BOOK OF JEREMIAH: ARCHEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE

This book contains more autobiographical features than are found in most other prophetic writings, and Jeremiah intersected with some important events in the history of Israel. Therefore it is not entirely unexpected that archeological findings would confirm some details found in this book. I would like to just mention two of these findings.

The first consists of a trove of 250 bullae that came on the antiquities market in 1975. A bulla is a lump of clay impressed with a seal and attached to a document in order to (1) secure it and (2) identify the sender. They appeared to have all come from the same source in Judah, probably as part of a royal archive. Also, they were well preserved since it was obvious they had all been through a fire which had the effect of baking them. It has been proposed that this fire took place when Babylon destroyed Jerusalem in 586 BC.

Although there is always a degree of uncertainty regarding objects whose exact provenance is unknown, these objects show all the signs of being authentic. Of special interest are three of the seals with the following inscriptions:

    1. “Belonging to Baruch-yahu (“blessed of Yahweh”)

        son of Neriah

        the scribe”

If you look at Jeremiah 36:4, you will find: “then Jeremiah called Baruch son of Neriah, and Baruch wrote on a scroll at Jeremiah's dictation all the words of Yahweh that He had spoken to him.” So Baruch was actually the first to take down much of what we have today in the book of Jeremiah.

    2. “Belonging to Elishama

        servant of the king”

Jeremiah 36:12 lists among the officials of the king gathered in the royal secretary's chamber to hear Baruch recite from the scroll, the secretary himself who is named Elishama. After the scroll is read, the king destroys it.

     3. “Belonging to Jerah'meel

        son of the king”

At this point, the king orders his son Jerah'meel and others to arrest Baruch, but God hides Baruch and Jeremiah from them, and Baruch makes another copy of the scroll. (Jeremiah 36:26)

The next archeological find of interest consists of the Lachish Letters, These were communications written on ostraca (fragments of broken pottery) from a military scout positioned outside the city of Lachish to his commander within the city. It was actually quite common for people to use ostraca as a convenient writing surface since broken pottery was found littering the ground just about anywhere near an inhabited city. At least two of the letters are of particular interest to scholars of Jeremiah:

    1. In one message, the scout reports that he saw the signal fires go out at Azekah.

Jeremiah 34:1-7 reports to the King of Judah what happened when Nebuchadnezzar's army attacked. In verse 7, Jeremiah talks of the time “when Babylon was fighting against Jerusalem and against all the cities of Judah that were left, Lachish and Azekah.” So the Lachish letters actually contain an eye-witness account of the exact moment when Azekah fell, but before Lachish had been taken. And the Hebrew word for “signal fire” in the letter is the same one that Jeremiah uses in Jeremiah 6:1 – “Blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and raise a signal on Beth-haccherem.”

    2. On another ostracon, the scout mentions a prophet who had been proclaiming warnings about a coming disaster, which had the effect of “making the people's hands weak.” That was precisely what Jeremiah had been doing at the time. In Jeremiah 38:1-4 makes the dire prediction to all the people that the city of Jerusalem is soon going to be taken by the Babylonians. So he urges them to surrender. In response, the king's officials say, “This man ought to be put to death, because he is discouraging the soldiers who are left in this city.” The underlined phrase in Hebrew is literally “making the hands weak,” the same idiom found in this Lachish letter.