Archaeologists Unravel Biblical Murder Mystery

Modern detectives of archaeology have shed light on a murder committed 2,500 years ago and related in the Bible.

The court martial of a Jewish general for complicity in the murder of the prophet Uriahu — a murder mentioned in the Book of Jeremiah — among other charges, has been partly reconstructed through the translation of ancient Hebrew potsherds.

“The letters dealing with these matters provide us with the background of a highly important chapter of the Old Testament and of the history of religion,” according to Prof. Harry Torczyner, of the Hebrew University, who prepared the translation.

The letters appear to be records of a trial of Hoshaa jahu, commander of a place near Lachisch, sent to Ja’ush, commander of the Western Hebrew army and governor of the Lachisch fortress. The military court was in session just before the destruction of the fortress by Nebuchadnezzar in 588 B.C.

The potsherds are part of a find made by Prof. I. L. Starkey, head of the British Welcome Expedition to the Near East in 1935 at Tul-Duweit, midway between Hebron and Gaza, in excavations on the site of Lachisch. The final translations of the letters will be published shortly in England.

Lachisch is mentioned several times in the Bible. The potsherds, Prof. Torczyner reports, are “nothing less than letters which had been written to a certain Ja’ush during the latter period of the war between the Assyrians and the Jews, a short time before the destruction of Jerusalem.

“Ja’ush appears to have been the governor of Ladisch fortress and commandant of the Western army. The writer of the letters was Hochaajahu, the commandant of a smaller place in the vicinity.

“The letters had been found in an open room on one side of the fortress tower, which we at first had taken for a guards’ room. In the meantime, however, both Starkey and I, although we proceeded from different angles, have been led to the same conclusion, viz. that the room was used for court proceedings…

“The letters which were in this room and which all have to do with the shortcomings and the excuse of the above mentioned Hoshaajahu, would appear to be nothing else but the remains of the official files of the last military court which was in session immediately before its conquest and destruction by Nebuchadnezzar in 588 B.C.”

“Thus it is explained how it comes that the letters were written over a period of several years. Among the charges against Hoshaajahu, against which he defends himself, was apparently also that of having contributed to the murder of the prophet Uriahu, of which we have an account from Jeremiah.”