Page 61 - Biblical Backgrounds

The Assyrian Background to the Old Testament
(2 Kings 15-19, Isaiah 36-37, Nahum)

Connect…

When you look back at World War II, one of the horrific acts of war was committed against the Jews.
Adolf Hitler and his cronies sought to destroy every Jewish person in the world, and they succeeded in
murdering over SIX MILLION Jewish people during their reign of terror. When the opposing forces
entered Germany and Poland, the soldiers and officers could not believe what they saw in the
concentration camps. How could any people be so brutal and barbaric against people who did them no
harm?

Today, we are going to study the ancient civilization of Assyria. We will discover that what happened to
the Jews in World War II was mild compared to how the Assyrians treated those people whom they
conquered. Their brutality cannot even be described in words. God used this empire to judge Israel for
her rebellion against Him. The prophets warned Israel of the horrific days ahead unless Israel repented,
but they refused. Let’s see how God used this evil nation to judge Israel, then see that God judges
Assyria in like manner.

The Lesson …

Assyria (2500 BCE– 609 BCE)

Information from this section was taken from https://www.bible-history.com/biblestudy/nineveh.html.
Assyria, a kingdom of northern Mesopotamia, became the center of one of the greatest empires of the
ancient Middle East. It was located in
what is now northern Iraq and
southeastern Turkey.
The Neo-Assyrian Empire was an Iron
Age Mesopotamian empire, in
existence between 911 BC and 609
BC, and became the largest empire of
the world up till that time.

The Assyrian empire became
extremely great and powerful, with
Nineveh as its center, all the way
until its final destruction by the
Chaldeans and the Medes. Nineveh
was located in a very desirable place,
east of the Tigris River in a very

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