Bonus 43 - Seal of Shema

Cast of Seal Inscribed: 'Shema, Servant Of Jerobam',
Found In Megiddo, Possibly Jerobam II. King of Israel,
9th. Cent. BC. Photo Z. Radovan.

While excavating Megiddo (1903-1905) Gottlieb Schumacher uncovered a seal made of jasper in 1904 within courtyard 1693, near the northern wall, engraved with a roaring lion (the symbol of Judah) and accompanied by an inscription which read “(Belonging) to Shemac (the) Servant (of) Jeroboam.” 1.   Most scholars agree that the inscription refers to Jeroboam II, king of Israel (ca. 787-747 BC; 2 Kgs 14:23-25). 2.  

The seal was first published by E. Kautzsch in 1904 and then by S. A. Cook in 1904 followed by Schumacher in 1908 (p. 99-100) and S. Watzinger in 1929 (p. 64-67).

Footnotes

• 1. G. Schumacher and C. Steuernagel, Tell el- Mutesellim I: A. Text (Leipzig, 1908), pp. 99-100, Fig. 147.
• 2. S. Yeivin, “The Date of the Seal ‘Belonging to Shemaʿ (The) Servant (Of) Jeroboam.’” Journal of Near Eastern Studies 19, no. 3 (1960): 205. See C. Watzinger, Tell el-Mutesellim II: Die Funde (Leipzig, 1929): 66-67. S. Yeivin (1960) and G. W. Ahlstrom (1993) argue for Jerooam I. S. Yeivin, “The Date of the Seal ‘Belonging to Shemaʿ (The) Servant (Of) Jeroboam.’” Journal of Near Eastern Studies 19, no. 3 (1960): 205.

For Further Study

• Ahlstrom, Gosta W. "The Seal of Shema." Scandinavian Journal of the Old Testament 7 1993, 208-15.
• Fant, Clyde E., and Mitchell Glenn Reddish. Lost Treasures of the Bible: Understanding the Bible Through Archaeological Artifacts in World Museums. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 2008.
• Lubetski, Meir, and Edith Lubetski, eds. New Inscriptions and Seals Relating to the Biblical World. Atlanta, Ga.: SBL, 2012.
• Mykytiuk, Lawrence J. Identifying Biblical Persons in Northwest Semitic Inscriptions of 1200-539 B.C.E. SBL Academia Biblica 12. Atlanta, Ga.: Society of Biblical Literature, 2004, 133-39.
• Ussishkin, David. “Gate 1567 at Megiddo and the Seal of Shema, Servant of Jeroboam,” in Scripture and Other Artifacts: Essays on the Bible and Archaeology in Honor of Phillip J. King, Michael D. Googan et. al. (Louisville: Westminster/ Knox 1994), 410-428.
• Yeivin, S. “The Date of the Seal ‘Belonging to Shemaʿ (The) Servant (Of) Jeroboam.’” Journal of Near Eastern Studies 19, no. 3 (1960): 205–12.