Bible Archeology Discoveries

Seal of Abdi, servant of Hoshea
Discovered:
From: (c. 730 BC)

An ancient seal, bearing the paleo-Hebrew inscription, “Belonging to Abdi, servant of Hoshea” was purchased at a Sotheby’s auction in 1993 for $80,000. The translucent brown carnelian (or orange chalcedony) scaraboid seal also includes the image of a man wearing a long kilt and a short wig holding a papyrus scepter. At the bottom is an Egyptian winged sun disk, an image that is common on prominent Hebrew seals, such as that of King Hezekiah.

In ancient seals, the servant’s title, ’ebed, indicates that the master was a king, such as on the famous Megiddo seal belonging to “Shema servant of Jeroboam.” Only one Hebrew king was named Hoshea: the final ruler of the northern Kingdom of Israel. Moreover, epigrapher André Lemaire notes, “The paleo-Hebrew writing on this seal fits very well with other dated inscriptions from the last third of the eighth century B.C.E.”

Even though the seal was purchased on the antiquities market, most experts support its authenticity. If it is indeed authentic, it provides extra-biblical evidence for the historicity of King Hoshea.

"And Hoshea the son of Elah made a conspiracy against Pekah the son of Remaliah, and smote him, and slew him, and reigned in his stead, in the twentieth year of Jotham the son of Uzziah."
2 Kings 15:30

Select Pages

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Notable Finds

Much of what is described in Bible text is lost to history, requiring readers to assume the historicity of the scriptures.

However, many of the places and events described in the Old and New Testaments are periodically corroborated by archeological finds.

Some finds simply help us to better understand things from the ancient world. However, others provide important evidence as to the truth of scripture regarding things about which there had previously been skepticism.

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