in the Brit Hadasha (New Testament). 1 Corinthians 5:7 speaks of Messiah, our Passover, sacrificed for us.
Babylon On the other side of the room there are artefacts relating to Babylon and Persia.
Brick of Nebuchadnezzar II & Cylinder
The brick of Nebuchadnezzar written in cuneiform boldly states, “Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, who provides for Esagila and Ezida, the oldest son of Nabopolassar, king of Babylon am I.” The cylinder positioned next to the brick records the buildings of temples in Babylon and Marad by king Nebuchadnezzar. Like Hezekiah and Sennacherib, they are also listed in the BAR’s biblical characters confirmed by archaeology and there are more exhibits and information concerning Nebuchadnezzar to be found in the British Museum. This boasting is consistent with the Scriptures before Nebuchadnezzar’s fall and other artefacts found in the British Museum. Later, Daniel 4:34-37 describes the transformation in his life and how after his humiliation he praised God.
Narrow Clay Cylinder
In the same glass case, the narrow cylinder can be viewed. The information board explains that it was discovered in Sippar, north of Babylon and it describes the restoration of the sun-god’s temple after a search for its remains by King Nabonidus. King Nabonidus is of importance to the Bible student and there is also a Nabonidus cylinder to be seen in the British Museum. Edwards and Anderson observe that until 1854, the only known reference to king Belshazzar was found in Daniel 5:1 and that it is now known that he was the son of King Nabonidus and co-regent in Babylon.[ix]This also importantly explains why Belshazzar made Daniel the third ruler in the kingdom (Daniel 5:29).
Room 23 King Tarharqa
King Tirhakah king of Ethiopia is mentioned in the parallel accounts in 2 Kings 19:9 and Isaiah 37:9 who had come out to make war with Sennacherib. In room 23 there is a sandstone fragment, an impressive shrine and a large ram of Amun accompanied by Tarharqa. There is a similar sculpture of the latter in room 4 in the British Museum. There is noticeably a lot of evidence concerning Tirhaka of Ethiopia, king Hezekiah of Babylon and king Sennacherib of Assyria which all feature in the respective strikingly similar accounts of 2 Kings 19:1-37 and Isaiah 37:1-38 again showing the accuracy of the information given in the Scriptures.
Room 25 Amarna Revolution
There is a piece on the Amarna Revolution noting that when Amenhotep IV became king of Egypt, he worshipped the sun as ‘Aten’ and subsequently changed his name to Akhenaten, meaning ‘the horizon of the sun disc’ to resemble that. He also moved the ancient capital from Thebes 200 miles to Amarna. Unlike his predecessors he refused to worship other gods which strongly broke with previous religious and political tradition.
There is also an Egyptian King List in room 4 in the British Museum and noticeably the cartouches of four pharaohs were erased. This was done deliberately since Amenhotep IV, Tutankhamun and the other two similarly broke precedent and were involved in the ‘Amarna Heresy’ and went from polytheism to worshipping the sun god Aten.[x] Edwards & Anderson note that for that reason we should not expect Egyptian records to include the Ten plagues or the loss of the charioteers crossing the Red Sea.[xi]
Room 6
In room 6 there are some useful information boards which explain how ancient languages were deciphered, in particular cuneiform from the Behistun Inscription. Henry Rawlinson took twelve years to complete the translation of Old Persian, Elamite and Babylonian scripts. This is the cuneiform equivalent of the Rosetta Stone. More currently there is an information board which explains how multispectral imaging shines different types of light onto an object to make the text clearer and comprehensible.
Room 7– Vespasian Gold Coin minted in Judea
If you descend to the lower floor there is a coin room in verse 7. There is a gold coin minted in Judea with the corresponding note, commemorating Vespasian’s suppression of the Jewish revolt. This was shortly after the temple was destroyed and a woman is depicted mourning under a palm tree. Sadly, the fall of the temple in Jerusalem was foretold in Luke 21:5-6, but there is still a sure and certain hope, because Messiah shall come and His feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives and all nations will keep the Feast of Tabernacles (Zechariah 14:4-21) and will worship the King. The more we examine biblical archaeology the more assured we are of the reliability of the Scriptures. The more we immerse ourselves in the Scriptures, the more we see our need of Messiah.
[i] Jason Urbanus The Assyrian Renaissance July/August 2024 Archaeology Magazine https://archaeology.org/issues/july-august-2024/features/the-assyrian-renaissance/
[ii] Julian Reade Assyrian Sculpture (The British Museum Press, 2016; London), Chapter 7, pp72-79, The hunts of Ashurbanipal
[iii] Lawrence Mykytiuk September 3rd, 2024 53 People in the Bible Confirmed Archaeologically Biblical Archaeological Review https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/people-cultures-in-the-bible/people-in-the-bible/50-people-in-the-bible-confirmed-archaeologically/
[iv] Rebecca Abrams The Jewish Journey 4000 years in 22 Objects from the Ashmolean Museum (Ashmolean Museum, 2017; Oxford), p41
[v] Ibid,p41
[vi] Ibid, p41
[vii] Ibid, p42
[viii] Ibid, p33
[ix] Brian Edwards & Clive Anderson Through the British Museum with the Bible (Day One, 2004; Leominster), p54
[x] Ibid, p79
[xi] Ibid, 79
