Eavesdropping, polls, press conferences - seemingly, the important headlines take place in the realm above the ground. However, yesterday we received a dramatic reminder from the bottom of the earth. Two rare discoveries were unearthed in the City of David in Jerusalem: A stamp seal on which the inscription “[belonging to] Ikar son of Matanyahu” (LeIkar Ben Matanyahu) is engraved in ancient Hebrew letters, and a bulla (seal impression) on which the inscription “[belonging to] Nathan-Melech, Servant of the King” (LeNathan-Melech Eved HaMelech) was written (this name is mentioned in II Kings). The researchers didn't hide their excitement yesterday and said that these findings are "rare and exciting": These discoveries are 2,600 years old (!) and were found in a burnt structure that had probably been ruined during the destruction of the First Temple, and was now discovered in Hanyon Giv'ati. The estimation is that these are relics from the Babylonian attack on Jerusalem, following which, as we know, we were exiled. Did that Nathan-Melech, servant of the king, ever imagine when he fled from the Babylonian army that a day would come and we would find his personal seal this way?
We have returned home, and from time to time we receive thousands of years old greetings, which remind us how our story is greater and more ancient than what we imagine it to be.
