Raeting Long Clay Bifor Sapotim Bible
BIHAEN God mekem pipol long Babel for tok long olketa difren languis, pipol hia iusim olketa difren wei for raetem olketa word. Pipol long Sumeria and Babylon wea stap long Mesopotamia olketa iusim cuneiform raeting. Datfala word “cuneiform” long Latin languis hem minim sheip bilong triangle. Olketa iusim wanfala stik wea long end bilong hem, hem garem sheip olsem triangle. Olketa pressim datwan go insaed clay wea wet for putim mark long hem, and hem nao hao olketa raetem samting.
Olketa savveman faendem long graon olketa cuneiform raeting olsem wea storyim pipol and olketa samting wea Bible tu storyim. Wanem nao iumi savve abaotem disfala wei for raet wea olketa duim long taem bifor kam? And hao nao olketa raeting hia showimaot iumi fit for trustim wanem Bible talem?
Oldfala Raeting Stap Yet
Long tingting bilong olketa savveman, hao olketa raetem samting long Mesopotamia bifor hem for putim wanfala mark or piksa for minim wanfala word or idea. Example long diswan nao, hem mark for datfala word “buluka.” Datfala mark hem luk olsem hed bilong wanfala buluka. From olketa mas keepim staka information abaotem enikaen samting, olketa mekem samfala niu wei moa for duim datfala cuneiform raeting. Datfala NIV Archaeological Study Bible hem sei: “Olketa mekem samfala mark for olketa syllable bilong olketa word. Taem olketa mark hia join tugeta bae man fit for luksavve nao long datfala word.” Gogo cuneiform raeting garem samting olsem 200 difren mark wea “mekem man savve raetem eni samting wea hem laek for raetem.”
Long taem bilong Abraham, long samting olsem 2,000 B.C.E., staka pipol savve long cuneiform raeting and olketa laek iusim. Long 2,000 year bihaen datwan, datfala cuneiform raeting hem stap long samting olsem 15 languis. Klosap evri cuneiform raeting wea olketa faendem hem stap long olketa pis clay. Long 150 year wea go pas, olketa faendem staka pis clay hia long Ur, Uruk, Babylon, Nimrud, Nippur, Ashur, Nineveh, Mari, Ebla, Ugarit, and Amarna. Datfala magasin Archaeology Odyssey hem sei: “Olketa savveman faendem finis samting olsem 2 million pis clay wea garem cuneiform raeting long hem, and evri year olketa faendem samting olsem nara 25,000 moa.”
Olketa savveman evriwea long world garem barava bigfala waka for trae savve long wanem nao olketa raeting hia talem. From olketa faendem staka pis clay olsem, “barava smol haf nomoa long olketa cuneiform raeting hia olketa savveman readim finis. And olketa readim olketa hia maet wanfala taem nomoa.”
Olketa savveman start for minim lelebet olketa raeting hia taem olketa luksavve long samfala story wea olketa raetem long tu or maet thrifala difren languis. Samting wea helpem olketa for minim diswan hem taem olketa lukim hao long samfala raeting, man raetem tufala taem nao olketa nem, title, laen bilong olketa wea rul, and olketa nara toktok for praisem man seleva.
Kam kasem olketa year bilong 1850, olketa savveman savve readim languis bilong pipol long Middle East wea hem nao Akkadian languis or Assyro-Babylonian languis wea stap long cuneiform raeting. Datfala Encyclopædia Britannica hem sei: “Taem olketa minim wei wea olketa raetem Akkadian languis, datwan helpem olketa for minim olketa nara languis long cuneiform raeting.” Wanem nao olketa cuneiform raeting hia showimaot abaotem Bible?
Raeting Sapotim Samting wea Bible Talem
Bible talem hao olketa king long Canaan rulim Jerusalem go kasem taem wea David tekovarem taon hia long samting olsem 1070 B.C.E. (Josh. 10:1; 2 Sam. 5:4-9) Samfala savveman daotem sapos datwan hem tru. Bat long 1887 wanfala woman faendem wanfala pis clay wea garem cuneiform raeting long hem. Hem faendem datwan long Amarna long Egypt. Bihaen olketa savveman transleitim 380 difren story wea stap long olketa raeting hia, olketa lukim hao hem olketa leta wea olketa ruler long Egypt (Amenhotep III and Akhenaton) sendem long olketa ruler long Canaan, and olketa leta wea olketa ruler long Canaan sendem long olketa long Egypt. Sixfala leta hia hem from ‘Abdi-Heba, wea hem ruler long Jerusalem.
Datfala magasin, Biblical Archaeology Review hem sei: ‘‘Olketa Amarna raeting hia sei Jerusalem hem wanfala taon, no property bilong wanfala man, and hem storyim tu hao ‘Abdi-Heba . . . hem bigman wea garem haos and hem tekem kam 50 soldia from Egypt for protectim Jerusalem. Datwan showimaot Jerusalem hem garem smol gavman.” Datfala sem magasin hem sei tu: “Samting wea olketa Amarna leta talem hem pruvim hao long datfala taem, Jerusalem hem wanfala taon wea big lelebet.”
Olketa Nem Long Olketa Raeting From Babylon and Assyria
Olketa long Assyria and bihaen, olketa long Babylon, savve raetem samting wea happen long history bilong olketa long olketa pis clay, and long samting wea raon, long olketa prism, and long olketa big samting olketa wakem for rememberim olketa wea dae finis. So taem olketa savveman transleitim olketa story hia long Akkadian languis, olketa lukim hao cuneiform raeting hia hem storyim tu nem bilong pipol wea Bible story abaotem.
Datfala buk The Bible in the British Museum hem sei: “Taem Dr Samuel Birch givim tok bilong hem long datfala niu Society of Biblical Archaeology long 1870, hem sei hem lukim nem bilong olketa Hebrew king [long olketa cuneiform raeting hia]. Olketa nem wea hem lukim nao hem, Omri, Ahab, Jehu, Azariah . . . , Menahem, Pekah, Hoshea, Hezekiah and Manasseh. Olketa king long Assyria hem Tiglath-Pileser . . . [III], Sargon, Sennacherib, Esarhaddon and Ashurbanipal, . . . witim olketa king long Syria, Benhadad, Hazael and Rezin.”
Datfala buk The Bible and Radiocarbon Dating markem samting wea Bible talem abaotem history bilong Israel and Judah witim samting wea olketa cuneiform raeting talem. Wanem nao diswan showimaot? “Olketa nara raeting long datfala taem wea no bilong olketa Jew talem nem bilong samting olsem 15 or 16 king bilong Judah and Israel and taem wea olketa stap, wea datwan hem barava semsem witim samting wea [olketa Bible buk bilong] Kings talem.”
Olketa faendem wanfala cuneiform raeting long 1879 wea nem bilong hem, Cyrus Cylinder. Hem talem hao bihaen Cyrus hem tekova long Babylon long 539 B.C.E., Cyrus duim nao samting wea hem talem for evriwan wea prisoner. Hem letem olketa for go bak long hom bilong olketa. Plande long olketa prisoner hia nao hem olketa Jew. (Ezra 1:1-4) Bifor olketa faendem datfala raeting, plande savveman long datfala taem daotem sapos Cyrus hem talem datwan. Bat olketa cuneiform raeting from taem wea Persia rulim olketa nara kantri, and tu, datfala Cyrus Cylinder, barava pruvim nao samting wea Bible talem abaotem datwan hem tru.
Long 1883, olketa faendem winim 700 cuneiform raeting long Nippur, wea hem klosap long Babylon. Olketa lukim 2,500 nem long olketa raeting hia, and 70 nem hia hem bilong olketa Jew. Savveman Edwin Yamauchi, hem sei: “Information long olketa raeting hia showimaot olketa Jew hia garem bisnis kontrak witim narawan, olketa witness long kot, kolektem tax, and garem bigfala position long gavman.” Staka samting pruvim olketa Jew gohed for duim olketa kaen samting olsem long ples klosap long Babylon long datfala taem. Diswan hem barava olsem samting wea Bible talem abaotem staka Jew wea gohed for stap long Assyria and Babylon bihaen datfala “smol sekson” bilong olketa Jew go bak long Judea taem olketa kamap free.—Isa. 10:21, 22.
Insaed datfala thousand year bifor Jesus hem born, pipol savve iusim cuneiform raeting witim kaen raeting wea followim alphabet tu. Bat gogo olketa long Assyria and Babylon finis for iusim cuneiform raeting and olketa iusim olowe nao raeting wea followim alphabet.
Staka thousand pis clay wea garem cuneiform raeting wea olketa no transleitim yet stap long olketa museum. Olketa raeting wea olketa minim and transleitim finis barava sapotim olketa samting wea stap insaed Bible. Luk olsem taem olketa transleitim olketa nara cuneiform raeting, olketa bae savve long staka samting moa wea pruvim Bible hem buk wea man savve trustim.
[Piksa Credit Line long page 21]
Photograph taken by courtesy of the British Museum