Nathan-Melech's Seal
FOUND: 2,600 y/o Seal Belonging to Nathan-Melech
- Found in a city burned down by Babylon in 586 BC
- Inscription, in Ancient Hebrew, means "Belonging to Nathan-Melech, Servant of the King"
- Servant as a title depicts a high rank, low rank servants had no title
- Name, Title, Place and Time line up with Biblical account
Evidence of Nathan-Melech's existance has been found in the form of a seal dating back to the same time and place as the Biblical account.
In the Bible, Nathan-Melech was a chamberlain (or confidant) of King Josiah. His name is mentioned only once in Bible and researchers admit that the name is very unique. Digital Manna decided to go further to recognize that the reason his name is unique is likely due to the addition of "Melech" to his name. Nathan in Hebrew means 'given' and is not uncommon, whereas Nathan-Melech means 'given by the king', which is only seen once in Scripture. This most likely indicates his name included the title of his position much like we assign 'Dr.' to those who have doctorate degrees. Add that to the line-up of name, title, place and time, and you have a solid find!
Congrats City of David excavation teams!