ISRAEL HAYOM
Indigenous in Jerusalem
by David M. Weinberg
December 4, 2015

The discovery of Hezekiah’s royal seal impression in the Ophel excavations “vividly brings to life the biblical narratives about King Hezekiah, and the activity conducted during his lifetime in Jerusalem’s Royal Quarter,” says the Hebrew University. It’s much more than that! The unearthing and deciphering of the 2,700-year-old bulla in excavations by the Temple Mount is proof positive of the Jewish people’s deep roots in Jerusalem. It is reaffirmation of entrenched Jewish rights in Jerusalem. This is doubly important at a time when some academics and archaeologists deny the veracity of the biblical narrative of ancient Israel, and many Palestinians assert that the Jewish people have no history and no national rights in Jerusalem…Through great adversity and persistence, Professor Eilat Mazar and her Israel Antiquities Authority and Hebrew University colleagues have unearthed some of the earliest known artifacts in the city, dating as far back as the 12th and 11th centuries BCE. These include evidence supporting the historicity of the biblical kings David and Solomon, founders of the Judean dynasty. READ MORE