Israel: Megiddo
Babylonian Period
Reign of Jeroboam, (8th cent. BC)
Roaring Lion with curved tail
Jasper, Inscription
Oval-shaped, Scaraboid
1.2 H, 1.5 in W
A single line encircles the seal
(Babylonian Per. Hebrew Script)
Discovered in 1904
Lost in Constantinople
Archaeological Museum, Istanbul
R: Rockefeller Museum, Jerusalem
Seal Discoveries in Palestine
There have been numerous
seals excavated in Palestine, many having been the seals of ministers
and high officials. Some contain personal names of people mentioned in
the Bible including kings of Israel and Judah. No seal has been
discovered as of yet, which actually belonged to a king of Israel or
Judah.
Seal of Megiddo
This seal was discovered
in 1904 during the earliest excavation of Megiddo,
led by Gottlieb Schumacher. This was a seal belonging to a royal
minister in the 8th century BC. It is engraved with the figure of a
roaring lion (symbol of the kingdom of Judah) with a beautiful
curved tail and was skillfully executed. The inscription reads
"Shema" on top, and "Servant of Jeroboam" on the
bottom.
"Shema
servant of Yarob'oam"
The inscription actually
proclaims the name and rank of its owner, one of the ministers of King
Jeroboam II who reigned from 787-747 BC. The word "servant"
is the Hebrew word "ebed" and is mentioned in the Bible as
one of high dignity in the government. Many seals have been discovered
with similar inscriptions like "the servant of the king."
King Jeroboam
2 Kings 14:23-25 In
the fifteenth year of Amaziah the son of Joash, king of Judah, Jeroboam
the son of Joash, king of Israel, became king in Samaria, and reigned
forty-one years. And he did evil in the sight of the LORD; he did not
depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who had made
Israel sin.
Jeroboam means,
"may the people grow numerous." He was Jeroboam II, the son
of Joash, king of Israel. The Lord had pity on Israel in the north,
according to the prophet Jonah, and allowed Assyria to weaken Damascus
and Hamath to relieve Israel of the Syrian yoke. Jeroboam II came in
and conquered the territory (II Ki 14). This made the Northern Kingdom
powerful and wealthy, although the prophet Amos protested against their
boasting. It is interesting that he chose the name Jeroboam, since
Jeroboam I was the first King of the Northern Kingdom in the early 10th
century BC, who Solomon sought to kill, he fled to Egypt and gained
refuge by King Shishak until Solomon died. Jerobaom I was at constant
war with the House of David in the south and he is mentioned as the one
who had led Israel into idolatry. According to the Bible every king of
the Northern Kingdom of Israel was evil.
Archaeological
Excavations
Excavations at Samaria, the capital of the Northern Kingdom, have the
enormous wealth that existed in Israel during the reign of Jeroboam II
in the eighth century B.C. Excavations reveal that Jeroboam II
refortified the city with a double wall, thirty-three feet in
width, which made their fortifications so substantial that the mighty
Assyrian army took three years to capture the city (2 Kings 17:5).
There was a beautiful palace of limestone with a strong rectangular
tower massive outer court, the archaeologist, professor Yadin, has said
of the buildings uncovered at Hazor and attributed to Jeroboam that
they are "among the finest of the entire Israelite period."
This jasper seal discovered at Megiddo no doubt demonstrates the
prosperity of Israel during this time.
The Biblical Comparison
It is very interesting
that the Jasper Seal of Megiddo would contain the symbol for the
Southern Kingdom of Judah. But in examining all of the circumstances
involved and seeing what the Bible says it is no wonder that the
prosperous and victorious Northern Kingdom of Israel would boast with a
symbol of their rival. Lets go back just a few verses and see what
happened just before Jeroboam II became king:
2
Kings 14:12-14 And Judah was defeated by Israel, and every man fled
to his tent. Then Jehoash king of Israel captured Amaziah king of
Judah, the son of Jehoash, the son of Ahaziah, at Beth Shemesh; and
he went to Jerusalem, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the
Gate of Ephraim to the Corner Gate--four hundred cubits. And he
took all the gold and silver, all the articles that were found in
the house of the LORD and in the treasuries of the king's house,
and hostages, and returned to Samaria.
Israel in the north had
conquered Judah in the south and carried away the contents of the
Jerusalem temple to Samaria, along with titles to large tracts of
Judaean land. This would no doubt have made Jeroboam feel that he was
entitled to exercise his power over the southern kingdom and use
Judah's symbol as a symbol of his own.
This is another amazing
verification of history and the Bible, where archaeology not only
confirms the accuracy of God's Word, but also
answers some of the difficult questions in Scripture.
Other Discoveries Referencing the Kings of Israel and Judah
There have been more
discoveries mentioning the kings
of Israel and Judah including:
•
A seal with the inscription "Abijah the servant of Uzziah,"
which is almost identical to the way it is mentioned in the Bible.
• A
clay seal on which is written "Ahaz (son of) Jotham King of
Judah"
•
Another reference is an inscription on a building of the Assyrian king
Tiglath-pileser III stating that "Jehoahaz (Ahaz) of Judah"
paid tribute to the Assyrian king."
• The
burial inscription of king Uzziah has been found with instructions not
to open the tomb, not bad advice considering that Uzziah was a leper.
• Ration lists have
been recovered from Babylon which have the names of Johiachin and his
sons who had received rations from the Royal Court.
• It
is also interesting to note that the seal of Gedaliah, who was not a
king but an appointed governor has also been found.
For more information about the history of Tel Megiddo and various
excavations please click on the below picture from the Tel Aviv
University:
The Evidence of Archaeology
The evidence of
archaeology helps to give us:
1. Confidence that the
places and people mentioned in the Bible are accurate, even though
those places and people existed thousands of years in the past.
2. Confidence that the
details of the Biblical accounts have not changed over the centuries
since it was written as we have a "fixed fact" in
history.
3. Confidence that
everything that the Lord speaks will be fulfilled in its time.
Isa 46:8-10
"Remember this, and show yourselves men; Recall to mind, O you
transgressors. Remember the former things of old, For I am God, and
there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me, Declaring the
end from the beginning, And from ancient times things that are not yet
done, Saying, 'My counsel shall stand, And I will do all My
pleasure,'
