SEALS,
SEAL IMPRESSIONS, AND THE FRIENDS OF JEREMIAH

Bryant G. Wood

As in modern day society, seals served a very important function in antiquity. Not only did they identify the sender of a letter or commercial shipment, but a seal also guaranteed the quality and quantity of commercial products and prevented the unauthorized opening of a document or container. Important officials, and even ordinary citizens, had their own private seals for use in government, business, or legal activities.

Seals are mentioned frequently in the Bible, both literally and figuratively. In 1 Kings 21, when Jezebel drew up the letters that were to bring about the death of Naboth so that Ahab could acquire his vineyard, she authenticated the letters by sealing them with Ahab’s seal (verse 8). The sealing of a letter or legal document was accomplished by folding the document, tying it with string and then pressing a soft lump of clay onto the string. The official or scribe responsible for the document would then make an impression in the soft clay with his seal. It is these impressed clay sealings, called bullae (singular: bulla), that are often found by archaeologists, the original document having long since perished by fire or natural deterioration. Occasionally, the seal itself is found. In Nehemiah 9:38 the chief men of Jerusalem set their seals to a written covenant thus agreeing to abide by its contents. When Daniel was

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Steps in the folding of a papyrus contract. Note the tying and sealing in step 9.

thrown into the lion’s den through the trickery of the other jealous officials:

a stone was brought, and laid upon the mouth of the den; and the king sealed it with his own signet, and with the signet of his lords; that the purpose might not be changed concerning Daniel. (Daniel 6:17)

The letters drawn up by Haman to kill all the Jews in the days of Esther were made official by sealing them with the king’s ring (Esther 3:12). Later, when Esther revealed the plot to the king and asked him to supersede the order he told her:

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You may write as you please with regard to the Jews, in the name of the king, and seal it with the king’s ring; for an edict written in the name of the king and sealed with the king’s ring cannot be revoked. (Esther 8:8, R.S.V.)

Hundreds of seals and seal impressions from the times of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah have been recovered from the dirt of Palestine, both by legal and illegal diggers. A number of Bible kings are mentioned on these impressions (Jeroboam II, Ahaz, Uzziah, and Hezekiah), but only as the king under whom the owner of the seal served. Out of all of these seals and seal impressions, there was not one that could be identified with certainty as belonging to a Bible personality — that is, until now.

Recently, a large group of seal-impressions from the seventh century B.C. was found at an as yet unknown place in Judah. Most of the impressions are personal names, but on a number of them the titles of high-ranking officials appear. The documents to which these bullae were attached — the imprints of the papyrus and string can still be seen — undoubtedly belonged to an official archive. Two of the bullae are of particular interest, because they contain names of people mentioned in the Bible.

Baruch the Scribe

The first of these, now in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, reads, “belonging to Berechiah/son of Neriah/the scribe.” Berechiah is none other than Baruch, the scribe of the prophet Jeremiah. In the Bible, the shortened form of his name is used. We first meet Baruch in chapter 32 of the book of Jeremiah. And what is Baruch doing in Jeremiah 32? He is drawing up and sealing a property deed for Jeremiah!

Then Hanamel my cousin came to me in the court of the guard, in accordance

Fifth century B.C. marriage contract from Elephantine, Egypt, with the string and seal still intact.

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An impression of the seal of Baruch.

with the word of the Lord, and said to me, “buy my field which is at Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, for the right of possession and redemption is yours; buy it for yourself.” Then I knew that this was the word of the Lord. And I bought the field at Anathoth from Hanamel my cousin, and weighed out the money to him, 17 shekels of silver.1 I signed the deed, sealed it, got witnesses, and weighed the money on scales. Then I took the sealed deed of purchase, containing the terms and conditions, and the open copy; and I gave the deed of purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah son of Mahseiah, in the presence of Hanamel my cousin, in the presence of the witnesses who signed the deed of purchase, and in the presence of all the Jews who were sitting in the court of the guard. I charged Baruch in their presence saying, “thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Take these deeds, both this sealed deed of purchase and this open deed, and put them in an earthenware vessel, that they may last for a long time.” (Jeremiah 32: 8–14, R.S.V.)

This particular transaction received special notice in the Bible because of the unusual circumstances under which it was carried out — Nebuchadnezzar was besieging Jerusalem at the time! Property values were undoubtedly at their lowest level because of the uncertainty of the situation, and a real estate investment would have been considered a very poor investment indeed. But Jeremiah was acting under the direction of God. God used the transaction as an object lesson to show that although the present situation was bleak, the land would one day be restored and property values would again return (Jeremiah 32: 42–44). This, of course, has come to pass in our own time.

We notice in this passage that Baruch’s full name was “Baruch son of Neriah son of Mahseiah,” whereas his seal merely has

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“Berechiah son of Neriah.” Baruch drew up two copies of the deed: one, which was sealed (possibly with the same seal used to make the impression on the newly discovered bulla!), was kept for reference and would have been opened only in case of dispute; the other, the “working copy,” was left open. Baruch the scribe, serving in the capacity of a lawyer, was then entrusted with the safekeeping of the documents.

The next we hear of Baruch is in Jeremiah 36. In this famous passage, God told Jeremiah to write all of His words on a scroll and read it to the people of Judah. Jeremiah called in Baruch and dictated to him “all the words of the Lord which He had spoken to him” (verse 4). Jeremiah then told Baruch to read the scroll publicly in the temple (verses 5–7). When Baruch did this, he was detained by government officials and eventually the scroll was read to Jehoiakim, king of Judah (verses 8–21), The king’s reaction was to burn the scroll piece by piece as it was being read (verses 22–26). But God was to have the last word, for He commanded Jeremiah to rewrite the scroll, and this time God added a personal judgement against Jehoiakim (verses 27–31). Again Jeremiah dictated to Baruch all that was on the first scroll “and many similar words were

Steps in the folding of a papyrus letter.

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added to them” (verse 32).

After the burning of Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 586 B.C. and the subsequent assassination of Gedaliah the governor of Judah, the remnant Jews took Jeremiah and Baruch to Egypt by force (Jeremiah 43:1–7). We also read in Jeremiah 45:1 that Jeremiah again dictated a prophetic message to Baruch.

We see from these passages that Baruch the scribe was a close friend and personal secretary to Jeremiah. Because of his association with Jeremiah, many scholars believe that it was Baruch who compiled the book of Jeremiah. If Baruch was Jeremiah’s personal secretary, then what was his bulla doing in an official archive? We can only speculate on this question, but since Baruch was associated with Jeremiah during the final days of the kingdom of Judah, it is quite possible that he held a position in the government bureaucracy prior to becoming “a scribe for God.”

Jerahmeel the King’s Son

The second bulla of interest in this collection reads “belonging to Jerahmeel/the king’s son.” Interestingly enough, Jerahmeel is also associated with Jeremiah, and with Baruch! After king Jehoiakim heard the words of Jeremiah’s scroll, he ordered Jarahmeel the king’s son, Seraiah son of Azriel and Shelemiah son of Abdeel to seize Baruch and Jeremiah, “but the Lord hid them” (Jeremiah 36:26). Jerahmeel was evidently connected with police duties such as the detention of dissidents. Two other men with the title “the king’s son” seem to have had similar duties. When Ahab did not like the words of Micaiah the prophet, he ordered his men to take Micaiah to “Joash the king’s son” and tell Joash, “Thus saith the king, put this fellow in the prison, and feed him with bread of affliction and with water of affliction, until I come to peace” (1 Kings 22:27). Later in Jeremiah’s ministry, when Zedekiah was king, one of Jeremiah’s messages upset the leaders of Judah,

so they took Jeremiah and cast him into the cistern of Malchiah, the king’s son, which was in the court of the guard, letting Jeremiah down by ropes. And there was no water in the cistern, but only mire, and Jeremiah sank in the mire. (Jeremiah 38:6, R.S.V.)

Apparently those who bore the title “the king’s son” were members of the royal family who were responsible for maintaining security at the royal court.

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An impression of the seal of Jerahmeel.

Seraiah Son of Neriah

A seal, the details of whose discovery are not known, seems to have certainly belonged to another of Jeremiah’s associates. The inscription on it reads “Belonging to Seraiah/(son of) Neriah.” This man was quartermaster or chief chamberlain under Zedekiah, and his full name was Seraiah son of Neriah son of Mahseiah (Jeremiah 51:59). Since the names of his father and grandfather were the same as those of Baruch, and since Seraiah and Baruch were contemporary, there is no doubt that they were brothers. It is not surprising then, that they were both friends of Jeremiah. In 594 B.C. (Zedekiah’s fourth year) Seraiah was a member of a diplomatic delegation to Babylon. Jeremiah was not one to pass up a golden opportunity like this so he summoned his friend Seraiah, and:

Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that should come upon Babylon, all these words that are written concerning Babylon. And Jeremiah said to Seraiah: “When you come to Babylon, see that you read all these words, and say, ‘O Lord, thou hast said concerning this place that thou wilt cut it off, so that nothing shall dwell in it, neither man nor beast and it shall be desolate for ever.’ When you finish reading this book, bind a stone to it, and cast it into the midst of the Euphrates and say, ‘Thus shall Babylon sink, to rise no more, because of the evil that I am bringing upon her.’” (Jeremiah 51: 60–64, R.S.V.)

The words that Seraiah spoke that day have indeed come true, because Babylon today lies in desolation and ruin.

These three artifacts — two seal impressions and a seal — are very important discoveries in the annals of biblical archaeology. As small and as insignificant as they may seem, they give us personal contact with some of the important personalities and events in Bible

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The seal of Seraiah.

history. And now, for the first time, we are able to say that archaeologists have recovered artifacts which were associated with and even handled by Bible personalities.

(“Baruch the Scribe and Jerahmeel the King’s Son” by Nahman Avigad in the Israel Exploration Journal, Vol. 28 (1978), pp. 52-56.)

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