Friday, August 1, 2008

Fairy tales

For those who continue to claim that the Hebrew Bible is all a bunch of made up stories with no factual foundation ... that ice under your feet is getting thinner every day.

A seal impression belonging to a minister of the Biblical King Zedekiah which dates back 2,600 years has been uncovered completely intact during an archeological dig in Jerusalem's ancient City of David, a prominent Israeli archeologist said on Thursday.

The seal impression, or bulla, with the name Gedalyahu ben Pashur, who served as minister to King Zedekiah (597-586 BCE) according to the Book of Jeremiah, was found just meters away from a separate seal impression of another of Zedekia's ministers, Yehukual ben Shelemyahu, which was uncovered three years ago, said Prof. Eilat Mazar who is leading the dig at the site.

Pretty cool, yes?

Of course, Gedaliah and Yucal weren't exactly the heroes of this story. They were among the many advisors to King Zedehiah who tried to silence Jeremiah and who convinced the king to ignore his advice, leading ultimately to the destruction of Jerusalem and the Babylonian captivity.