The “Adonayahu Asher Al Habayit” bulla (seal). Photo. (photo credit: ELIYAHU YANAI CITY OF DAVID ARCHIVES)
A 2,600-year-old seal bearing a Hebrew name was
uncovered in dirt excavated in 2013 near the Western Wall, archaeologist
Eli Shukron said on Monday.
The seal is inscribed with the name of "Adenyahu Asher Al HaBayit,"
meaning "Adenyahu by Appointment of the House," the most prominent role
in the king's court in the Kingdom of Judea that appears for the first
time on the list of ministries of Solomon.
The one-centimeter-wide bulla, which was used to sign documents,
and dates to the seventh century BCE – the period of the Kingdom of
Judea – bears a term widely used throughout the Bible to describe the
most senior minister serving under kings of Judea or Israel.
"This is the first time this kind of archaeological discovery has
been made in Jerusalem," said Shukron, who conducted the initial
excavations at the foundation stones of the Western Wall north of Silwan on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority. "The biblical term 'Asher Al HaBayit'
was the highest ranking ministerial position beneath the king during
reigns of the kings of Judea and Israel, it is undoubtedly of great
significance."
"This tiny bulla has immense meaning to billions of people
worldwide," said Doron Spielman, vice president of the City of David
Foundation, which operates the site where the bulla was discovered. "The
personal signet of a senior official to a biblical king from the First
Temple period. This is another link to a long chain of Jewish history in
Jerusalem that is being uncovered and preserved at the City of David on a daily basis."
According to the City of David Foundation, there are three people with the name Adoniyahu in the Bible, the most famous being King David’s son, as mentioned in the Book of Kings.
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