Get a
free PDF of
Let the Stones Speak: Seals of Isaiah and King Hezekiah Discovered. This PDF is a catalog, of 40 pages in length, of an exhibition being held now in Edmond, Oklahoma. Get the catalog
here.
The Biblical Archaeology Society (publishers of the
Biblical Archaeology Review) states that "Now on view . . . . [are] the exhibit
Seals of Isaiah and King Hezekiah Discovered, presenting two seal impressions found 3 feet apart in the Ophel excavations led by archaeologist Eilat Mazar at the foot of Jersualem’s Temple Mount."
As far as the seal of King Hezekiah is concerned, it is "the first time such a find of Hezekiah’s was found in an archaeological excavation."
A seal such as this is also called a bulla. This bulla of Hezekiah has an impression which depicts a "two-winged sun disk flanked by ankh symbols and contains a Hebrew inscription that reads, "Belonging to Hezekiah, (son of) Ahaz, king of Judah."
The identification of the Isaiah bulla is not quite as certain. It's a broken, small bulla, with the upper portion of the impression missing. Reconstruction of a few Hebrew letters would result in the words "[belonging] to Isaiah the prophet."
If this reconstruction stands, it would be the first extra-Biblical reference to the prophet Isaiah.
The exhibition continues through August 19, is sponsored by the Herbert W. Armstrong College in Edmond, Oklahoma (technically, by the Armstrong International Cultural Foundation), and is at the auditorium on the campus of Herbert W. Armstrong College.
The sponsor of the exhibition is sectarian. However, except for the last page of the exhibition catalog (which is an obvious advertisement), I saw no signs of sectarianism in the publication. Usually exhibition catalogs are just that--catalogs. Perhaps because of the few items in this exhibition, this "catalog" is filled with information about the time of Hezekiah and Isaiah, and places associated with them, along with information about the bullae themselves. It is a very well done publication, and makes for great reading, in my opinion.