Saturday, March 31, 2012

I'M NOT SEEING THE WORD "PALESTINE" ON THESE ROYAL SEALS...



In the land of Israel, there are about 40,000--that's right, forty thousand--archeological sites identified RIGHT NOW. But none of those sites have ever produced a single artifact referring to a land of "Palestine." Why, it's almost as if that famous country...NEVER EXISTED.

But here we have this beautiful find that literally connects to two Biblical Israelite figures by name.

The first of the clay bullae, which surfaced during [Eilat] Mazar’s excavation of what may be King David’s palace, bears the name “Yehuchal [or Jehucal] ben Shelemyahu [Shelemiah]” (pictured above left). The second was found in the First Temple period strata underneath what has been identified as Nehemiah’s Northern Tower, just a few yards away from the first, and reads “Gedalyahu [Gedaliah] ben Pashur” (pictured above right).

These two men are mentioned together in the Bible as ministers of King Zedekiah (597–587 B.C.E.). As the Babylonians closed in on Jerusalem during the last years of the First Temple period, Jeremiah, prophet to Judah’s last kings, advised Zedekiah and the people of the city to surrender to Nebuchadnezzar’s men so that their lives and city might be spared. But not everyone liked Jeremiah’s message, including Gedaliah son of Pashur and Jehucal son of Shelemiah. According to Jeremiah 38:1–13, the two ministers had Jeremiah thrown into a pit because they did not like the message of surrender he was preaching to the people of Jerusalem.


Ya know, the Wakf can't destroy EVERY ancient treasure in the land of Israel, though they may do their worst.


"Truth, crushed to earth, shall rise again."

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