Teaching Team
Who In The World Is Sar-sekim?
Ever heard of this guy? To be honest I don’t remember ever reading about him either but he is in the Bible. He appears in Jeremiah:
Then all the officials of the king of Babylon came in and sat down at the Middle Gate: Nergal-sar-ezer, Samgar-nebu, Sar-sekim the Rab-saris, Nergal-sar-ezer the Rab-mag, and all the rest of the officials of the king of Babylon. (Jeremiah 39:3)
He is listed once as a top official of Nebuchadnezzar who helped out in the destruction of the first Temple on 9th Av, 586 BCE. What is exciting is that a tablet containing his name and high position within Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom was finally analyzed just recently at the British Museum 87 years after its discovery. Iriving Finkel, an assistant keeper at the museum’s Middle East department stated:
"This is a fantastic discovery, a world-class find. If Nevo-Sarsekim existed, [then] which other lesser figures in the Old Testament existed? A throwaway detail in the Old Testament turns out to be accurate and true. I think that it means that the whole of the narrative [of Jeremiah] takes on a new kind of power."
It seems very significant that this would come out so close to the traditional anniversary of the destruction of the Temple (just two weeks away). You can read the full report here. Also check out the one on the Pope… Very interesting.
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Visitor Feedback:
It's not surprising that this was discovered so many years ago. There are libraries worth of ancient documents that lie untranslated and unanalyzed in university achives for no other reason than there is no time or qualified people to translate them.
This is good though, and it is uncanny how close to Tisha b'Av this occured.
Seth | July 11, 2007 3:29 PM
Thanks for the post Toby. Evidence for the reliability of the bible is always encouraging. It is great to live in this information age where discoveries are publicized so quickly.
Justin Johnson | July 12, 2007 7:59 AM