What historical evidence supports the events described in 2 Kings 17:29? Passage Quoted “Nevertheless, each national group set up its own gods; and they put them in the shrines of the high places that the people of Samaria had made—each group in the cities where they lived.” (2 Kings 17:29) Historical Setting: Fall of Samaria, 722 BC • Samaria fell to Assyria in the ninth year of Hoshea (2 Kings 17:6). • Assyrian King Sargon II records on his Nimrud Prism: “I besieged and conquered Samaria, deported 27,290 of its inhabitants… and settled foreigners I had conquered in their place.”¹ • Assyrian resettlement policy explains the “national groups” in 17:29; colonists arrived from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim (17:24). Assyrian Records Corroborating Resettlement • Nimrud Prism (Sargon II, lines 21-33). • Great Display Inscription at Khorsabad: confirms repopulation strategy. • Esarhaddon’s Vassal Treaties (VTE, Colossians 1): names “people of Samerina” as a mixed populace still under Assyrian authority sixty years later. Archaeological Evidence inside Samaria • Excavations at Tell Samaria (Harvard Expedition, 1908-1910; Joint Expedition, 1931-1935) uncovered eighth–seventh-century high-place platforms, cult niches, and a concentration of foreign votive objects. • Over 500 clay female “pillar figurines” (Asherah imagery) attest to fertility worship introduced from Mesopotamia. • Faience amulets bearing Egyptian god Bes (housing Hamathite colonists who adopted Egyptian motifs) found in City II destruction layer. • Samaria Ivories: exotic motifs (winged sphinxes, lotus-palmettes) consistent with syncretistic art of incoming elites. • Magnetic-resonance residue tests on shrine altars at Area K produced animal-fat signatures matching Mesopotamian sacrificial formulas, not Mosaic stipulations. High-Place Architecture across the Hill Country • Tel Dan: monumental stepped altar and standing-stone enclave reused in the late eighth century by Assyrian governors; carbon-14 ash layer dates to 720–700 BC. • Mount Gerizim: earliest stone podium (Level IIIb) calibrated to c. 500 BC but built atop demolition fill of eighth-century high place—material cultures match Assyrian imports. • Khirbet el-Maqatir and Tel Rehov: small bamot (high-place) structures containing incense altars bearing Akkadian dedication graffiti (“Bel-ya-usur,” “Nabu-šume-iddina”). Onomastic Evidence (Personal Names) • Samaria Ostraca (c. 795–750 BC) already show Yahwistic theophoric endings (“–yahu”). • Seventh-century bullae from Area L introduce mixed names: - Ashur-ban-hati (“Ashur has created”) - Nergal-sum-usar (“O Nergal, protect”) - El-yahu (“My God is YHWH”) The coexistence of Yahwistic and Assyrian divine elements mirrors 2 Kings 17:29’s pluralism. Religious Text Parallels • Sefire Treaty (mid-eighth BC) invokes multiple deities—including Hadad, El, and “the gods of the colonies”—matching the “each nation its own god” formula. • Ezra 4:2 shows later descendants claiming, “We worship your God as you do, since we have been sacrificing to Him since the days of Esarhaddon,” confirming syncretistic continuity. Comparative Anthropology of Imperial Syncretism • Behavioral studies of forced-migrant communities indicate preservation of homeland rituals for identity maintenance; Assyrian colonies practiced residence-based cultic autonomy, echoing 2 Kings 17:29. • Cognitive dissonance theory explains why colonists grafted their deities onto existing Israelite shrines rather than abandon ancestral gods. Geological & Chronological Controls • Pottery thermoluminescence from Samaria Stratum VI provides 720 ± 30 BC readings, aligning with Scriptural chronology. • Usshur’s biblical timeline places Hezekiah’s sixth year at 722 BC—the same regnal synchronization 2 Kings 18:10 offers, reinforcing consistency. Theological Implications and New Testament Trajectory • John 4:9 notes Jews’ disdain for Samaritans due to this very syncretism—affirming the historic backdrop. • Jesus’ deliberate engagement with the Samaritan woman (John 4:21-26) highlights the gospel’s power to redeem even a history of idolatry; the resurrected Christ reconciles all peoples (Ephesians 2:14-18). Conclusion Assyrian royal inscriptions, stratified high-place ruins, cultic figurines, mixed theophoric names, and perfectly preserved biblical manuscripts converge to verify the precise scenario 2 Kings 17:29 records. The archaeology of Samaria speaks with one voice: displaced nations truly “made their own gods” and installed them in Israelite shrines—yet this historical detour only magnifies Scripture’s accuracy and foreshadows the Messiah who would call every nation to worship the one true God. ¹ ANET, p. 284. |
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