{"id":11583,"date":"2024-09-06T09:48:12","date_gmt":"2024-09-06T13:48:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/?p=11583"},"modified":"2024-09-06T09:48:12","modified_gmt":"2024-09-06T13:48:12","slug":"2700-year-old-seal-discovered-in-jerusalem-affirms-biblical-account","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/2024\/09\/2700-year-old-seal-discovered-in-jerusalem-affirms-biblical-account.html","title":{"rendered":"2,700-Year-Old Seal Discovered in Jerusalem Affirms Biblical Account"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_11586\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-11586\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11586\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/409\/2024\/09\/seal-jerusalem_credit-Israel-Antiquities-Authority-Facebook.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"900\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-11586\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Israel Antiquities Authority \/ Facebook<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Archaeologists from the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AntiquitiesEN\/posts\/pfbid02uGyrL2cJjAyEjmps1SsAQUSbu1BEYGLekg6Bq8ahjeTScbui5VFNqpEpidFxaQC5l\">announced<\/a> the discovery of an ancient and rare 2,700-year-old seal found near the southern wall of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The seal is made of black stone, with the inscription \u201cLe Yeho\u02bcezer ben Hosh\u02bcayahu,\u201d or \u201cFor Yeho\u2019ezer son of Hosh\u2019ayahu.\u201d The inscription is written backwards so that the seal could be used to press the words into wax. It also contains a hole drilled through the length of it, indicating it was also used as an amulet by its wearer. Archaeologists estimate that the two men referenced on the seal could have lived anywhere from the 10<sup>th<\/sup> to the 6<sup>th<\/sup> centuries BC.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe seal, made of black stone, is one of the most beautiful ever discovered in excavations in ancient Jerusalem, and is executed at the highest artistic level,\u201d stated Dr. Yuval Baruch and Navot Rom, IAA excavation directors. The seal also includes an image of a winged profile of a man, possibly a king according to the IAA, with an arm raised and open palm. IAA archaeologist and Assyriologist, Dr. Filip Vukosavovi\u0107, called it \u201can extremely rare and unusual discovery.\u201d \u00a0\u201cThis is the first time that a winged \u2018genie\u2019 \u2013 a protective magical figure \u2013 has been found in Israeli and regional archaeology. Figures of winged demons are known in the Neo-Assyrian art of the 9th-7th Centuries BCE, and they were considered a kind of protective demon,\u201d said Vukosavovi\u0107. The archaeologists believe that due to the \u201csloppy manner\u201d of the script, the seal originally only contained the image of the winged demon, with the script of names being added later. \u201cIt is not impossible that perhaps it was Yeho\u02bcezer himself who engraved the names on the object,\u201d said Dr. Ronny Reich of the University of Haifa.<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Yuval Baruch, excavation director and Deputy Director of Archaeology at the IAA, stated the find also indicated that literacy was more widespread throughout ancient Jerusalem than originally thought. \u201cContrary to what may be commonly thought, it seems that literacy in this period was not the realm only of society\u2019s elite. People knew how to read and write \u2013 at least at the basic level, for the needs of commerce. We know of many written seal impressions, in paleo-Hebrew script, from the environs of the City of David and the Kingdom of Judah,\u201d wrote Dr. Baruch. The name \u201cYeho\u02bcezer\u201d is mentioned in an abbreviated form, \u201cYo\u02bcezer,\u201d in reference to one of King David\u2019s fighters in 1 Chronicles 12:7.<\/p>\n<p>Researchers noted that the influence of the Assyrian style on the winged demon shows how the Assyrian culture had incorporated itself onto the Hebrew culture after the Assyrian Empire had conquered the region. However, there are indications on the seal that the Hebrews still held on to their own cultural identity. \u201cYet within that feeling, this Yeho\u02bcezer also held firmly onto his local identity, and thus his name is written in Hebrew script, and his name is a Hebrew name, which belongs to Judah\u2019s culture,\u201d said Dr. Baruch. More information on the seal will be shared on September 4 at the \u201cCity of David Research Conference.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Archaeologists from the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) have announced the discovery of an ancient and rare 2,700-year-old seal found near the southern wall of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The seal is made of black stone, with the inscription \u201cLe Yeho\u02bcezer ben Hosh\u02bcayahu,\u201d or \u201cFor Yeho\u2019ezer son of Hosh\u2019ayahu.\u201d The inscription is written backwards so&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":627,"featured_media":11586,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[102],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archaeology"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>2,700-Year-Old Seal Discovered in Jerusalem Affirms Biblical Account<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/2024\/09\/2700-year-old-seal-discovered-in-jerusalem-affirms-biblical-account.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"2,700-Year-Old Seal Discovered in Jerusalem Affirms Biblical Account\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Archaeologists from the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) have announced the discovery of an ancient and rare 2,700-year-old seal found near the southern wall of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The seal is made of black stone, with the inscription \u201cLe Yeho\u02bcezer ben Hosh\u02bcayahu,\u201d or \u201cFor Yeho\u2019ezer son of Hosh\u2019ayahu.\u201d The inscription is written backwards so&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/2024\/09\/2700-year-old-seal-discovered-in-jerusalem-affirms-biblical-account.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Christ News Today\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-09-06T13:48:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/409\/2024\/09\/seal-jerusalem_credit-Israel-Antiquities-Authority-Facebook.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Cecilia Buchanan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"2,700-Year-Old Seal Discovered in Jerusalem Affirms Biblical Account","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/2024\/09\/2700-year-old-seal-discovered-in-jerusalem-affirms-biblical-account.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"2,700-Year-Old Seal Discovered in Jerusalem Affirms Biblical Account","og_description":"Archaeologists from the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) have announced the discovery of an ancient and rare 2,700-year-old seal found near the southern wall of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The seal is made of black stone, with the inscription \u201cLe Yeho\u02bcezer ben Hosh\u02bcayahu,\u201d or \u201cFor Yeho\u2019ezer son of Hosh\u2019ayahu.\u201d The inscription is written backwards so&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/2024\/09\/2700-year-old-seal-discovered-in-jerusalem-affirms-biblical-account.html","og_site_name":"Christ News Today","article_published_time":"2024-09-06T13:48:12+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":900,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/409\/2024\/09\/seal-jerusalem_credit-Israel-Antiquities-Authority-Facebook.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Cecilia Buchanan","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/2024\/09\/2700-year-old-seal-discovered-in-jerusalem-affirms-biblical-account.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/2024\/09\/2700-year-old-seal-discovered-in-jerusalem-affirms-biblical-account.html","name":"2,700-Year-Old Seal Discovered in Jerusalem Affirms Biblical Account","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/2024\/09\/2700-year-old-seal-discovered-in-jerusalem-affirms-biblical-account.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/2024\/09\/2700-year-old-seal-discovered-in-jerusalem-affirms-biblical-account.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/409\/2024\/09\/seal-jerusalem_credit-Israel-Antiquities-Authority-Facebook.jpg","datePublished":"2024-09-06T13:48:12+00:00","dateModified":"2024-09-06T13:48:12+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/#\/schema\/person\/f0820942b588b1bdba133d7ca3c8eb6e"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/2024\/09\/2700-year-old-seal-discovered-in-jerusalem-affirms-biblical-account.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/2024\/09\/2700-year-old-seal-discovered-in-jerusalem-affirms-biblical-account.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/2024\/09\/2700-year-old-seal-discovered-in-jerusalem-affirms-biblical-account.html#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/409\/2024\/09\/seal-jerusalem_credit-Israel-Antiquities-Authority-Facebook.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/409\/2024\/09\/seal-jerusalem_credit-Israel-Antiquities-Authority-Facebook.jpg","width":1200,"height":900,"caption":"Israel Antiquities Authority \/ Facebook"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/2024\/09\/2700-year-old-seal-discovered-in-jerusalem-affirms-biblical-account.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"2,700-Year-Old Seal Discovered in Jerusalem Affirms Biblical Account"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/","name":"Christ News Today","description":"Christian News From Around the Globe","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/#\/schema\/person\/f0820942b588b1bdba133d7ca3c8eb6e","name":"rdewing","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/author\/rdewing"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/627"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11583"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11583\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11592,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11583\/revisions\/11592"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}