It is all Relative! The Conditions of Israelites from the Ten Tribes in the Assyrian Exile (27 August, 2013, Elul 21, 5773)
Contents:
1. Question from Jacob Toaff, M.d.
2. Introduction: The Assyrian Exile was Different from the Roman One.
3. Assyrian Exiles in General
4. Freedom of Religion or Lack of it?
5. Military Use of Exiles, Especially Israelite Ones
6. Some Additional Evidence Concerning the Exiles in Assyria
7. Intermediate Conclusion.
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1. Question from Jacob Toaff, M.D.
 Jacob Toaff wrote:
Dear Mr Davidi
Thank you very much for your effort.
I have a followup question:
First, a few verses from Deuteronomy:
28:64Â Â Â And the Lord will send you wandering among all peoples, from
one end of the earth to the other: there you will be servants to other
gods, of wood and stone, gods of which you and your fathers had no
knowledge.
28:65Â Â Â And even among these nations there will be no peace for you,
and no rest for your feet: but the Lord will give you there a shaking
heart and wasting eyes and weariness of soul:
28:66Â Â Â Your very life will be hanging in doubt before you, and day
and night will be dark with fears, and nothing in life will be
certain:
28:67Â Â Â In the morning you will say, If only it was evening! And at
evening you will say, If only morning would come! Because of the fear
in your hearts and the things which your eyes will see.
Generally the critics (as far as I know)Â will say that the bible was
written shortly after the return from Babylon. A few hundred years
separate this from the assyirian exile.Can we prove from predominantly
nonbiblical sources that these verses do not fit the first
few hundred years of the assyrian exile? I.e for instance are there
archaeological sources that describe the quality of life and the
extent of geographical dispersion of the exiled ten
tribes during these few hundred years ? ( If yes, do we know whether
they relate to most of the exiled
ten tribes , or only to a part and there is a significant other part,
whose fate during this period we do not know?)
sincerely
Jacob Toaff, M.D
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2. Introduction: The Assyrian Exile was Different from the Roman One.
Shalom,
Your question is a continuation of related issues we dealt with in our article,
The Roman Eagle
Prophecy Fulfilled. Are the Prophecies of Deuteronomy 28 really concerned with the Jews in Roman Times? Or could they apply to the Ten Tribes in Assyrian Exile? or the Jews in Babylonian Times?
http://hebrewnations.com/articles/jew/eagle.html
Concerning the Ten Tribes after they were exiled.We have Assyrian Records that speak of Exiles from Samaria.
In general we may say,
Israelites from the Ten Tribes were not treated differently from the Exiles of other lands.
Israelites in many cases very quickly reached prominent positions in the Assyrian Hierarchy.
In our opinion (as Scythians) in little more than a century they virtually took control of the Assyrian Empire.
At all events under the Assyrians the Israelite Exile were not despised, oppressed, scattered, and persecuted. This happened to the Jews under the Romans. it did not happen to the Israelites under Assyria.
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3. Assyrian Exiles in General
     Assyrian wall carvings depict captured peoples being systematically tortured, maimed, mass-raped, and exterminated. Assyrian descriptions of their own actions seem to reveal a sadistic pride in their own cruelty. At the same time, Assyrian monarchs also glorified themselves by the success of their re-settlement policies and by the material benefits these brought to all inhabitants of the vast Assyrian Empire. Sennacherib (704-681) reigned some time after the first Hebrews had been transported. He considered the proposition of deportation to a suitable area a reasonable offer when demanding the capitulation of Jerusalem: Â
Make an agreement with me and come out to me... until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of corn and wine, a land of bread and vineyards (Isaiah 36:16-17).
           The besieged inhabitants of Jerusalem did not accept Sennacherib's offer but it was made and may have relied on knowledge of historical precedent concerning the northern Israelites. The sources are therefore ambiguous and the best way to reconcile them is to assume that the quicker a conquered people assimilated itself to Assyrian concepts and needs the better off it would be.
 The overall number of Exiles from all places may have comprised a significant section of the populace of the Assyrian Empire.
Some of the Exiles (from all lands) may have been put to work in near slave-like conditions working in quarries etc. Assyrian illustration exist indicating that the phenomenon existed.
There were cases where females from one nation were separated from males and coupled with males from another.
See:
Hebrew Fathers?
Did Only Male Descendants Survive in Some Cases? Are Many of the Ten Tribes descended from Non-Israelite Women? Notes for Further Study.
http://hebrewnations.com/articles/tribes/fathers.html
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Nevertheless,
the overall impression is that in general, compared with other peoples and by the standards of that time Israelites were treated reasonably. They were not discriminated against.
 In some cases the Exiles were also placed within Assyrian cities. On the whole they were resettled in groups drawn from single communities ( ODED, BUSTENAI. "Mass Deportations And Deportees In The Neo Assyrian Empire", Wiesbaden, Germany, 1979) so that some aspects of their previous social stratification and national cohesion remained.
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4. Freedom of Religion or Lack of it?
Encyclopedia-type articles on the subject sometimes say the Assyrians allowed the Exiles freedom of religion. This however was not always the case.
One inscription says that exiles were forced to accept the religion of Assyria (RAWLINSON, G. "History of Herodotus", Translation and Commentary, London 1858).
An expression in Amos indicates that at the time of conquest the Assyrians forbade the worship of the One God of Israel, ...to bring the bones out of the house ....Then shall he say, Hold thy tongue: for we may not make mention of the name of the LORD (Amos 6:10).Â
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 5. Military Use of Exiles, Especially Israelite Ones  Â
      The exiles were put to use to settle border areas and thus serve as buffer elements against the enemies of Assyria. The intention was to place these people in areas where they would be dependent on maintaining a niche in Assyria's defence for their own protection (Oded). They were supposed to man colonial outposts on a semi-military feudal type arrangement.
           The Assyrians were constantly in search of fresh manpower. The Assyrian population seems to have been dwindling due to emigration, revolts, depletion by warfare and internecine struggle, and by immorality (Cambridge Ancients History vol. 3 p.131, Cambridge History of Iran p.121).
           The Assyrians would systematically replenish their forces by absorbing cavalry and chariot units, archers, and specialized and general auxiliary manpower from amongst Israelite, Syrian, and other exile populations (Oded, p.52;  ELAT, Moshe. "Economic Relations in the Lands of the Bible ca. 1000 539 b.c." (Hebrew), Jerusalem , Israel 1977, p.82 ff.).
 Armored horsemen were first depicted by the Assyrians in the reign of Tiglathpileser-iii and they were shown as 'Aramaeans' (i.e. Syrians or Israelites) using Assyrian equipment [cf.STILLMAN & TALLIS, NIGEL. “Armies of the Ancient Near East 3000 BC to 539 BCâ€, !984, U.K., p.162: 'This rider appears to be an Aramaean from his style of beard though his equipment is Assyrian'.]
      Correspondence between Tiglathpileser and one of his officials near Tyre shows that the exiles were expected to serve in the Assyrian armies
(Oded p.52 ff).
           Sargon besieged and took Samaria in Israel. In an inscription Sargon says, that he took 50 chariots and 27,000 plus people for his own (military) use and the rest he settled in Assyria. Later, a general in Sargon's forces was named "Hilkiyahu" which is a Hebrew name
(Encyclopedia Biblica, Hebrew version, "Mesopotamia")
In Nineveh (one of the Assyrian capitals) have been discovered lists of cavalry units from Israelite Samaria and other records of charioteers bearing Israelite names
(Oded p.52 ff).
Archaeological evidence demonstrates that, "Sargon also employed large numbers of men from central Syria and Palestine"(J.Reade, "The Neo-Assyrian Court and Army: Evidence From Sculptures", Iraq, 34, 1972): "Central Syria and Palestine" in effect, meant the former Israelite area. Important groups of auxiliary soldiers identified as Aramaeans from west of the Euphrates may also have included soldiers of Israelite descent: Israelite Tribes had once controlled all of the area west of the Euphrates. In regions adjacent to the west bank of the Euphrates Ptolemy recorded Israelite Tribal and Clan names ("The Tribes" by Yair Davidy ,1st edition, pp.126-129).
Evidence exists suggesting that Israelites in these areas spoke Aramaic. Non-Assyrian soldiers in various stages of assimilation to Assyrian norms formed the bulk of the Assyrian army and amongst these non-Assyrians Israelite exiles were prominent..
           A list has been found containing "the names of many, perhaps most, of the top officials and the equestrian officers in Sargon's army"
(Dalley p.31). The list is divided into two sections, " one consisting of units from cities of Assyria proper " (Dalley p.31), and a second section considered to be that of the "royal army" (Dalley p.32)
 and presumed to have been more important. This second more-important section is a listing of officers and it is divided into seven units. One of these seven units consists of Chaldeans, a second unit is that of 13 equestrian officers from Israelite Samaria. The nationality of the remaining five units is not given and amongst these may also have been Israelites. The commander of the known Israelite Samarian unit has the same rank as King Sargon's twin brother and was considered about the seventh most important man in the kingdom (Dalley p.33).
A horsetrainer (or horsebreeder) who was also a military commander from former Israelite Samaria named Sama seems to have become a friend and advisor of the Assyrian king, Sargon. Later Sama was made the equestrian instructor of one of the sons of Sennacherib, the successor of Sargon (Dalley p.40).
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 6. Some Additional Evidence Concerning the Exiles in Assyria
Jewish Virtual Library
EXILE, ASSYRIAN
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0006_0_06182.html
Extracts:
The documents dealing with or discovered at Gozan, which is mentioned in the Bible in relation to the exile of Israel...One letter (ABL 633) actually mentions one alabi-u (or less likely, Haldu) from Samaria living in Gozan, although he may not have been an Israelite. The same document, however, names two officials called Pal iyau and Niriyau (= biblical Pelatiah and Neriah respectively) who almost certainly were. Another Assyrian letter (ABL 1009), dated to the seventh century B.C.E., mentions Samaritans [i.e. Israelites from Samaria the former capital of Israel] among the troops of the Assyrian king who were serving in Mesopotamia. In a commercial contract from Gozan (JADD 234 = SAA 6:34) dated to the end of the eighth century, the signatory witnesses are two high-ranking officials in the Assyrian administration whose names are N dbiyau (biblical Nedabiah), who bore the title "chariot driver," and Paqaha (identical with the Israelite royal name Pekah), whose title was "village manager." In a document discovered at Gozan (No. 111) two typical Hebrew names are mentioned  Usi'a (*Hosea) and Dayana (Dinah), as well as Yaseme'il. In B. Mazar's opinion, this document concerns Hosea's redemption of an Israelite woman (Dinah) from an Aramean. In a legal document from Nineveh (SAA 14:50) one Il-yau (= ) sells a girl.
Traces of Israelite captives (and possibly even Judeans) seem to appear from the end of the eighth century at Calah (present-day Nimrud) on the Tigris, then capital of Assyria. An Aramaic ostracon discovered there lists Northwest Semitic personal names, some of which are common in Israel, such as Elisha, Haggai, Hananel, and Menahem. This document possibly concerns a group of Israelites who lived in Calah alongside Phoenician and Aramean elements, and who worked as craftsmen in one of the enterprises of the Assyrian kingdom. Among the Nimrud ivories which bear inscriptions in Phoenician-Aramaic script, one is clearly a Hebrew inscription (ND. 10150). Some bronze bowls also found there were engraved with West Semitic names, such as Yib ar- el, El-heli, and A iy (Ahio), the last name being unmistakably Hebrew. It cannot be ascertained how these objects, dating from the second half of the eighth century, reached Calah, but they may have been taken as spoil from Samaria when the city fell.
Various Assyrian documents contain additional names of an ordinary Hebrew type, such as Menahem, Amram, Naboth, and Abram, but it is difficult to determine beyond doubt that they belong to descendants of the Israelite exiles. In an Assyrian administrative document from the second half of the eighth century B.C.E., the name A iyaq ma appears in relation to the Assyrian city of Halah ..., which is mentioned in the Bible as one of the places to which the Israelite exiles were deported (II Kings 17:6; 18:11). The text could be interpreted as referring to an Israelite deportee named Ahikam. In the view of Tur-Sinai (Torczyner), the inscription on an amulet discovered at Arslan Tash (ancient Hadatta), east of the Euphrates, is written in Hebrew (though this is doubtful; see Sperling in Bibliography), and he attributes it to an Israelite deportee from Samaria. The existence of an Israelite exile is also alluded to in legendary tradition, such as that embodied in the book of Tobit. The hero claims descent from the tribe of Naphtali, supposedly deported in the days of Shalmaneser.
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7. Intermediate Conclusion.
As far as we know the Israelite Exiles were not discriminated against. On the contrary. They may have been favored. At all events they did not suffer from the curses listed in Deuteronomy 28. Judah under the Romans and later under the Christians and Moslems was to do so.