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101-454: Mordecai resided in Susa (Shushan or Shoushan), the metropolis of Persia (now Iran ). He adopted his orphaned cousin (Esther 2:7), Hadassah ( Esther ), whom he brought up as if she were his own daughter. When "young virgins " were sought, she was taken into the presence of King Ahasuerus and was made queen in the place of the exiled queen Vashti . Subsequently, Mordecai discovered a plot of

202-576: A prophet . Some talmudic scholars such as Nachman b. Yaakov have suggested that Mordecai is the Biblical prophet Malachi , but this argument is rejected by consensus and certain interpretations of the Talmud . Mordecai's genealogy in the second chapter of the Book of Esther is given as a descendant of a Benjaminite named Kish. As "Kish" was also the name of the father of King Saul , another Benjaminite,

303-627: A biological offspring and an offspring from a Levirate marriage . According to this concept, Joseph may have been a biological descendant from Jeconiah, but within Jewish law he would have been counted as a descendant of someone else due to the carrying of a brother's name through the Levirate marriage. Jehoiachin was made king in place of his father by Nebuchadnezzar; but the latter had hardly returned to Babylon when some one said to him, "A dog brings forth no good progeny," whereupon he recognized that it

404-399: A compromise on their part and therefore avoid an armed confrontation. Nabonidus was staying in the city at the time and soon fled to the capital, Babylon, which he had not visited in years. Cyrus' conquest of Susa and the rest of Babylonia commenced a fundamental shift, bringing Susa under Persian control for the first time. Strabo stated that Cyrus made Susa an imperial capital though there

505-615: A different reason. Galil hypothesized that Israel’s calendar was one month ahead of that of Babylon because Babylon had inserted an intercalary month and Israel had not yet done so. This would make Adar (the twelfth month) in the Babylonian records correspond to Nisan (the first month) in Judean counting. But this hypothesis, like Thiele's, runs into difficulty with Ezekiel 40:1 , since the 25th year of captivity would begin in Nisan of 573 and

606-539: A grant from the Shelby White Levy Program. Roman Ghirshman took over direction of the French efforts in 1946, after the end of the war. Together with his wife Tania Ghirshman , he continued there until 1967. The Ghirshmans concentrated on excavating a single part of the site, the hectare sized Ville Royale, taking it all the way down to bare earth. The pottery found at the various levels enabled

707-447: A great service to the king should be honored. Haman answered, thinking the question was about him; and the king followed this advice, and honored Mordecai, and eventually made Mordecai his chief advisor. Haman was executed on gallows that he had set up for Mordecai. The feast of Purim celebrates these reversals of fortune. Although the details of the setting are entirely plausible and the story may even have some basis in actual events,

808-419: A large palace . During this time he describes his new capital in an inscription: "This palace which I built at Susa, from afar its ornamentation was brought. Downward the earth was dug, until I reached rock in the earth. When the excavation had been made, then rubble was packed down, some 40 cubits in depth, another part 20 cubits in depth. On that rubble the palace was constructed." The city forms

909-547: A large portion of the current structure is actually a much later construction dated to the late nineteenth century, c.  1871 . Susa is further mentioned in the Book of Jubilees (8:21 & 9:2) as one of the places within the inheritance of Shem and his eldest son Elam ; and in 8:1, "Susan" is also named as the son (or daughter, in some translations) of Elam. The site was examined in 1836 by Henry Rawlinson and then by A. H. Layard . In 1851, some modest excavation

1010-480: A non-accession sense, so that the beginning of the siege was eight actual years after the beginning of the captivity. The comparison with 2 Kings 25:1 would indicate that Zedekiah's years in 2 Kings were also by non-accession reckoning. His eleventh year, the year in which Jerusalem fell, would then be 588/587 BCE, in agreement with all texts in Ezekiel and elsewhere that are congruent with that date. Some who maintain

1111-483: A serving dish, and a small jar—implies the consumption of three types of food, apparently thought to be as necessary for life in the afterworld as it is in this one. Ceramics of these shapes, which were painted, constitute a large proportion of the vessels from the cemetery. Others are coarse cooking-type jars and bowls with simple bands painted on them and were probably the grave goods of the sites of humbler citizens as well as adolescents and, perhaps, children. The pottery

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1212-499: A stratigraphy to be developed for Susa. From 1969 until 1979 excavations were conducted under Jean Perrot . In 2019 the Susa salvage project was launched to counter the construction of a transportation underpass in the vicinity of the site. In urban history , Susa is one of the oldest-known settlements of the region. Based on calibrated carbon-14 dating , the foundation of a settlement there occurred as early as 4395 BC. In

1313-523: Is purim , which is explained as meaning "lot", from the Babylonian word puru . There are wide-ranging theories regarding the origin of Purim: one popular theory says festival has its origins in a historicized Babylonian myth or ritual in which Mordecai and Esther represent the Babylonian gods Marduk and Ishtar , others trace the ritual to the Persian New Year , and scholars have surveyed other theories in their works. Some scholars have defended

1414-412: Is carefully made by hand. Although a slow wheel may have been employed, the asymmetry of the vessels and the irregularity of the drawing of encircling lines and bands indicate that most of the work was done freehand. Copper metallurgy is also attested during this period, which was contemporary with metalwork at some highland Iranian sites such as Tepe Sialk . As many as 40 copper axes have been found at

1515-407: Is found at Susa. According to some scholars, Susa may have been a colony of Uruk. There is some dispute about the comparative periodization of Susa and Uruk at this time, as well as about the extent of Uruk influence in Susa. Recent research indicates that Early Uruk period corresponds to Susa II period. Daniel T. Potts, argues that the influence from the highland Iranian Khuzestan area in Susa

1616-694: Is hard to think of any colonial system lasting that long. The spread of Uruk material is not evidence of Uruk domination; it could be local choice". Susa III (3100–2700 BC) is also known as the ' Proto-Elamite ' period. At this time, Banesh period pottery is predominant. This is also when the Proto-Elamite tablets first appear in the record. Subsequently, Susa became the centre of Elam civilization. Ambiguous reference to Elam ( Sumerian : 𒉏 , romanized:  NIM ) appear also in this period in Sumerian records. Susa enters recorded history in

1717-484: Is incompatible with the records of the Babylonian Chronicle, the infobox below dates the end of Jeconiah's reign to 2 Adar (16 March) 597 BCE, the date of the first capture of Jerusalem as given in the Babylonian records. Thiele's dates for Jeconiah, however, and his date of 586 BCE for the fall of Jerusalem, continue to hold considerable weight with the scholarly community. However, no such complication

1818-511: Is inconsistent, and adds an alternative explanation of the phrase "on that very day" ( be-etsem ha-yom ha-zeh ) in Ezekiel 40:1. This phrase is used three times in Leviticus 23:28–30 to refer the Day of Atonement , always observed on the tenth of Tishri, and Ezekiel's writings in several places show familiarity with the Book of Leviticus. A further argument in favor of this interpretation is that in

1919-528: Is likely that the king of Babylon was behind this effort, as a response to Jehoiakim's revolt, starting sometime after 601 BCE. Three months and ten days after Jeconiah became king, the armies of Nebuchadnezzar II seized Jerusalem, with the intention to take high class Judahite captives and assimilate them into Babylonian society. On March 15/16th, 597 BCE, Jeconiah, his entire household and three thousand Jews were exiled to Babylon. The Masoretic Text of 2 Chronicles 36 states that Jeconiah's rule began at

2020-458: Is located on the site of ancient Susa. The English name Susa is derived from Ancient Greek Soûsa ( Σοῦσα ), which is ultimately derived from an original Elamite name, which was written as Šušen ( 𒀸𒋗𒊺𒂗 ) in its Middle Elamite form, Šušun ( 𒋢𒋢𒌦 ) in its Middle and Neo-Elamite forms, Šušan ( 𒀸𒋗𒐼𒀭 ) in its Neo- Elamite and Achaemenid forms, and Šuša ( 𒀸𒋗𒐼 ) in its Achaemenid Elamite form. Susa

2121-469: Is necessary since the tenth of Tishri 574 BCE is precisely as stated in Ezekiel 40:1, both in the fourteenth year of the Temple's destruction in 587 BCE and the twenty-fifth year of Jeconiah's exile in 597 BCE. Gershon Galil also attempted to reconcile a 586 date for the fall of Jerusalem with the data for Jeconiah's exile. Like Thiele, he assumed that the years of exile should be measured from Nisan, but for

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2222-640: The Babylonian empire plundered Susa around fifty years later. In 647 BC, Neo-Assyrian king Ashurbanipal leveled the city during a war in which the people of Susa participated on the other side. A tablet unearthed in 1854 by Austen Henry Layard in Nineveh reveals Ashurbanipal as an "avenger", seeking retribution for the humiliations that the Elamites had inflicted on the Mesopotamians over

2323-561: The Early Dynastic period of Sumer . A battle between Kish and Susa is recorded in 2700 BC, when En-me-barage-si is said to have "made the land of Elam submit". In the Sumerian period, Susa was the capital of a state called Susiana (Šušan), which occupied approximately the same territory of modern Khūzestān Province centered on the Karun River . Control of Susiana shifted between Elam , Sumer, and Akkad . During

2424-571: The Elamite monarchy , many riches and materials were brought to Susa from the plundering of other cities. This was mainly due to the fact of Susa's location on Iran's South Eastern region, closer to the city of Babylon and cities in Mesopotamia. The use of the Elamite language as an administrative language was first attested in texts of ancient Ansan, Tall-e Mal-yan, dated 1000 BC. Previous to

2525-539: The Ishtar Gate in Babylon and have been dated to c. 592 BCE. Written in cuneiform , they mention Jeconiah ( Akkadian : 𒅀𒀪𒌑𒆠𒉡 , Yaʾúkinu [ ia-ʾ-ú-ki-nu ]) and his five sons as recipients of food rations in Babylon. Jeconiah reigned three months and ten days, beginning December 9, 598 BCE. He succeeded Jehoiakim as king of Judah after raiders from surrounding lands invaded Jerusalem and killed his father. It

2626-460: The Persian empire, and won the king's permission to carry out his plan. Mordecai communicated Haman's scheme to Queen Esther, who used her favor with the king to reverse the scheme, leading the king to authorize Jews to kill their enemies, which they did. During all this, the king had happened to learn of Mordecai's service in foiling the assassination plot and had asked Haman how a person who did

2727-561: The Sumerian king of Kish in Mesopotamia . Three dynasties ruled during this period. Twelve kings of each of the first two dynasties, those of Awan (or Avan ; c. 2400–2100 BC) and Simashki (c. 2100–1970 BC), are known from a list from Susa dating to the Old Babylonian period . Two Elamite dynasties said to have exercised brief control over parts of Sumer in very early times include Awan and Hamazi ; and likewise, several of

2828-406: The book of Esther is a novella rather than history. Persian kings did not marry outside of seven Persian noble families, making it unlikely that there was a Jewish queen Esther, and in any case the historical Xerxes's queen was Amestris . There is general agreement that the story was created to justify the Jewish appropriation of an originally non-Jewish feast. The festival which the book explains

2929-416: The 586 date therefore maintain that in this one instance, Ezekiel, without explicitly saying so, switched to the regnal years of Zedekiah, although Ezekiel apparently regarded Jeconiah as the rightful ruler and never names Zedekiah in his writing. Another view is that a later copyist, aware of the 2 Kings passage, modified it and inserted it into the text of Ezekiel. In his study of all biblical texts related to

3030-499: The Babylonian Chronicles in 1956, Thiele had determined from biblical texts that Nebuchadnezzar's initial capture of Jerusalem and its king Jeconiah occurred in the spring of 597 BCE, whereas Kenneth Strand points out that other scholars, including Albright, more frequently dated the event to 598 BCE. Thiele said that the 25th anniversary of Jeconiah's captivity was April 25 (10 Nisan), 573 BCE, implying that he began

3131-520: The Babylonian capture of Jerusalem, Young concludes that these conjectures are not necessary, and that all texts related to the fall of Jerusalem in Jeremiah, Ezekiel, 2 Kings, and 2 Chronicles are internally consistent and consistent with the fall of the city in Tammuz of 587 BCE. During his excavation of Babylon in 1899–1917, Robert Koldewey discovered a royal archive room of King Nebuchadnezzar near

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3232-463: The Great during his conquest of Elam (Susiana), of which Susa was the capital. The Nabonidus Chronicle records that, prior to the battle(s), Nabonidus had ordered cult statues from outlying Babylonian cities to be brought into the capital, suggesting that the conflict over Susa had begun possibly in the winter of 540 BC. It is probable that Cyrus negotiated with the Babylonian generals to obtain

3333-538: The Ishtar Gate. It contained tablets dating to 595–570 BCE. The tablets were translated in the 1930s by the German Assyriologist, Ernst Weidner. Four of these tablets list rations of oil and barley given to various individuals—including the deposed King Jehoiachin—by Nebuchadnezzar from the royal storehouses, dated five years after Jehoiachin was taken captive. One tablet reads: 10 (sila of oil) to

3434-543: The Law, God forgave him his sins (Lev. R. xix., end). Jehoiachin lived to see the death of his conqueror, Nebuchadnezzar, which brought him liberty; for within two days of his father's death Evil-merodach opened the prison in which Jehoiachin had languished for so many years. Jehoiachin's life is the best illustration of the maxim, "During prosperity a man must never forget the possibility of misfortune; and in adversity must not despair of prosperity's return" (Seder 'Olam R. xxv.). On

3535-722: The Middle Elamite period began with the rise of the Anshanite dynasties. Their rule was characterized by an "Elamisation" of Susa, and the kings took the title "king of Anshan and Susa". While, previously, the Akkadian language was frequently used in inscriptions, the succeeding kings, such as the Igihalkid dynasty of c. 1400 BC, tried to use Elamite. Thus, Elamite language and culture grew in importance in Susiana. This

3636-725: The Museum of the Louvre throughout the late 1890s and early 1900s. De Morgan's most important work was the excavation of the Grande Tranchée in the Acropole mound, where he found the stele of Naram-Sin , a collection of Babylonian kudurrus (boundary stones), the stele bearing the Code of Hammurabi , an ornamented bronze table of snakes, the bronze statue of Queen Napir-Asu , and thousands of inscribed bricks. His finds showed Susa to be

3737-605: The Susa cemetery, as well as 10 round discs probably used as mirrors. Many awls and spatulas were also found. The cemetery of Chega Sofla , from the same timeframe, provides a lot of similar material, with many sophisticated metal objects. Chega Sofla is located in the same geographical area. Susa came within the Uruk cultural sphere during the Uruk period . An imitation of the entire state apparatus of Uruk, proto-writing , cylinder seals with Sumerian motifs, and monumental architecture

3838-738: The Talmud accords Mordecai the status of a descendant of the first King of Israel . Susa Susa ( / ˈ s uː s ə / SOO -sə ; Middle Elamite : 𒀸𒋗𒊺𒂗 , romanized:  Šušen ; Middle and Neo- Elamite : 𒋢𒋢𒌦 , romanized:  Šušun ; Neo- Elamite and Achaemenid Elamite : 𒀸𒋗𒐼𒀭 , romanized:  Šušan ; Achaemenid Elamite : 𒀸𒋗𒐼 , romanized:  Šuša ; Persian : شوش Šuš [ʃuʃ] ; Hebrew : שׁוּשָׁן Šūšān ; ‹See Tfd› Greek : Σοῦσα Soûsa ; Syriac : ܫܘܫ Šuš ; Middle Persian : 𐭮𐭥𐭱𐭩 Sūš or 𐭱𐭥𐭮 Šūs ; Old Persian : 𐏂𐎢𐏁𐎠 Çūšā )

3939-613: The University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia says, "they Susanians are participating entirely in an Uruk way of life. They are not culturally distinct; the material culture of Susa is a regional variation of that on the Mesopotamian plain". Gilbert Stein, director of the University of Chicago's Oriental Institute, says that "An expansion once thought to have lasted less than 200 years now apparently went on for 700 years. It

4040-462: The advice of Jehoiachin, Nebuchadnezzar's son cut his father's body into 300 pieces, which he gave to 300 vultures, so that he could be sure that Nebuchadnezzar would never return to worry him ("Chronicles of Jerahmeel," lxvi. 6). Evil-merodach treated Jehoiachin as a king, clothed him in purple and ermine, and for his sake liberated all the Jews that had been imprisoned by Nebuchadnezzar (Targ. Sheni, near

4141-440: The age of eight, while in 2 Kings 24:8 Jeconiah is said to have come to the throne at eighteen. Modern scholars have treated the difference between "eight" and "eighteen" as reflecting a copying error on one side or the other of the issue. After Jeconiah was deposed as king, his uncle Zedekiah ( 2 Kings 24:17 ) was appointed by Nebuchadnezzar to rule Judah. Zedekiah was the son of Josiah . Jeconiah would later be regarded as

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4242-474: The beginning). It was Jehoiachin, also, who erected the magnificent mausoleum on the grave of the prophet Ezekiel (Benjamin of Tudela, "Itinerary," ed. Asher, i. 66). In the Second Temple there was a gate called "Jeconiah's Gate," because, according to tradition, Jeconiah (Jehoiachin) left the Temple through that gate when he went into exile (Mid. ii. 6). Jeconiah was the son of Jehoiakim and Nehushta ,

4343-428: The books of Ezra (Ezra 4:9), Nehemiah (Nehemiah 1:1) and Daniel (Daniel 8:2). According to these texts, Nehemiah lived in Susa during the Babylonian captivity of the 6th century BC (Daniel mentions it in a prophetic vision), while Esther became queen there, married to King Ahasuerus , and saved the Jews from genocide . A tomb presumed to be that of Daniel is located in the area, known as Shush-Daniel . However,

4444-404: The captivity of Jeconiah with a 586 date, and the calculation given above that uses the customary Tishri-based years yields the summer of 587, consistent with all other texts in Ezekiel related to Jeconiah's captivity. Another text in Ezekiel offers a clue to why there has been such a conflict over the date of Jerusalem's fall in the first place. Ezekiel 24:1 –2 (NIV) records the following: In

4545-437: The captivity started was considered year one of the captivity), otherwise the 37th year of captivity, the year in which Jeconiah was released from prison, would start on Nisan 1 of 560 BCE (597 − 37), two years after the accession year of Amel-Marduk, according to the dating of his accession year that can be fixed with exactitude by the Babylonian Chronicle. Thiele then noted that Ezekiel 40:1 says that this 25th year of captivity

4646-446: The centuries: "Susa, the great holy city, abode of their gods, seat of their mysteries, I conquered. I entered its palaces, I opened their treasuries where silver and gold, goods and wealth were amassed. . . .I destroyed the ziggurat of Susa. I smashed its shining copper horns. I reduced the temples of Elam to naught; their gods and goddesses I scattered to the winds. The tombs of their ancient and recent kings I devastated, I exposed to

4747-559: The course of excavation. Almost all of the excavations at Susa, post-1885, were organized and authorized by the French government. In two treaties in 1894 and 1899, the French gained a monopoly on all archaeological excavations in Iran indefinitely. Jacques de Morgan , after visiting the site in 1891, conducted major excavations from 1897 until 1911. The excavations that were conducted in Susa brought many artistic and historical artifacts back to France. These artifacts filled multiple halls in

4848-453: The daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem. He had eight children: Assir , Shealtiel , Malkiram, Pedaiah , Shenazzar , Jekamiah , Hoshama and Nedabiah . ( 1 Chronicles 3:17–18 ). Jeconiah is also mentioned in the first book of Chronicles as the father of Pedaiah, who in turn was the father of Zerubbabel . A list of his descendants is given in 1 Chronicles 3:17–24 . In listing the genealogy of Jesus Christ , Matthew 1:11 records Jeconiah

4949-420: The day in which the captivity or exile proper began. He therefore ended Jehoiachin's reign of three months and ten days on this date. The dates he gives for Jeconiah's reign are then: 21 Heshvan (9 December) 598 BCE to 10 Nisan (22 April) 597 BCE. Thiele's reasoning in this regard has been criticized by Rodger C. Young, who advocates the 587 date for the fall of Jerusalem. Young argues that Thiele's arithmetic

5050-417: The era of Elamites, the Akkadian language was responsible for most or all of the text used in ancient documents. Susiana was incorporated by Sargon the Great into his Akkadian Empire in approximately 2330 BC. The main goddess of the city was Nanaya , who had a significant temple in Susa. The Old Elamite period began around 2700 BC. Historical records mention the conquest of Elam by Enmebaragesi ,

5151-465: The event. In this regard, the Biblical texts regarding Jeconiah are especially important, because the time of his reign in Jerusalem was fixed by Donald Wiseman 's 1956 publication, and this is consistent with his thirty-seventh year of captivity overlapping the accession year of Amel-Marduk, as mentioned above. Ezekiel 's treatment of Jeconiah's dates are a starting point for determining the date of

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5252-957: The events described in the Book of Esther (assuming the biblical Ahasuerus is indeed Xerxes I ). However, the verse may be read as referring not to Mordecai's exile to Babylon, but to his great-grandfather Kish's exile — a reading which many accept. The Targum Sheni gives his genealogy in more detail, as follows: "Mordecai, son of Jair, son of Shimei, son of Shemida, son of Ba'anah, son of Elah, son of Micah, son of Mephibosheth , son of Jonathan , son of Saul, son of Kish , son of Abiel, son of Zeror, son of Bechorath , son of Aphiah, son of Shecharim, son of Uzziah, son of Sason, son of Michael, son of Eliel, son of Amihud, son of Shephatiah, son of Penuel, son of Petakh, son of Melokh, son of Yerubaal, son of Yeruham, son of Hananiah, son of Zabdi, son of Elpa'al, son of Shimri, son of Zebadiah, son of Rimoth, son of Khashum, son of Shekhorah, son of Gazza, son of 'Uzza, son of Gera, son of Bela, son of Benjamin , son of Jacob

5353-459: The exile to Babylon on 10 Nisan 597, 24 years earlier. His reasoning in arriving at this exact date was based on Ezekiel 40:1 , where Ezekiel, without naming the month, says it was the tenth day of the month, "on that very day." Since this fits with his idea that Jeconiah's (and Ezekiel's) exile to Babylon began a month later than the capturing of the city, thus allowing a new Nisan-based year to begin, Thiele took these words in Ezekiel as referring to

5454-510: The fall of Jerusalem (586 BCE) is inconsistent with the precise data given in the Bible and the Babylonian Chronicle. The reign of Jeconiah is considered important in establishing the chronology of events in the early sixth century BCE in the Middle East . This includes resolving the date of the fall of Jerusalem to Nebuchadnezzar . According to Jeremiah 52:6 , the city wall was breached in

5555-423: The fall of Jerusalem, 14 years earlier, would be in 587, not the 586 that Galil and Thiele advocate. There is further conflict with the Babylonian data, because the 37th year of captivity, the year in which Jeconiah was released from prison, would be the year starting in Nisan of 561 BCE, not Nisan of 562 BCE as given in the Babylonian Chronicle. Recognizing these conflicts, Galil admits (p. 377) that his date for

5656-422: The fall of Jerusalem. He dated his writings according to the years of captivity he shared with Jeconiah, and he mentions several events related to the fall of Jerusalem in those writings. In Ezekiel 40:1 , Ezekiel dates his vision to the 25th year of the exile and fourteen years after the city fell. If Ezekiel and the author of 2 Kings 25:27 were both using Tishri-based years, the 25th year would be 574/573 BCE and

5757-430: The fall of the city, 14 years earlier, would be in 588/587—i.e., in the summer of 587 BCE. This is consistent with other texts in Ezekiel related to the fall of the city. Ezekiel 33:21 relates that a refugee arrived in Babylon and reported the fall of Jerusalem in the twelfth year, tenth month of "our exile." Measuring from the first year of exile, 598/597, this was January of 586 BCE, incompatible with Jerusalem falling in

5858-480: The first of the exilarchs . In the Book of Ezekiel , the author refers to Jeconiah as king and dates certain events by the number of years he was in exile. The author identifies himself as Ezekiel , a contemporary of Jeconiah, and he never mentions Zedekiah by name. According to 2 Kings 25:27 – 30 , Jeconiah was released from prison "in the 37th year of the exile", in the year that Amel-Marduk (Evil-Merodach) came to

5959-533: The firstborn, whose name is called Israel ." The same genealogy is inscribed on a massive metal tablet in the Tomb of Esther and Mordechai (pictured). This traditional genealogy implicates Kish as the name of an ancient ancestor and not simply Mordecai's great-grandfather, meaning that Esther 2:5—6 was interpreted as Mordecai being the one who was exiled to Babylon. The chronological inconsistencies of this assumption are detailed above. The Talmud lists Esther as

6060-454: The keys that you have entrusted to us until now." Then a miracle happened; for a fiery hand appeared and took the keys, or, as others say, the keys remained suspended in the air where the king had thrown them (Lev. R. l.c.; Yer. Sheḳ. vi. 50a; other versions of the legend of the keys are given in Ta'an. 29a; Pesiḳ. R. 26 [ed. Friedmann, p. 131a], and Syriac Apoc. Baruch, x. 18). The king as well as all

6161-402: The king of Judah, Yaukin; 2 1/2 sila (oil) to the offspring of Judah's king; 4 sila to eight men from Judea. Another reads: 1 1/2 sila (oil) for three carpenters from Arvad, 1/2 apiece; 11 1/2 sila for eight wood workers from Byblos ...; 3 1/2 sila for seven Greek craftsman, 1/2 sila apiece; 1/2 sila to the carpenter, Nabuetir; 10 sila to Ia-ku-u-ki-nu, the son of Judah's king[1]; 2 1/2 sila for

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6262-467: The king's chamberlains Bigthan and Teresh to assassinate the king. Because of Mordecai's vigilance, the plot was foiled. Haman the Agagite had been raised to the highest position at court. In spite of the king's decree that all should prostrate themselves before Haman, Mordecai refused to do so. Haman, stung by Mordecai's refusal, resolved to kill not only Mordecai but all Jewish exiles throughout

6363-454: The most important center of Elamite civilization , which was effectively discovered by the French mission at Susa. Excavation efforts continued under Roland De Mecquenem until 1914, at the beginning of World War I . French work at Susa resumed after the war, led by De Mecquenem, continuing until World War II in 1940. To supplement the original publications of De Mecquenem the archives of his excavation have now been put online thanks to

6464-768: The neighbouring territories and became the king of Elam . He encouraged the use of the Linear Elamite script, that remains undeciphered. The city was subsequently conquered by the neo-Sumerian Third Dynasty of Ur and held until Ur finally collapsed at the hands of the Elamites under Kindattu in ca. 2004 BC. At this time, Susa was ruled by Elam again and became its capital under the Shimashki dynasty. Numerous artifacts of Indus Valley civilization origin have been found in Susa from this period, especially seals and etched carnelian beads , pointing to Indus-Mesopotamia relations during this period. Around 1500 BC,

6565-415: The ninth year of Zedekiah's reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched against Jerusalem with his whole army. He encamped outside the city and built siege works all around it. The ninth year, tenth month, tenth day in Ezekiel is identical to the period in 2 Kings. In Ezekiel, the years are everywhere else measured according to Jeconiah's captivity, which must be taken in

6666-495: The ninth year, in the tenth month on the tenth day, the word of the Lord came to me: "Son of man, record this date, this very date, because the king of Babylon has laid siege to Jerusalem this very day." Assuming that dating here is according to the years of exile of Jeconiah, as elsewhere in Ezekiel, the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem began on January 27, 589 BCE. This can be compared to a similar passage in 2 Kings 25:1 (NIV): So in

6767-614: The organization of the society that commissioned them. Painted ceramic vessels from Susa in the earliest first style are a late, regional version of the Mesopotamian Ubaid ceramic tradition that spread across the Near East during the fifth millennium BC. Susa I style was very much a product of the past and of influences from contemporary ceramic industries in the mountains of western Iran. The recurrence in close association of vessels of three types—a drinking goblet or beaker,

6868-568: The original vowels, though the Masoretic Text versions of the Persian names in the Bible are known to be the most reliable. Esther 2:5-6 contains a short snippet of Mordecai's genealogical history, generally translated as, "Mordecai, the son of Jair, the son of Shimei , the son of Kish, who had been carried into exile from Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, among those taken captive with Jeconiah king of Judah". The wording of

6969-559: The passage lends to two conclusions: either that Mordecai (the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish) was carried into exile by Nebuchadnezzar, or that his ancestor Kish was the one carried into exile. The Pentecostal minister Finis Dake interprets the Bible verses Esther 2:5–6 to mean that Mordecai himself was exiled by Nebuchadnezzar. Biblical scholar Michael D. Coogan discusses this as an inaccuracy regarding Mordecai's age. If "who had been carried into exile" refers to Mordecai, he would have had been more than 100 years old during

7070-465: The region around Susa were a number of towns (with their own platforms) and villages that maintained a trading relationship with the city, especially those along the Zagro frontier. The founding of Susa corresponded with the abandonment of nearby villages. Potts suggests that the settlement may have been founded to try to reestablish the previously destroyed settlement at Chogha Mish , about 25 km to

7171-707: The same verse, Ezekiel says it was Rosh Hashanah (New Year's Day) and also the tenth of the month, indicating the start of a Jubilee year, since only in a Jubilee year did the year begin on the tenth of Tishri, the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 25:9). The Talmud (tractate Arakin 12a,b) and the Seder Olam (chapter 11) also say that Ezekiel saw his vision at the beginning of a Jubilee year, the 17th, consistent with this interpretation of Ezekiel 40:1 . Because this offers an alternative explanation to Thiele's interpretation of Ezekiel 40:1, and because Thiele's chronology for Jeconiah

7272-498: The scholars and nobles of Judah were then carried away captive by Nebuchadnezzar (Seder 'Olam R. l.c.; compare Ratner's remark ad loc.). According to Josephus, Jehoiachin gave up the city and his relatives to Nebuchadnezzar, who took an oath that neither they nor the city should be harmed. But the Babylonian king broke his word; for scarcely a year had elapsed when he led the king and many others into captivity. Jehoiachin's sad experiences changed his nature entirely, and as he repented of

7373-832: The setting of The Persians (472 BC), an Athenian tragedy by the ancient Greek playwright Aeschylus that is the oldest surviving play in the history of theatre . Events mentioned in the Old Testament book of Esther are said to have occurred in Susa during the Achaemenid period. The King Ahasuerus mentioned in that book may refer to Xerxes I (486-465 BC). Jeconiah Jeconiah ( Hebrew : יְכָנְיָה Yəḵonəyā [jəxɔnjaː] , meaning " Yah has established"; Greek : Ἰεχονίας ; Latin : Iechonias, Jechonias ), also known as Coniah and as Jehoiachin ( Hebrew : יְהוֹיָכִין Yəhōyāḵīn [jəhoːjaːˈxiːn] ; Latin : Ioachin, Joachin ),

7474-494: The sins which he had committed as king he was pardoned by God, who revoked the decree to the effect that none of his descendants should ever become king (Jer. xxii. 30; Pesiḳ., ed. Buber, xxv. 163a, b); he even became the ancestor of the Messiah (Tan., Toledot, 20 [ed. Buber, i. 140]). It was especially his firmness in fulfilling the Law that restored him to God's favor. He was kept by Nebuchadnezzar in solitary confinement, and as he

7575-515: The site is still recognizable today in the artistry of the ceramic vessels that were placed as offerings in a thousand or more graves near the base of the temple platform. Susa's earliest settlement is known as the Susa I period (c. 4200–3900 BC). Two settlements named by archaeologists the Acropolis (7 ha) and the Apadana (6.3 ha), would later merge to form Susa proper (18 ha). The Apadana

7676-497: The son of Josiah as an ancestor of Joseph , the husband of Mary . This Jeconiah is uncle of Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim (1 Chron 3:16), which the Jeconiah/Jehoiakim lineage was cursed (Jer 22:24,30). The Jeconiah/Josiah (Matt 1:11) lineage to Jesus is not cursed. The Babylonian Chronicles establish that Nebuchadnezzar captured Jerusalem for the first time on 2 Adar (16 March) 597 BCE. Before Wiseman's publication of

7777-589: The story as real history, but others have said the attempt to find a historical kernel to the narrative "is likely to be futile". The name "Mordecai" is of uncertain origin but is considered identical to the name Marduka or Marduku ( Elamite : 𒈥𒁺𒋡 ), attested as the name of up to four Persian court officials in thirty texts (the Persepolis Administrative Archives ) from the period of Xerxes I and his father Darius. The Talmud ( Menachot 64b and 65a) relates that his full name

7878-457: The stronger Sumerian rulers, such as Eannatum of Lagash and Lugal-anne-mundu of Adab , are recorded as temporarily dominating Elam. Susa was the capital of an Akkadian province until ca. 2100 BC, when its governor, Kutik-Inshushinak , rebelled and made it an independent state and a literary center. Also, he was the last from the Awan dynasty according to the Susa kinglist. He unified

7979-462: The summer month of Tammuz in the eleventh year of Zedekiah . Historians, however, have been divided on whether the year was 587 or 586 BCE. A 1990 study listed eleven scholars who preferred 587 and eleven who preferred 586. The Babylonian records of the second capture of Jerusalem have not been found, and scholars looking at the chronology of the period must rely on the Biblical texts, as correlated with extant Babylonian records from before and after

8080-477: The summer of 586 BCE, but consistent with its fall in the summer of 587 BCE. The other side holds that since Jeconiah surrendered in March 597, January 586 is less than eleven years later and therefore can not be considered in the twelfth year of the exile. Thiele held to a 586 BCE date for the capture of Jerusalem and the end of Zedekiah's reign. Recognizing to some extent the importance of Ezekiel's measuring time by

8181-480: The sun, and I carried away their bones toward the land of Ashur. I devastated the provinces of Elam and, on their lands, I sowed salt." Assyrian rule of Susa began in 647 BC and lasted till Median capture of Susa in 617 BC. Susa underwent a major political and ethnocultural transition when it became part of the Persian Achaemenid empire between 540 and 539 BC when it was captured by Cyrus

8282-607: The throne of David or rule anymore in Judah. Chapter 1, verses 11–12 of the Gospel of Matthew lists Jeconiah in the lineage of Jesus Christ , through Joseph . If Joseph was the biological father of Jesus (contrary to Christian belief), then Jesus could not rightfully claim to be the Messiah as the curse of Jeconiah, if true, would apply to Him. Richard Challoner interpreted the two genealogies of Matthew and Luke to be referring to

8383-668: The throne, and given a prestigious position at court. Jeconiah's release in Babylon brings to a close the Books of Kings and the Deuteronomistic history . Babylonian records show that Amel-Marduk began his reign in October 562 BCE. According to Jeremiah 52:31 , Jeconiah was released from prison "in the twelfth month, on the twenty-fifth day of the month": this indicates the first year of captivity to be 598/597 BCE, according to Judah's Tishri -based calendar. The 37th year of captivity

8484-417: The west. Previously, Chogha Mish was a very large settlement, and it featured a similar massive platform that was later built at Susa. Another important settlement in the area is Chogha Bonut , which was discovered in 1976. Shortly after Susa was first settled over 6000 years ago, its inhabitants erected a monumental platform that rose over the flat surrounding landscape. The exceptional nature of

8585-479: The years of captivity of Jeconiah, and in particular the reference to the 25th year of that captivity in Ezekiel 40:1, he wrote, Although the Babylonian tablets dealing with the final fall and destruction of Jerusalem have not been found, it should be noticed that the testimony of Ezekiel 40:1 is definitive in regard to the year 586. Since Ezekiel had his vision of the temple on the twenty-fifth anniversary of his and Jehoiachin's captivity (28 April 573), and since this

8686-561: Was " Mordechai Bilshan " (which occurs in Ezra 2:2 and Nehemiah 7:7, albeit likely as two separate names in sequence). Hoschander interpreted this as the Babylonian "Marduk-belshunu" (𒀭𒀫𒌓𒂗𒋗𒉡, AMAR.UTU-EN- šu - nu , meaning " Marduk is their lord") "Mordecai" being thus a hypocorism . In the King James Version of the deuterocanonical Greek additions to Esther , his name is spelled as Mardocheus , which may better preserve

8787-412: Was 14 years after the city fell. Fourteen years before 573/572 is 587/586, and since Thiele is assuming Nisan years for the captivity, this period ended the day before Nisan 1 of 586. But this is three months and nine days before Thiele's date for the fall of the city on 9 Tammuz 586 BCE. Even Thiele's assumption that the years of captivity were measured from Nisan does not reconcile Ezekiel's chronology for

8888-481: Was also the period when the Elamite pantheon was being imposed in Susiana. This policy reached its height with the construction of the political and religious complex at Chogha Zanbil , 30 km (19 mi) south-east of Susa. In ca. 1175 BC, the Elamites under Shutruk-Nahhunte plundered the original stele bearing the Code of Hammurabi and took it to Susa. Archeologists found it in 1901. Nebuchadnezzar I of

8989-827: Was an ancient city in the lower Zagros Mountains about 250 km (160 mi) east of the Tigris , between the Karkheh and Dez Rivers in Iran. One of the most important cities of the Ancient Near East , Susa served as the capital of Elam and the winter capital of the Achaemenid Empire , and remained a strategic centre during the Parthian and Sasanian periods. The site currently consists of three archaeological mounds, covering an area of around 1 square kilometre (0.39 sq mi). The city of Shush

9090-472: Was done by William Loftus , accompanied by Fenwick Williams , who identified it as Susa. Among his finds was a jar containing around 110 coins, the earliest of which was dated to 697-98 AD. In 1885 and 1886 Marcel-Auguste Dieulafoy and Jane Dieulafoy began the first French excavations, discovering glazed bricks, column bases, and capitals from the palace of the Achaemenid kings. However, they failed to identify mudbrick walls, which were then destroyed in

9191-457: Was enclosed by 6 metre thick walls of rammed earth (this particular place is named Apadana because it also contains a late Achaemenid structure of this type). Nearly two thousand pots of Susa I style were recovered from the cemetery, most of them now in the Louvre . The vessels found are eloquent testimony to the artistic and technical achievements of their makers, and they hold clues about

9292-570: Was far larger than Susa at the time, Susa was not its colony, but still maintained some independence for a long time, according to Potts. An architectural link has also been suggested between Susa, Tal-i Malyan, and Godin Tepe at this time, in support of the idea of the parallel development of the Proto-Cuneiform and proto-elamite scripts. Some scholars believe that Susa was part of the greater Uruk culture. Holly Pittman, an art historian at

9393-414: Was more significant at the early period, and also continued later on. Thus, Susa combined the influence of two cultures, from the highland area and from the alluvial plains . Potts also stresses the fact that the writing and numerical systems of Uruk were not simply borrowed in Susa wholesale. Rather, only partial and selective borrowing took place, that was adapted to Susa's needs. Despite the fact that Uruk

9494-469: Was no new construction in that period so this is in dispute. Under Cyrus' son Cambyses II , Susa became a center of political power as one of four capitals of the Achaemenid Persian empire, while reducing the significance of Pasargadae as the capital of Persis. Following Cambyses' brief rule, Darius the Great began a major building program in Susa and Persepolis , which included building

9595-516: Was not to be measured from Adar of 597 BCE, the month Nebuchadnezzar captured Jerusalem and its king according to the Babylonian Chronicle, but in the next month, Nisan, when Thiele assumed Jeconiah began the trip to Babylon. Granting these assumptions, the first year of captivity would be the year starting in Nisan of 597 BCE. The twenty-fifth year of captivity would start in Nisan of 573 BCE, (573/572) twenty-four years later. Years of captivity must be measured in this non-accession sense (the year in which

9696-580: Was one of the most important cities of the Ancient Near East . In historic literature , Susa appears in the very earliest Sumerian records: for example, it is described as one of the places obedient to Inanna , patron deity of Uruk , in Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta . Susa is mentioned in the Ketuvim of the Hebrew Bible by the name Shushan, mainly in the Book of Esther , but also once each in

9797-527: Was poor policy to have Jehoiachin for king (Lev. R. xix. 6; Seder 'Olam R. xxv.). In Daphne, near Antiochia, Nebuchadnezzar received the Great Sanhedrin, to whom he announced that he would not destroy the Temple if the king were delivered up to him. When the king heard this resolution of Nebuchadnezzar he went upon the roof of the Temple, and, turning to heaven, held up the Temple keys, saying: "As you no longer consider us worthy to be your ministers, take

9898-480: Was the fourteenth year after Jerusalem's fall, the city must have fallen eleven years after the captivity. Eleven years after 597 is 586. In order to justify his 586 date, Thiele had assumed that the years of captivity for Jeconiah must be calendar years starting in Nisan, in contrast to the Tishri-based years that he used everywhere else for the kings of Judah. He also assumed that Jeconiah's captivity or exile

9999-615: Was the nineteenth and penultimate king of Judah who was dethroned by the King of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar II in the 6th century BCE and was taken into captivity. He was the son and successor of King Jehoiakim , and the grandson of King Josiah . Most of what is known about Jeconiah is found in the Hebrew Bible . Records of Jeconiah's existence have been found in Iraq , such as the Jehoiachin's Rations Tablets . These tablets were excavated near

10100-459: Was therefore separated from his wife, the Sanhedrin, which had been expelled with him to Babylon, feared that at the death of this queen the house of David would become extinct. They managed to gain the favor of Queen Semiramis, who induced Nebuchadnezzar to ameliorate the lot of the captive king by permitting his wife to share his prison. As he then manifested great self-control and obedience to

10201-493: Was thus, by Judean reckoning, the year that began in Tishri of 562, consistent with the synchronism to the accession year of Amel-Marduk given in Babylonian records. Jeremiah (22:28–30) cursed Jeconiah that none of his descendants would ever sit on the throne of Israel: This is what the L ORD says: 'Record this man as if childless, a man who will not prosper in his lifetime, for none of his offspring will prosper, none will sit on

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