Stone Seal from the First Temple Period Found
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The Jerusalem Post reports:
A stone seal bearing the name of one of the families who acted as servants in the First Temple and then returned to Jerusalem after being exiled to Babylonia has been uncovered in an archeological excavation in Jerusalem's City of David, a prominent Israeli archeologist said Wednesday.As Todd Bolen notes, "Many seals have been found with the names of people mentioned in the Bible, but it's always nice to find another. . . . The article mentions the mention of Temech (spelled Temah in NIV, NAS and ESV) in Nehemiah 7:55, but not Ezra 2:53."The 2,500-year-old black stone seal, which has the name "Temech" engraved on it, was found earlier this week amid stratified debris in the excavation under way just outside the Old City walls near the Dung Gate, said archeologist Dr. Eilat Mazar, who is leading the dig.
According to the Book of Nehemiah, the Temech family were servants of the First Temple and were sent into exile to Babylon following its destruction by the Babylonians in 586 BCE.
The family was among those who later returned to Jerusalem, the Bible recounts.
posted by JT at Thursday, January 17, 2008
7 Comments:
Biblical Archaeology is quite fascinating. This is a great piece of Archeaological tidbit.
It's good to see science catching up with Scripture.
Biblical archeology continues to validate the truth of Scripture. One has to wonder why there is nothing to validate the Book of Mormon?
I read Nehemiah 7 yesterday (following McCheyne) and I was wondering what implications the various differences in numbers between this chapter and Ezra 2 have for inerrancy. Any suggestions?
also, it will be interesting to see what (if any) implications this has to Israeli claims on the temple mount and Jerusalem....we'll see..
Archaeology corroborates Biblical history...again. This particular artifact seems, however, to also depict something sadly prescient about God's people in ages to come, and our age in particular, with syncretistic, spirit-of-the-age influenced Christianity all around us. The two figures seem to be priests serving at an altar of incense—Godly activity perfectly consistent with Old Testament law. But above them "A crescent moon, the symbol of the chief Babylonian god Sin, appears on the top of the altar."
Imagine a church logo today featuring a cross and a witchcraft symbol, or a Muslim crescent...or a dollar sign, or...?
Some have suggested the moon is a Jewish "new moon" festival symbol. I hope that's the case.
Um....maybe not.
I'm always wary when we rush too quickly to assumptions made about the latest archeological discovery. Too often overzealous first conclusions get reported before more calm assessment can take place. Yes, there have been many discoveries that in various ways seem to confirm Biblical records. There have also been many that continue to cause difficulties. And then there are many that Bible believers were too quick to jump on as another "proof" -- and ended up with egg on their faces.
Yes, always good to use caution on these sorts of things. If you click on the Bolen link above you'll find updated links with further analysis.
JT
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