King Ashurbanipal was the last great Assyrian king, ruling 668 – 631 BC. He is mentioned in the Bible, Ezra 4:10, as either Ashurbanipal or Osnappar/Asnappar, depending on your translation. “Ashurbanipal” is the Akkadian form of the name while “Osnappar/Asnappar” is the Aramaic form. Ezra wrote the Aramaic.

His grandfather was Sennacherib, the infamous king who attacked King Hezekiah in Jerusalem after conquering Lachish, the second most important city of the Kingdom of Judah. According to 2 Kings 19:35, an angel of the Lord killed 185,000 Assyrian soldiers, which forced Sennacherib to go home, where he would be killed by his sons.

Ashurbanipal had a set of reliefs made of him killing lions. Lots of them. He did it as a royal sport, pest control, because lions were actually a problem killing people and animals and image building (he is more powerful than a lion).

His distant predecessor Ashurnasirpal II from the mid-800s BC claimed to have killed 450 lions, so lion killing was a long-held royal Assyrian tradition.

It is no wonder that when the prophet Nahum prophesied the fall of Assyria in Nahum 2, that he used the metaphor of a lion to represent Assyria.

After Ashurbanipal died, his successors ruled badly, and were conquered by the Babylonians in 609 BC.

Sargon II was the last of three Assyrian kings to attack the Northern Tribes (Kingdom of Israel) 732 – 722 BC. He succeeded his older brother, Shalmaneser V, and was himself succeeded by his son Sennacherib, the most prominently mentioned Assyrian king in the Bible.

He was king for some 17 years, 722 – 705 BC, following a short five-year reign by his older brother. Historians note that since “Sargon” means “the faithful king” or “the legitimate king”, Sargon II must have overthrown his brother and usurped the throne, as no legitimate king would feel the need to give himself such a name.

His reign initiated a dynasty named after him, the Sargonid dynasty, with six of his descendants on the throne until Assyria’s demise in 609 BC.

Historians are divided as to whether Samaria, the capital of the Kingdom of Israel, was conquered twice, first by Shalmaneser V and then again by Sargon II, or once, in which Sargon finished off what Shalmaneser started.

2 Kings 17 credits Shalmaneser V as having conquered Samaria. In Assyrian records, Sargon II claims, “I besieged and conquered Samaria and led away as booty 27,290 inhabitants of it.” Either way, God used Assyria to punish the Kingdom of Israel by wiping it out and bringing non-Israelites to settle where the Northern Kingdom once was.

The intermingling of these non-Israelites with the remnant of Israelites would lead to the creation of the Samaritan people. These half-Israelite, half-non-Israelites were despised by the Jews in subsequent centuries down to the time of Jesus.

Samaritans figure prominently in the Parable of the Good Samaritan and in John 4, when Jesus talks to the Samaritan woman.

Unlike his brother Shalmaneser, Sargon was a warrior king, competent in both military and political affairs; he defeated or at least negotiated peace with his major enemies and rivals. He boosted Assyria’s domination over the region of Mesopotamia. Unfortunately, his habit of leading his troops into battle would cost him his life.

Sargon completed the destruction of the Northern Tribes – they would never return to their homeland, and their lineages would die out and be lost to history forever. Israel was now reduced to the Kingdom of Judah.

Sargon is mentioned only once by name in Isaiah 20:1, where Isaiah the prophet records his defeat of the small country of Ashdod, which was historically inhabited by the Philistines. This Assyrian victory prompted Isaiah to prophesy that Assyria will defeat Egypt and Cush (modern day Ethiopia), which in turn warned the Kingdom of Judah away from relying on the two countries for help against Assyria.

https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/W_1847-0702-1-2

Sargon is on the left, facing a younger man who is most likely his son Sennacherib, the crown prince, who will succeed him as king.

Also note the common Assyrian practice of placing the superior person on the left, facing right, and the subordinate person on the right, facing left.

https://artsandculture.google.com/streetview/british-museum/AwEp68JO4NECkQ?sv_lng=-0.1276883751522462&sv_lat=51.51901289418876&sv_h=234.10116169646963&sv_p=1.376766755242798&sv_pid=PDvUT3E-UQc3jCudWThZ8Q&sv_z=1.0000000000000002

In this relief, Shalmaneser V, the crown prince, faces his father Tiglath-Pileser III, whose foot rests firmly on an enemy’s neck.

Shalmaneser V was the second of three Assyrian kings to attack the Northern Tribes (Kingdom of Israel) 732 – 722 BC. He succeeded his father, Tiglath-Pileser III (sometimes called “Pul” in the Bible).

He reigned only five years, 727 – 722 BC, before he died under mysterious circumstances. A younger brother, Sargon II, succeeded him. Historians note that since “Sargon” means “the faithful king” or “the legitimate king”, Sargon II must have usurped the throne, as no legitimate king would feel the need to give himself such a name.

Historians are divided as to whether Samaria, the capital of the Kingdom of Israel, was conquered twice, first by Shalmaneser V and then again by Sargon II, or once in which Sargon finished off what Tiglath-Pileser III and Shalmaneser V started.

2 Kings 17 credits Shalmaneser V as having conquered Samaria. In Assyrian records, Sargon II claims, “I besieged and conquered Samaria and led away as booty 27,290 inhabitants of it.” Either way, God used Assyria to punish the Kingdom of Israel by wiping it out and bringing non-Israelites to settle where the Northern Kingdom once was.

The intermingling of these non-Israelites with the remnant of Israelites would lead to the creation of the Samaritan people. These half-Israelite, half-non-Israelites were despised by the Jews in subsequent centuries down to the time of Jesus.

Samaritans figure prominently in the Parable of the Good Samaritan and in John 4, when Jesus talks to the Samaritan woman. Luke 9:51-54 narrates a strong Jewish reaction to being rejected by a Samaritan village.

Assyrians had a well-known fondness for lions in their sculptures, notably the colossal statues that guarded the palace and temple entrances, and the reliefs depicting their slaughter by a later Assyrian king, Ashurbanipal (Akkadian language version of the name), (Osnapper in NASB, ESV, which is the Aramaic form of the name and the word Ezra wrote). He reigned from 669 to 631 BC and was mentioned in Ezra 4:10.

Ishtar, a goddess whom the Assyrians associated with war and physical love, was also the goddess of rain and thunderstorms. Her symbol was the lion and her thunder was its roar.

The prophet Nahum prophesied against Assyria, condemning it for its wickedness. In Nahum 2:11-12, he mocks the nation: “Where now is the lions’ den, the place where they fed their young, where the lion and lioness went, and the cubs, with nothing to fear? The lion killed enough for his cubs and strangled the prey for his mate, filling his lairs with the kill and his dens with the prey.”

This Assyrian lion measuring weight was used to ensure fair trade and was made during the reign of Shalmaneser V: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/W_1848-1104-67

Google Street View:

https://artsandculture.google.com/streetview/british-museum/AwEp68JO4NECkQ?sv_lng=-0.1271776619027492&sv_lat=51.51984797650206&sv_h=90.95736656334628&sv_p=-41.465963338761874&sv_pid=PaMNGEXhKFA6iZGof0oQWA&sv_z=1

In 841BC, the Assyrian king, Shalmaneser III (not mentioned in the Bible) wanted to show off the immense size of his kingdom. He did so by documenting a series of tribute payment visits on a black obelisk.

These tribute payments include expensive objects, money and exotic animals. The penalty for not bringing the annual tribute was severe. Think protection money.

He selected five countries from the border of his empire to show how much space there was between these countries. Similar to saying California to New York or Washington to Florida.

What is particularly relevant is that King Jehu of the Kingdom of Israel (Divided Kingdom, Northern tribes) is shown on the second register:

https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/W_1848-1104-1

In 2 Kings 9-10, the prophet Elisha anoints Jehu as the next King of Israel, and commands him to purge the entire house of King Ahab, one of his predecessors. Ahab and his wife Jezebel were so wicked in their idolatry and persecution of the prophets that God wanted every male member of Ahab’s family to be killed.

Jehu would wind up killing the king of Israel and the king of Judah, as well as numerous sons.

King Jehu reigned for 28 years and during that time, he paid tribute to the dominant power, the nation of Assyria. It was either pay or get destroyed.

British Museum Street View: https://artsandculture.google.com/streetview/british-museum/AwEp68JO4NECkQ?sv_lng=-0.1269666007429464&sv_lat=51.51877525694562&sv_h=47.62304210232429&sv_p=-2.585206104178411&sv_pid=VKt-2XQPBUELK8sKUITLnQ&sv_z=1

Jehu is depicted bowing down to Shalmaneser under the watchful eyes of the Assyrian gods: Assur (left, winged sun disk), Ishtar (right, 6-pointed star)

This is perhaps the only image we have of an Israelite king due to the second commandment, which prohibited idol-making. The Israelites did not create any images of anyone for fear of violating this commandment, so we only have outsider depictions of the kings.

Noah and the Flood – Genesis 6-9

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+6-9&version=NIV

History is deluged by flood stories from civilizations throughout time and across the world. While the Bible’s Noah is one of the most well-known, China, South America and Africa also have similar accounts.

One of the ancient Mesopotamian flood accounts tells how the hero Atrahasis built a boat to survive a flood sent by the gods.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atra-Hasis

The British Museum displays this story on a stone tablet written in the language of Akkadian using the cuneiform script: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/W_1889-0426-236

It is the oldest version of the Mesopotamian flood stories for which there is an artifact dating to about 1635BC, but the story is much older than that.

Due to similarities in style, this account is quite possibly the inspiration for the later better-known Epic of Gilgamesh version.

Google Street View: https://artsandculture.google.com/streetview/british-museum/AwEp68JO4NECkQ?sv_lng=-0.1272721670405303&sv_lat=51.51979932354621&sv_h=253.41500848709686&sv_p=-27.97477261698092&sv_pid=lYBpHrTWlIV9MwEzIi1kKA&sv_z=1.0000000000000002