Archaeologists in Israel in Israel found a 2,700-year-old artifact during an excavation at the southern wall of Jerusalem’s Temple Mount.
The artifact, made of clay, had a stamped imprinted on it which, at the time, was used to seal and authenticate documents and items. This article may contain the signature of the Biblical Prophet Isaiah.
“We found the eighth-century B.C.E. seal mark that may have been made by the prophet Isaiah himself only 10 feet away from where we earlier discovered the highly-publicized bulla of King Hezekiah of Judah,” said Dr. Eilat Mazar of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, in a statement.
Wow! I can’t wait to see where this one goes. It’s a major step in the right direction if you ask me.
As reported by Fox News:
The half-inch wide oval-shaped piece of clay is inscribed with the name Yesha’yah[u] (Isaiah) in ancient Hebrew script. This is followed by the word nvy, the end of which is slightly damaged. As a result, experts do not know whether the word ended with the Hebrew letter aleph. That letter “would have resulted in the Hebrew word for ‘prophet’ and would have definitively identified the seal as the signature of the prophet Isaiah,” explained Dr. Mazar. “The absence of this final letter, however, requires that we leave open the possibility that it could just be the name Navi.”
“The name of Isaiah, however, is clear,” she added.
Isaiah’s close relationship with King Hezekiah is described in the Bible’s Second Book of Kings.
“If it is the case that this bulla is indeed that of the prophet Isaiah, then it should not come as a surprise to discover this bulla next to one bearing King Hezekiah’s name given the symbiotic relationship of the prophet Isaiah and King Hezekiah described in the Bible,” said Dr. Mazar.