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Digging up the Past

Isaiah 37:33
“Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not come into this city or shoot an arrow there or come before it with a shield or cast up a siege mound against it.”

I love when an archeologist’s spade digs up evidence for the biblical narrative, and there are two recent discoveries that corroborate God’s promise here in Isaiah 37. The first is an ornate monument to Assyria’s conquest over Lachish that bears this hilarious inscription: “Sennacherib, king of the universe, king of Assyria, sits on a throne and the spoils of Lachish are paraded before him.” Why’s that funny? Because Sennacherib meant for that relief to go toward his conquest of Jerusalem, not some backwater town. He utterly fails to capture Jerusalem, so all he can do is go back home and spin his greatest humiliation into a tale of triumph. The second inscription paints an even more farcical side of the story, as Sennacherib writes: “As for Hezekiah, I shut him up like a caged bird in his royal city of Jerusalem.” Right, Sennacherib; that’s what happened.

But friend, if you’re needing reassurance that God provides for His people, don’t look to these ancient artifacts. Instead, grab a memory-spade, survey the landscape of your own history, and start digging!