2,700-Year-Old Assyrian Inscription Echoes Events of II Kings

IFCJ Canada  |  October 30, 2025

The Times of Israel reports a historic find at an excavation near the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City – a 2,700-year-old pottery fragment with Assyrian inscriptions. These inscriptions are the first written evidence of a relationship between the Assyrian Empire and the Kingdom of Judah. The writing mentions a delay in payment, the first day of the Hebrew month of Av, and an Assyrian officer title connected to the royal court’s historical records.

The experts dated the artifact to between the end of the 8th century and the middle of the 7th century BCE, based on stylistic and linguistic considerations.

“It was a period of turmoil,” Zilberg said. “We have the Hezekiah revolt right against [Assyrian King] Sennacherib. [Hezekiah] delayed paying taxes for a certain period, leading Sennacherib to march on Jerusalem.”

Experts from the Israel Antiquities Authority and Bar-Ilan University say the clay tablet was a tax notice from the Assyrians to the King of Judah. This echoes the Scriptures of II Kings, wherein King Hezekiah of Judah had his fortified towns seized by King Sennacherib of Assyria after refusing to pay taxes to the Empire.

In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s reign, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them. So Hezekiah king of Judah sent this message to the king of Assyria at Lachish: “I have done wrong. Withdraw from me, and I will pay whatever you demand of me.” The king of Assyria exacted from Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. (Kings II 18:13-14).

The inscription doesn’t provide any date, but analysis has confirmed the clay that makes up the one-inch fragment originated from the Tigris basin region which was a hub for ancient Assyrian centers.

“Yet, [the inscription] echoes the biblical story of delaying paying taxes to the Assyrians, and this is really important,” Zilberg noted.

“It is a wonderful addition to the history of the relations between Judah and Assyria,” he added. “We already knew from documents that were found in Assyria that there were Judean emissaries in the court of the Assyrian king and Judean travelers or merchants doing business in Assyria. Now, for the first time, we have evidence from Jerusalem and not from Assyria.”

Zilberg expressed hope that the archaeologists could find another fragment of the inscription in the future. He added that the sealing was identified with “other amazing finds due to be published soon.”