ancient seals and the bible

Ancient Seals and the BibleAncient Seals and the Bible by Leonard Gorelick; Elizabeth Williams-ForteReview by: Othmar KeelJournal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 106, No. 2 (Apr. - Jun., 1986), pp. 307-311Published by: American Oriental SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/601594 .

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REVIEW ARTICLES

ANCIENT SEALS AND THE BIBLE*

OTHMAR KEEL

UNIVERSITY OF FRIBOURG

The use of seals in ancient Israel was the subject of a symposium held at the Jewish Museum in New York in 1982. This review article discusses the results of that symposium pointing out both the contributions and the limitations of the individual papers while suggesting additional avenues for research.

THIS SMALL VOLUME comprises half a dozen articles which originated in a series of lectures held in the scope of a symposium at the Jewish Museum on December 17, 1982. One of the authors mentions: "To our knowledge, this symposium is the first on seals and the Bible" (p. 1). One is reminded of S. N. Kramer's famous book: History Begins at Sumer. Thirty-nine "firsts" in Man's Recorded History (1981). This awakens somewhat exaggerated expectations. The contributions to the symposium are altogether substantial and interesting. They move, however, within conventional borders.

The first two contributions deal with the texts of the Hebrew Bible which mention seals (compare: S. Moscati, "I sigilli nell'Antico Testamento: Studio esegetico-filologico," Biblica 30 [1949] 314-38).

L. Gorelick states in his introduction to "Ancient Seals and the Bible: An Overview," that in the Old Testament there are 20 functional references and 10 metaphoric references to seals. In the New Testament, the ratio is almost reversed: instead of 20:10 it is 13:18. Gorelick concludes from these facts: "Seals in the Old Testament relate to a time when the Israelites were a nation and required all of the bureaucratic controls and trappings of nationhood . .. By contrast . .. early Christians had little money, less power and were not organized as a nation (p. 2). Furthermore, Gorelick classifies the functional uses of seals in a bureaucratic and a non-bureaucratic (personal) way. In the Old

* A review article of Ancient Seals and the Bible. Edited by Leonard Gorelick and Elizabeth Williams-Forte. Malibu, CA: Undena. 1983. $13.50. I would like to thank Mrs. Hildi Keel-Leu for undertaking the English translation of the German original.

Testament, half of the references defined as functional are non-bureaucratic or personal whereas in the New Testament all are bureaucratic. The latter (except the sealing of the grave of Jesus in Matthew 27:66), however, have to do with an imaginary, celestial bureaucracy as it is related in the Apocalypse of John.

W. W. Hallo has provided an extremely well docu- mented article, followed by a comprehensive biblio- graphy, entitled, "'As the Seal upon thine Arm': Glyptic Metaphors in the Biblical World." In a brief but dense survey, Hallo first discusses the terms for seals in various ancient languages (Hebrew, Egyptian, Sumerian, Akkadian, Hittite) and the function of the seal within these cultures (as legal instrument, as objet dart, as votive object presented by humans to their gods or as gifts from the king to deserving officials). It is questionable, in my opinion, if mention of the fingerrings made of gold and silver which were donated for the making of cult objects (e.g., Exodus 35:22; Judges 8:24-27) should be made here, since it was actually the material (metal) which was given and not the seal as such. Moreover, Hallo's list of the functions of seals is incomplete. There is indeed a number of types of seals that have not only evolved from amulets, e.g., the scarab (see: W. A. Ward, "The Origin of Egyptian Design-Amulets ('Button Seals')," Journal of Egyvptian Archaeology 56 [1970], 65-80), but have remained amulets in the first place and were only accidentally used for sealing. Scarabs, however, are of special interest to the Bible insofar as the excavations in Palestine/ Israel have yielded ca. 25 times more stamp seals than cylinder seals. A. Mazar, from the Hebrew University, has collected about 400 cylinder seals in his Master's thesis. As against these, there are the ca. 10,000 scarabs and other stamp-seals collected for our project (see below). In his main part, the

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interpretation of Song of Songs 8:6, Hallo turns without other reference to the Mesopotamian world and its typical form of seals, the cylinder seal, which, mounted on a pin, could be worn on the wrist or, attached to a necklace, around the neck ("upon thy heart"). The first part of the simile, "Make me as the seal upon my heart, as the seal upon thine arm" is therefore based on a practice which easily could have been imagined and is probably more realistic when related to the scarab or scaraboid, because these could be worn without a pin. But these kinds of seals, which one should first think of in Palestine/ Israel, were not mentioned by the author. Be it a cylinder-seal or a stamp-seal, what is meant in the simile is the intimacy into which the beloved-one would like to be admitted. But what does the motivation, "for love is strong as death . . . ," mean? Hallo refers to the Mesopotamian funerary practice of burying private possessions, in- cluding seals, with their owners thus perpetuating the owner's standing in death. "So the beloved declares that her lover's role with regard to her will outlive him" (p. 13). This seems to me a somewhat too sophisticated explanation. I find M. Pope's interpretation (Song of Songs, The Anchor Bible, Garden City, New York 1977, 666f.) much more convincing: the girl would like to be as close to her lover as a seal-amulet. For love (her love!), like the amulet, strengthens the powers of life and keeps the powers of death away. It is thus a counterweight to death, as strong as death itself.

Hallo then turns to yet another aspect of the seals, namely that of seals as weapons, whereas it was not the seal but the pin on which it was mounted that actually served as a weapon. Hallo presumes that patU in Genesis 38:18.25 meant 'necklace'. The seal would then have been a cylinder seal and the staff (matteh) the pin on which it was mounted. Without suggesting that matteh does not mean "pin," it is much more pertinent to think of a staff, inscribed with the name of its owner as it was widely used in Egypt, instead of an in- significant pin (see A. Hassan, Stocke und Stabe im pharaonischen Aegypten, Munchner Aegypologische Studien 33, Munchen 1976, esp. pp. 132-65). Such a staff was much more suitable as a personal distinguish- ing sign and as a pledge than a "pin." Furthermore, a necklace is not necessarily a carrier for a cylinder seal. Obviously, stamp-seals, too, were worn on a necklace.

The third, and at the same time the longest contribution, is the only one which deals with the iconography of a specific seal-group. E. Williams-Forte in "The Snake and the Tree in the Iconography and Texts of Syria during the Bronze Age," takes up the problem whether the snake of Genesis 3 may be associated with a Canaanite motif. "On the whole, the serpent in pre-

Biblical art and texts of these regions has been con- sidered a sea monster making its relationship to the serpent in the garden in the later Biblical imagery unlikely. However, the characteristics of the serpent and the storm god who battles and conquers this creature in the earlier art of the lands of the Bible seem to suggest the snake's association not with the sea, but with powers of dark earth, namely the underworld, and with interfility" (p. 18f.). Williams-Forte then discusses the representations of the weather god in Anatolia and Syria. She proceeds from the monograph of A. Vanel (L'iconographie du dieu de lorage, Cahiers de la Revue Biblique 3, Paris 1965) and adds the material of more recent publications of N. Ozguic, D. Collon, and Th. Beran. Above all, the Kultepe/ Kanesh material published by N. Ozgufc is extensively discussed. Williams-Forte concludes: "The earliest known images of an indigenous Anatolian and Syrian god of weather occur in the karum or trading post at Kultepe, ancient Kanesh, level 11, ca. 1920-1840 B.C.... Rather than multiple gods of weather, there appears to be a single active, probably young weapon-wielding god identified by attributes such as a snake and the bull which may represent his conquered foes" (p. 24). On the same page above, however, we find conjectured, "The 'propagat- ing' powers of rain and storm may have been con- sidered analogous to the potent and forceful nature of the bull." Moreover, the fact that the weather god of Syria/ Anatolia may appear as a human or as a bull is not an argument for the conquered foe theory. The snake, however, is unequivocally a foe. A first pictorial tape portrays the weather god impaling the serpent with a tree-like weapon which the author is most probably correct in identifying with lightning (see the arguments, p. 35f.). While the god thrusts the "lightning" with his right hand into the serpent's throat, he holds the mace in his uplifted left hand. A second pictorial type depicts the god displaying the conquered serpent to a goddess. The god holds the snake by its head down at his side or the conquered and tamed snake accompanies him, or the god rides upon it as on his living mount. The latter posture is only evidenced on two seals, unpublished up to now, of the H. Seyrig collection, now in the Bibliotheque Nationale of Paris. A third pictorial ti'pe portrays the worship of the god with the tree-lightning by human and divine figures. A fourth type represents the tree-lightning flanked by divine, human or composite figures. The author would like to see in these four pictorial types the phases of a narrative sequence.

One of the author's main points is that the serpent- foe of the weather god has nothing to do with the Ugaritic god of the sea, Yam, but rather represents



KEEL: Ancient Seals and the Bible 309

Mot, the god of sterility and death. An important argument of this thesis results from an historizing approach to the texts of the Baal Epic (see the precise wording on p. 35 "the text chronicling the building of Baal's palace"). Only with the building of his palace and after his defeat of Yam would Baal gain or create his tree-lightning. Mot, too, would only be mentioned for the first time in association with the building of the palace.

Now, first of all, we know about the hypothetical character of the sequence of the Baal Epic fragments. Second, there is no mention of the tree-lightning in the narrative of the crucial battles of Baal or of his consort Anat against Yam and Mot (see Baal against Yam in CTA 2. 4 III AB, A; Anat against Yam in CTA 3 D 35-50 = V AB, D 35-50; Anat against Mot in CTA 6.2.24-37 = I AB, II 24-37; Baal against Mot in CTA 6.6.2-35 = I AB, VI 1-35). It is noteworthy, too, that in CTA 6.5.1-4 = I AB V 1-4 Yam and Mot appear simultaneously to confront Baal as enemies against whom Baal would have to defend himself at the same time (see A. Caquot/M. Sznycer/A. Herdner, Textes ougaritiques I. Mythes et Mgendes, Paris 1974, 265). There is no question here of the tree-lightning either. It is not clear who or what are the foes of Baal in the text CTA 4.7.35-49 = 11 AB VII 35-49 where, according to the author, mention is made of the tree-lightning (ar7). It appears that Baal had other enemies besides Yam and Mot. Apart from that, it is not clear whether ar7, in this instance, points to a weapon in Baal's hand or to an object which he beats with his right hand as it appears in Psalm 29:5 which is similar to this text (for further comparison see: Caquot/ Sznycer/ Herdner, op. cit., 217f.). The information about the figure of Mot is as scarce and vague as that concerning the tree-lightning. The only characteristic feature is his voracious jaws. The "glutton" in Judges 14:14 is a designation for the lion (in Malachi 3:11 for the grasshopper). Says Mot in CTA 6.2.21-23 = I AB, 11 2 1-23:

I did masticate Puissant Baal. I made him like a lamb in my mouth; Like a kid in my gullet he's crushed.

(A NET, p. 140)

Does this not rather recall a lion than a serpent? (see: David boasting in 1 Samuel 17:34f. that he had torn away sheep and goats from the jaws of the lion; for the lion's jaws, see also Psalm 22:22). A hint as to the lion form of Mot is also provided by the peculiar and typically North Syrian motif which shows a bull (Baal) conquering a lion (see 0. Keel in J. Briend/J. B.

Humbert (ed.), Tell Keisan (1971-1976). Une cith phenicienne en Galile, Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis, Series Archaeologica 1, Fribourg/ Suisse-Gbttingen- Paris 1980, 266f.).

There is always the tradition of pictorial representa- tion which is more important for the interpretation of images than the tradition of texts. For that reason we have to look back to the period before the Kultepe glyptic. A. Vanel, in his above mentioned book L'iconographie du dieu de lorage (p. 73f.) has, with good reason, started his investigation on the Syrian weather god by mentioning a seal of the Akkadian period from Mari (see: 0. Keel, The Symbolism of the Biblical World. Ancient Near Eastern Iconography and the Book of Psalms, New York, 1978, fig. 42), depicting a god of the type of El enthroned, between the springs of two streams, on a mountain. He is flanked by two vegetation goddesses who grow out from the waters. A fourth figure, a warlike god, appears thrusting into the stream with a spear. We find the spear again in the hands of the weather god on cappadocian seals, on the big stele of Baal from Ugarit and also on a number of Old Syrian cylinder seals (see Vanel, op. cit., p. 66 and p. 74 note 2). The combina- tion of the weather god and of the El-type god also occurs on the Kultepe glyptic (see the examples given by Williams-Forte p. 24f.). On the seal from Mari, the weather god is not fighting against the serpent but against a stream. We can easily assume that the stream will be replaced by the serpent in the later iconography. The stream springs up from the foot of the mountain. The detail, so much emphasized by Williams-Forte, of the serpent eventually rising from beneath the mountain as from his abode (which would mean that it could not at the same time represent Yam whose name is also nahar) cannot be conclusive in the light of this seal. The early evidence of the motif of the 3rd millennium therefore points rather to the equation serpent = Yam.

The later material of 2nd millennium Canaan pro- duces a mixture of the Egyptian Apophis serpent and the serpent which the weather god battles. A scarab from Tell FaraD-South depicts Baal-Seth with a spear slaying the serpent that rises against him (F. Petrie, Beth Pelet 1, London 1930, 7; PI. XI 171; PI. XVII photo). The serpent's head is not destroyed, as sug- gested by Petrie's drawing, but horned, as can be seen from the original in the Institute of Archaeology, London (Inventory no. E VI 24/29). By the merging of two traditions, the serpent appears to have become, in this constellation, a sheer symbol of evil. Nevertheless, the older biblical tradition still knows the dangerous serpent on the sea bottom (Amos 9:3) and it parallels the coiled serpent with the dragon of the sea (Isaiah 27:1).



310 Journal of the American Oriental Society 106.2 (1986)

Only in the I st century B.C. will the serpent be identified with the devil but even then not yet with death.

The tradition of the weather god battling the serpent has left its manifold traces in the Bible; not, however, in Genesis 3. Here, there is much more at work; a tradition of a serpent as a symbol of wisdom, success and regeneration, having its abode in paradise, respec- tively in the temple. This aspect of the serpent could be evidenced by "incense-altars" in the form of a house or a temple, which are decorated with palms, cherubs, serpents and similar motifs pertaining to a heavenly sphere (for the material see: L. Devries, Incense Altars from the Period of the Judges and their Significance, Ann Arbor, University Microfilms 1975). The very self-willed biblical writer has then polemically turned this Canaanite symbol of wisdom and regeneration into a cause of folly and death (for the healing power of the serpent venerated in the cult and the polemic against it see Numbers 21:4-9 and 2 Kings 18:4). If the reviewer largely disagrees with the author, he nevertheless wants to make clear that the carefully and pro- fusely illustrated paper is rich in ideas and furnishes, page by page, much stimulation.

The fourth contribution by A. J. Gwinnet and L. Gorelick is entitled "Seal Manufacture in the Lands of the Bible: Recent Findings." Experiments with methods which the ancient craftsmen possibly used to manufacture seals have, on the strength of their results, led to the following conclusions: the authors observed in a number of drill holes of quartz cylinder seals peculiar shapes which they name "collars." According to their experiments, these "collars" occur when copper tools are used for drilling. Nearly all the drill holes of cylinder seals show regular concentric lines through- out, similar to those observed by Sir Flinders Petrie on Old Egyptian granite cores made by tubular drills. By experimental procedures, the evidence was gained that those lines occur only if a copper drill was used with emery, corundum or diamond as abrasives. We know from Pliny that emery was available from Naxos. While loose emery and corundum had to be used with water, olive oil or a viscous lubricant to produce the concentric cutting lines, the harder diamond could be added in loose and dry form. A further investigation on an agate stamp seal of the Achaemenid period with a discontinued drill hole proved that a tubular drill was used for its manufacture.

The objective of the fifth and sixth papers in the collection is the epigraphy of Hebrew seals which has been time and again the focus of extensive studies since the middle of the last century, to mention only the works of M. de Vogue, M. A. Levy, Ch. Clermont-Ganneau, D. Diringer, K. Galling, S. Moscati, F. Vattioni and

the numerous more recent investigations of N. Avigad, R. Hestrin, M. Dayagi-Mendels, P. Bordreuil and A. Lemaire.

First, R. Hestrin deals with the "Hebrew Seals of Officials" dated from the 8th to the early 6th century B.C. The following titles are found on seals: "Royal Stewart" ( Ca.er 'a/ ha- bait), "Scribe" (soper), "Servant of the King" ('ehed ha-melek), "Son of the King" (hen ha-melek), "Servant" (na'ar), "Governor of the City" (sar ha- Cir), "Chief of the Corvee" ('agser 'a/ ha-ma s). To the seals of officials there are to be added a number of private-name seals without any title as evidenced by the three Elyashib seals from Arad which were found together with numerous ostraca addressed to Elyashib, the commander of the fortress.

Finally, Hestrin discusses briefly the lamelek stamp seal-impressions on jar-handles. In agreement with the present state of research, the author concludes that the jars should be connected with Hezekiah's preparations in anticipation of an Assyrian campaign at the very end of the 8th century B.C. and that they were, as Neutron Activation Analysis shows, manufactured at a single site in the Shephalah, probably at Judean Achzib.

In the last contribution, F. M. Cross discusses "The Seal of Miqneyaw, Servant of Yahweh" belonging to the Harvard Semitic Museum. It probably comes from a tomb in the vicinity of Jerusalem. For palaeo- graphical reasons, it is to be dated to the first half of the 8th century B.C. The short form of the theophorous element 'i' also points to the same period. In the Southern Kingdom of the 7th/6th century B.C., there is only the fuller form i'hw left. Therefore, argues Cross, the famous seal of 'elhaqTm nd'ar 'vawkin, impressions of which have been found at Ramat Rahel, on Tell Beit-Mirsim and at Beth-Shemesh, cannot designate an official of King Jehoiachin of Judah (609-598 B.C.).

Cross does not enter into the stratigraphic problems to which such a dating gives rise. But they cannot be ignored. As to the title "'ched uvahweh," Cross is right in stating that excessive energy has been exerted in order to make its meaning precise. "The data from West Semitic Sources suggest that the formal title 'cbed DN was used frequently by priestly officials. No doubt each sacral officer, king, prophet, seer, priest, and singer could be termed an 'cbed DN. It is noteworthy, however, that in inscriptions and on seals, a king ordinarily utilized the title 'king"' (p. 62). Miqneyaw, however, was not a king, but rather probably a high temple official. Cross likes the idea of his being a "great cantor of early Israel" (p. 63).

The reviewer hopes to have duly demonstrated his opinion stated at the beginning that all the contributions were substantial and interesting, but also that



KEEL: Ancient Seals and the Bible 311

they do not take matters beyond the conventional formulation of the question. As has been already pointed out, more attention should have been given, when dealing with "Ancient Seals in the Bible," to the fact that of the ca. 9,000-10,000 seals found in regular excavations, only a fraction of them (ca. 400) are cylinder seals and only a tiny fraction are seals inscribed with Semitic names. The bulk of the seal-amulets of the Iron Age are pure design seals (see, e.g., 0. Tufnell, Lachish III. The Iron Age, London 1953, PI. 43-47).

The reviewer has presented, in a series of mono- graphs, the relationship between the motifs of these design seals and the symbols and similes of the Old Testament (see, e.g., Jahwe- Visionen und Siegel- kunst. Eine neue Deutung der Majesiatsschilderungen in Jesaja 6, Ezechiel 1 und 10 und Sacharfa 4, Stuttgarter Bibel-Studien 84/ 85, Stuttgart 1977; Jahwes Enigegnung an Ijob. Eine Deutung von Ijoh 38-41 vor dem Hintergrund der zeilgenbssischen Bildkunst, For-

schungen zur Religion und Literatur des Alten und Neuen Testaments 121, Gottingen 1978; Das Bbcklein in der Milch seiner Mutter und Verwandtes, Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis 33, Frieburg/ Schweiz-Gottingen 1980; Deine Blicke sind Tauhen. Zur Metaphorik des Hohen Liedes, Stuttgarter Bibel-Studien 114/115, Stuttgart 1984).

In collaboration with Dr. B. Jaeger and Dr. K. Jarog, the reviewer is working on a corpus of all the stamp seals found in the context of regular excavations in Palestine/ Israel. Parallel to the corpus, a history of the stamp seals of this area is being prepared. On account of source material which, hitherto, has not been made accessible systematically but which appears to be very promising, this history should add an important element to the religious history of Palestine/ Israel. We should be grateful for any references to stamp seals (scarabs, etc.) of Palestinian provenance in American collections which have not yet been contacted by us.



ancient seals and the bible

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