Archaeology has been in the news again.
I’m thinking of the sensational announcement of the discovery of what is possibly a seal impression bearing the name of the prophet Isaiah. If the identification is correct it would join the list of over 50 Old Testament personalities whose existence is corroborated by sources outside the Bible.
Clay impressions
Personal names are found in a variety of sources from the ancient world. There are jar handles, monumental inscriptions, correspondence on clay tablets or pottery shards, to name a few. Particularly striking are the tiny carved seals which would be used to stamp an impression into wet clay. These impressions were used to authenticate or decorate and could bear the name of an owner. The seals themselves, though durable, are relatively rare, but the clay impressions are often found on archaeological digs. Called ‘bulla’, they are fragile, but if a site had been destroyed by fire they would have been hardened by their accidental baking.
Whether we are talking about the seals themselves or their corresponding clay impressions, they are of great interest in biblical apologetics. They often provide written information and can be used to verify the existence of people or places from the biblical world. However, they are not without problems.
Fakes
For the purposes of apologetics we could distinguish three kinds of seals or bulla. There are those that should be considered fakes, those that probably do belong to the personality we find in the Bible, and those that are probably misidentified.
Among the fakes we would have to consider those that emerge on the antiquities black market. Of course, countless genuine items appear this way, but it is hard to be sure. It is worth remembering that fakes are not only a modern problem, fakes and forgeries were being manufactured even in ancient times. Examples which could be in this category are two impressions of Baruch, scribe of Jeremiah, which were considered genuine for decades until the use of modern technology revealed their more recent origins. The impressions had appeared on the black market rather than in an archaeological dig and were presumably forged for monetary gain.
The genuine article
Happily, there are plenty of genuine seals and bulla, found in appropriate locations and not under the suspicion that arises when money changes hands. These include one belonging to another scribe of Jeremiah, Gemariah son of Shaphan (Jeremiah 36.10) which was found on an archaeological dig in 1982. Another is the seal of King Hezekiah, announced earlier this year and bearing the words ‘Belonging to Hezekiah, (son of) Ahaz, King of Judah.’ Found among 33 bulla in an Old Testament-period building on a dig led by Eliat Mazar in Jerusalem, the authenticity of this example is beyond question.
Less certain
However, there are others about which the identification is less certain. Into this category the Isaiah impression belongs. It was discovered recently in excavations near the Temple Mount in Jerusalem close to where the Hezekiah bulla had been found (Isaiah and Hezekiah were contemporaries). The Hebrew text on the bulla says ‘Belonging to Isaiah’ along with a word that might be reconstructed as ‘Prophet’. However, the identification is not without problems. The fragile clay impression is broken and a crucial Hebrew letter is missing that would spell the word ‘prophet’. Generally, the second line of such an inscription would bear the father’s name so this would be more likely than the title ‘prophet’. For reasons like this there are few scholars rushing to support Mazar’s claim and many, such as Alan Millard, who urge caution.
From the point of view of apologetics, the Isaiah bulla can only be referred to as a possible reference to Isaiah the prophet. The reason why this matters is that we should not confuse the very good, clear evidences (such as
Could this be the seal of Isaiah the prophet?
the King Hezekiah bulla) with such tentative (and tantalising) possibilities. Christian witness is not based on short-term sensationalism, but on the long-term gathering of credible evidence. Plenty of such evidence already exists and we might need to pause before we share the latest sensational claim.
