This lesson explores one of the most brutal and warlike groups in ancient history, the Assyrians. However, we learn that they were also a highly inventive people and that the groups they resettled in the Holy Land brought advances that paved the way for the spread of the gospel.

1. ThePeopleoftheBiblicalWorld
Understanding the People of
the Biblical World
One of God’s
“Rosetta Stones”
for Understanding God’s Word

2. ThePeopleoftheBiblicalWorld
The
Assyrians

3. ThePeopleoftheBiblicalWorld
An Oversimplified Timeline of the Bible
(+ or - 100 years)
2000 BC
Abraham
1500 BC
Moses
1000 BC
David
500 BC
Babylonian
Captivity
4 BC
Birth of
Jesus
The Assyrians

4. ThePeopleoftheBiblicalWorld
Racial Background
•The Assyrians are a Semitic
people native to
Mesopotamia.
•They are Mediterranean
Caucasians, distinct from
both the Jews and the Arabs.

5. ThePeopleoftheBiblicalWorld Where is Assyria?
Assyria’s
traditional
borders span
four modern
countries.

6. ThePeopleoftheBiblicalWorld
Akkadian

7. ThePeopleoftheBiblicalWorld

8. ThePeopleoftheBiblicalWorld
AssyrianReligion

9. ThePeopleoftheBiblicalWorld
Assyrian Religion
•Polytheistic
•Astral deities
•Shared belief in
Marduk.

10. ThePeopleoftheBiblicalWorld Assyrian Religion
The Assyrians believed
that Marduk created
human beings to do all
the labor so the gods
could live lives of
leisure.

11. ThePeopleoftheBiblicalWorld It’s Good to Be The King
The Assyrians believed
that their kings were
extraordinary mortals,
chosen by the gods to
serve as their
representative on earth.

12. ThePeopleoftheBiblicalWorld
The First Assyrian King
Sargon of Akkad
Began his reign in 2371
B.C.

13. Middle
Assyrian
Empire
Expansion
Turkey
Saudi
Arabia
Egypt

14. ThePeopleoftheBiblicalWorld
The
Fertile
Crescent

15. ThePeopleoftheBiblicalWorld
The Assyrians were an inventive people!
Locks and Keys

16. ThePeopleoftheBiblicalWorld
Paved
Roads
The Assyrians were an inventive people!

17. ThePeopleoftheBiblicalWorld
First Postal
System
The Assyrians were an inventive people!

18. ThePeopleoftheBiblicalWorld
Magnifying
Glass
The Assyrians were an inventive people!

19. ThePeopleoftheBiblicalWorld
Libraries
The Assyrians were an inventive people!

20. ThePeopleoftheBiblicalWorld
Electric
Batteries
The Assyrians were an inventive people!

21. ThePeopleoftheBiblicalWorld
Plumbing and
Flush Toilets
The Assyrians were an
inventive people!

22. ThePeopleoftheBiblicalWorld
Guitars
The Assyrians were
an inventive
people!

23. ThePeopleoftheBiblicalWorld
Ideas that
Shaped
the World

24. ThePeopleoftheBiblicalWorld
An
awful
first

25. ThePeopleoftheBiblicalWorld
Isaiah 5
25 Therefore the LORD's anger burns
against his people; his hand is raised and
he strikes them down. The mountains
shake, and the dead bodies are like refuse
in the streets. Yet for all this, his anger is
not turned away, his hand is still upraised.

26. ThePeopleoftheBiblicalWorld 26 He lifts up a banner for the distant
nations, he whistles for those at the ends
of the earth. Here they come, swiftly and
speedily! 27 Not one of them grows tired
or stumbles, not one slumbers or sleeps;
not a belt is loosened at the waist, not a
sandal thong is broken.

27. ThePeopleoftheBiblicalWorld 28 Their arrows are sharp,
all their bows are strung;
their horses' hoofs seem like flint,
their chariot wheels like a whirlwind.
29 Their roar is like that of the lion,
they roar like young lions;
they growl as they seize their prey
and carry it off with no one to rescue.

28. ThePeopleoftheBiblicalWorld 30 In that day they will roar over it
like the roaring of the sea.
And if one looks at the land,
he will see darkness and distress;
even the light will be darkened by the
clouds.

29. ThePeopleoftheBiblicalWorld
The Assyrian Invasions
•God will execute this judgment in three
successive invasions under three, or
possibly four, different Assyrian kings.
•Two invasions are successful. One is
almost successful until God intervenes.

30. ThePeopleoftheBiblicalWorld The First Assyrian Invasion
Tiglath-Pileser III
•From 738-734 B.C. Tiglath-
Pileser III waged war
against his long-time
enemies, the Syrians.

31. ThePeopleoftheBiblicalWorld
•The Northern
Kingdom of Israel
allied itself with the
Syrians and became
a target of the
Assyrians.

32. •In response the
tribes of Reuben,
Gad, and eastern
half-tribe of
Manasseh were
carried away into
captivity.

33. ThePeopleoftheBiblicalWorld
1 Chronicles 5:26
So the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of
Pul king of Assyria (that is, Tiglath-Pileser
king of Assyria), who took the Reubenites,
the Gadites and the half-tribe of
Manasseh into exile. He took them to
Halah, Habor, Hara and the river of Gozan,
where they are to this day.

34. ThePeopleoftheBiblicalWorld
2 Kings 15:29
29 In the time of Pekah king of Israel,
Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria came and
took Ijon, Abel Beth Maacah, Janoah,
Kedesh and Hazor. He took Gilead and
Galilee, including all the land of Naphtali,
and deported the people to Assyria.

35. ThePeopleoftheBiblicalWorld The Second Assyrian Invasion
Shalmaneser V (722 B.C.)

36. ThePeopleoftheBiblicalWorld
2 Kings 17
3 Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up to
attack Hoshea, who had been
Shalmaneser's vassal and had paid him
tribute.

37. ThePeopleoftheBiblicalWorld 2 Kings 17
4 But the king of Assyria discovered that
Hoshea was a traitor, for he had sent
envoys to So king of Egypt, and he no
longer paid tribute to the king of Assyria,
as he had done year by year. Therefore
Shalmaneser seized him and put him in
prison.

38. ThePeopleoftheBiblicalWorld
5 The king of Assyria invaded the entire
land, marched against Samaria and laid
siege to it for three years.
2 Kings 17

39. ThePeopleoftheBiblicalWorld
6 In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of
Assyria captured Samaria and deported
the Israelites to Assyria. He settled them
in Halah, in Gozan on the Habor River and
in the towns of the Medes.
2 Kings 17

40. The Purple
Lines
represent the
routes of the
Assyrian
Captivities.

41. The Red Lines
represent the
routes of the
Assyrian
Captives
relocated to
Israel.

42. ThePeopleoftheBiblicalWorld
Sargon II
Usurped
Throne from
Shalmaneser

43. In my first year of reign *** the
people of Samaria *** to the
number of 27,290 ... I carried
away. Fifty chariots for my royal
equipment I selected. The city I
rebuilt. I made it greater than it
was before. People of the lands I
had conquered I settled therein.
My official (Tartan) I placed over
them as governor.
Sargon II

44. ThePeopleoftheBiblicalWorld The Third Assyrian Invasion
Sennacherib (701 B.C.)
•Sennacherib captured 46
of Judah’s fortified cities.
All that was left was
Jerusalem.

45. Isaiah 36
18 "Do not let Hezekiah mislead you when
he says, 'The LORD will deliver us.' Has
the god of any nation ever delivered his
land from the hand of the king of
Assyria? 19 Where are the gods of
Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods
of Sepharvaim? Have they rescued
Samaria from my hand?

46. ThePeopleoftheBiblicalWorld
Isaiah 10
12 Therefore it shall come to pass, when
the Lord has performed all His work on
Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, that He
will say, "I will punish the fruit of the
arrogant heart of the king of Assyria,
and the glory of his haughty looks."

47. ThePeopleoftheBiblicalWorld
13 For he says: "By the strength of my
hand I have done it, And by my wisdom,
for I am prudent; Also I have removed
the boundaries of the people, And have
robbed their treasuries; So I have put
down the inhabitants like a valiant man.
Isaiah 10

48. ThePeopleoftheBiblicalWorld
The Rest of
the Story

49. ThePeopleoftheBiblicalWorld
A Practical Lesson
Even when evil seems to have
the upper hand, God is
absolutely sovereign.

50. ThePeopleoftheBiblicalWorld
A Practical Lesson
We don’t always see this because
there are times when God uses
the truly UGLY to accomplish
something BEAUTIFUL.

51. Other people we
need to know:
•Babylonians
•Persians
•Greeks
• Romans