LMLK ZIPH Seal of Hezekiah

LMLK ZIPH Seal of Hezekiah

Fragment of a terracotta jug handle, bearing the royal LMLK ZIPH seal of the Biblical King Hezekiah. The seal consists of a four-winged beetle, which formed part of the royal emblem, part of which you can see on the handle base, showing the original jug belonged to the court of the King. Found in Israel, exported legally through the Israel Antiquities Authority in 2006.

Fragment measures: 8.6 cm

“And Hezekiah made for himself…storehouses for the yield of grain, wine and oil; pens for all kinds of cattle; and sheepfolds.“

– 2 Chronicles 32:27-28
  • Fragment of a jug handle, bearing the royal LMLK ZIPH seal of Hezekiah, King of Judah (716 – 686 BC).
  • LMLK – ‘Belonging to the King’.
  • ZIPH – Ancient town in Israel, where David his from Saul (1 Samuel 23:19). Ziph was one of the main areas where Hezekiah stored grain, wine, oil, and other valuables to increase the riches of Israel, and protect against invasion. It is also one of the four locations mentioned on Hezekiah’s royal LMLK seals.
  • The seal itself consists of Hezekiah’s royal emblem, a four winged beetle around a solar image. The winged beetle and sun disk were solar images from Egypt.  However, even if the symbols were foreign in form, their meaning was indigenous.  The prophet Malachi described Yahweh as the sun of righteousness with healing in his wings, and the use of solar imagery to represent Yahweh was at least as old as the tenth century.
  • Excellent evidence of the Biblical account of Hezekiah and his services to the Children of Israel.
  • 716-686 BC
  • Export authorisation from the Israel Antiquities Authority, No. 2926, 2006 AD.