Panamuwa Inscription
Ancient Near East
My father, Panamuwa— Because of the loyalty of his father, the gods of Ya’di delivered him from destruction which was in the house of his father. And the god Hadad stood with him. He set his throne. He destroyed the house of his father. He killed his father Barṣūr and seventy brothers of his father. But my father mounted a chariot and ruled. He pierced Panamuwa. He filled the prisons. He made ruined cities more numerous than inhabited ones.
Date: 733 B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
Source
2 Kings 10:7
Hebrew Bible
6 He wrote them a second letter, saying, “If you are really on my side and are willing to obey me, then take the heads of your master’s sons and come to me in Jezreel at this time tomorrow.” Now the king had 70 sons, and the prominent men of the city were raising them. 7 When they received the letter, they seized the king’s sons and executed all 70 of them. They put their heads in baskets and sent them to him in Jezreel. 8 The messenger came and told Jehu, “They have brought the heads of the king’s sons.” Jehu said, “Stack them in two piles at the entrance of the city gate until morning.”
Date: 6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition) (based on scholarly estimates)
Source
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Notes and References
"... Panamuwa – שבעים, “seventy”: The use of the numeral in other ancient Near Eastern texts has prompted F. C. Fensham to suggest that it was “quite probably used as a kind of symbolic figure” and that “the princes of the royal house were called ‘seventy sons’ or ‘seventy brothers’.” In his opinion “with the usage of seven and seventy the ancient Semites tried to make a difference between a smaller symbolic figure and a larger one”. Such use is not unparalleled ..."
Redondo, Marcio Loureiro
The Portrayal of the King in Ancient Semitic Texts and the Hebrew Book of Kings
(p. 148) University of Liverpool, 2001
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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