Archaeologists from the Israel Antiquities Authority have discovered a rare ancient artifact that provides the earliest evidence for the existence of the city of Bethlehem.
This tiny clay artifact provides the earliest evidence for the existence of the city of Bethlehem (Clara Amit / Israel Antiquities Authority)
During excavations in the City of David in Jerusalem, the archaeologists have unearthed a bulla that bears the name of the city, which is mentioned in the Bible.
According to the Israel Antiquities Authority, this artifact measuring about 1.5 cm dates back to the First Temple Period. It was found during the sifting of soil removed from archaeological excavations.
The bulla is a piece of clay that was used for sealing a document or object. It was impressed with the seal of the person who sent the document or object, and its integrity was evidence the document or object was not opened by anyone unauthorized to do so.
Three lines of ancient Hebrew script appear on the bulla unearthed by Israeli archaeologists:
Bishv ’at בשבעת
Bat Lechem בת לים
[Lemel]ekh [למל[ך
“It seems that in the seventh year of the reign of a king – it is unclear if the king referred to here is Hezekiah, Manasseh or Josiah – a shipment was dispatched from Bethlehem to the king in Jerusalem,” explained Eli Shukron, director of the excavation at the Israel Antiquities Authority.
“The bulla we found belongs to the group of “fiscal” bullae – administrative bullae used to seal tax shipments remitted to the taxation system of the Kingdom of Judah in the late eighth and seventh centuries BC. The tax could have been paid in the form of silver or agricultural produce such as wine or wheat,” the archaeologist said.
“This is the first time the name Bethlehem appears outside the Bible, in an inscription from the First Temple period, which proves that Bethlehem was indeed a city in the Kingdom of Judah, and possibly also in earlier periods,” Shukron emphasized.
In the Bible Bethlehem is first mentioned in the verse “in Ephrath, which is Bethlehem”, and it was on the way there that Rachel died and it is where she was buried (Genesis 35:19; 48:7). The descendants of Judah settled there, among them the family of Boaz (Book of Ruth). Bethlehem’s greatness begins with the anointing of David, son of Jesse, as king (1 Samuel 16).
