An intriguing artifact was uncovered during the excavation of a structure that might be King David's palace in Jerusalem (see "Remains of King David's palace found in Jerusalem?," The Good News, September-October). Excavators found a bulla—a hardened clay impression bearing the imprint of a seal—bearing the inscription "Jehucal, son of Shelemiah, son of Shevi."

Who was this Jehucal, and what is the significance of this find?

This same "Jehucal, the son of Shelemiah" (also referred to as "Jucal," a shortened version of his name) is mentioned twice in the biblical book of Jeremiah. Apparently he was a senior official serving in the court of Zedekiah, king of Judah, shortly before Jerusalem's destruction by the Babylonians in 586 B.C.

Jeremiah 37:3 mentions Jehucal being sent by the king to ask Jeremiah to pray for Jerusalem's deliverance from the besieging Babylonian army. Not long after, in Jeremiah 38:1-4, Jehucal and several other officials go to the king asking that Jeremiah be put to death for undermining the morale of Jerusalem's inhabitants, after which Jeremiah is handed over to them and thrown into prison.

Many seals and seal impressions such as the one bearing Jehucal's name have been found in the Holy Land, most bearing the names of various government officials. Small pieces of soft clay were typically used to seal documents, much as wax seals were used in more modern times. Officials would press their seals into the soft clay, leaving an impressed lump, which would later harden into what is called a bulla.

Many critics of the Bible, attempting to undermine its detailed history and record of prophetic fulfillment, claim that the books of the Old Testament aren't accurate accounts of real events written at the time they happened. Instead, they argue, the books weren't written until centuries later, well after the kingdoms of Israel and Judah were defeated and forcibly exiled from the Holy Land by the Assyrian and Babylonian empires.

Yet this claim—to which many critics still hold—has been repeatedly disproved by discoveries such as this bulla. After all, how could a seal or impression bearing the name of a biblical figure—in this case a rather inconsequential government official—have been created centuries before the person was written about in a supposedly invented biblical account?

Jehucal is only the latest of literally dozens of biblical figures whose existence has been proven by archaeology. If you'd like to learn more about how the biblical record has been repeatedly verified by archaeological discoveries, download our free article series The Bible and Archaeology.