Tel Hadid: Assyrian Cuneiform Tablets of Resettled Exiles
Two 7th-century contracts from a village where Assyria planted deportees — the mirror image of Israel's exile
Found 1995 — Israel Antiquities Authority salvage excavations (Etty Brand, Alon Shavit), 1995–1997, ahead of Highway 6; renewed 2018 by Tel Aviv University and New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary (Ido Koch, James Parker)
Where Tel Hadid (el-Haditheh), east of Lod, above the Ayalon valley (Israel)
Dates from 698 and 664 BCE (tablet dates) · Iron Age IIC (Neo-Assyrian province) · After the fall of Samaria; Assyrian resettlement of the land
Now at Israel Antiquities Authority; published by Nadav Na'aman and Ran Zadok
How Tel Hadid: Assyrian Cuneiform Tablets of Resettled Exiles was found
Highway construction on the lower terrace of Tel Hadid exposed houses of the late 8th–7th centuries BCE. In them lay two clay tablets in Akkadian cuneiform: a sale of land (698 BCE) and a loan contract (664 BCE), with witnesses bearing Babylonian, Aramean and local West Semitic names. Along with a similar tablet from nearby Gezer, they are the only Assyrian legal texts found in Israel.
What it is
Two small hand-sized tablets written in the Neo-Assyrian dialect and legal formulas of Nineveh, dated by Assyrian eponym officials. The people in them — buyers, sellers and witnesses — carry foreign names, and their village sat on the Assyrian road between the coast and the hills.
Why it matters for the Bible
2 Kings 17 says the king of Assyria emptied Samaria of Israelites and brought in people from Babylon, Cuthah and elsewhere. Tel Hadid shows the other half of that policy in the ground: Mesopotamian and Aramean families doing business by Assyrian law in a small Israelite town a generation after Samaria fell. Hadid later appears in Ezra and Nehemiah among the towns to which Judeans returned — the same village, three empires later.
The Hebrew word: gah-LOOT
גָּלוּת
גָּלוּת is pronounced gah-LOOT and means exile, captivity — the removal of a people from its land (Strong's H1546).
Places
- Hadid — חָדִיד (chah-DEED) — sharp, pointed
- Samaria — שֹׁמְרוֹן (shom-ROHN) — watch-mountain
Events
Assyrian deportation of Israel and resettlement of foreigners · Return from Babylonian exile
Tel Hadid: Assyrian Cuneiform Tablets of Resettled Exiles in Scripture
Ezra 2:33 'The men of Lod, Hadid and Ono' return from exile — Hadid is this site.
Nehemiah 7:37 One of only 3 verses that name Hadid.
Nehemiah 11:34-35 Benjaminites settle Hadid, Zeboim and Lod after the return.
Questions people ask
What is Tel Hadid: Assyrian Cuneiform Tablets of Resettled Exiles?
Two small hand-sized tablets written in the Neo-Assyrian dialect and legal formulas of Nineveh, dated by Assyrian eponym officials. The people in them — buyers, sellers and witnesses — carry foreign names, and their village sat on the Assyrian road between the coast and the hills.
When was Tel Hadid: Assyrian Cuneiform Tablets of Resettled Exiles discovered?
It was found in 1995 by Israel Antiquities Authority salvage excavations (Etty Brand, Alon Shavit), 1995–1997, ahead of Highway 6; renewed 2018 by Tel Aviv University and New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary (Ido Koch, James Parker), at Tel Hadid (el-Haditheh), east of Lod, above the Ayalon valley.
Where is Tel Hadid: Assyrian Cuneiform Tablets of Resettled Exiles today?
Israel Antiquities Authority; published by Nadav Na'aman and Ran Zadok.
Which Bible verses does Tel Hadid: Assyrian Cuneiform Tablets of Resettled Exiles relate to?
Ezra 2:33, Nehemiah 7:37, Nehemiah 11:34-35.
Related discoveries
- חֹתָםTel Hadid Mother-of-Pearl SealA moon-god seal from the Assyrian resettlement of Samaria's hills (published 2026)
- פּוּלAnnals of Tiglath-Pileser IIIMenahem's tribute, Pekah's overthrow, Hoshea's appointment, and 'Jehoahaz of Judah'
- שֹׁמְרוֹןTell al-Rimah Stele'Jehoash the Samarian' pays tribute to Adad-nirari III
- מָצוֹרSennacherib's Prism (Taylor, Chicago and Jerusalem Prisms)Assyrian annals: 'Hezekiah the Judean I shut up like a bird in a cage'
- דָּרְיָוֶשׁBehistun Inscription of Darius IDarius the Great's cliff-face account of how he won the throne, and the key to reading cuneiform
- קֶשֶׁרNimrud Prism of Sargon IIA second Assyrian telling of Samaria's fall and the exile of its people
Sources
- Na'aman, N. & Zadok, R., 'Assyrian Deportations to the Province of Samerina in the Light of Two Cuneiform Tablets from Tel Hadid', Tel Aviv 27 (2000)
- Wikipedia, 'Tel Hadid'
- Tel Hadid Expedition (Tel Aviv University / NOBTS)
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