In biblical archaeology, it’s often the big players we look for-Moses and David and Paul. Outside of the Bible, this tiny clay seal is the first confirmation of this man’s existence.Īnd to be clear, it’s the obscurity of his name-both in recorded history and in Scripture-that should amaze us. The name that astute students of Scripture might recognize, by the way, is Nathan-Melech, an official who gets just a passing mention in 2 Kings 23:11, just as Josiah is purging Jerusalem of the trappings of idolatry. These, however, were found in “their true archaeological context.”
Many such artifacts hit the antiquities market, but often no one is really sure where they come from. They were discovered in the remains of what was likely an administrative building dating to the 8th century B.C. According to Yiftah Shalev of the Israel Antiquities Authority, where these seals were found sets the 2,600-year-old signets apart for archaeologists. These were seals, you see-the kind once pressed into wax or dipped into ink to sign letters. The Times of Israel recently described two tiny objects unearthed at a dig in the City of David: an agate stone and a lump of burnt clay that both had Hebrew inscriptions which were the names of two individuals-“Ikkar son of Matanyahu”-and “Nathan-Melech, Servant of the King.” Whoever can tell me which one of those two names appears in Scripture deserves this week’s Bible trivia award. As a result, God promised that the judgment He would eventually send would not occur during Josiah’s lifetime.Ī much more recent discovery brought this particular section of 2 Kings to light even more. He wept over Judah’s disobedience and recommitted his kingdom and people to the covenant recorded in that scroll. Not only did he refuse to take part in idol worship, he tore down the high places and the Asherah poles, and he reinstated the worship and feasts of the true God.Īccording to the Bible, Josiah did all this because of a discovery in the Temple of a scroll of the Law, which had long been neglected and forgotten.
See, King Josiah stands out among Judah’s final monarchs.
Not only is it a much more pronounceable name, but as we read in 2 Kings chapter 22, “Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem thirty-one years … He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and followed completely the ways of his father David, not turning aside to the right or to the left.” On the other hand, most of us know a Josiah or two.
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