Servant of Josiah Bulla

In July 2025, the Temple Mount Sifting Project in Jerusalem announced a discovery that offered a literal, physical touch from the biblical past: a 2,600-year-old clay seal impression bearing the name of a royal family connected to King Josiah, complete with the ancient official's fingerprint pressed into its edge.

The Artifact and the Fingerprint

The artifact is a bulla—a small, stamped lump of clay used to secure commercial and legal goods in antiquity. An official would press their personalized signet ring into wet clay over the string binding a document or container to ensure it was not opened by unauthorized personnel.

Based on paleographic dating (the shape of the letters), the bulla dates to the late 7th or early 6th century BC, placing it squarely in the final years of the First Temple period. The ancient Hebrew script on the seal reads: "Belonging to Yed[a‛]yah, (son of) Asayahu".

When researchers examined the reverse side of the clay, they found markings indicating it had been pressed against a storage vessel, likely securing rations of grain, wine, or oil. What makes this specific bulla exceptionally rare, however, is the visible fingerprint left in the clay—presumably belonging to Yeda'yah himself as he pinched the wet clay to secure the royal seal.

The Biblical Connection: A Mission to the Prophetess

The historical weight of the artifact lies in the father's name: Asayahu.

In the biblical texts (2 Kings 22:12 and 2 Chronicles 34:20), Asayahu (more commonly translated as Asaiah) was a trusted, high-ranking official who bore the title "servant of the king" under the reign of King Josiah.

Around 622 BC, during extensive renovations of the Temple in Jerusalem, the High Priest discovered a lost "Book of the Law" (widely believed by scholars to be the core of Deuteronomy). When the scroll's warnings of divine judgment were read to King Josiah, he tore his clothes in despair and immediately dispatched a high-level delegation to seek guidance from the prophetess Huldah. Asayahu was one of the men chosen for this critical, nation-altering mission.

Because administrative and scribal roles in ancient Judah were often hereditary, researchers speculate that Yeda'yah inherited a high-ranking court position from his father, Asayahu, allowing him to wield his own royal seal in the Temple administration.

The Shadow of Babylon

This artifact captures Jerusalem at a turning point. Despite King Josiah's sweeping religious reforms, the kingdom's geopolitical situation was deteriorating. This seal was stamped in the tense decades leading up to 586 BC, when the Babylonian army under King Nebuchadnezzar finally breached Jerusalem's walls after a prolonged siege.

The Babylonians destroyed the city, burned the Temple Mount where this seal was ultimately buried, and sent the surviving population into exile. Yeda'yah's bulla is a tangible remnant of those final days of administration before the collapse of the Kingdom of Judah.