Tirhakah of Cush Posted on January 23, 2009

___________________

The Bible and Archaeology – Is the Bible from God? (Kyle Butt 42 min)

Tirhakah of Cush

Frequently the Bible records the statements of various foreign rulers. One such record is that of the Assyrian king Sennacherib.

When he heard them say concerning Tirhakah king of Cush, “Behold, he has come out to fight against you,” he sent messengers again to Hezekiah saying,  “Thus you shall say to Hezekiah king of Judah, ‘Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you saying, “Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.”  (2 Kings 19:9-10)

The Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament comments on the term Cush(Ethiopia) as it is used in several Old Testament prophecies.

In several cases, especially in the prophets, Ethiopia is used in parallel construction as a synonym of Egypt (Isa 20:3-5; Ezek 30:4; Nah 3:9). This probably represents the dominance of Ethiopia (or, more precisely, Nubia) over Egypt between 750 and 663 B.C. Terhakah was a notable Nubian pharaoh who tried, unsuccessfully, to block Sennacherib’s westward expansion (2Kings 19:9 ; Isa 37:9). After 663 B. C. Egypt was independent of Nubia (Jer 46:9; Ezek 25:4, 5, 9).

Tirhakah under the protection of the god Amun. British Museum photo by F. Jenkins.

This colossal statue shows Tirhakah standing under the protection of the god Amun shown as a recumbent ram. The gray granite sculpture, dating to about 675 B.C., was found at Karnak. This granite is typical of the Aswan area.

Yesterday afternoon we visited a Nubian Village on the banks of the Nile River at the first cataract of the Nile at Aswan. The Nubians at the village originally lived south of Aswan in the ancient territory of Cush. When the new High Dam was built on the Nile the Nubians were moved to other settlements.

One of the interesting things I observed at the village was a shop of some sort called House of Kush (Cush). A sign on top of the building added “Welcome to Taharka Kingdom.”

House of Kush at Nubian Village, Aswan, Egypt. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins.

This photo is especially for Mrs. Caldwell’s class at the Florida College Academy. I hope you are enjoying the photos of Egypt.

 

 

_______

 

 

______________

Post a comment or leave a trackback: Trackback URL.

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.