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Looking back to an older excavation that took place in 1982 in Jerusalem, professor Yigal Shiloh discovered a horde of 51 bullae, which are signet seal impressions in clay; seal impressions that once sealed documents. More often than not the documents themselves don’t survive but sometimes the impression of the papyrus paper and the string that held the document closed is still visible on the back of the clay. It’s also really interesting that many of these bullae have been preserved so well because they were involved in a fiery destruction. So, these ones discovered in 1982, for example, were destroyed in the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem in 586BC, the time of the prophet Jeremiah and the last king of Jerusalem, Zedekiah. When the city was set on fire by the invaders that fire naturally had a preserving effect on the clay, fired clay is harder than non-fired, air-dried clay. So, while it was obviously devastating for the occupants of Jerusalem, and destroyed a lot of history, it has also saved and passed on these small points of their written history, specifically their names.
Now of the 51 bullae that were found, 49 of them were completely intact and 41 could be easily translated. Thanks to their style of writing, the destruction layer in which they were found, and the pottery found with them, they have been dated to the 7th to 6th centuries BC, just before that 6th century destruction of Jerusalem in 586. These bullae belonged to people living in Jerusalem before the Babylonian destruction, and because of where they were found the owners of the seals must have been important Jerusalem officials. The horde of bullae was found in a building built up against what is today called the stepped stone structure, a known foundational support for a building believed by some archaeologists to be the royal palace of King David, a palace later reused as a public building. The horde of bullae was down near the bottom of the stepped stone structure with other influential buildings, that likely had easy access to the royal palace above.
“When Micaiah the son of Gemariah, son of Shaphan, heard all the words of the LORD from the scroll, he went down to the king’s house, into the secretary’s chamber, and all the officials were sitting there…”
Jeremiah 36:11-12
Alright, so let’s move on to the main event: Whose names are on the bullae? The most intriguing Biblical connection comes from Jeremiah 36:11-12 that says,
“When Micaiah the son of Gemariah, son of Shaphan, heard all the words of the LORD from the scroll, he went down to the king’s house, into the secretary’s chamber, and all the officials were sitting there: Elishama the secretary, Delaiah the son of Shemaiah, Elnathan the son of Achbor, Gemariah the son of Shaphan, Zedekiah the son of Hananiah, and all the officials.”
In the horde of bullae was a seal that reads “Belonging to Gemariah, son of Shaphan”. So, we have the seal of Michaiah’s father, Micaiah who brought the news of God’s message from prophet Jeremiah down to the officials.
Next, we have the names of 4 more men that match the names of men from this passage, but because their names don’t exist in the exact same format as is presented in Jeremiah, we can’t be certain it’s them. There’s a good chance that at least some of them match though! Besides the book of Jeremiah there are 6 other names from the horde that match names in the Bible from this time period. There’s Neriah, Ishmael, two different Jazaniah’s, a Meshullam and a Zacchur. Most amazingly, we have an impression that reads “Belonging to Azariah son of Hilkiah”. This is likely the high priest Hilkiah who was the high priest during Jeremiah’s early years.
Overall, in this one collection, this one find, there are great physical remains of the men named alongside Jeremiah in both the Biblical book of Jeremiah and the other historical books of the Bible that talk about Jeremiah’s time. There are definitely more bullae pertaining to Jeremiah to talk about, but that’s another story for another day.
Corie Bobechko is a daily co-host, speaker, and writer of Bible Discovery. She also hosts a YouTube channel that shows how history and archaeology prove the Bible. Her heart for seekers and skeptics has led her to seek truth and share it with others. Corie also has a Bachelor of Theology from Canada Christian College.
