Ketef Hinnom Amulets
One of the most striking priestly inscriptions are two
amulets excavated in a tomb on the shoulder of the Hinnom Valley (in Hebrew, Ketef
Hinnom), just outside the ancient city of Jerusalem. Ketef Hinnom was a family
tomb complex, and archaeologists identified one tomb repository with the
skeletal remains of at least forty-three people in the tomb dating to the late
Iron Age. But the most sensational find was the silver amulets dating to the
end of Judean monarchy (ca. 600 BCE). The location of the tomb is also
instructive—namely, it was a new tomb cut during the seventh century and far
away from the Temple Mount. Normally, the dead are buried immediately outside
the city. So, for example, the early tombs of Iron Age Jerusalem were located
on the slopes of the Kidron Valley and near the City of David—that is, where
settlement began.
. . .
The amulets made a sensation by their apparent quotation
of the Priestly Blessing: “May Yahweh bless you and keep/protect you, may Yahweh
make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you, may Yahweh lift up his
face upon you and grant you peace” (Num 6:24–26). This would make them the
earliest known biblical quote in an inscription. In truth, the picture is more
complicated. First of all, it is not an exact quote. It is a paraphrase. At the
same time, the similarities between the amulets and the Priestly Blessing are
certainly striking, and there can be little doubt that the amulets and Num
6:24–26 come from a shared ritual tradition. In his book, The Priestly
Blessing in Inscription and Scripture, Jeremy Smoak points out that the
blessing in the amulets and the Book of Numbers fits with the so-called “Holiness
Code” in the Bible. The biblical Holiness Code is identified with ten chapters
in the Book of Leviticus (chs. 17–26). These chapters form their own section
with priestly literature, but holiness is not limited to a few chapters of
Leviticus. It is a broader theme that can be associated with priests that had
been working at rural sanctuaries and then came to Jerusalem.
. . .
The amulets were certainly made in a priestly scribal
setting, but who bought the amulet? Was it a priest? A Levite? It is hard to
know, and the tomb artifacts do not yield any further direct clues to the
identities of those buried there. The location of the tomb itself is fairly
remote from the Temple in Jerusalem, and it was a family tomb—as mentioned, archaeologists
identified at least forty-three people in the tomb remains. It seems unlikely
that it belonged to an old priestly family directly affiliated with the Temple because
it was so remote from the Temple. The oldest burial ground in Jerusalem is
Silwan, just across the Kidron Valley and close to the Temple Mount and the
City of David. This is where the old families of Jerusalem would have been
buried. Still, the Ketef Hinnom tomb is very nicely cut and elaborate, so the family
had some financial means. Maybe the tomb belonged to a family of peripheral
priests? Hard to be certain, but that is how I imagine the family. Priestly
refugees from a small village in the Judean foothills who came to Jerusalem in
the early seventh century. In any case, the content of the amulets certainly
reflects priestly writing, even though the owners of the amulets and the tomb
remain a mystery. (William M. Schniedewind, Who Really Wrote the Bible: The
Story of the Scribes [Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2024], 187-88,
189, 190-91)
