A new 2,700-year-old artifact pointing to biblical times was recently unearthed.
As Fox News reported, a stone seal from the period of the First Temple was discovered in the City of David National Park.
In a press release, excavation directors Dr. Yuval Baruch and Navot Rom stated that “The 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.”
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Baruch said the writing on the seal proves how a need for literacy in ancient times wasn’t just for those in the upper class, but that most people needed to have some reading level established for daily tasks.
“Contrary to what may be commonly thought, it seems that literacy in this period was not the realm only of society’s elite…People knew how to read and write – at least at the basic level, for the needs of commerce.”
Jewish News Syndicate discussed how the seal was uncovered near the southern wall of the Temple Mount. It is believed that this artifact had the purpose of being both a charm and served as a signature for legal matters. “LeYeho’ezer ben Hosh’ayahu” is what is inscribed on the stone seal, the name Yeho’ezer appearing in 1 Chronicles 12:7 and ben Hosh’aya appearing in Jeremiah 43:2.
“This is the first time that a winged ‘genie’ — a protective magical figure — has been found in Israeli and regional archaeology,” Filip Vukosavović, an archaeologist and assyriologist told Jewish News Syndicate.
Vukosavović further said that “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.”
According to Fox News, Rabbi Amichai Eliyahu pointed to the find as an unusual treasure because it “opens another window for us into the days of the Kingdom of Judah.” He also said it “is impossible not to be moved by such an unmediated and direct encounter with a chapter of our past, a time in which the First Temple stood in all its glory.”
This discovery goes to show how archaeology continues to give us more insight into biblical times and the views of those who were alive during that period.
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Abby Trivett is content development editor for Charisma Media.
