When Nineveh Silenced the Skeptics

The Assyrian capital of Nineveh was arguably the greatest city in the world during the 8th century BC, ruling over an empire that stretched from Persia to Sudan.

Nineveh occupies an important place in the Biblical record. God sent his prophet Jonah to Nineveh to call the city to repentance. The prophets Isaiah, Micah, Nahum and Zephaniah ministered during the empire's existence and some of the most important Messianic prophecies were recorded during this time period (Isaiah 7:14, Micah 5:2).  The Assyrians destroyed the northern tribes of Israel and most of Judah. In fact, Jerusalem appears to be the only major city in the Middle East that escaped Assyrian destruction due to God's miraculous intervention. (Isaiah 37:36)

What most people do not know is that up until the last century and a half there was very little evidence for Nineveh's existence outside of the Biblical record. In his Philosophy of History Voltaire wrote that the existence of a large city called Nineveh "does not seem credible," that the existence of a powerful empire like Assyria has "but very little the air of probability," and that "Nineveh was not built...or at least had very little importance during the time of Jonah."

During the 1840s French archaeologist Paul-Emile Botta uncovered the palace of Ashurbanipal II at the Assyrian capital of Nimrud. Meanwhile, English archaeologist Austen Henry Laynard uncovered Sennacherib's palace at the Assyrian capital of Nineveh. These archaeological finds in northern Iraq uncovered a treasure trove of artifacts that silenced the skeptics.

Here's a list of some of the more significant findings:

• Details on the destruction of Samaria and the exile of the northern tribes. (2 Kings 17:3-6, 24; 18:9-11)
• The first non-Biblical evidence of King Sargon II (Isaiah 20:1)
• Assyrian king Sennacherib mentions King Hezekiah and admits that rather than taking Jerusalem he left Hezekiah in his city like a "bird in a cage." (2 Kings 18:13-16)
• Large wall reliefs of the destruction of Lachish, Judah's second largest. The ruins of which have been found in Israel. (2 Kings 18:14, 17)
• King Ahab mentioned by name as a member of an anti-Assyrian coalition. 
• A relief depicting the submission of Israel's king, Jehu. 
• The assassination of Sennacherib by his own sons (2 Kings 19:37)
• Records that king Manasseh paid tribute and accompanied the Assyrians on a military campaign in Egypt.

(Image: King Jehu submitting to Shalmaneser III)

The discovery of Nineveh and the records of the Assyrian kings teach us that the Bible is historically reliable. Most skeptics I interact with know very little of Biblical and Assyrian history.  Even Christians are content to ignore the historical significance of the Bible. This historical apathy has a way of undercutting the Bible's claim to truth. Christians and skeptics need to know that the Bible has a historical context that can be investigated.  

If the Bible is historically reliable is it reliable in other ways? Is the Bible a reliable book on theology and prophecy? Nineveh's discovery not only supports Biblical history but also Biblical prophecy. The prophet Nahum predicted the fall of the great city. Consider Zephaniah's description of Nineveh's destruction: "He will stretch out his hand against the north and destroy Assyria, leaving Nineveh utterly desolate and dry as a desert. This is the city of revelry that live in safety. She said to herself, "I am the one! And there is none besides me." What a ruin she has become, a lair for wild beasts! All who pass by her scoff and shake their fists" (Zeph. 2:14, 16).

Had Voltaire heeded Zephaniah's prophecy he would not have been so quick to doubt Nineveh and Assyria's existence. Nineveh was discovered in the exact condition that Zephaniah had prophesied centuries before: "a dry, desolate place...a lair for wild beasts."

Did the discovery of Nineveh make men like Voltaire more open to the truth of Scripture? No, their approach to the Bible has always followed the pattern of "guilty and never to be proven innocent no matter what evidence turns up!" They will continue to cling to their foolish assumptions and inaccurate caricatures of the Bible no matter what archaeology turns up. Their position does not stem from an open mind but from a spiritually rebellious heart. The proper response to such skeptics is to shake the dust from one's feet and to relay the message that they will share the same fate as the defiant and arrogant city of Nineveh.