Relief of King Esarhaddon, showing his mother (Naqia) behind him.
Here’s something else that puzzled me: Contemplate the legendary brutality of the ancient Assyrians; they invented psychological warfare through torture tactics. No Assyrian king was more vicious than King Sennacherib. Could it be true he married a Hebrew? A woman brought to or born in his empire as a captive?
A Hebrew Queen of Assyria?
Was she really Hebrew? No one is willing to say for sure, but let’s first look at the name, Naqi’a-Zakutu. Naqi’a could be an Aramean or Hebrew name, and Zakutu is the Akkadian (Assyrian) translation of it. If you’re looking for an interesting and succinct online resource about her, you can find more information HERE.
As with most historical characters, I read all the information I can find and then try to discern a golden thread woven through the research that makes sense with the Truth of Scripture. Naqia is never mentioned in the Bible, but her husband (Sennacherib), son (Esarhaddon), and grandson (Ashurbanipal) are.
When Characters Speak for Themselves
As I read the bits and pieces of her life from ancient records, an incredibly strong woman formed in my imagination. And when I wrote the first scene in Isaiah’s Legacy, where she hosts Shulle at a banquet in Nineveh (the capital of Assyria), Naqia absolutely came alive on the page! A woman who I meant to be a momentary “prop” for a scene, walked off the page and became a key player in the book.
If you’re a writer, you may know what I mean when I say Naqia “walked off the page.” It may sound melodramatic, but sometimes while writing a new character, the thoughts and emotions that flow through the keyboard take on a mind of their own. That character truly comes alive as we write more and more about them.
Naqia’s World
The more I wrote about Naqia, the sassier she became. The sassier she was, the more interesting she became–and the more insight she gave us into the heart and soul of Sennacherib, Assyria’s most ruthless king.
Through Naqia’s eyes, we see King Sennacherib, who threatened our dear Hezi in Isaiah’s Daughter, as a real human being. We glimpse the heart of the woman who loved him, and we see Zibah struggle with this Hebrew Assyrian queen, thinking: How could anyone love the monster, Sennacherib? But Zibah remembers her own son Manasseh’s brutality and realizes she, too, adores a monster.
That’s called…irony.
The Impact of Irony
It’s important that you know I’m not a literary expert. I just write. I have neither a degree nor formal training, nor can I spout off correct literary terminology. But I recognize irony when I see it.
We see the irony of God’s judgment on both Israel and Judah through Naqia’s character. In the story (fiction), her parents were from the northern tribes of Israel, exiled years earlier during the reign of the Assyrian king, Tiglath-Pileser. She grew up into a beautiful captive taken into the Sennacherib’s harem and eventually ruled her Assyrian captors as their queen.
Fiction or not, Hebrew or not, I believe Naqia was an incredible woman used mightily by the Hebrew God.
Truth or Fiction?
As I delve into research, I always become so immersed in the stories of both the biblical and historical people I discover. They were real people who lived and died. And when I remember I’ll spend eternity with some of them, I’m more careful about what I write!
Did Naqia know the Hebrew God? Or did she reject Him and completely embrace everything Assyrian? I don’t know . . . but we’ll know the Truth someday when we see Yahweh face-to-face.
“[the LORD said to Isaiah:] “Before Me every knee will bow; by Me every tongue will swear. They will say of Me, ‘In the Lord alone are deliverance and strength.’ All who have raged against Him will come to Him and be put to shame.” Isaiah 45:23-24
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Today’s Discussion:
- Would it affect the way you view the story of Assyria’s conquest and attacks on Jerusalem (during King Hezekiah’s and King Manasseh’s reigns) to believe that Yahweh had placed a woman with a Hebrew background in King Sennacherib’s life and heart? That the cruel King Esarhaddon may have been born of a Hebrew mother? What would that do to your faith? Your understanding of God’s sovereignty and power?
Comments 12
Stunning, Mesu! All I can say is WOW. The depth of your research shines through in your stories and takes my breath away. When you describe the linkages (or potential linkages) as you did, it warms my geeky science/history/archaeology heart. 🙂 Thank you for your diligence to your craft and to honoring God with it!
Author
Doesn’t it just stir something inside you to think that people who lived so long ago had a part in God’s plan that affects us today? I just LOVE that! Yes, we with our science/history/archaeology/geeky hearts!
Brilliant research and find, digging up sapphire nuggets like this!
Author
I always know God’s in it when I stumble across something so amazing!
What an interesting tnought. I wish I could be a bubble that floats a!omg with your thoughts when you research. It would be so I interesting to see how God guides you. If she was Hebrew, I wonder how she was used behind the scene? I hope she still worshipped Yahweh and was able to somehow bring comfort to the captives.
Author
With each new book, I go into the research process with fear and trembling, wondering how I’m ever going to pull all the unknowns together into a story. And EVERY TIME, the Lord absolutely blows me away with fun research tidbits that He brings into my path! It’s those kinds of miracles that remind me with EVERY book that it’s His project, His book, and His glory–not mine.
Dear Mesu the Naqia story based on this hypothesis can be an excellent idea for a biblical novel.
Author
Maybe a novella about Naquia, but I didn’t find enough credible resources to build a full novel around her story.
Beatiful idea for a novella!
Not sure about that, Mesu. I’ve done a lot of research & see Naqia as a possible link to the Jerwan Aquaduct built by Sennacherib that – I believe, along with other historians – was created with Hebrew construction knowledge. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon (now thought to have been at the new Nineveh Palace of Sennacherib, not in Babylon) would have required enormous amounts of water, manpower, & agricultural knowledge. New information points to the aquaduct’s purpose partially being for extensive gardens. Assyrian records & palace reliefs begin to show gardening for the first time during Sennacherib’s reign and include agriculture methods the Hebrews had practiced for generations before their transport to Assyria. Plenty for a story there, in my opinion, sister.
Author
Hi Cherie!
I would LOVE to see some of that research! Maybe I could do a series of short stories with my Patreon peeps (https://www.patreon.com/MesuAndrews). That’s where I’ve been doing the biblical characters I want to write about but don’t have a whole novel’s worth of info to write about. If you’d be willing to share the bibliographic info on where you got your research, please send to me at mesu@mesuandrews.com! Thanks so much!
Hello, Shlama (Peace),
I am an Assyrian from Lebanon. I know our history very well. Queen Naqi’a-Zakutu, was the grand-mother of the most famous Assyrian King, Ashur Banipal. I very much doubt that Queen Naqi’a-Zakutu was of Jewish origin, after all, we know very well who was the king who surrounded Israel and exiled its inhabitants as mentioned in the Bible after the Lord came to his dream. I also may add some historical facts that contradict what was mentioned in the Bible about the “Angel of the Lord” sniffing the breath of life from hundreds of Assyrian soldiers, that is also NOT FACT. It is very simple, there is an obelisk in the London Museum, and the entire reader can see it, and This obelisk shows how the Assyrian army marched the Jews to Nineveh. Yes, the Ten Israelite Tribes were exiled to Nineveh and they even refused to return and stayed in Nineveh, the Assyrian capital, prove that, is seeing the house of Nahum which is still located in the famous Assyrian town of Al-Qosh, north Iraq in our present time. The Jews refused to repatriate to Jerusalem because they were treated good in Nineveh and prospered.