Ep.3 Lost Cities of the Bible Vol.1

The Bible has been teaching us such things as literature, history, and geography for centuries now, with a lot of things still being uncovered to this day. Many theologians, historians, atheists, and scientists have questioned the Bible and some of the events that took place in scripture. So today, I’d like to take a look into one of the biblical cities that was classed as ‘mythological’ when in reality they were simply just lost in time.

The great city of Nineveh, one of the oldest and most important cities in the ancient Near East. Founded around 6000BC and developed around 3000BC, the city was the grand capital of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. Located on the Tigris river, Mosul in Iraq, Nineveh was known as the largest city in the world for several decades. Nineveh is the best place for us to start as we uncover lost cities that are in the Bible.

In the Bible, the city of Nineveh is mentioned multiple times. It is mentioned in the Book of Jonah, where God sends Jonah to warn the city of Nineveh to repent from. Which they do according to Jonah 3. Nineveh also gets a mention in Nahum’s prophecy, where the destruction of the city is prophesied, described as being a “city of blood,” filled with idols, violence, and oppression. Nineveh is mentioned multiple times in the Bible from Genesis 10:11-12, where it is listed in “The table of Nations,” 2 Kings 19:36 mentioning King Sennacherib referring to Nineveh as the royal seat of Assyrian power, Isaiah 37:37, Zephaniah 2:13-15, and even Jesus refers to Ninevites’ repentance as an example in the Gospel of Matthew and Luke. One thing we clearly see is that Nineveh was not only a well-referred-to city but one with huge power and wealth.

So why is this so important for us today? Well, for many years, scholars denied the city ever existed as we had only very few records of it outside of the Bible (Xenophon and Herodotus), which gave them credibility to also say the Bible therefore can’t be true. Their city was described to have been that big; it was a three-day journey to get from one side to the other (Jonah 3:3) with a population of more than 120,000 children (Jonah 4:11), meaning there were approximately 600,000 - 1,000,000 people living in the city. The inner city walls are described as being 7.5 miles long, which is huge, with the greater Nineveh walls area stretching to over 24 miles. But this city couldn’t have been real because where was it? For a great number of years, Christians argued that it was destroyed as per its prophecy, which it was, but because there was no evidence of it, it simply couldn’t be true, meaning their kings and everything along with the city must also have been “mythological”. You see, there is one issue: the Bible is never wrong.

In the 1760s, a Danish explorer suggested that some of the mounds near Mosul, Iraq, might hide some Assyrian history; however, with no evidence or proof, the idea got shunned as scholars still believed the city to be mythical. In the mid-1800s, archaeologists Sir Austen Henry Layard and Paul-Émile Botta started excavations. Botta made the first move when, in 1842, he began excavations where he thought he had found the great city, which turned out to be Kuyunjik. Although it wasn’t Nineveh, it did prove that the Assyrian empire existed; therefore, the Assyrian Kings existed and that the Bible might just be onto something here. This finding encouraged more excavations, and in 1845, Layard and his team officially started their work, where they uncovered the grand city of Nineveh. It held the Palaces of Sennacherib and Ashurbanipal. They found other artefacts like colossal Iamassu statues, relief carvings showing battles, building projects, and daily life, with thousands of clay tablets being found in cuneiform. By 1850, over 300,000 tablets had been found, citing the creation of Babylonia and the flood narratives, the History of the Assyrian Kings, the Epic of Gilgamesh, all the way down to simple letters, contracts, medical texts, and even astronomical texts. These findings give us great context to the cities, their literacy, education, and the city’s great size, being the capital of the Assyrian empire. This confirmed that Nineveh was officially undeniable, along with the kings named with it. Ironically, it was exactly where the Bible said the city would be. Who would have thought?

Later excavations continued in the 1920s-1930s by Reginald Campbell Thompson. The British Museum, along with his team, conducted more digs that uncovered the city’s walls, temples, residential areas, and more smaller findings like tablets. These findings were a crucial part of creating a city map. Modern excavation, although interrupted by multiple ISIS attacks, has uncovered the city gates, the city’s water systems, including aqueducts, skeletons, weapons, and evidence of Nineveh’s destruction in 612 BC. These findings and timings perfectly match the Bible’s prophecy of Nineveh’s destruction being sudden and violent.

So what do these findings prove, and why do they matter? Firstly, we can now say not only does Nineveh exist but it is exactly where the Bible tells us it is. It tells us that the kings mentioned in the Bible are real and the wars that took place actually happened. We know that Nineveh was a grand city that was clearly an advanced capital in the Assyrian Empire. We know from the tablets and carvings on the palace walls lots of the city’s history and how they used to torture, deport, and impale people. Finally, we know that the city was completely destroyed in a sudden manner as prophesied.

So the next time you hear the question: “is the Bible real?” Remember that for over 2000 years scholars were telling us the Bible was exaggerated and mythical,  then remind them of the grand city of Nineveh and be clear to add in that not only  is the Bible real but it is still educating us to this day. Lets Pray.

Father,

We thank you for your word. We thank you that you are always reliable, always correct, always teaching us and forever guiding us. We pray that you continue to help us grow in the understanding of your word Father thus growing in faith as we equip ourselves with knowledge and the tools to provide people with logical explanations and evidence from the Bible that you are who you say you are.

Lord, we thank you for the opportunity to share your love and today we pray that you give us the opportunity to lay hands on someone and tell them that you love them too and that you long for a relationship with them. Forever, we are grateful for all you do for us Father and we give all that we are back to you, totally surrendering to your will.

May your name be glorified as King of Kings and Lord of Lords over all nations,

Amen.

We hope you have enjoyed our first episode of the “Logic in Faith” series and found it informative, hopefully learning something new. Be sure to subscribe to our newsletter for the latest Blog information, The latest clothing drops, Our latest street evangelism news and as always if you have something you need extra prayers for, our Online Prayer Request service is always open for you to submit your prayer needs on our site. Until next Blog,

Lets Pray together and Wait together!

Many Blessings

Team Pray and Wait