>Image: The City of David. Credit: The Washington Times

An article published in The Washington Times reviews the work of Eilat Mazar in the city of David and the discovery of two clay seal impressions bearing the names of Gedalyahu ben Pashhur and Yehuchal ben Shelemayahu.

Both ben Pashhur and ben Shelemayahu are mentioned in Jeremiah 38:1. They were palace officials who served in the court of Zedekiah, king of Judah and the last king from the Davidic dynasty. Zedekiah reigned from 597 to 587 B.C. and his reign ended with the Babylonians’ destruction of the Temple and Zedekiah’s deportation to Babylon.

About her discovery, Mazar said: “It is not very often that archaeologists have surprises that bring them so close to the reality of the biblical text.”

According to Mazar, “this is the first time in the annals of Israeli archaeology that two 2,600-year-old clay bullae with two biblical names that appear in the same biblical verse have been unearthed in the same location.”

Read the article by visiting The Washington Times.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Archaeology, Eilat Mazar

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