Body: | Seal of Hananiah son of Azariah, False prophet
Bible Bullae from Israel and Judah
Bulla of Hananiah son of Azariah
"Archaeologists are digging up bible stories!!!"
1. Glyptic artifact: Seal of unknown substance
2. Inscription: "Belonging to Hananiah son of Azariah"
3. Provenance: None: Private antiquities market 1982 AD.
4. Current location: Museum of Western Asiatic Antiquity, Berlin
5. Date: 595 BC
6. Bible verses: Jer 28:1-17
7. Events: During the reign of Zedekiah in the fall of 595 BC.
Encyclopedia of Bullae and Seals:
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Security: How bullae are made to seal papyrus
Forgeries: Known fake bullae and seals
Archaeologists are digging up bible stories!!!
Archaeology is an important science that confirms the historical accuracy of the Bible. Since the Bible refers to hundreds of cities, kings, and places, we would expect to find evidence from on-site excavations. And this is exactly what we have found. The Bible is the most historically accurate book of history on earth. Read the Bible daily!
Encyclopedia of Bullae and Seals of Judea and Israel
Bulla "belonging to Hananiah son of Azariah"
1. Glyptic artifact: Seal of unknown substance
2. Inscription: "Belonging to Hananiah son of Azariah"
3. Provenance: None: Private antiquities market 1982 AD.
4. Current location: Museum of Western Asiatic Antiquity, Berlin
5. Date: 595 BC
6. Bible verses: Jer 28:1-17
7. Events: During the reign of Zedekiah in the fall of 595 BC.
Bible text:
"In that same year, at the beginning of the reign of King Zedekiah of
Judah, in the fifth month of the fourth year, the prophet Hananiah son of
Azzur [Azaraiah], from Gibeon, spoke to me in the house of the Lord, in the
presence of the priests and all the people, saying, "Thus says the Lord
of hosts, the God of Israel: I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon.
Within two years I will bring back to this place all the vessels of the
Lord's house, which King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon took away from this
place and carried to Babylon. I will also bring back to this place King
Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim of Judah, and all the exiles from Judah who went
to Babylon, says the Lord, for I will break the yoke of the king of
Babylon." Then the prophet Jeremiah spoke to the prophet Hananiah in the
presence of the priests and all the people who were standing in the house
of the Lord; and the prophet Jeremiah said, "Amen! May the Lord do so;
may the Lord fulfill the words that you have prophesied, and bring back to
this place from Babylon the vessels of the house of the Lord, and all the
exiles. But listen now to this word that I speak in your hearing and in the
hearing of all the people. The prophets who preceded you and me from
ancient times prophesied war, famine, and pestilence against many countries
and great kingdoms. As for the prophet who prophesies peace, when the word
of that prophet comes true, then it will be known that the Lord has truly
sent the prophet." Then the prophet Hananiah took the yoke from the neck
of the prophet Jeremiah, and broke it. And Hananiah spoke in the presence
of all the people, saying, "Thus says the Lord: This is how I will break
the yoke of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon from the neck of all the nations
within two years." At this, the prophet Jeremiah went his way. Sometime
after the prophet Hananiah had broken the yoke from the neck of the prophet
Jeremiah, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: Go, tell Hananiah, Thus
says the Lord: You have broken wooden bars only to forge iron bars in place
of them! For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: I have put an
iron yoke on the neck of all these nations so that they may serve King
Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, and they shall indeed serve him; I have even
given him the wild animals. And the prophet Jeremiah said to the prophet
Hananiah, "Listen, Hananiah, the Lord has not sent you, and you made this
people trust in a lie. Therefore thus says the Lord: I am going to send you
off the face of the earth. Within this year you will be dead, because you
have spoken rebellion against the Lord." In that same year, in the
seventh month, the prophet Hananiah died." (Jeremiah 28:1-17)
Introduction:
1. The story about the false prophet Hananiah son of Azariah from
Gibeon is found in Jeremiah 28.
2. Hananiah was corrupt and faithless and used his position in
the Naioth preachers school to his own power, prestige and of course money.
3. He likely the head prophet of the institutional, certified
"mainline certified" prophets from Gibeon and Ramah:
a. Around 1030-1014 BC Samuel's ancient prophets school called
"Naioth", is located at Ramah, which overlooks Gibeon less than 1 km to the
north: "Now David fled and escaped and came to Samuel at Ramah, and told
him all that Saul had done to him. And he and Samuel went and stayed in
Naioth. It was told Saul, saying, "Behold, David is at Naioth in
Ramah."" (1 Samuel 19:18-19)
b. In 1010 BC Gibeon is where Joab, the army general of David and
Abner, the army general of Saul's son Ish-bosheth invented the battle
strategy used in the Battle of 1812AD where Canada womped the USA in war
and sent the running home to Dixie: "Now Abner the son of Ner, went out
from Mahanaim to Gibeon with the servants of Ish-bosheth the son of Saul.
And Joab the son of Zeruiah and the servants of David went out and met them
by the pool of Gibeon; and they sat down, one on the one side of the pool
and the other on the other side of the pool. Then Abner said to Joab,
"Now let the young men arise and hold a contest before us." And Joab
said, "Let them arise." So they arose and went over by count, twelve
for Benjamin and Ish-bosheth the son of Saul, and twelve of the servants of
David. Each one of them seized his opponent by the head and thrust his
sword in his opponent's side; so they fell down together. Therefore that
place was called Helkath-hazzurim, which is in Gibeon." (2 Samuel 2:12-16)
c. Gibeon is the location of the Tabernacle of Moses from
1018-960 BC. Saul killed all the priests at Nob and then moved the
tabernacle of Moses to Gibeon in 1018 BC.
d. Gibeon was used by the kings as a royal city. When the
tabernacle of Moses was taken down the put in the storerooms of the temple
of Solomon the former important real estate of the "Gibeon temple mount"
became a residence for the elite among the prophets and servants of the
King. This probably explains why the head prophet of Israel came from
Gibeon. They have found many pottery stamps with LMK "for the king" in the
excavations there.
e. So Hananiah was likely the leading prophet instructor of the
now corrupt and institutionalized prophets school that Samuel founded.
I. Archeological information about the seal of Hananiah son of Azariah:
Unprovenanced
1. In 1980 AD a seal surfaced on the private antiquities market
in Jerusalem and are currently housed at the Western Asiatic Department of
the State Museums at Berlin (VA 32).
a. We do not have any photos of the seal, only a replica bulla
made from the ancient seal.
b. We do not know what the seal is made of or where it originated
from.
2. "SEALS WITH FLORAL DECORATIONS There are also some seals with
floral decoration. Two elegantly engraved signets, which were found in
Jerusalem, are preserved in the Western Asiatic Department of the State
Museums at Berlin (VA 32 and 33). On VA 32, the inscription in two lines,
separated by the usual double line, is surrounded by an oval line. All
round this oval line there is a rather unusual decoration of pomegranates.
This fruit, called in Hebrew rimmon, is often mentioned in the O.T. (Deut.
viii.8 ; Joel i.12 ; Songs viii.2, etc.). Pomegranates figure in the
ornamentation of the priestly robes (Exod. xxviii.33, etc.) and in the
carv- ings of the Temple (t Kings vii.18, etc.), and their beauty is
alluded to in Song iv.3, 13, etc. The inscription reads thus: Ihnnvhw
bn'zyrhw: belonging to Hananiali son of Azariah." Both names occur in the
O.T. (e.g. Jer. xxviii. 1 ; 2 Kings xv.6, 8). Curiously enough, VA 33
presents many features analogous to those of VA 32. It too contains an
inscription in two lines separated by a double line ; the engraved face is
surrounded by an oval line ; the name of the owner is the same, but not the
patronymic ; and it is very elegantly engraved. Its floral decoration is,
however, different. It is divided into three zones, the upper one,
separated from the rest by a double line, containing a seven-leaved
palmette. A nearly identical decoration is found on a fragment which
belonged to a stone decorative frieze of the synagogue at Chorazin (Khirbet
Kerazeh), to the north of the Sea of Gennesaret, though the seal is
probably nine hundred years older than the synagogue. The inscription reads
: lhnnyhw ' (Belonging) to Hananiah bnlbr son of Achbor' Of particular
interest is the name Achbor 'mouse' (2 Kings xxii.I2), names of animals
being rare in inscriptions. (Documents from Old Testament Times: Ancient
Texts and Translations, D. Winton Thomas, p 225, 2006 AD)
I. Nebuchadnezzar's Dream and the golden statue he built:
1. In 602 BC Daniel interprets the dream of Nebuchadnezzar's 5
succeeding world kingdoms statue where he is the head of gold. (Babylon,
Medo-persia, Greece, Rome, Church.)
2. In 603 BC Nebuchadnezzar begins construction of his golden
image statue that measures 3 wide x 30 meters high. (6x60 cubits)
a. "Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, the height of
which was sixty cubits and its width six cubits; he set it up on the plain
of Dura in the province of Babylon." (Daniel 3:1)
3. In spring of 595 BC Nebuchadnezzar orders every vassal world
leader under his domain, including Zedekiah, to attend the official
unveiling of the golden image in Babylon.
a. "Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent word to assemble the
satraps, the prefects and the governors, the counselors, the treasurers,
the judges, the magistrates and all the rulers of the provinces to come to
the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up."
(Daniel 3:2)
4. In October 595 BC Zedekiah and Seraiah his quartermaster,
leave Jerusalem to make the trip to Babylon for the dedication of the
golden image of Nebuchadnezzar in the plain of Dura outside of Babylon.
a. "The message which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the
son of Neriah, the grandson of Mahseiah, when he went with Zedekiah the
king of Judah to Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. (Now Seraiah was
quartermaster.) So Jeremiah wrote in a single scroll all the calamity which
would come upon Babylon, that is, all these words which have been written
concerning Babylon. Then Jeremiah said to Seraiah, "As soon as you come
to Babylon, then see that you read all these words aloud, and say, 'You,
O Lord, have promised concerning this place to cut it off, so that there
will be nothing dwelling in it, whether man or beast, but it will be a
perpetual desolation.' "And as soon as you finish reading this scroll,
you will tie a stone to it and throw it into the middle of the Euphrates,
and say, 'Just so shall Babylon sink down and not rise again because of
the calamity that I am going to bring upon her; and they will become
exhausted.' " Thus far are the words of Jeremiah." (Jeremiah 51:59-64)
b. Seraiah part of the scribal family and was the brother to
Baruch, Jeremiah's scribe who wrote the scroll that Jehoiakim burned in 605
BC.
II. Zedekiah's front row seat at Nebuchadnezzar's dedication ceremony:
1. In spring of 595 BC, Nebuchadnezzar dedicates his golden image
ceremony and everyone must bow down when the musical instruments start
playing.
a. Zedekiah would have been in the front row with the other heads
of state under Nebuchadnezzar's control.
b. Zedekiah surely bowed down to worship the statue.
c. Meanwhile Shadrach, Meshach, Abed-nego refuse to bow down
and are thrown into the fiery furnace in Nebuchadnezzar's rage.
2. In spring of 595 BC, when Nebuchadnezzar saw the angel who
saved Shadrach, Meshach, Abed-nego from death
a. He brought Zedekiah, along with the other world leaders to
witness first hand the miracle and meet in person Shadrach, Meshach,
Abed-nego.
b. Zedekiah likely shook the hands or hugged or kissed Shadrach,
Meshach, Abed-nego after God saved them: "The satraps, the prefects, the
governors [Zedekiah would certainly be there] and the king's high
officials gathered around and saw in regard to these men that the fire had
no effect on the bodies of these men nor was the hair of their head singed,
nor were their trousers damaged, nor had the smell of fire even come upon
them." (Daniel 3:27)
c. Nebuchadnezzar proclaimed faith in YHWH: "Nebuchadnezzar
responded and said, "Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach and
Abed-nego, who has sent His angel and delivered His servants who put their
trust in Him, violating the king's command, and yielded up their bodies
so as not to serve or worship any god except their own God. "Therefore I
make a decree that any people, nation or tongue that speaks anything
offensive against the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego shall be torn
limb from limb and their houses reduced to a rubbish heap, inasmuch as
there is no other god who is able to deliver in this way."" (Daniel
3:28-29)
3. Zedekiah vs. Nebuchadnezzar:
a. Nebuchadnezzar was a pagan idol worshipper.
b. Zedekiah sat on the throne of YHWH: "Then Solomon sat on the
throne of the Lord as king instead of David his father; and he prospered,
and all Israel obeyed him." (1 Chronicles 29:23)
c. It is very sad that Zedekiah who sat on the very throne of
Yaweh DID NOT BELIEVE IN YAWEH.
d. It is shocking that the king of Israel who bowed down to
Nebuchadnezzar's golden pagan god image had to learn from a pagan king that
you should not worship idols but God (YHWH) alone!
e. What an incredible rebuke of Zedekiah that must have been
humiliating!
III. Hananiah encourages Zedekiah to rebel against Nebuchadnezzar
1. In July 595 BC Zedekiah arrived home in Jerusalem and rebels
against Nebuchadnezzar because of the false prophecies of Hananiah son of
Azariah!
a. A great show down between false prophet Hananiah and Jeremiah
erupts.
b. This showdown was every bit as spectacular as the one on Mt.
Carmel where Elijah challenges the 850 false prophets of Baal.
c. Jeremiah is told by God to make a wooden yolk and wear it on
his neck as an warning allegory to Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tire, Sidon and
Zedekiah in Jerusalem that they MUST SERVE Nebuchadnezzar.
d. Hananiah takes the wooden yolk of Jeremiah, smashes it on the
floor in front of king Zedekiah and prophecies falsely that in two years
God will smash the yolk of Babylon from the neck of the nations and all the
temple vessels will be returned to Jerusalem.
e. Jeremiah says that Hananiah will die for his false prophecy
and now the yolk which Zedekiah will wear when he is deported to Babylon
will be bronze not wood.
2. In September 595 BC Hananiah dies two months after Jeremiah
condemned him to death.
Conclusion:
1. On Tuesday 27 January 598 BC Nebuchadnezzar begins his attack
on Jerusalem: Ezek 24:1-2; 2 Ki 25:1
"And the word of the Lord came to me in the ninth year, in the tenth
month, on the tenth of the month, saying, "Son of man, write the name of
the day, this very day. The king of Babylon has laid siege to Jerusalem
this very day." (Ezekiel 24:1-2)
"Now in the ninth year of his reign, on the tenth day of the tenth
month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against
Jerusalem, camped against it and built a siege wall all around it." (2
Kings 25:1)
On Saturday 29 July 587 BC Babylon breeches the walls of Jerusalem
and Zedekiah flees but is captured near Jericho taken to Riblah where is
sons are executed in front of him, his eyes are gouged out and he is
deported to Babylon in bronze chains just like Jeremiah prophesied. 2 Ki
25:2-4; Jer 52:7-11; Ezek 33:21; 40:1
"So the city was under siege until the eleventh year of King
Zedekiah. On the ninth day of the fourth month the famine was so severe in
the city that there was no food for the people of the land. Then the city
was broken into, and all the men of war fled by night by way of the gate
between the two walls beside the king's garden, though the Chaldeans were
all around the city. And they went by way of the Arabah." (2 Kings
25:2-4)
"Then the city was broken into, and all the men of war fled and went
forth from the city at night by way of the gate between the two walls which
was by the king's garden, though the Chaldeans were all around the city.
And they went by way of the Arabah. But the army of the Chaldeans pursued
the king and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho, and all his army
was scattered from him. Then they captured the king and brought him up to
the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath, and he passed sentence
on him. The king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his
eyes, and he also slaughtered all the princes of Judah in Riblah. Then he
blinded the eyes of Zedekiah; and the king of Babylon bound him with bronze
fetters and brought him to Babylon and put him in prison until the day of
his death." (Jeremiah 52:7-11)
"Now in the twelfth year of our exile, on the fifth of the tenth
month, the refugees from Jerusalem came to me, saying, "The city has been
taken."" (Ezekiel 33:21)
"In the twenty-fifth year of our exile, at the beginning of the
year, on the tenth of the month, in the fourteenth year after the city was
taken, on that same day the hand of the Lord was upon me and He brought me
there." (Ezekiel 40:1)
"(135) Now the city was taken on the ninth day of the fourth month,
in the eleventh year of the reign of Zedekiah. They were indeed only
generals of the king of Babylon, to whom Nebuchadnezzar committed the care
of the siege, for he abode himself in the city of Riblah. The names of
these generals who ravaged and subdued Jerusalem, if anyone desire to know
them, were these: Nergal Sharezer, Sangar Nebo, Rabsaris, Sarsechim, and
Rabmag; (136) and when the city was taken about midnight, and the enemy's
generals were entered into the temple, and when Zedekiah was sensible of
it, he took his wives and his children, and his captains and friends, and
with them fled out of the city, through the fortified ditch, and through
the desert; (137) and when certain of the deserters had informed the
Babylonians of this, at break of day, they made haste to pursue after
Zedekiah, and overtook him not far from Jericho, and encompassed him about.
But for those friends and captains of Zedekiah who had fled out of the city
with him, when they saw their enemies near them, they left him and
dispersed themselves, some one way and some another, and every one resolved
to save himself; (138) so the enemy took Zedekiah alive, when he was
deserted by all but a few, with his children and his wives, and brought him
to the king. When he was come, Nebuchadnezzar began to call him a wicked
wretch, and covenant-breaker, and one that had forgotten his former words,
when he promised to keep the country for him. (139) He also reproached him
for his ingratitude, that when he had received the kingdom from him, who
had taken it from Jehoiachin, and given it him, he had made use of the
power he gave him against him that gave it: "but," said he, "God is
great, who hateth that conduct of thine, and hath brought thee under us."
(140) And when he had used these words to Zedekiah, he commanded his sons
and his friends to be slain, while Zedekiah and the rest of the captains
looked on; after which he put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him, and
carried him to Babylon. (141) And these things happened to him, as Jeremiah
and Ezekiel had foretold to him, that he should be caught, and brought
before the king of Babylon, and should speak to him face to face, and
should see his eyes with his own eyes; and thus far did Jeremiah prophesy.
But he was also made blind, and brought to Babylon but did not see it,
according to the prediction of Ezekiel." (Josephus Antiquities 10.135-140)
Hananiah was proven a false prophet and the words of Jeremiah came
true when Zedekiah was blinded at Riblah and hauled off to Babyon in
chains.
"The king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his
eyes, and he also slaughtered all the princes of Judah in Riblah. Then he
blinded the eyes of Zedekiah; and the king of Babylon bound him with bronze
fetters and brought him to Babylon and put him in prison until the day of
his death." (Jeremiah 52:10-11)
By Steve Rudd: Contact the author for comments, input or corrections.
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