Concept

Jeremiah Bullae

Q: Was Baruch the scribe of Jeremiah a real person?

Two bullae bearing the name "Belonging to Berekhyahu son of Neriyahu the scribe" (the full Hebrew form of Baruch son of Neriah, with the title "scribe" exactly matching Jeremiah 36.4 and 36:32) have been recovered. One was first published by Nahman Avigad in 1978; a second was published in 1996. The first is from an unprovenanced market source and has authenticity questions; the second is also disputed in some readings but defended by paleographic analysis. The combined picture gives substantial material evidence for Baruch the scribe as a real historical figure.

Intro

Jeremiah 36-38 names a striking number of specific individuals: Baruch son of Neriah, Jeremiah's scribe who wrote down the prophecies; Gemariah son of Shaphan, in whose chamber Baruch read the scroll publicly; Jehucal son of Shelemiah, one of the officials who pressed the king to silence Jeremiah; Gedaliah son of Pashhur, who joined in throwing Jeremiah into the pit. These are minor characters in a long book; in most Old Testament historicity discussions, they receive little attention.

Then, beginning in the late 1970s and accelerating with Eilat Mazar's excavations near the Temple Mount in Jerusalem (2005-2018), tiny clay seal impressions, called bullae, bearing the names of these specific individuals started turning up in stratified excavation layers dating to the final decades of the Judahite monarchy. Baruch's seal, Gemariah's seal, Jehucal's seal, Gedaliah's seal. Each one a small fingerprint-sized clay impression preserving a moment when a real official pressed a real ring into wet clay to seal a real document, in Jerusalem, in the years immediately before the Babylonian destruction of 586 BC.

These bullae give direct material evidence for named minor characters in the book of Jeremiah, which is exactly what one expects from a text written by someone who actually knew the administrative personnel of the late Judahite court.

In full

The Jeremiah Bullae are a cluster of clay seal impressions (bullae) recovered from Jerusalem excavations between 1975 and 2018 that bear the names of named figures from the book of Jeremiah, principally from chapters 36-38. The most significant are:

Baruch son of Neriah, the scribe (Jeremiah 36.4, 36:32). Two bullae attested.
Gemariah son of Shaphan (Jeremiah 36.10).
Jehucal son of Shelemiah (Jeremiah 37.3, 38:1).
Gedaliah son of Pashhur (Jeremiah 38.1).

The bullae are housed at the Israel Museum, the Bible Lands Museum, and in private collections (the Schøyen Collection; the now-controversial Israel Antiquities collection). Two of them (Jehucal and Gedaliah) were recovered by Eilat Mazar in controlled excavations near the Temple Mount, decisively establishing their authenticity and stratigraphic context.

Discovery

The Baruch bullae were first published by Israeli archaeologist Nahman Avigad in 1978-1986, drawn from an unprovenanced collection on the antiquities market (which has prompted ongoing authenticity questions for one of them, though Avigad himself defended both). The Gemariah bulla was recovered by Yigal Shiloh in the City of David excavations (1982-1986). The Jehucal son of Shelemiah bulla was recovered by Eilat Mazar in her 2005 Ophel excavations near the southern wall of the Temple Mount. The Gedaliah son of Pashhur bulla was recovered by Mazar in 2008 in the same excavation. The Mazar finds are particularly significant because they were excavated in controlled archaeological context (not market-sourced) and dated stratigraphically to the late First Temple period (late 7th to early 6th century BC), exactly the period in which Jeremiah's prophecies were active.

What it shows

Three significant attestations:

Direct material evidence for named minor characters in the book of Jeremiah. Baruch, Gemariah, Jehucal, and Gedaliah are not major Old Testament figures; they appear in specific administrative roles in Jeremiah 36-38 with full patronymics (father's name) and offices. The bullae give direct extra-biblical confirmation of these specific individuals at the right time and place. This is exceptionally fine-grained corroboration.
The book of Jeremiah's administrative-detail accuracy. The accuracy of the book's reporting on named officials in the Judahite court strongly favors composition by someone with direct access to the administrative personnel of that court, against late-composition theories that treat Jeremiah's narrative-frame as post-exilic literary construction. The biblical text and the bullae match in name, patronymic, and office.
Literate, sophisticated late-7th-century BC Judahite administration. The bullae attest a literate scribal class in Jerusalem in the late First Temple period, capable of routine administrative document-sealing on personal rings. This pushes against minimalist claims of late literacy in Judah.

Biblical references

Jeremiah 36.4, "Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah, and Baruch wrote on a scroll at the dictation of Jeremiah all the words of the LORD that he had spoken to him."
Jeremiah 36.10, "Then, in the hearing of all the people, Baruch read the words of Jeremiah from the scroll, in the house of the LORD, in the chamber of Gemariah the son of Shaphan the secretary."
Jeremiah 36.32, Baruch the scribe's role in rewriting the burned scroll.
Jeremiah 37.3, Jehucal son of Shelemiah sent by King Zedekiah to Jeremiah.
Jeremiah 38.1, Jehucal and Gedaliah son of Pashhur among the officials who threw Jeremiah into the pit.

Evidential status

Eilat Mazar's controlled excavations of the Jehucal and Gedaliah bullae are mainstream-confirmed. The Baruch bullae have authenticity questions for one of them (market-sourced and possibly forged according to some critical readings; defended by Avigad and subsequent paleographic analysis). The cumulative picture, with multiple bullae from multiple excavation contexts, gives strong material evidence for the named officials of Jeremiah 36-38. The bullae are among the most-cited specific OT-figure confirmations in modern biblical archaeology.

Common questions this page answers

Q: What are the Jeremiah Bullae?

Clay seal impressions (bullae) recovered from Jerusalem excavations bearing the names of specific officials named in the book of Jeremiah, principally chapters 36-38: Baruch son of Neriah (Jeremiah's scribe), Gemariah son of Shaphan, Jehucal son of Shelemiah, and Gedaliah son of Pashhur. They date to the late 7th to early 6th century BC, the period when Jeremiah was prophesying in Jerusalem.

Q: Was Baruch the scribe of Jeremiah a real person?

Two bullae bearing the name "Belonging to Berekhyahu son of Neriyahu the scribe" (the full Hebrew form of Baruch son of Neriah, with the title "scribe" exactly matching Jeremiah 36.4 and 36:32) have been recovered. One was first published by Nahman Avigad in 1978; a second was published in 1996. The first is from an unprovenanced market source and has authenticity questions; the second is also disputed in some readings but defended by paleographic analysis. The combined picture gives substantial material evidence for Baruch the scribe as a real historical figure.

Q: Who is Jehucal son of Shelemiah and is his seal real?

Jehucal son of Shelemiah is named in Jeremiah 37.3 and Jeremiah 38.1 as one of the officials whom King Zedekiah sent to Jeremiah and who later pressed the king to silence the prophet by throwing him into the pit. His clay seal impression was recovered in 2005 by Eilat Mazar in controlled excavations near the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, in a stratigraphic context dating to the late First Temple period. The find is mainstream-confirmed; the identification with the biblical Jehucal is essentially certain given the name, patronymic, and chronological context.

Q: Does the Jeremiah Bullae confirm the book of Jeremiah is historically accurate?

It strongly supports the historical accuracy of the named-official references in chapters 36-38. Baruch, Gemariah, Jehucal, and Gedaliah are not major characters; they appear in specific administrative roles, and the bullae give direct material evidence for these specific individuals at the right time and place. The fine-grained accuracy is what one expects from a text composed by someone with direct access to the late Judahite court, not from late literary construction.

Q: Where can I see the Jeremiah Bullae?

The Mazar excavation bullae (Jehucal son of Shelemiah; Gedaliah son of Pashhur) are housed at the Israel Antiquities Authority and on display at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. The Baruch bullae are at the Israel Museum and in the Schøyen Collection. The Gemariah bulla was recovered by Yigal Shiloh and is also in the Israel Museum collection.