Roughly a century before the fall of the
great city of Samaria to its Assyrian invaders, King Jehu of Israel paid
tribute to Assyria’s then-king, Shalmaneser III.
We know this not from
the account of Jehu’s life in scripture, but from an inscription on the side of
a six-and-a-half-foot obelisk currently making
its home in the British Museum. It depicts a rather scruffy-looking Israelite monarch on his face at the feet
of his Assyrian counterpart. The accompanying caption reads, “The tribute of
Jehu, son of Omri: I received from him silver, gold, a golden bowl, a
golden vase with pointed bottom, golden tumblers, golden buckets, tin, a staff
for a king [and] spears.”
The black obelisk was carved approximately
2,800 years ago. As you may appreciate, there are not many such items around.
Those that remain are highly valued by historians.
