Bonus 21 - Nuzi Tablets

© Ferrell Jenkins

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The first discovery which sheds light on Abraham is the Nuzi tablets discovered sometime between 1925 to 1931.1.  About 20,000 Akkadian cuneiform clay tablets were found in Nuzu just east of ancient Asshur (modern Iraq).2.  They describe life in northern Mesopotamia in around the 14th to 15th cent. BC which is a little later than the patriarchs. While some scholars are critical 3. of any parallels with the patriarchs, other scholars believe that they help shed light on their customs.4. Until their discovery the Horites (or Horim) were only mentioned in the Pentateuch (Gen 14:6; Deut 2:12) but little was known of them and some scholars suggested that they did not exist.5.  The Nuzi tablets revealed that they were a significant ancient people who played a major role in ancient Near Eastern culture.6.  Abraham had contact with the Horites when he lived in Haran. David E. Graves, Key Themes of the Old Testament: A Survey of Major Theological Themes (Moncton, N.B.: Graves, 2013), 203-204.

Footnotes

• 1. Ernest René Lacheman et al., eds., Studies on the Civilization and Cultura of Nuzi and the Hurrians, 11 vols. (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1989).
• 2. Charles F. Pfeiffer, Wycliffe Dictionary of Biblical Archaeology (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 2000), 422.
• 3. Thomas L. Thompson, Historicity of the Patriarchal Narratives: The Quest for the Historical Abraham (Valley Forge, PA: Trinity Press International, 2002); John Van Seter, Abraham in History and Tradition (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1987).
• 4. Cyrus H. Gordon, “Biblical Customs and the Nuzu Tablets,” Biblical Archaeology Review 2 (1964): 21–33; E. A. Speiser, Genesis: Introduction, Translation, and Notes, 1st ed., The Anchor Bible (New York, NY: Doubleday, 1964), 120; William F. Albright, “From the Patriarchs to Moses. 1. From Abraham to Joseph,” The Biblical Archaeologist 36 (1973): 5–33; Alan R. Millard, “Abraham (Person),” ed. David Noel Freedman, Anchor Bible Dictionary (London: Doubleday & Company, 1996), 1:38; Kenneth A. Kitchen, “The Patriarchal Age: Myth or History?,” Biblical Archaeology Review 21, no. 2 (1995),” 48–57, 89–95.
• 5. Francis William Newman, A History of the Hebrew Monarchy: From the Administration of Samuel to the Babylonish Captivity (London, U.K.: Chapman, 1853), 179 n. 2.
• 6. M. A. Morrison, “Nuzi,” ed. David Noel Freedman, Anchor Bible Dictionary (London: Doubleday & Company, 1996), 4:1156–62.

This bonus material was quoted from

David E. Graves, Key Themes of the Old Testament: A Survey of Major Theological Themes (Moncton, N.B.: Graves, 2013), 203-204.









For Further Study

• Chiera, Edward. Joint Expedition with the Iraq Museum at Nuzi: Mixed Texts. Philadelphia, Pa.: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1934.
• Gordon, Cyrus H. “Biblical Customs and the Nuzu Tablets,” Biblical Archaeology Review 2 (1964): 21–33.
• Lyon, David G. “The Joint Expedition of Harvard University and the Baghdad School at Yargon Tepa Near Kirkuk,” Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 30 (1928), 1-6.
• Maidman, Maynard Paul. Nuzi Texts and Their Uses as Historical Evidence. Atlanta, Ga.: Society of Biblical Literature, 2010.
• Maidman, Maynard Paul, David I. Owen, Gernot Wilhelm, Mathaf Al-Iraqi. Joint Expedition With the Iraq Museum at Nuzi VIII: The Remaining Major Texts in the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. Studies on the Civilization and Culture of Nuzi and the Hurrians, V. 14,  Chicago Ill.: University of Chicago Oriental Institute, CDL Press, 2003.
• Maidman, Maynard Paul. “The Teip-tilla Family of Nuzi: A Genealogical Reconstruction,” Journal of Cuneiform Studies 28, No. 3 (1976): 127-55.