Nehemiah and Jeremiah Confirmed By History

GodSaidManSaid is a proof text.  On this site, we prove pragmatically and scholastically that God is, and that He is the author of the Scriptures, and that He will hold all men accountable to that word at a soon-coming judgment day.  For the believer, it is critically important to know that the Scriptures are true and righteous altogether, for upon these Words all that we have to do with depends.  God’s glorious Words are the answers to the past, the sustenance of the present, the lit path to the future, and the very literal key to eternal life in Christ Jesus.  Believing these words is not just a good thing, but everything.

I should note that the first and most primary proof that God is and that His Word is truth is not a product of scholastic research.  It is a matter of faith in Christ, repentance, a spiritual awakening from the dead, and pursuit of the cross of Calvary.  This spiritual plane is superior and dominant to all other inputs combined.  This revelation stands alone.  God is a spirit and He created all physical things.  Therefore, spirit always precedes flesh.  Salvation is not joining a church, confirmation, or whatever else is offered up on the plate of sanctimony.  But, salvation is of the Spirit of God through the blood of Christ and there is NO OTHER WAY!  Romans 8:15-16:

15  For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

16  The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:

Salvation is a spiritual thing.  It is accomplished spiritually and confirmed spiritually, separate from carnal rationale.  Some would then ask, “What is the purpose of this website?”  GodSaidManSaid stands in defense of the Gospel as we are directed (Philippians 1:17).  We strive to prove all things as we are commanded (I Thessalonians 5:21), that we might convince the gainsayers (Titus 1:9), and arm the saints with faith-building information—info that contends for the faith (Jude 1:3). 

Have you yet to cry out unto God for mercy?  Have you been born again?  Are you ready to shed the confusion and shame of this life?  Are you ready for a brand-new beginning full of hope and promise of a single mind?  I have good news for you.  Today is the day of salvation.  Click onto “Further With Jesus” right now.  It will be your doorway to eternal life.  Do it now.  We’ll wait for you.  NOW FOR TODAY’S SUBJECT. 

GodSaidManSaid follows a four-step proof text:

1. God’s Word is a supremely accurate history book.  We establish its bona fides via archaeology, paleontology, and ancient historical records. 

2. God’s Word is supernaturally authored by the Spirit of God.  Prophecy and the laws of probability are incorporated to establish the divine authenticity of the scriptures beyond any reasonable doubt. 

3. God’s Word is inerrant and correct in all issues of life: temporal and eternal.  A category on the navigation bar on the left is “GodSaidManSaid—The Record.”  The name of this website is derived from this section.  We declare God’s position on a wide range of issues, from honey to witchcraft.  We then report the consequences man has endured as a result of his disobedience.  Thus, “GodSaidManSaid, The Record.” 

4.  God’s Word is supremely accurate regarding the historicity of Jesus Christ.  Ancient, non-biblical records and histories confirm the account of the New Testament.

GOD SAID, Psalms 19:9:

The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.     

GOD SAID, Psalms 119:160:

Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever.

MAN SAID: The Old Testament is not a reliable account of the past, but simply the rants of old men given to hyperbole.

Now THE RECORD.  The historical skeptics constantly challenge the veracity of God’s Word, but as in all situations, the challengers are found to be in error, or more poignantly, as Proverbs 30:6 states:

Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.

Archaeologists continue to certify the historical record of the Word of God.  The following excerpts are from the International Jerusalem Post under the heading, “Seal of First Temple servants found in Jerusalem.”  Note that the temple mentioned in the article was built by King Solomon, the son of King David, nearly 3,000 years ago.

A stone seal bearing the name of one of the families who acted as servants in the First Temple and then returned to Jerusalem after being exiled to Babylonia has been uncovered in an archeological excavation in Jerusalem’s City of David, a prominent Israeli archeologist said on January 16.

The 2,500-year-old black stone seal, which has the name “Temech” engraved on it, was found last week amid stratified debris in the excavation under way just outside the Old City walls near the Dung Gate, said archeologist Dr. Eilat Mazar, who is leading the dig.

According to the Book of Nehemiah, the Temech family were servants of the First Temple and were sent into exile to Babylon following its destruction by the Babylonians in 586 BC.

The family was among those who later returned to Jerusalem, the Bible recounts.

The Bible refers to the Temech family: “These are the children of the province, that went up out of the captivity, of those that had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away, and came again to Jerusalem and to Judah, every one unto his city.” [Nehemiah 7:6]... “The Nethinim [7:46]”... The children of Temech.” [7:55].

“The seal of the Temech family gives us a direct connection between archeology and the biblical sources and serves as actual evidence of a family mentioned in the Bible,” she said. “One cannot help being astonished by the credibility of the biblical source as seen by the archaeological find.”

The find was officially announced by Mazar at the eighth annual Herzliya Conference on January 20.

The archeologist, who rose to international prominence for her recent excavation that may have uncovered King David’s palace, most recently uncovered the remants of a wall from Nehemiah’s time.  [End of quote]

The next account is from the January-February 2008 issue of the periodical, Archaeology.  The headline reads, “Nebo-Sarsekim Tablet, The British Museum, UK:”

Last June, Austrian Assyriologist Michael Jursa was doing what he has done since 1991, poring over the more than 100,000 undeciphered cuneiform tablets in the British Museum. But while analyzing records from the Babylonian city of Sippar, he made a startling discovery with Biblical implications. It came in the unlikely form of a tablet noting a one‑and‑a‑half pound gold donation to a temple made by an official, or “chief eunuch,” Nebo‑Sarsekim.

“At first I was just pleased to have found a reference to the title ‘chief eunuch,’ as these officials are mentioned very rarely in the sources,” says Jursa. “Then it suddenly came to me that this text was very close chronologically to an episode narrated in Jeremiah 39 in which Nebo‑Sarsekim is mentioned, and that I might actually have found the very man. So then I got quite excited and instantly went and checked (and double‑checked) the exact spelling of the name in the Hebrew Bible and saw that it matched what I had found in the Babylonian text!”

The tablet is dated 595 B.C., the ninth year of Nebuchadnezzar II’s reign. The Book of Jeremiah relates that after Nebuchadnezzar took Jerusalem in 587 B.C., he committed the prophet Jeremiah to Nebo‑Sarsekim’s care.

“It is so incredibly rare to find people appearing in the Bible, who are not kings, mentioned elsewhere,” says Jursa. “Something like this tablet, where we see a person mentioned in the Bible making an everyday payment to the temple in Babylon and quoting the exact date, is quite extraordinary.”  [End of quote]

The Babylonian, Mr. Sarsechim, is listed in Jeremiah 39:3.  I must mention that the Masoretic Text of the King James Version does not show him as the one given charge over Jeremiah (Jeremiah 39:11), but the point of the author is still valid.  Sarsechim is recorded in the scriptures and ancient Babylonian records, as well.

God’s Word is a reliable history book. 

GOD SAID, Psalms 19:9:

The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.     

GOD SAID, Psalms 119:160:

Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever.

MAN SAID: The Old Testament is not a reliable account of the past, but simply the rants of old men given to hyperbole.

Now you have THE RECORD.

 

 

 

 

References:

 

Authorized King James Version

Lefkovits, E., “Seal of First Temple servants found in Jerusalem,” International Jerusalem Post, January 25-31, 2008, p9

Sexton, L., Nebo-Sarsekim Tablet, Jan./Feb. 2008, p24

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