Bible Archeology Discoveries

Lachish Relief
Discovered: Nineveh, Assyria (Mosul, Iraq - 1845)
From: (c. 720 BC)
Current Home: British Museum

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Lachish was a city in the kingdom of Judah with a very long history. First settled by cavemen , Lachish developed into a prosperous walled city ruled by Canaanite tribesmen and later by Egypt. It was conquered by the Israelites, but fell into ruin until the reign of King David, when building began once again in the town. As the largest Judean city close to the hostile Philistine tribe, Lachish was crucial for the Jewish kingdom’s defense.

Lachish was fortified with a double line of massive mud-brick walls on stone foundations. The city gate is one of the largest and most strongly fortified gates known of this period.

In the year 701 BCE, King Sennacherib sent his armies to Judah to subdue the rebellious Jews living there. Judah’s King Hezekiah amassed his own troops, but they were swiftly overwhelmed. “In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked all the fortified cities of Judah, and captured them” (Kings II 18:13). City after city fell to Sennacherib: Sidon, Ammon, Ashkelon, Ekron, and Lachish. Sennacherib’s own records of the carnage, carved in stone, survived and are today housed in the British Museum in London.

“Because Hezekiah, King of Judah, would not submit to my yoke, I came up against him, and by force of arms and by the might of my power I took 46 of his strong-fenced cities; and of the smaller towns which were scattered about, I took and plundered a countless number. From these places I took and carried off 200,156 persons, old and young, male and female, together with horses and mules, asses and camels, oxen and sheep, a countless multitude.”
Sennacherib himself made Lachish his base during this conquest. The Bible describes King Hezekiah contacting him there: “Hezekiah king of Judah sent (word) to the king of Assyria, to Lachish….” (Kings II 18:14). Sennacherib demanded a huge tribute from King Hezekiah, and soon negotiations broke down. Sennacherib amassed an enormous army to lay siege to Jerusalem, the capital of Judah.

"And Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria to Lachish, saying, I have offended; return from me: that which thou puttest on me will I bear. And the king of Assyria appointed unto Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold."
2 Kings 18:14

"And the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem unto king Hezekiah with a great army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller's field."
Isaiah 36:2

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Notable Finds

Much of what is described in Bible text is lost to history, requiring readers to assume the historicity of the scriptures.

However, many of the places and events described in the Old and New Testaments are periodically corroborated by archeological finds.

Some finds simply help us to better understand things from the ancient world. However, others provide important evidence as to the truth of scripture regarding things about which there had previously been skepticism.

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