In the newsletter two weeks ago, we said that King Ahasuerus took off his signet ring and gave it to Haman.  Giving a signet ring to anyone was a bit like signing a blank cheque – alright as long as the person you give it to is trustworthy.  Haman wasn’t.

Cylindrical seals were also used to sign a document or seal something important.  They were pressed and rolled across the clay to make an impression from all around the cylinder.  A cylindrical seal could be used instead of the signet ring or possibly as well as a signet ring – if the situation required a larger or smaller lump of clay to perform the task of sealing something.  Cylindrical seals also needed to be available for easy use, yet they could not be worn on a finger like a signet ring.  So how were they carried?

In the unsavoury incident with Judah and Tamar (see Genesis 39:6-26), Tamar asked for Judah’s signet, cord and staff.  The signet was probably a signet ring worn on a finger.  The cord may have been used to carry the signet ring when its owner was doing something which might damage the ring, or which would be difficult to do while wearing it.  However, it is more likely that the cord was been threaded through a cylindrical seal.  If so, asking for the cord was asking for Judah’s seal, meaning that Tamar had Judah’s two most powerful proofs of identity.

When Joseph was a slave in Egypt, after he had interpreted Pharaoh’s dreams of corn and cattle, Pharaoh took the signet ring off his finger and put it on Joseph’s hand (Genesis 41:42).

In the time of Jeremiah, God says that even if Jehoiakim’s son Jeconiah (Jehoiachin) was God’s own signet ring, even so he would tear him off and get rid of him (Jeremiah 22:24).  For this comparison to convey its message effectively, a signet ring must have been considered very important – probably something that a king should never be without.

This prophecy refers to events at just the right time in the story of Jeremiah to suggest a way for people to identify the body of King Jehoiakim.  Volume 4 – "The Darkness Deepens" has used it in that way.

Normally clay was used to seal around a knot which tied the folded document closed and a signet ring or cylindrical seal was used to make an impression on the clay while it was just wet enough to be able to do so.

Ordinarily, dry clay will gradually crumble and fall to pieces, but if the imprinted clay – called a bulla – is fired like pottery, will last a very long time, just as pottery does.  So why would the clay of a seal ever be fired like this?

The answer is simple: If a library of documents catches fire, the documents inside will burn and help to generate the high temperatures need to convert dry clay to pottery.  At the end, the documents will have been destroyed and the pieces of clay (called bullae) fired so that they will last for a very long time.

In the time of Jeremiah, the Bible reports that Jerusalem was conquered by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon and then destroyed by fire.  Royal archives and any personal collections of documents would all have been burned.  If the Bible is correct, we would expect to find many bullae from this time when most of the documents in the city were incinerated thus preserving their seals for posterity.

This is exactly what we do find.

In “official” digs, bullae have been found imprinted with the seals of various people named in the book of Jeremiah:

There have also been quite a few other bullae which refer to people mentioned in the time of Jeremiah, but their source is unspecified and in many cases, their authenticity has been challenged.

Some bullae are sold on the black market and so their origin is unknown.  They may have been found in illegal excavations, stolen or they may even be forgeries – manufactured by cheats and made to look old.  Artefacts presented from more official excavations are less likely to be fakes.

In a famous legal case which began with the laying of charges in late December 2004, the Israeli Antiquities Authority charged some collectors and dealers in antiquities with having forged objects or inscriptions.  The claim was that in many cases, modern inscriptions were added to ancient objects to increase their value.  After almost 8 years, despite input from many experts in various fields, the trial concluded in 2012 without convicting any of the defendants of any of the forgery charges.  Charges of dealing in stolen antiquities were sustained for at least one of the defendants.

Determining whether or not an artefact is genuine can be very difficult.  A top-notch forger is aware of the testing methods that will be employed to test the veracity of an artefact and will do their very best to outwit the checkers.  The claims and counter-claims made by dealers and experts can all seem completely reasonable, but not even experts can be sure in all cases.  As research methods have continued to develop, old forgeries have become easier to identify.  Sadly, that means we must be treat all astonishing discoveries with suspicion for decades, particularly if they do not come from formally approved “scientific excavations”.  So if someone offers you a newly-discovered digital wrist-watch worn by the prophet Jeremiah, it is probably wise to ask questions!  You may not be able to get replacement batteries for it.

It appears that some fake bullae have been made and sold on the black market.  One example is a bulla bearing a variant of the name Baruch, the scribe who wrote out scrolls of Jeremiah’s words.  This has been identified by various experts as a fake.  Of course, it is not impossible for forgeries to come from “scientific excavations” either.  When careers are made and success is achieved by discovering ancient objects, the temptation to create the objects on demand will be too great for some people.