by
Damien F. Mackey
“The archaeological evidence indicates that the iconography on Hezekiah’s
seal came from Egypt. However, the reason Hezekiah adopted an Egyptian
religious motif for his royal seal is debatable”.
Professor Claude Mariottini
Introduction
If the archaeologists will only ‘dig deeply
enough’ they will inevitably verify the Bible - and thereby give the lie to the
biblical minimalists. One classical example is the Pool of Bethesda according
to John the Evangelist, but poo-pooed by the minimalists. This, however, is
what was found upon deeper excavation:
Controversial Bethesda pool discovered exactly where John said it was
There is a story in the Gospel of
John that proved problematic for liberals who don’t believe the Bible.
I am talking about Jesus healing
of the lame man at the pool of Bethesda (John
5:1-15).
In the account, Jesus came across a lame man lying by the pool. According to
tradition, when an angel stirred the waters, the first sick person to enter the
pool was healed.
When Jesus asked the man, who had
been lame for 38 years, how he was doing, the man said because he did not have
anyone to help him, when the waters stirred someone always stepped in before
him. Jesus said to him, “Get up, pick up your pallet and walk” (v 8) and the
man was instantly healed.
In the account, the apostle John
provides some detail about the pool. First he said it was near the “sheep’s
gate” and secondly it had “five porticoes” (verse 2). A portico, similar to a
porch, is a covered entrance way. It was a five-sided pool.
However, because the healing by
this pool is only mentioned in John’s Gospel, the liberals quickly concluded it
was a later addition by someone not familiar with Jerusalem. That theory
prevailed until the late 19th century when archaeologists discovered the pool
exactly where John said it was — by the Sheep’s gate now located in the
Muslim-controlled sector of Jerusalem.
Not only that, the pool had five
porticoes, just as John said it did. It was five sided because the rectangular
pool had two large basins that were separated by a wall/portico. This made five
in total for the pool. The northern pool collected water which replenished the
southern side.
The remains of
the Bethesda Pool found exactly where the Apostle John said it was located.
Image biblewalks.com
Because of the broad steps
located beneath a portico leading down to the southern basin, it is believed
this pool is also served as a mikveh or ritual bath for the Jews.
In addition, they even found
evidence of the healing tradition associated with the pool as they discovered
shrines dedicated to a Greek god of healing — Asclepius (a god of
medicine/healing). It was part of a Roman medicinal bath built on the site
between 200AD and 400AD.
Obviously, pagans recognized the
healing attributes of the pool and transferred them to their pagan gods. A
similar thing happened in Acts
14:9-18
when villagers in town of Lystra mistakenly believed Zeus and Hermes had
performed a miraculous healing after Paul and Barnabas healed a lame man from the city.
So John was right. ….
[End of quote]
There is much rejoicing, too, over the fact
that the existence of a genuine king of Judah has recently been
archaeologically verified. See e.g. the article, “King Hezekiah Comes to Life”:
https://www.thetrumpet.com/13400-king-hezekiah-comes-to-life
That is terrific news!
What I want to consider here, though, is just
one aspect of this seal of King Hezekiah – which seal was discovered by the Israeli
archaeologist, Dr. Eilat
Mazar - and that is the seal’s Egyptian-ness.
King Hezekiah’s reason
for using Egyptian Motif
Divergent reasons - both favourable to, and
critical of, King Hezekiah of Judah - have been advanced for why the recently-discovered
seal of Hezekiah might have used Egyptian motifs, such as the ankh sign and the
scarab beetle.
Egyptian motif is a feature common also to
the Seal of Jezebel. Its 18th dynasty symbolism being, I believe, further
positive evidence in favour of my identification of Queen Jezebel with Queen
Nefertiti of Egypt. See e.g. my:
Queen Nefertiti Sealed
as Jezebel
Following on from the glowing account of King
Hezekiah that one finds in 2 Kings 18:5-8:
Hezekiah
trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings
of Judah, either before him or after him. He held fast
to the Lord and did not stop following him; he kept the commands the Lord had given Moses. And the Lord was with him; he was successful in whatever he undertook. He
rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him. From watchtower to fortified city, he defeated the Philistines, as
far as Gaza and its territory [,]
the more earnest biblically-apologetic
commentators might immediately look for a positive interpretation of King Hezekiah’s
use of Egyptian motif. Whilst others may prefer to take into account the whole
biblical impression of Hezekiah, which reveals that this admittedly good king
had also some extremely serious flaws, for which the great prophet Isaiah will
rebuke him. For instance, there is the case of the Babylonian envoys, two
chapters on from this (20:12-19),
providing us with a rather negative image of Hezekiah as one proud
of his abundant wealth and unnecessarily boasting of it before the assembled Babylonians.
Hezekiah’s proud
nature was not lost on his old
foe, Sennacherib of Assyria, who would speak of “the
strong, proud Hezekiah” (Sennacherib’s Bull Inscriptions).
Although 2 Kings 18:5 may tell that: “There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either
before him or after him”, one wonders how much of that was due to the impetus provided him by the two great
contemporary prophets, Micah and Isaiah. (See also Mariottini below: “Hezekiah probably
was influenced by the preaching of the prophet Micah …”.).
Similarly, the great King Solomon may have flourished for a
substantial period of time largely under the long-lasting impetus provided by
his father, David.
But such impetus can eventually fade, unless the one under its
impression personally takes ownership of it, thereby renewing its force so to
speak.
Quote from J. Buridan's "Quaestiones on Aristotle's Physics":
When a mover sets a body in motion he implants into it a certain
impetus, that is, a certain force enabling a body to move in the direction
in which the mover starts it, be it upwards, downwards, sidewards, or in a
circle. The implanted impetus increases in the same ratio as the
velocity. It is because of this impetus that a stone moves on after the
thrower has ceased moving it. But because of the resistance of the air
(and also because of the gravity of the stone) which strives to move it in the
opposite direction to the motion caused by the impetus, the latter will weaken
all the time. Therefore the motion of the stone will be gradually slower,
and finally the impetus is so diminished or [destroyed] that the gravity of the
stone prevails and moves the stone towards its natural place.
[End of quote]
Positive view of Hezekiah’s Seal
Professor Claude Mariottini tells of the
following positive spin that can be put on Hezekiah’s seal:
In his article, “King
Hezekiah’s Seal Revisited: Small Object Reflects Big Geopolitics,” published in
the Biblical Archaeology Review, Meir Lubetski proposed that Hezekiah
had a political motive in selecting the Egyptian scarab for his royal ring.
According to Lubetski, when
Hezekiah became king of Judah, his goal was to reunify the Northern Kingdom of
Israel with the Kingdom of Judah and revive the united kingdom that existed in
the days of Solomon.
One evidence that Lubetski
uses to support his view was Hezekiah’s celebration of the Passover: “Hezekiah
sent word to all Israel and Judah, and wrote letters also to Ephraim and
Manasseh, that they should come to the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, to keep
the passover to the LORD the God of Israel” (2 Chonicles 30:1). Lubetski wrote:
I believe that Hezekiah
consciously chose the Egyptian design, laden with symbolic content, to promote
his own lofty ambitions. He borrowed the beetle icon from his southwestern
neighbor and ally to convey the concept of permanence. The ball the beetle
pushes represents the rejuvenation of the kingdom; the set of wings signifies
the unification of the north and south of the Land of Israel under a scion of
the House of David, just as they characterized the union of Upper and Lower
Egypt under the pharaoh.
According to Lubetski,
Hezekiah removed the religious symbolism of the scarab and infused it with
nationalist sentiments in order to promote his desire to reunite the two
kingdoms under his leadership.
….
[End of quote]
Negative view of Hezekiah’s Seal
Mariottini then proceeds to give an assessment that I believe may be more biblically
realistic – at least it is one right in line with the view that I had expressed
in my article:
Sobna (Shebna) the High
Priest
regarding the prophet Isaiah’s sharp condemnation
of Judah’s dependence upon Egypt at this particular time. Thus I wrote:
… Hezekiah,
unlike his father, was pro-Egyptian. And this was anathema to Yahweh speaking
through Isaiah (30:1-3):
‘Oh, rebellious children’, says the Lord,
who carry out a plan, but not mine;
who make an alliance, but against my will,
adding sin to sin;
who set out to go down to Egypt
without asking for my counsel,
to take refuge in the protection of Pharaoh,
and to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt;
Therefore the protection of Pharaoh shall become your shame,
and the shelter in the shadow of Egypt your humiliation’.
Professor Mariottini accordingly has written, quoting from the same
Isaian text:
However, there may be another reason for the use of a
scarab in the royal signet. The prophet Isaiah provides ample evidence that
during the reign of Hezekiah, the king entered into a covenant with Egypt in
order to confront the Assyrian menace under Sennacherib, king of Assyria. Two
oracles in Isaiah seem to indicate this alliance between Judah and Egypt.
The first passage is found in Isaiah 30:1-2: “Oh,
rebellious children, says the LORD, who carry out a plan, but not mine; who
make an alliance, but against my will, adding sin to sin; who set out to go
down to Egypt without asking for my counsel, to take refuge in the protection
of Pharaoh, and to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt.”
The second passage in found in Isaiah 31:1-3: “Alas for
those who go down to Egypt for help and who rely on horses, who trust in
chariots because they are many and in horsemen because they are very strong,
but do not look to the Holy One of Israel or consult the LORD! . . . The
Egyptians are human, and not God; their horses are flesh, and not spirit.”
Hezekiah had sent ambassadors to the “land of winged
insects” in vessels of papyrus (Isaiah 18:1-2) to make a covenant with Egypt, a
covenant which Isaiah said was “a covenant with death” (Isaiah 28:15). Thus, it
is possible that the presence of the scarab on Hezekiah’s signet ring was to
declare his covenant with Egypt.
In preparing to revolt against Assyria, Hezekiah embarked
on a series of religious and political reforms in Judah. You can find more
information on Hezekiah and his reforms by reading my “Studies on Hezekiah, King of Judah.”
Hezekiah’s religious reform was a success. Hezekiah
probably was influenced by the preaching of the prophet Micah and, as a result,
he removed the high places of Judah, smashed the sacred pillars used in the
worship of pagan gods, cut down the Asherah, and destroyed other items of pagan
worship. Hezekiah’s desire was to establish the exclusive worship of Yahweh in
Judah.
But the political reality did not allow Hezekiah to
accomplish all his goals. When Sennacherib invaded Palestine in 701 B.C., he
attacked and conquered forty-six fortified cities of Judah. Hezekiah was forced
to pay a heavy tribute to Sennacherib and he became a vassal of Assyria.
Although Hezekiah sought Egyptian help to deal with
Assyria, in the end, the words of Isaiah came true: “The protection of Pharaoh
shall become your shame, and the shelter in the shadow of Egypt your
humiliation” (Isaiah 30:3). “When the LORD stretches out his hand, the helper
[Egypt] will stumble, and the one helped [Judah] will fall, and they will all
perish together” (Isaiah 31:3).
….
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