Overview
Two small clay bullae carry the same three-line seal impression, published as reading 'belonging to Berekhyahu, son of Neriyahu, the scribe'. Berekhyahu is the full, theophoric form of the name Baruch, and the Bible's Baruch son of Neriah is Jeremiah's scribe (Jer 36:4, 32; 45:1).
Nahman Avigad published the first in 1979 ('Baruch the Scribe and Jerahmeel the King's Son', Biblical Archaeologist 42). He wrote that 'two persons mentioned in the Bible are positively identified with the persons named on two recently discovered seal-impressions'. A second impression of the same seal, bearing a fingerprint, was announced by Hershel Shanks in BAR in 1996.
Neither object has an excavated context. In 2014 Yuval Goren and Eran Arie (BASOR 372) published laboratory analyses of both bullae, compared them with more than 180 bullae, most of them from Jerusalem, and concluded the results point to modern production of both.
What the text says (summary)
(Belonging) to Berekhyahu / son of Neriyahu / the scribeOur literal rendering of the reading usually given as lbrkyhw / bn nryhw / hspr. The names and title are confirmed by the titles of Avigad 1979 and Goren and Arie 2014; the Hebrew letter-by-letter reading is not confirmed from a primary publication.
What the evidence shows
- Inscription as published: 'to Berekhyahu son of Neriyahu the scribe' (names and title as given in Goren and Arie's 2014 title; Avigad's 1979 title renders it 'Baruch the Scribe').
- Two bullae impressed by the same seal design are known; the second carries a fingerprint (Shanks, BAR 1996).
- No recorded findspot for either; both came through the antiquities market.
- Goren and Arie (BASOR 372, 2014) analysed both bullae and compared them with more than 180 bullae, most from Jerusalem; their abstract states the results point 'to the production of the two Berekhyahu bullae in modern times'.
- Avigad (BA 42, 1979) presented the first bulla together with a bulla of 'Jerahmeel the king's son' (cf. Jer 36:26) as positive identifications of biblical persons.
Open questions
- Authentic or forged? For: Avigad (Biblical Archaeologist 42, 1979) presented the first bulla as genuine and identified the owner with Jeremiah's scribe; Shanks (BAR 1996) presented the fingerprinted second bulla as a further impression. Against: Goren and Arie (BASOR 372, 2014) found, by laboratory comparison with more than 180 bullae, that the two Berekhyahu bullae were produced in modern times. Andrew Vaughn and Christopher Rollston (Near Eastern Archaeology 68, 2005) had already set out the case that market inscriptions with sensational biblical names need special scrutiny for forgery. No excavated Berekhyahu bulla exists to settle it.
- Is 'Berekhyahu son of Neriyahu the scribe' the biblical Baruch? If genuine, name, patronym and title all match Jer 36:4, 32. But a forger would copy exactly those three features from the Bible, so on an unprovenanced object the match cannot count as evidence of authenticity.
Sources
- Nahman Avigad, 'Baruch the Scribe and Jerahmeel the King's Son', Biblical Archaeologist 42/2 (1979): 114-118, doi:10.2307/3209372 link editio princeps
- Hershel Shanks, 'Fingerprint of Jeremiah's Scribe', Biblical Archaeology Review (March/April 1996) link study
- Yuval Goren and Eran Arie, 'The Authenticity of the Bullae of Berekhyahu Son of Neriyahu the Scribe', BASOR 372 (2014): 147-158, doi:10.5615/bullamerschoorie.372.0147 link study
- Andrew G. Vaughn and Christopher A. Rollston, 'The Antiquities Market, Sensationalized Textual Data, and Modern Forgeries', Near Eastern Archaeology 68/1-2 (2005): 61-65, doi:10.1086/nea25067594 link study
Corrected from the earlier edition of this page
- Old entry says the bulla was 'authenticated in 1996'. Nothing was authenticated in 1996; a second, fingerprinted bulla was published by Shanks in BAR that year. The only published laboratory study (Goren and Arie, BASOR 2014) concluded both bullae are modern productions.
- Old entry gives the inscription as 'Belonging to Baruch, son of Neriah'. The published reading uses the full theophoric forms: 'to Berekhyahu son of Neriyahu the scribe', and the title 'the scribe' is part of the text.
- Old entry treats the bulla as 'tangible evidence of the existence of Baruch' and 'Authentic'. With no findspot and a published forensic study pointing to modern manufacture, it cannot serve as evidence for Baruch; the biblical text stands on its own.
- Old entry gives 'Dimensions: Approximately 1.2 cm diameter' and 'Current Location: Private collection' (while the overview says the same). Neither the measurement nor the current holder could be confirmed in a published record, and the two bullae are reported as held separately.
- Old entry links '2 Kings 25 (Babylonian records)'. 2 Kings 25 is the fall of Jerusalem and does not mention Baruch; the Baruch texts are Jer 32, 36, 43 and 45.
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