Posted on 08/06/2025 2:23:59 PM PDT by fidelis
Newly discovered clay seal may connect to a high-ranking official from King Josiah’s court, offering a rare, tangible link to the Bible’s historical narrative.
In a discovery that blends archaeology and ancient scripture, researchers at the Temple Mount Sifting Project have unearthed a 2,600-year-old clay seal (bulla) bearing the name “Yeda‛yah (son of) Asayahu” in ancient Paleo-Hebrew script. The exceptionally preserved artifact, dating back to the First Temple period, may have belonged to the son of a biblical official who served King Josiah of Judah — a potential breakthrough in linking material evidence with the biblical record.
This minute clay seal was found amidst tons of earth sifted from the Temple Mount debris — soil that was removed from Jerusalem’s most sensitive religious site during unauthorized construction in the late 1990s. Archaeologist Mordechai Ehrlich made the find during routine examination of sorted material. At first mistaken for a bone fragment, the seal soon revealed its identity through a full inscription and an ancient fingerprint pressed into its back — possibly from the official who once used it.
“This is one of the most complete sealings we’ve discovered in over two decades,” said archaeologist Zachi Dvira, co-director of the Temple Mount Sifting Project. “Nearly every letter is legible. Finds like this, especially with such historical resonance, are incredibly rare.”
(Excerpt) Read more at arkeonews.net ...
I don’t see what good an official seal is if you just leave it lying around where anyone can find it.
In a relative sense, he was a good king of Judah.
Very nice.
Most people aren’t aware that there have been many inscriptions found that make reference to Biblical figures, including Jehu, Omri, Hezekiah, Jaazaniah, Nebo-Sarsekim, Eliakim, Jeroboam, Uzziah, Balaam son of Beor, and many others.
The Bible isn’t just a story book. It’s reliable history.
One of the good kings, if memory serves me right.
Yes, for the most part the Bible really is a history book and the more archeologists find, the more gets proven to be factual.
>>Clay seal
Clapping enthusiastically, and not even for fish.
Also:
‘For the Redemption of Zion’: Rare coin from the Great Revolt discovered in Jerusalem
Bronze coin minted by Jews in Jerusalem during final year before Second Temple’s destruction in 70 CE discovered during excavations in the Jerusalem Archaeological Garden - Davidson Center...
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/412539
Really cool! Were these pressed into wax to close correspondence and to make them official?
He used it on porpoise.
I sea what you did there.
Probably just slipped between the sofa cushions. My official seals do that all the time.
That's correct, along with Hezekiah. Some other kings of Judah started well, like Uzziah, but then went bad. Most of them were weak or just plain rotten. The northern kingdom of Israel was worse. ALL of their kings were rotter's.
In this time period they were impressed into wet clay, but wax came later.
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