Seals bearing ancient Hebrew writing discovered in Jerusalem excavations
[I was going to post this last week, but didn’t; and now it is even more relevant]
The inscription bears the writing "To Natanmelech the servant of the king”.
Following is the NYT article:
The Story Behind a 2,600-Year-Old Seal
Who was Natan-Melech, the king’s servant?
NYTarticle
Who was Natan-Melech, the king’s servant?
NYTarticle
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| Mauricio Lima for The New York Times |
JERUSALEM — The Israeli archaeologist Yuval Gadot is not a mushy guy. But in October, when he pulled a 2,600-year-old seal impression out of the ground in the Givati Parking Lot excavation in the City of David, he was “very emotional.”
Dr. Gadot says it took him and his fellow archaeologist, Dr. Yiftach Shalev of the Israel Antiquities Authority, only a few minutes to read the ancient Hebrew on the clay bulla, which dates to the middle of the seventh or beginning of the sixth century B.C., judging by the style of writing on it and the pottery found next to it. It reads: “l’Natan-Melech Eved haMelech,” or “to Natan-Melech, the king’s servant.”
Natan-Melech is a name that appears only once in the Bible, in the Second Book of Kings.
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WIKIPEDIA: Nathan-melech is described as one of Josiah's officials in 2 Kings 23:11 of the Hebrew Bible. He lived near the entrance to the temple, close to the courtyard where the horses had been kept that were used in sun-worship before Josiah disposed of both the horses and the chariots that they had pulled.
Nathan-melech means King's gift.
2 Kings 23:11 . . . And he abolished the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun, from the entrance of the house of the Lord until the chamber of Nethan-melech the eunuch who was in the outskirts, and he burnt the sun chariots with fire. יאוַיַּשְׁבֵּ֣ת אֶת־הַסּוּסִ֗ים אֲשֶׁ֣ר נָתְנוּ֩ מַלְכֵ֨י יְהוּדָ֚ה לַשֶּׁ֙מֶשׁ֙ מִבֹּ֣א בֵית־יְהֹוָ֔ה אֶל־לִשְׁכַּת֙ נְתַן־מֶ֣לֶךְ הַסָּרִ֔יס אֲשֶׁ֖ר בַּפַּרְוָרִ֑ים וְאֶת־מַרְכְּב֥וֹת הַשֶּׁ֖מֶשׁ שָׂרַ֥ף בָּאֵֽשׁ:____________________
“When you find something like this it’s very exciting,” he told me. “It gives flesh and bones to things that are very distant stories.”
Of course, it is impossible to say with certainty that the Natan-Melech of the Bible is the Natan-Melech of the clay. But “it is impossible to ignore some of the details that link them together,” including the style of writing and the dating of the pottery found next to it, which date to the First Temple period, when the biblical character would have lived, said Anat Mendel Geberovich of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Center for the Study of Ancient Jerusalem.
Tiny First Temple find could be first proof of aide to biblical King Josiah.
What is of importance is not just that they were found in Jerusalem, but [that they were found] inside their true archaeological context,” Shalev told The Times of Israel. Many other seals and seal impressions have been sold on the antiquities market without any thought to provenance.
This in situ find, said Shalev, serves to “connect between the artifact and the actual physical era it was found in” — a large, two-story First Temple structure that dig archaeologists have pegged as an administrative center.
“It is not a coincidence that the seal and the seal impression are found here,” said Shalev.
The name Nathan-Melech appears once in the Bible, in the second book of Kings 23:11. An official in the court of King Josiah, the biblical Nathan-Melech took part in implementation of widespread religious reform: “And he took away the horses that the kings of Judah had given to the sun, at the entrance of the house of the Lord, by the chamber of Nathan-Melech the officer, which was in the precincts; and he burned the chariots of the sun with fire.”
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