If you, like I am, are deep into a study of the book of Jeremiah, you know that the first king of Judah, with which Jeremiah had to do, was good king Josiah. You are finding joy in the reforms of young Josiah: the finding of the book of the law during temple restoration and Josiah’s determination to destroy idols and high places. It’s such an exciting era for good people who witnessed positive change for a time in Judah. I’m sure it made them hopeful for a long season of prosperity and favor with God which was not to be.
But have you come across the seal that’s been found bearing the name of “Nathan-Melech”? If you haven’t yet, read 2 Kings 23 and find the name of this chamberlain and the location of his living quarters. Notice what was burned there, near his home. Nathan-Melech, this servant of Josiah, was right in the middle of the destruction of idolatry in Jerusalem.
Now look at this amazing seal that was found in 2019, by a group of archaeologists in what is termed the Givati Parking Lot Excavations in the old City of David area of Jerusalem. The dig was conducted by Doron Ben-Ami and Yana Tchekhanovets of the Israel Antiquities Authority and underwritten by El’ad.) The Hebrew writing was transcribed by Anat Mendel-Geberovich, The seal bears the name of Nathan-Melech and identifies him as a servant of the King. It’s dating is the right era of time and its location is correct for it to have been the seal of the Biblical Nathan-Melech. While it would be impossible to certify that this was absolutely the same man, it’s very hard to discount the way it fits our Nathan-Melech, chamberlain to Josiah,
Since this information is easily found, beginning with Wikipedia, I’m sure many of you have discovered it. But don’t you love it when the digging over there in Israel intersects with our deep Dig in “The God of More”! My prayer is that, every time we come across this kind of evidence, our faith is strengthened in the authenticity of the Scriptures.
Keep digging!