2,500-year-old inscription of God’s name found in Jerusalem

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP — An Israeli archaeologist said yesterday he has unearthed a silver amulet engraved with the earliest Hebrew inscription of God’s name ever found in Jerusalem.

The find, along with a trove of jewelry, was described in archaeological circles as an important and unusual discovery in the excavation of ancient Jerusalem.

Tel Aviv University archaeologist Gabriel Barkay said the amulet dated from the 7th or early 6th century BC., around the time of the Babylonian conquest of Jerusalem

He said in a telephone interview that two such amulets were found in a tomb chamber opposite Mount Zion three years ago, but only now were being deciphered.

The amulets were rolled so tightly they were no bigger than matchsticks and required sophisticated technology to unroll them, said Professor Avraham Biran, an archaeologist at Hebrew Union College who is acquainted with the findings.

Barkay said one of the sheets of pure silver had God’s name engraved on it with a sharp instrument. It consisted of the classical Hebrew spelling of God’s name, the letters yod, heh, vav, heh — Yahweh or, in its Anglicized pronunciation, Jehovah.

Devout Jews refrain from uttering God’s name, and it is written in such a way as to be impossible to pronounce correctly.

Barkay said inscriptions of God’s name were usually written on parchment or papyrus, which long ago disintegrated.

Before Barkay’s discovery, the earliest known Hebrew inscription of God’s name found in Jerusalem was one from the Hellenistic period in the second century BC.

Barkay said the new find, dug up next to St. Andrew’s Church facing Mount Zion across the Hinnom Valley, included the largest trove of jewelry ever uncovered in Jerusalem.

Barkay kept his find secret, giving rise to persistent rumors of a striking discovery in Jerusalem. He described it for the first time at a lecture last night.

The Jerusalem Post said Barkay kept it secret for fear of arousing the displeasure of Orthodox Jews, who oppose archaeological digging in the vicinity of tombs.

Barkay denied this, saying he had waited because he wanted to decipher the inscription.