Made of clay, the bulla was found intact, and after research by project scholars Dr. Anat Mendel-Geberovich and Zachi Dvira, all the letters were deciphered except one, which was suggested to be the letter Ayin.
The full inscription proposed by the researchers is: “Yeda‘yah (son of) Asayahu”. Based on markings on the back of the object, it appears to have been used to seal a sack or another storage vessel. A fingerprint, likely of the seal’s owner, is also visible on the side of the artifact. Based on the script style, the seal impression is dated to the late First Temple period (second half of the 7th century BCE to the early 6th century BCE).
Who are you, Yeda‘yah son of Asayahu?
According to the Bible, 2,647 years ago, 36 years before the destruction of the First Temple, during the reign of King Yoshiyahu, a renovation took place at the Temple in Jerusalem. During the renovation, a “Book of the Law” was found (as described in Melachim Bet and Divrei Hayamim). When the king’s scribe, Shaphan son of Azalyahu, read its contents aloud, containing warnings of sin and impending punishment, King Yoshiyahu was horrified and tore his clothes. He then sent a delegation to “inquire of the word of the Lord.” This delegation approached the prophetess Huldah, who prophesied the eventual destruction of Jerusalem due to the people’s sins but promised that Yoshiyahu himself would not live to see it.
וַיְצַ֣ו הַמֶּ֡לֶךְ אֶת־חִלְקִיָּ֣ה הַכֹּהֵ֡ן וְאֶת־אֲחִיקָ֣ם בֶּן־שָׁ֠פָן וְאֶת־עַכְבּ֨וֹר בֶּן־מִֽיכָיָ֜ה וְאֵ֣ת ׀ שָׁפָ֣ן הַסֹּפֵ֗ר וְאֵ֛ת עֲשָׂיָ֥ה עֶֽבֶד־הַמֶּ֖לֶךְ לֵאמֹֽר׃ יג לְכוּ֩ דִרְשׁ֨וּ אֶת־ה’ בַּֽעֲדִ֣י וּבְעַד־הָעָ֗ם וּבְעַד֙ כָּל־יְהוּדָ֔ה עַל־דִּבְרֵ֛י הַסֵּ֥פֶר הַנִּמְצָ֖א הַזֶּ֑ה כִּֽי־גְדוֹלָ֞ה חֲמַ֣ת ה’ אֲשֶׁר־הִיא֙ נִצְּתָ֣ה בָ֔נוּ עַל֩ אֲשֶׁ֨ר לֹֽא־שָׁמְע֜וּ אֲבֹתֵ֗ינוּ עַל־דִּבְרֵי֙ הַסֵּ֣פֶר הַזֶּ֔ה לַֽעֲשׂ֖וֹת כְּכָל־הַכָּת֥וּב עָלֵֽינוּ׃ יד וַיֵּ֣לֶךְ חִלְקִיָּ֣הוּ הַ֠כֹּהֵן וַֽאֲחִיקָ֨ם וְעַכְבּ֜וֹר וְשָׁפָ֣ן וַֽעֲשָׂיָ֗ה אֶל־חֻלְדָּ֨ה הַנְּבִיאָ֜ה אֵ֣שֶׁת ׀ שַׁלֻּ֣ם בֶּן־תִּקְוָ֗ה בֶּן־חַרְחַס֙ שֹׁמֵ֣ר הַבְּגָדִ֔ים וְהִ֛יא יֹשֶׁ֥בֶת בִּירֽוּשָׁלִַ֖ם בַּמִּשְׁנֶ֑ה וַֽיְדַבְּר֖וּ אֵלֶֽיהָ
Among the members of that delegation was Asayahu, who held the title “Servant of the King”—likely indicating a senior official and close confidant of the king. It is plausible that his son, Yeda‘yah, also held a high-ranking position in the royal court, either at the same time or shortly thereafter.
Could Yeda‘yah son of Asayahu, mentioned on the seal impression, be the actual son of this senior official from King Yoshiyahu’s court? According to the project’s archaeologists, this is highly likely. A significant percentage of the names found on seal impressions and bullae from excavations in Jerusalem match administrative figures mentioned in the Bible. Seals were not used by common people, but rather by individuals in positions of power. Moreover, the fact that the seal originated from the Temple Mount and the biblical context in which Asayahu appears strengthens the likelihood that this is indeed the same figure. The seal’s owner, the son of Asayahu, likely served in the administration of the Temple or royal palace, just as his father did.
What became of the seal’s owner?
We may never know the fate of the seal’s owner during those dramatic days 2,600 years ago. The Bible recounts that 36 years after the Torah scroll was found at the Temple Mount, in the month of Tammuz, after a long siege, the walls of Jerusalem were breached by Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon. A few weeks later, the Temple was destroyed, many residents of Jerusalem were killed, and a significant portion of the population, including the senior officials,was exiled to Babylon.
For over twenty years, an archaeological project has been underway in Jerusalem to sift soil removed from the Temple Mount in 1999, during illegal excavations carried out by the northern branch of the Islamic Movement. Hundreds of tons of artifact-rich soil were dumped into the nearby Kidron Valley.
The project was founded by archaeologists Dr. Gabi Barkay and Zachi Dvira (Zweig) under the academic sponsorship of the Institute of Archaeology at Bar-Ilan University.
To date, over 260,000 volunteers and visitors have participated in the sifting, helping uncover more than half a million artifacts, mainly from the First Temple period onward. The project is privately funded through the Foundation for the Advancement of Archaeology in Israel and has been operating since 2019 at the Mitzpeh HaMasuot site on Mount Scopus, with support from the Jewish Community Development Fund on the Mount of Olives.
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