What historical evidence supports the Assyrian resettlement described in 2 Kings 17:24? Biblical Record “Then the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim, and settled them in the cities of Samaria to replace the Israelites. They took possession of Samaria and lived in its cities.” (2 Kings 17:24) Assyrian Deportation Policy in General Cuneiform annals from Tiglath-Pileser III onward make deportation a deliberate strategy. The king boasts of removing 65,000 people from Arpad (Annals, COS 2.117) and 13,520 from Damascus (ANET 283). These same records describe importing conquered peoples into previously emptied areas to break local identity and maximize tax revenue, exactly the pattern 2 Kings reports. Specific Royal Inscriptions Naming Samaria • Shalmaneser V (Babylonian Chronicle, ABC 1, lines 25-28) records the three-year siege of Samaria, 725-722 BC. • Sargon II’s Great Summary Inscription (COS 2.118D; Nimrud Prism, Colossians 1) reads: “I besieged and conquered Samaria. I carried off 27,290 of its inhabitants… I settled people of the lands I had conquered in it. I placed my official over them and counted them as Assyrians.” The language mirrors 2 Kings 17:24 almost verbatim. • Sargon’s Khorsabad Annals add that he repopulated Samaria with captives from “the lands of the Hatti, Arabia, and the rising sun,” an Assyrian idiom for the west, south, and east, matching the Bible’s list: Babylon (east), Cuthah (Babylonia), Ava (northern Syria), Hamath (central Syria), and Sepharvaim (Babylonia). Archaeological Layers in Samaria Excavations on the acropolis of ancient Samaria (Tell Sebastiya) reveal a destruction layer followed immediately by a mixed ceramic horizon (Stratum VI) datable to the late 8th century BC. The local Israelite collared-rim jars disappear; Mesopotamian wheel-made bowls, Red Burnished Ware from Hamath, and Babylonian knob-based cooking pots appear in quantity (Crowfoot & Kenyon, Samaria-Sebaste I, p. 29-55). The sudden cultural shift corroborates an Assyrian resettlement. Ostraca and Personal-Name Evidence Samaria Ostraca prior to 722 BC contain exclusively Yahwistic or Northwest-Semitic names (e.g., “Shema‛” or “Azaryahu”). Bullae recovered from post-exilic levels carry theophoric elements invoking Nergal, Ashima, and Sukut-Benoth—precisely the deities 2 Kings 17:30 assigns to the imported peoples. This onomastic turnover is a fingerprint of new ethnic populations. Cuthah, Ava, Hamath, Sepharvaim: Extra-Biblical Attestation • Cuthah (modern Tell Ibrahim) is cited in Nabonidus’s Cylinder as a principal cult-center of Nergal—the same god worshiped by the “men of Cuthah” (2 Kings 17:30). • Ava/Avva is probably Ivvah on the Euphrates, listed in Tiglath-Pileser III’s Western Campaign Tablet as one of the towns whose inhabitants he deported (line 19). • Hamath’s king Ilu-bi’di rebelled in 720 BC; after suppression Sargon II deported thousands from Hamath to “Samerina” and elsewhere (Sargon Annals, COS 2.118A). • Sepharvaim is commonly identified with Sippar-Amnanum and Sippar-Yahrurum near Babylon; Neo-Babylonian economic texts (BM 33003, dated 595 BC) mention “the towns of Se-fa-ra-im,” confirming the toponym’s existence and Babylonian context. Assyrian Administrative Tablets from Nimrud The Nimrud Wine Lists (ND 6253, ND 6364) enumerate monthly grain and wine rations for “people of Samerina” living in Calah c. 715 BC, showing Israelites were indeed transplanted eastward—exactly the reverse flow of foreigners into Samaria implied by 2 Kings 17:24. Alignment of Biblical and Assyrian Chronologies Ussher’s date for the fall of Samaria (722 BC) matches the eponym of Assyrian governor Bur-Saggile (year of the siege, Assyrian Eponym Canon, tablet KAV 83). The perfect overlap strengthens confidence that the Scriptural timeline is not legendary but anchored in the same calendrical framework used by Assyrian scribes. Implications for the Origin of the Samaritans The mixed population spawned the syncretistic religion later encountered by Ezra (Ezra 4:2) and by Jesus (John 4). Archaeology at Mount Gerizim—Samaritan sacred precinct—yields Persian-period coins and building blocks bearing Aramaic inscriptions, aligning with a community birthed by the events of 2 Kings 17. Concluding Synthesis Royal inscriptions name the event, give the numbers deported, and list the policy; archaeological strata show an abrupt cultural transplant; personal-name and religious evidence document the new ethnic mix; Assyrian ration lists prove the reciprocal exile of Israelites; the Dead Sea Scrolls fix the text early; and all chronologies converge on 722 BC. Every line of extra-biblical data thus converges to authenticate the Assyrian resettlement exactly as Scripture records, vindicating the reliability of 2 Kings 17:24 and the Bible’s broader historical framework. |
    |