team of archaeologists in Israel has unearthed what's believed to be the royal seal of an Old Testament prince who is said to have tossed the prophet Jeremiah down a well. The stamped engraving, known as a "bulla," was discovered earlier this year about 600 feet south of the Temple Mount, but is just now making headlines.
"We found the imprint in clay, remarkably well preserved, of a seal with the name of Gedaliah the son of Pashur," Dr. Eilat Mazar of Jerusalem's Hebrew University, told Israel National News. "How absolutely fantastic and special this find is, can only be realized when you hold in your hand this magnificent one-centimeter piece of clay and know that it survived 2,600 years in the debris of the destruction, and came to us complete and in perfect condition."
Gedaliah is mentioned by name in Jeremiah 38:1 as he served Judah's King Zedekiah in the final days before Jerusalem was conquered by Babylon's King Nebuchadnezzar in 586 BC.
The prophet's writings tell of the actions that Gedaliah and his fellow princes took against him:
"Then took they Jeremiah, and cast him into the dungeon of Malchiah the son of Hammelech, that was in the court of the prison: and they let down Jeremiah with cords. And in the dungeon there was no water, but mire: so Jeremiah sunk in the mire." (Jeremiah 38:6)
Dr. Eilat Mazar
The letters on the seal are in ancient Hebrew.
This is actually the second recent discovery of an ancient bulla from the time of Jeremiah.
In 2005, Mazar found another seal with the name of Jehucal the son of Shelemiah, who is mentioned twice. That artifact was found in a stone structure Mazar believes was part of King David's ancient palace.
"It's not often," Mazar told theTrumpet.com, "that such discoveries happen in which real figures of the past shake off the dust of history and so vividly revive the stories of the Bible."
Poster Comment:
The Bible is true. If you are wise you won't doubt it.