Redemption of an Israelite

In this document from Assyria, in 700 BCE, Mannu-ki-Arba’il, the son of an Israelite man named Ahiyau (Ahijah or Ahio), who was being held as security for a debt, is redeemed and becomes the property of the man who redeemed him. The sellers “signed” the document by impressing their fingernails into the damp clay tablet in place of seals. The document is dated by the Assyrian “eponym” system in which years were not numbered but, instead, each year was named for a high government official.