Bible scholar and Israel Prize winner Shmuel Ahituv revealed a rare papyrus fragment in which Jerusalem is mentioned. The papyrus was obtained through the theft prevention division of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA). The ancient parchment has been dated to the 7th century BCE, which makes it one of only three papyri documents from that time period.
The document from the First Temple period, of which only two lines of ancient Hebrew script have survived , is a dispatch regarding a gift of wine “to Jerusalem.” The text itself reads: “[hand]maid of the king, from Na’arata, wineskins, wine, to Jerusalem.” The city of Na’arata, or Naarah is mentioned in Joshua 16:7. The gift of wine was sent either to King Manasseh, King Amon, or King Josiah who ruled during this time period.
Professor Ahituv stated that, “not only is this papyrus the most ancient external biblical source that mentions Jerusalem in Hebrew script, but until now, no papyrus documents from the First Temple period have been found in the Land of Israel except one from Murabat creek.”
Eitan Klein from the IAA theft prevention division said that, “the document highlights the centrality of Jerusalem as the economic capital of the kingdom in the first half of the 7th century BCE.”
Minister of Culture and Education Miri Regev said that the discovery of the papyrus “upon which the name of our capital Jerusalem is in full display is yet further testimony that Jerusalem was and will forever be the capital of the Jewish people, even if UNESCO ratifies its unfortunate decision ten times over.”
Originally posted at Israel Today Magazine. PHOTO: provided by the IAA.
