Endnote 8 – Biblical Detective Work Identifies the Eunuch

The chronology of this development is still not clear, however, and there is some evidence that castration was the rule for sûuµt reµsûi, even in the Assyrian period; see the texts cited by Hayim Tadmoor, “Rab-saris and Rab-shakeh in 2 Kings 18, ” in Carol L. Meyers and Michael O’Connor, eds.,The Word of the Lord Shall Go Forth: Essays in Honor of David Noel Freedman in Celebration of His Sixtieth Birthday (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1983), pp. 279–285, especially n. 10. This is an issue of long standing among historians of Assyrian provincial administration.