A collection of cuneiform tablets pertaining to Jewish life during the Babylonian Exile, displayed at the Bible Lands Museum in Jerusalem, are being analyzed by archaeologists. Experts believe that Nebuchadnezzar, the leader of Babylon at the time, at first tried to encourage the Jews to leave for Babylon, but later, as the kingdom continued to revolt he swept in to destroy Jerusalem when the people didn’t comply. In 586 B.C. the Kingdom of Judah was deposed and Jerusalem destroyed, and the remaining Jews were forced to migrate to Babylon (2 Chronicles 36:1-21). Though in exile, the Jews weren’t completely enslaved, according to an expert who examined the tablets. They worked in trade and business, and also served in the administration of the kingdom, as Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah did (Daniel 1:1-21).

Many of the tablets pertain to one particular family from Judea and cover the details of their lives, receipts, official documents, etc, for the span of over four generations (Mark Prigg, “The Palm Sized Tablets That Reveal What Life Was Really Like for Jews Exiled in Nebuchadnezzar’s Bablyon,” Reuters as covered in The Daily Mail, DailyMail.co.uk, February 3, 2015). 

While not spectacularly insightful or earth shattering in content, documents like these cuneiform tablets serve to verify the biblical record. The stories of the Bible are not always about great battles and heroic figures, God’s way of life is lived on a daily basis and it is in those daily details that the tapestry of the biblical story is overlaid.