Ketef Hinnom Amulets: Priestly Blessings on Silver Scrolls

In this episode of Digging Deeper, Dan and Barry discuss the fascinating story of how the renowned Israeli archaeologist Gabriel Barkay, together with an overly curious 13-year old boy, discovered the Ketef Hinnom Scrolls-the oldest known copies of biblical text every found. Hidden in a tomb in the Hinnon Valley in southwest Jerusalem, these tiny silver scrolls contain portions of the Priestly blessing in Numbers 6, as well as a portion of Deuteronomy chapter 7. 

Hailed by many as the greatest of Dr. Barkay’s many discoveries, these scrolls give us a remarkable glimpse into the early uses and reverence of the Old Testament scriptures. The find not only preserves the sacred name of YHWH, but also challenges many false assumptions of when the Bible was written. 

Special thanks to the sponsors of this season of Digging Deeper: 

CEI Bookstore (https://truthbooks.com) - CEI Books is a retail supplier of Bibles, books, and other religious materials to individuals and churches nationwide.

Sacred Connections (https://www.sacredconnections.com) - Sacred Connections is a safe, online space for Christians to connect and build meaningful relationships. With a focus on community and channels dedicated to various interests and events there is something for users at every life stage.

Transcript

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Today on the podcast, we talk about how a curious archeologist and an annoying 13 year old boy teamed up to discover one of the most significant Discoveries ever made for biblical. archeology. That story is. coming up on this episode of Digging Deeper. Welcome to Digging Deeper, the podcast where we talk about the geography, archeology, people and cultures of the land of the Bible. By exploring those areas, we hope to broaden your understanding of the biblical narrative. You can learn more about all of us here at Appian Media, and watch our free video series at Appian Media. Our sponsors for today's episodes are the CEI Bookstore and Sacred Connections. We'll be more than happy to share a little bit more information about those two organizations. A little later in our show. So, Dan, we're going to talk about these two items that have been found that you talked about. You teased just a minute ago. So first of all, let me ask you a series of questions. First of all, what is an amulet? It's an object that is believed to confer protection to the possessor. Okay, we might laugh at those. That's ancient superstitions. But think about what we do. We talk about a lucky rabbit's foot. Or I have to wear my lucky socks because it's game day. Okay. Even some of the batters in baseball where they have that routine. Yeah. Yeah. Different actions. Same idea. Okay. And this topic of this one is the Katif Hinnom ambulance. So what is Katif Hinnom? That's kind of a weird word. What is that? Well, we think about the Valley of the new. And so just south of that. There's the water parting ridge, where if it rains. It's either going to go to the. Mediterranean or to the dead. Right. Southwest of Jerusalem's Old City. And it's where the valley of Hanum. And the Valley of Wrath. And meet. If you're familiar. The church. Buildings, you can see the Saint Andrew's. Church. Okay. Right there. Yeah. Right. Okay. Okay. So what's what's special about this area. Being south of the city and not in the city? They would have buried people there. So there's a series of Iron Age teams and burial chambers that. Date back to the sixth and seventh centuries. So, first temple period? Yeah. Before the Babylonian conquest. If you've been to the Israel Museum, they have a model of a tomb. Actually, this is the one that these were found. Okay. All of that. Okay. Well, great. Well, know where they were found how were they found? You mentioned something earlier about a 13 year old boy. What? What's that? Well, it's a little bit of a long reading, but it's. Gabrielle Barchi, the archeologist. Okay. Yeah. It's his. Story. All right. So he says. And 1979 to 1980, I came back with a limited budget under the sponsorship of Tel Aviv University. The volunteers were told to 13. Year olds from Tel Aviv. Members of an archeological club for a youth. Organized by the society for the Protection of Nature. In Israel. 13 is a dangerous age. But the I provided the money. It was low budget. I was happy to have them nevertheless. And he mentions about excavating. Around the church building. The graves were in bad shape. The roofs were collapsed. They'd been looted. And there was a road built on. Top of them. As well. Okay. Jerusalem of Bethlehem. But he says one cave had a series of headdress. And burial. Benches. One bench was shaped like a cushion with six headrests. One bead was found. To have been part of the burial gifts. Under the bench, we discovered a. Repository where they buried. The bones. And I looked at that repository. And. Saw something that looked like a rock floor. I was disappointed among the 13 year old diggers. There was one annoying kid named Nathan who was always tugging at my shirt. I thought it was an ideal place to put him. He would be out of my sight. I told Nathan the repository had to be as clean as his mother's kitchen, even if he had to lick it. it had to be cleaned for the photography. Not soon afterwards, I felt him tugging at my shirt again. Nathan had in his hand almost complete pottery vessels. This time I pulled at his shirt, took him back to the area and asked him where he found the board. Nathan had banged on the floor. With a hammer and under. The rocks he found the pottery. So, in Gabrielle's. Words. He looked in. He didn't see anything, but it collapsed. Covering. What was down there. Oh, wow. Chamber 25 of cave. 24 is where it was. Okay. Repository. All these treasure troves. So he sent the children home, and. He brought in archeological. Students. Okay. Yeah, they worked around the clock under secrecy. They couldn't tell anybody because Gabrielle. Barchi said if word got around Jerusalem that there was such a treasure. The California Gold Rush would be nothing. Compared to. What is happening here. I'm sure. And they found thousands of objects, 125 objects, silver. 40 iron arrowheads. Gold, ivory, glass, bone, 150 semi-precious stones. And there were 60cm or 2ft of accumulation, filling with objects and skeletal remains. Wow. So just all this. Yeah. What was interesting is one of the archeological students brought to him a one inch wide, purplish colored object. He said it looked like a cigaret butt, but it was made of pure silver. And they saved all the excavation dirt and filtered the sifted through those in the lab. And they later found a second one. And it took them. Three years. To open it without damaging. Wow. Really? Yes. The largest was only four inches long. Wow. Okay. This is incredibly interesting. I can't wait to hear a little bit more about this finding, but let's take a moment and talk about our sponsors during the entire history of Appian Media. We have had several companies reach out to us and offer to sell our products. One of the first to contact us was the CIA bookstore. CIA bookstore has been in business for over 70 years and is a nonprofit religious bookstore and retail supplier of Bibles, books, church supplies, and other religious resources. They're located in Athens, Alabama, but serve customers across the entire United States. If you're in need of the wonderful products that they offer, we encourage you to reach out to them through their website at Truth books.com. Sacred connections is a safe online space for Christians to connect and build meaningful relationships. With a focus on community and channels dedicated to various interests and events, there is something for users at every life stage. And right now when you download the app, use the code. Digging deeper to receive a special discount for all listeners of the Digging Deeper podcasts. So we invite you to start your journey today by going to their website and learning more. Their address is WW dot Sacred connections.com. And now back to the show. Okay Dan, let me ask you the most important question here is they found these. What was on them you took. You said it took them nearly three years to unroll them. So when they did unrolling, what did they find? Well, initially it was hard to tell if there was anything just because the lighting. You had to get it. Just. Yeah. But what surprised them is it was the Priestly blessing. From number six. Oh, God bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift you up. up his countenance upon you and give you And give you peace. And it was written on these. And based on the findings that dated. To around the First Temple period. Later in the 1990s, with. Better. Technology, they were able to actually photograph these. And discovered there was a second verse on there. From Deuteronomy seven nine, and it was the one know that. The Lord your God, he. Is God, the faithful God, who keeps. Covenant and mercy for a thousand generations. With those who love him and keep his commandments. The whole verse wasn't on there, but a portion of it was right. So there were two verses. And then once again, getting into the paleography, the people who study those writings. Yeah. Writing systems. They said this had. To be written before the destruction of Jerusalem. So. Wow, that's amazing. As we go through life, we will encounter people who do not believe the Bible, and they will tell us how they think the Bible came about. The Priestly Blessing mentions the name Yahweh, the sacred name of God, to the Hebrews. People have stated that Moses could not have written the Pentateuch, as they felt. Yahweh came in a use much later in time, maybe around the fifth century BC, is where it became the divine name of God, and it evolved from Elohim and Adonai. While this finding doesn't prove the Pentateuch was written by Moses. Nor does it prove the Bible verses written on the amulet were specifically quoted from numbers. So if you're drawn to me, it does prove that Those verses. And the name Yahweh were in use at the end of the 1st Temple period. Which would be at 586, which is hundreds of years earlier than the detractors had mentioned. Gabriel Barkey he had mentioned that this was the most important find of my life. Now, this is something that you. Find very rarely. But one of my favorite things about Gabby is that he changed his mind as he continued his career. And if you will remember. As we filmed him in Searching for a King, he mentioned his greatest discovery. Craig, if you don't Mind, can you play that clip for us? Because I think it's wonderful. What's the most unique thing that stands out to you that you've found so far there. The people. It is amazing. Children, elderly. Students, religious, non-religious, ultra religious, all kinds and types of people. And we have had people from all four corners of the world. We have had an incredible number of volunteers. They were about a quarter of a million people, which makes this project into the most exposed archeological project in the world. To look into the eyes of a child who finds a coin which was not touched by somebody for 2000 years, or to look into the eyes of an elderly person who realizes that he touches the sacred soil of the Temple Mount and the excitement of these people. That is unparalleled. So the greatest discovery of mine was the people. enclosing. We too need to make people important findings in our lives. If we follow God, we are. To be fishers of men, telling others the good news of. Salvation. We need to want the best for. Each person we meet. Mayor greeting of all the people we meet. Be the one. From number six. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine upon you. And be gracious to. You. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Digging deeper is a production of Appian Media. We're a nonprofit media production company that is 100% crowdfunded. If you're interested in learning more about how you can support Appian Media so we so we can continue to create more great free content. Visit us at Appian media.org slash. Listen. If you'd like to contact either one of us, you can reach Dan at Dan Kingsley at Appian media.org, or you can reach me at Berry Dot Britain Ale at Appian media.org. We would love to hear from you and answer any questions that you might have. Dan an hour in front of the microphones, but it takes many more people to produce this podcast. So it is special thanks to the entire Appian Media team who are doing their part to make this a success. Join us next time! As Dan and I look at how a chance finding of some shepherds in 1947 improved our knowledge of the accuracy of the Old Testament. Until then, thank you for joining us and we look forward to being with you on the next episode of Digging Deeper.