BiblicalInsights.net

Clay Bulla 0.6 inches wide with Bethlehem on it

     Hershel Shanks reported recently in Biblical Archaeology Review (September/October, 2012, p. 12) a new find from a wet sifting of dirt provided by the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA).  The wet sifting was done by Zachi Zweig and Gaby Barkay of dirt that came from the IAA’s excavation of the City of David (also known as Bethlehem).  The find is a tiny clay bulla about 0.6 inches (1.5 cm) wide.  It contains for the first time in any ancient archaeological context the name of the city of Bethlehem.  According to the Hebrew Bible, King David was born in Bethlehem, and according to the New Testament, Jesus was born in Bethlehem.  A bulla is a seal impression.  The seal itself was used to impress a small piece of clay that secured a shipment or document (p. 12).  In this case, the seal is what is known as a “fiscal bulla.”  The fiscal bulla seem to be part of Judah’s taxation system in the time of Hezekiah (727-697 B.C.E.) or Manasseh (697-642 B.C.E.).  The bulla indicated the city from which the payment had come.  The three-line Bethlehem bulla reads: “In the seventh (year of the king’s reign) (taxes from the City of) [B]ethlehem, to (or “for”) the king.” (Hershel Shank, “Bethlehem” from IAA Dig Found by Archaeologist IAA Arrested” in Biblical Archaeology Review, September/October, 2012, p. 12).
Many such details from the Bible have been validated by archaeological finds such as this.  It is a remarkable testimony to the accuracy of the Bible and the veracity of the Scriptures.  As noted in a previous blog on this site, the Book of Mormon does not have a single fact that has been documented historically outside of the book itself!  The Bible stands alone as the Word of God!
Reform Jewish Scholar Nelson Glueck said, “It is worth emphasizing that in all this work no archeological discovery has ever controverted a single, properly understood Biblical statement” (Horizon, 2/2, (Nov., 1959) 6 -as quoted by Gordon H. Clark, The Trinity Review, no. 302, Sept.-Oct., 2011, p. 4).