Jewish Governor's Seal

A recent find provides proof of Jewish rule over Jerusalem roughly 2,700 years ago. What is deemed to be a governor's seal depicts ancient Hebrew writing. The seal was unearthed near the Western Wall Plaza and dated to the First Temple Period.

There are only 2 Jewish governors mentioned in the Bible and both governors were under the reign of King Josiah from 640-609 BC, contrary to some reports (and some reports have been corrected). The governors’ names are Joshua and Maaseiah. If the seal belonged to one of these two, the age would be closer to 2,600 years old...

NOTE: This is not the Joshua who fought in the Battle of Jericho.

King Hezekiah, mentioned in some reports, was Josiah's great grandfather who ruled from 726-697 BC which is closer to the 2,700 year mark established for the seal. Joshua could only have been under Hezekiah if he had lived a long life and maintained his governorship for over 65 years under 4 kings... unlikely. To fuel the unlikelihood, Hezekiah and Josiah may have been Godly kings, but Josiah's father and grandfather were quite the opposite. This would make Joshua's governorship a contrast to his father and grandfather's rule which we will see in reading about Josiah's dealings with Joshua...

When we look at both governors in the stories of King Josiah, another story begins to take shape. Like his great gran-pappy, Josiah became king when the people of Judah were behaving badly. The Jewish temple was filled with pagan idol worship, so when he went to cleanse the land from all evils, someone was going to get what was coming to them. We only see Joshua, who seems to have been an inherited governor, mentioned when King Josiah came to his place to tear down the 'high places' of worship that had been corrupted. The next time we hear about the governor of the city, the title belongs to Maaseiah. In laymen's terms, Joshua got the boot! (or so it seems) Then again, maybe he was old, being from great gran-pappy's day, and simply died off. We'll let you know if we find out more! Be sure to read more about King Hezekiah who destroyed Moses' Bronze Serpent and see why Josiah became king at the ripe old age of 8. Yes, you read that right; now stop staring at your child and pick that chin up!