Archaeologists have made a stunning discovery in the land of Israel which proves that the story in the Bible is true.
Archeological experts in the City of David have made two rare letter seal discoveries which belonged to people mentioned in the Biblical scriptures.
One of the seals is a clay ‘bulla; used to sign and seal letters by the rich and powerful. The first bulla bears the words”(belonging) to Nathan-Melech, Servant of the King” which is a name mentioned in the Bible as an official in the court of King Josiah.
10 And he defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech.
11 And he took away the horses that the kings of Judah had given to the sun, at the entering in of the house of the Lord, by the chamber of Nathanmelech the chamberlain, which was in the suburbs, and burned the chariots of the sun with fire. –2 Kings 23:10-11
Dr Anat Medel-Geberovich one of the Archaeologists from Hebrew University of Jerusalem said, ““The one million-dollar question is am I holding in my hand the bulla of the same Natan-Melech that was mentioned in the Bible?”
King Josiah was a seventh century king of Judah who has been mentioned in the Old Testament.
Well, I can never say that for certain but what I can say is that there is an overlap of three things: First the name Natan-Melech which is rare.
The second bulla which was found was 2,600 years old and had LeIkar Ben Matanyahu – ‘(belonging) to Ikar son of Matanyahu’ engraved on it. Again Matanyahu appears in the Bible. Matanyahu or Mattaniah is used around 16 times in the Hebrew Bible. His original name was King Zedekiah.
The Biblical accounts and the recent findings seem to match exactly. These seals were found in the places of the rich and the places seem to have been completely burnt with fire and destroyed. The Bible records the exact events in 2 Kings:
7 And they slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him with fetters of brass, and carried him to Babylon.
8 And in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, which is the nineteenth year of king Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, came Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, unto Jerusalem:
9 And he burnt the house of the Lord, and the king’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem, and every great man’s house burnt he with fire.
The large building where the artifacts were found showed it was destroyed by immense fire in the 6th century BC. Bible again clearly gives an account of Babylonians destroying Jerusalem in 586 BC which exactly matches the findings.
Dr. Yiftah Shalev of the Israel Antiquities Authority mentioned, “What is important is not just that they were found in Jerusalem, but inside their true archaeological context.”
It should be noted that recently, bulla of Isaiah the Prophet and the bullae of King Hezekiah was discovered recently.