Watchman Newscast: Ancient Seal from Reign of Israel’s Biblical King Jeroboam II FOUND; 2800 Yrs Old

hey everyone eric stackleback here today on the newscast a major archaeological find in israel dating back some 2 800 years to a major period in the old testament you won't want to miss this stick around hey folks eric stakelbeck here welcome to the watchman newscast we've been spending a lot of time here over the past month or so monitoring the very tense situation in the middle east as the iranian regime continues to threaten the united states and israel we will continue to monitor that situation in the days and weeks to come here on the newscast but another major focus of our team here is biblical archaeology we love it and there's so much of it going on in israel right now it's hard to keep track on december 23rd you can check it out in our archives we posted a video about two major archaeological discoveries in the garden of gethsemane in jerusalem a place that obviously has great new testament significance that video in the past two weeks already has about a quarter of a million views we encourage you to check it out now the star of that video was danny the digger herman who we interviewed our good friend watchman contributor top israeli tour guide and archaeologist he brought us all the breaking details on these archaeological discoveries in the garden of gethsemane today danny has another great archaeological piece that you probably haven't heard about hasn't made a whole lot of headlines and that's why we are really intrigued by it this discovery dates back some 2 800 years to the time of jeroboam ii the israeli king during a time of great prosperity for the kingdom of israel but danger was lurking right around the corner as danny will describe a very important archaeological discovery hey if you like this kind of information be sure to subscribe to the watchman news channel right here on youtube and click the notification bell so you get alerts every time a new video is posted we're bringing you the security updates we're bringing you the bible archaeology updates the kind of information that you just won't hear anywhere else certainly not in the mainstream media okay let's get into it with our good friend danny the digger herman joining us from his home in israel take a look danny the digger herman thanks so much for joining us as always you've got another great archaeological find to share with us dating back some 2 800 years danny tell us what you have well this is uh really a great story because such discoveries are really rare we're talking about a little oval-shaped item that a professor from ben gurion university purchased in the 1970s and he paid for it only a few dollars so he didn't thought it was real and worth much but he still liked it and kept it and now almost 50 years later it's been studied and proven to be genuine it is a 2 800 and something seal impression of a clerk in the administration of king jeroboam jeroboam ii the peak of the israelite kingdom that is documented very briefly in the bible but through archaeology and a little bit that we are told in the bible jeroboam ii was quite a mighty king okay he subdued the ammonites the moabites he conquered all the way up to damascus and already in the early 20th century a german archaeologist digging in megiddo gottlieb found a seal of a clerk in his administration it's a beautiful seal depicting a roaring lion and above it it reads of shema the servant of jeroboam and serpent means actually a high official that is to this day the the biggest and the nicest seal from the israelite kingdom the original unfortunately was lost it was taken by the turks and disappeared the old testament and really the illustrious days of that kingdom the kingdom of israel and judea but it's it's the kingdom of the israelites which is even more significant because from the judean kingdom we do have uh some seals and ceiling impressions found mostly in jerusalem in the city of david i saw you covering some of these discoveries but finding in the kingdom of the israelites in in samaria or in megiddo that's exceptionally rare and this specific item was not found in proper excavations it was looted from somewhere and changed hands till it reached the bedouin market of beersheba of all places and then purchased by a history buff and a coin collector who's really a physicist i mean he's known for nuclear energy and and other fields but did he know what he was purchasing danny he had this rare gem that he was purchasing at as you said a bedouin market in bereshev in southern israel and he finds this incredible archaeological nuggets dating back some 2800 years did he have an idea of what exactly he was purchasing the what he bought also depicts a roaring lion and it reminded him of the famous one from megiddo so he he took a look at it and he bargained over the price and when he had to pay only a few dollars like 10 shekels in israeli value he said this cannot be real there's no way that a genuine item would be sold for such a low price but he still kept it and just had it stored and now a few other scholars decided to examine it now we have better techniques to examine the the material we can actually tell from microscopic analysis where a certain clay comes from the research indicated that it came from the area of megiddo and that it was burnt around the 8th century meaning it was used by some clerk to sign some document and then the archive caught fire maybe the fire of megiddo or the fire of jezreel or who knows some other israelite city that got burned by the assyrians but the the firing of the bula made it even harder and last till our modern times this is a very important testimony for administration and for uh using written documents in the israelite kingdom in the 8th and 9th century and especially if it is associated to jeroboam the second it's another testimony for the climax of the israelite period in his time to the the extreme growth and the administration that is also attested in other fields in fact there's a whole line of scholarship especially by the tel aviv university arguing that jeroboam ii is the peak of the biblical times but the bible written in jerusalem doesn't like that king that much so only seven brief sentences describe the 36 years of reign of this jeroboam ii and now the this archaeological finding others are beginning to balance that and show what a mighty king he was now in the bibles he's been he's mentioned a few times as one of the evil kings he's a contemporary of the prophet amos of jonah and this is right before not long before that assyrian invasion where they carted away 10 of the 12 tribes of israel we've got the good kings and we've got the bad kings although he was highly successful in a material sense he did not walk in the ways of the lord he and he was another mighty king of the israelite kingdom that apparently at least militarily and and financially brought the israelite kingdom to unprecedented prosperity but shortly after his death the the israelite kingdom would would pretty much disappear within less than 20 years after he passes away tigalat the assyrian king conquers most of the israelite kingdom and sends the ten tribes to exile in and that's it although this was a very prosperous period uh they were not walking in the ways of god and they paid a heavy price with that assyrian invasion which eventually came danny fascinating stuff as always so what's next right now they're studying this seal impression dating back 2 800 years and uh what's next scholarship will be done on this i guess from researchers and archaeologists in israel this is going to be published in a proper scholarly way uh soon they just gave like a press announcement about this and it's it's another demonstration that despite the pandemic the research continues discoveries are still being made and research is still being done and more and more fines keep coming from the grounds of the holy land fascinating it's fascinating stuff and danny we know you will continue to bring us these cutting edge stories it's hard to keep track right there's so many amazing finds by the way you're coming to us from your home in israel uh in modine the home of the man he's 300 feet away from my house is a 2200 year old synagogue possibly the synagogues where the maccabees used to assemble and maybe decide to rebel against the seducing greeks who knows wow but yes wherever you go in israel it's all soaked with archaeology even near my house that is true we love that stone behind you as well my friend it looks like jerusalem stone thank you so much my friend as always god bless hang in there and we will see you again soon thanks danny amen thank you lito thanks again as always to our good friend danny the digger herman folks you can check him out at dannythedigger.com he is on the cutting edge of everything that is happening in the holy land right now regarding biblical archaeology and these amazing finds that are coming so frequently it's hard to keep track but we're doing our best here on the watchman newscast and we will continue to bring you great guests like the one and only danny the digger herman who are bringing us the inside scoop no pun intended on all of these great archaeological finds in israel hey be sure to subscribe and click that notification bell we're bringing you not only the latest on all the security news out of the middle east and why it matters to you but how god is moving in his land today and one way he's doing it is through these amazing archaeological finds that prove the truth of the bible so thanks for joining us until next time god bless you and remember never hold your peace [Music] [Music] you