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Lesson 42 Hope of Israel Ministries BIBLE Correspondence Course 25

Old Testament who assassinated Gedaliah, the It has also been found on 16 seals and bullae, and
governor set up by the Babylonians following on one jar handle.
the destruction of Jerusalem in 587 B.C. The Although the Bible does not state speci-
bulla was baked hard, indicating that it had been fically that Ishmael had the title “King’s Son,"
in a fire, possibly the fire set by the Babylonians he was of royal descent (2 Kings 25:25; Jere-
miah 41:1) and was an official of the king (Jere-
miah 41:1). From this information and the date
of the bulla, it is highly probable that the Ishmael
of the bulla was the Ishmael of the Bible.
Ishmael was a member of the “anti-
Babylonian" party and thus was at the center of
an attempt to overthrow Babylonian authority
following the fall of Jerusalem. He conspired
with Baalis, king of Ammon, to assassinate
Gedaliah, whom the Babylonians had appointed
as governor in Mizpah north of Jerusalem. With
the help of ten accomplices, the deed was carried
out at the dinner table. Captives were taken, in-
cluding the “king’s daughters,” evidently female
members of the royal court, and Ishmael headed
for Ammon.
Bulla of Ishmael, the King’s Son, purchased in Loyalists quickly caught up with him,
Jerusalem. The Ishmael of this inscription is however, at Gibeon about 3 miles from Mizpah.
most likely the Ishmael who assassinated Geda- The captives were safely recovered, but Ishmael
liah, governor of Judah after the fall of Jerusalem managed to elude his pursuers and escape to
in 587 B.C. (Jeremiah 40:7-41:15). Ammon. The full story is recorded in Jeremiah
40:7-41:15.
when they captured Jerusalem (2 Kings 25:8-9; In addition to the bulla of Ishmael, there
Jeremiah 39:8). Based on the shape of the let- are a number of other archaeological finds that
ters, the script can be dated to the late Judean are related to the individuals mentioned in this
monarchy, end of the 7th or beginning of the 6th account. A bulla of Gedaliah himself was found
century B.C. at Lachish, with the inscription, “Belonging to
The title “The King’s Son” was assoc- Gedaliah, the One Who is Over the [Royal]
iated with state officials and nobility of Jeru- House." In other words, the Royal Steward.
salem in the 7th century B.C. (Zephaniah 1:8). It This, of course, was from his earlier days when
was given to members of the royal family, not he was a high official in the Judean bureaucracy.
necessarily princes, who fulfilled certain official And then we have the seal impression of an
functions. Five individuals in the Old Testament official of Baalis, the Ammonite king who was
are designated as having the title: the instigator of the assassination, found at Tell
c
Joash (1 Kings 22:26 [=2 Chronicles el- Umeiri in Jordan. It reads, “Belonging to
c
c
18:25]) Milkom’ur, Servant of Ba alyis a," with
c
c
Jotham (2 Kings 15:5 [=2 Chronicles Ba alyis a being a longer form of the name
26:21]) Baalis in the Bible (Jeremiah 40:14; see Ar-
Maaseiah (2 Chronicles 28:7) chaeology and Biblical Research ½ [Spring
Jerahmiel (Jeremiah 36:26) 1988]:21-23).
Malchiah (Jeremiah 38:6) At the site of Mizpah itself, modern Tell

Archaeology and the Bible