Keep taking the stone tablets

I think the writer of this piece is getting a bit carried away:

THE British Museum yesterday hailed a discovery within a clay tablet in its collection as a breakthrough for biblical archeology – proof of the accuracy of the Old Testament.

A tablet that verifies the entire Old Testament? Blimey. So it’s a giant tablet’o’facts? Er, not quite.

The cuneiform inscription in a tablet dating from 595BC has been deciphered for the first time – revealing a reference to an official at the court of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, that proves the historical existence of a figure mentioned in the Book of Jeremiah.

It is rare evidence in a non-biblical source of a real person, other than kings, featured in the Bible.

And that’s it. It’s fascinating from a historical perspective and of course, it’s a big deal in biblical scholarship circles, but it hardly justifies the opening paragraph.


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