Starting Right
Starting Right is a 5 minute Day Starter to help keep you motivated, encouraged, and focused throughout your day. DannyMac is a pastor, teacher, motivational speaker, husband, and father. His years of leading and training people have given him vast experience in helping individuals to accomplish change in their lives and meet their goals. He can help you set the course for your day by offering practical advice from God's Word in a positive and fun way. There is no better way to begin your day than by Starting Right with DannyMac.
Starting Right
Unearthing Truth: The Seal of Elishama
Have you ever wondered if the Bible's historical accounts are actually true? Today's episode examines compelling archaeological evidence that validates Scripture's accuracy through an unexpected source.
The discovery of a tiny clay seal in 1986 near Jerusalem's ancient temple site revealed something remarkable. This seal, belonging to a man named Elishama who served as a secretary in the king's palace around 600 BC, perfectly matches the biblical record found in Jeremiah 36. Though Elishama appears just once in Scripture, this archaeological find confirms both his existence and his exact role, demonstrating the Bible's historical precision even in its smallest details.
The seal of Elishama reminds us that Scripture isn't merely inspirational stories or moral guidance—it's grounded in historical reality involving real people in real places. Archaeological discoveries continue to confirm biblical accounts that skeptics once dismissed as myth, from King David's palace to evidence of the Hittite civilization. God's Word is powerful, true, and life-changing when we allow it to guide us fully. I invite you to investigate these archaeological findings for yourself and discover how they might strengthen your trust in Scripture's complete truthfulness.
Good morning and welcome to Starting Right with Danny Mac. I'm going to be here every Monday to Friday to help you get a great five-minute start to your day. So grab your cup of coffee, sit back, relax and let me help you start your day right. Today I want to talk to you about a man who you probably have not heard of before. His name is Elishama. Even a lot of Bible scholars will not easily recognize his name, but he is a significant man. We don't know a whole lot of him from Scripture. In fact, what we do know gives us very little information he's spoken of in the book of Jeremiah. Iduno gives us very little information. He's spoken of in the book of Jeremiah, chapter 36, and verses 11 and 12. It says there when Micah, the son of Jamariah and the grandson of Shaphan, heard the messages from the Lord, he went down to the secretary's room in the palace where the administrative officials were meeting Elishamah. The secretary was there, along with Deliah, son of Shemaiah, Elnathan, son of Achbor, jemariah, son of Shaphan, and Zedekiah, son of Hananiah, and all of the other officials, and that's it. All we know of Elishama is that he was a secretary in the king's palace. Yet he is significant, and let me tell you what. Yet he is significant. And let me tell you what.
Speaker 1:Back in 1986, archaeologists were doing an excavation in Jerusalem near what was the old temple. They had been searching through a lot of area very meticulously, very carefully, and coming looked like a coin or a button. So they took a closer look and examined it a little bit more and it was neither a coin or a button, but it was a clay seal. It was the mark of an individual who held some authority and the seal was identified as belonging to Elishama, servant of the king. The archaeologists were able to determine that this seal was made around 600 BC, which is exactly the time that Elishama was in office. According to the book of Jeremiah, it proved that Elishama existed and it proved that Elishama was a servant of the king, and it proved that the record in Jeremiah was true.
Speaker 1:Often there are people who have a difficulty accepting that the word of God is truth. They put much of it into mythology, into ideology and crazy stories that people have somehow chosen to write down and believe. And unfortunately, even some Christians fail to accept that all of the Bible is true. They decide to pick and choose which pieces they like and throw away the ones they don't like. If they're uncomfortable with something the Bible says, at one point they say, well, we're not going to listen to that. And so they make the Bible something that's kind of like a buffet you choose what you want and you leave the rest. Well, that's not what the Bible is.
Speaker 1:The key to understanding the Bible is in either accepting that it's completely true or it's not. If the story of creation is not true, then the rest of the Old Testament comes into doubt. If the story of David and Goliath is not true, the story of David's life comes into doubt. If Jesus did not do the miracles that the Bible claims that he performed, then the reality of him being completely God and completely man comes into doubt. There are some things that we need to get completely settled in our hearts and minds, and that's we will believe the Word of God. If the Bible says it, I believe it. That settles it and we stay on that track, believing God's Word. And when we make that decision about the word of God being true, then we can start to believe the promises that God has for us. We can start to believe that he is going to be with us always that he's not going to turn his back on us, that he will never leave us, that he will provide for us when we need it, that he will bring healing to our bodies when we need it. We will know that our prayers are not just talking uselessly into space with nobody hearing it or wanting or able to respond to it. We will know that God hears and that he answers and that he cares. It's important that we know that it's true.
Speaker 1:I did some research on how archaeology supports the Bible, and I invite you to do that. Just do a Google search about it, because there are many archaeological discoveries that have proven that the Word of God is true. Where, in the past, scientists tried to say it was just nonsense, it couldn't possibly have been. But over and over and over again, archaeology is now proving that the Bible record is accurate, and so we must make very sure within ourselves that we accept that truth, that we build on that truth in our lives. The Bible is our guide for life and we need to hang on to it and let it stay very close to us.
Speaker 1:I really like that. Somebody like Elisheva his name is only mentioned once and he's just simply described as a secretary, but here we are, almost 3,000 years later, finding something that proves that he existed. I like that, and so should you. God's Word is powerful. It's true, it's real. It will change your life, so fill yourself up on it. Read God's Word, let it encourage you and lift you up every day, and it will guide you and help you, and God will work through His Word to speak to you. Have a great day, my friends. We'll talk again tomorrow. Thank you for listening today, and I invite you to join me Monday to Friday, right here on Starting Right with Danny Mac.
