{"id":52577,"date":"2015-12-15T12:31:18","date_gmt":"2015-12-15T17:31:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/?p=52577"},"modified":"2015-12-15T12:43:44","modified_gmt":"2015-12-15T17:43:44","slug":"hezekiahs-seal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/israel\/hezekiahs-seal\/","title":{"rendered":"Hezekiah’s Seal"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"hezekiahs-seal\"Why Does King Hezekiah\u2019s Seal Bear an Egyptian Winged Sun God?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hebrew University archaeologists created a stir last week announcing the discovery of a seal bearing the name of the Hezekiah son of Ahaz, the first time a seal bearing the name of a Judean king had been found in the environs of the Temple Mount and City of David.\u00a0 But for some, the discovery gave pause: in the center of the seal is a winged image of the disc of the sun.\u00a0 The Bible however (2 Kgs. 18:1-8; 2 Chr 29-32), credits Hezekiah with cleansing the Temple of impurity and of removing a variety of idolatrous sites from across the countryside.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0The presence of the winged sun on Hezekiah\u2019s seal seemed to unearth a less than pious monarch.<\/p>\n

Or does it? The truth is that the winged sun on the seal in no way refutes the biblical account of Hezekiah\u2019s reforms.<\/p>\n

Sun and Wings in the Bible<\/strong><\/p>\n

It is true that the winged sun is a symbol of an ancient Egyptian deity.\u00a0 However, both the sun and the motif of protective wings are de rigueur symbols across the ancient Near East.\u00a0 In fact, we find them amply attested within the Bible itself, in both profane and sacral references.\u00a0 The sun is a metaphor for strength, as seen at the end of the Song of Devorah, where the prophetess proclaims that Hashem\u2019s faithful will \u201crise as the sun to the zenith of its strength\u201d (Jud 5:31).\u00a0 Wings are a symbol of protection, as seen in Ruth\u2019s proclamation to Boaz, \u201cI am Ruth your handmaiden; spread now your wing over thy maidservant (Ruth 3: 9).\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0It is no surprise therefore, that each of these images can describe Hashem, as well. Hashem is likened to the sun in Ps. 84:12: \u201cFor Hashem is a sun and a shield.\u201d Any number of verses speak of his protective wings, as in Boaz\u2019s praise of Ruth (Ruth 2:12): \u201cYou have come to take shelter under His wings\u201d (cf. Deut 32:11; Ps. 36:8, 57:2, 61:5, 91:4).\u00a0 The sun as an image of strength, and wings as an image of protection did not belong to any one culture.\u00a0 In fact, the winged sun is found as an image of both kings and deities across the ancient Near East.<\/p>\n

The image of the winged sun is clear in Hezekiah\u2019s seal. Less clear is what it precisely symbolizes.\u00a0 Is the sun here a representation of Hashem, as per Ps. 84:12?\u00a0 Or,perhaps, the might of Hezekiah himself?\u00a0 Who offers protection, symbolized by the wings \u2013 again, God, or his servant the king? Perhaps the symbol conflates king and God.\u00a0 It is difficult to say.\u00a0 What is clear is that the symbol in no way suggests that Hezekiah worshipped an Egyptian deity.\u00a0 Were that case, the very name on the seal would read \u201cHezek-Amun\u201d, or \u201cHezek-Re.\u201d \u201cHizki-yahu<\/em>\u201d leaves no doubts as to this monarch\u2019s loyalties.<\/p>\n

Graven images of the Sun<\/strong><\/p>\n

It is one thing to accept the clear evidence that the Bible is comfortable describing God\u2019s attributes through the images of the sun and wings.\u00a0 But to contemporary sensitivities, the notion that these things could be engraved by a saintly king is harder to grasp. Is this not forbidden?<\/p>\n

The key verse here is Ex 20:20: \u05dc\u05d0 \u05ea\u05e2\u05e9\u05d5\u05df \u05d0\u05ea\u05d9 \u05d0\u05dc\u05e7\u05d9 \u05db\u05e1\u05e3 \u05d5\u05d0\u05dc\u05e7\u05d9 \u05d6\u05d4\u05d1 \u05dc\u05d0 \u05ea\u05e2\u05e9\u05d5 \u05dc\u05db\u05dd ,\u201cYou shall not make with\/for me gods of silver, nor shall you make for yourselves and gods of gold.\u201d The midrashic and Talmudic literature to this verse derives many prohibitions.\u00a0 According to one opinion we are forbidden to draw celestial entities such as the sun and the moon.\u00a0 Another opinion, however maintains that the prohibition pertains solely to angelic creatures (cf. Mechilta to Ex. 20:20). Curiously, nowhere across midrashic and Talmudic literature is the express prohibition of drawing an image of God Himself, although this is rendered prohibited by later descisors.\u00a0 Anyone who has visited the synagogues of Poland can attest to the wide spectrum of interpretation that this verse has had within halachic sources.\u00a0 Synagogues that remain in Sephardic lands show no representations whatever, much in line with Muslim sensitivities on the issue.\u00a0 Foreign religious influence, it turns out, can sometimes work le-chumrah<\/em>!<\/p>\n

Many medieval commentators, however, sought out the simple meaning of the verse. For some, (Rasa\u201dg, Ibn Ezra, Seforno) the verse prohibits creating images to be used as intermediaries in the service of Hashem.\u00a0 For others (Rashbam, Hizkuni) the verse prohibits the production of images of God at all, for any purpose, though this restriction, on the level of peshat, would presumably pertain solely to images made of gold and silver.<\/p>\n

I raise this discussion not with the intent of surveying the full history of halachic interpretation to this verse, and certainly not with the aim of offering halachic guidance on the question today.\u00a0 Rather, I raise it with an eye toward how this verse may have been understood by a pious Judean king in the 8th<\/sup> century BCE.\u00a0 The simple meaning of Ex. 20:20 would seem not to limit such a king from employing these images. While the Rambam (Avodah Zarah 3:9) adopts the gemara\u2019s conclusion forbidding\u00a0 a graven image of the sun such as that found on Hezekiah\u2019s seal, \u00a0the debate in the gemara may reflect a longstanding difference of opinion on the understanding of this verse. Its normative interpretation in Hezekiah\u2019s day may have been closer to the opinion in the gemara that prohibits only the images of angelic beings. If that was the case, the seal may represent in visual form what the Bible expresses in words: that some combination of God and his chosen king offered strength and protection symbolized through the sun and wings.<\/p>\n

(This post originally appeared on Rabbi Gil Student’s blog, Torah Musings<\/a>. We are grateful to be allowed to reprint it.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Why Does King Hezekiah\u2019s Seal Bear an Egyptian Winged Sun God? Hebrew University archaeologists created a stir last week announcing the discovery of a seal bearing the name of the Hezekiah son of Ahaz, the first time a seal bearing the name of a Judean king had been found in the environs of the Temple<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133101,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cloudinary_featured_overwrite":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[85,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52577","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-inspiration","category-israel"],"yoast_head":"\nHezekiah's Seal - OU Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/israel\/hezekiahs-seal\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hezekiah's Seal - OU Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Why Does King Hezekiah\u2019s Seal Bear an Egyptian Winged Sun God? Hebrew University archaeologists created a stir last week announcing the discovery of a seal bearing the name of the Hezekiah son of Ahaz, the first time a seal bearing the name of a Judean king had been found in the environs of the Temple\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/israel\/hezekiahs-seal\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"OU Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-12-15T17:31:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-12-15T17:43:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/hezekiahs-seal-300x169.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Rabbi Dr. Joshua Berman\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Rabbi Dr. Joshua Berman\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/israel\/hezekiahs-seal\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/israel\/hezekiahs-seal\/\",\"name\":\"Hezekiah's Seal - OU Life\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/israel\/hezekiahs-seal\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/israel\/hezekiahs-seal\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/hezekiahs-seal-300x169.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-12-15T17:31:18+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-12-15T17:43:44+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/ebd3d31e262cdb09d439a3d7a7e21d5b\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/israel\/hezekiahs-seal\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/israel\/hezekiahs-seal\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/hezekiahs-seal.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/hezekiahs-seal.jpg\",\"width\":300,\"height\":169},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/\",\"name\":\"OU Life\",\"description\":\"Everyday Jewish Living\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/ebd3d31e262cdb09d439a3d7a7e21d5b\",\"name\":\"Rabbi Dr. Joshua Berman\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f7cdd58ff6743914aedc372fb04dcd49c157bbebbb6583295774c9f09abb9c7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f7cdd58ff6743914aedc372fb04dcd49c157bbebbb6583295774c9f09abb9c7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Rabbi Dr. Joshua Berman\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/author\/rabbi-dr-joshua-berman\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Hezekiah's Seal - OU Life","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/israel\/hezekiahs-seal\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Hezekiah's Seal - OU Life","og_description":"Why Does King Hezekiah\u2019s Seal Bear an Egyptian Winged Sun God? Hebrew University archaeologists created a stir last week announcing the discovery of a seal bearing the name of the Hezekiah son of Ahaz, the first time a seal bearing the name of a Judean king had been found in the environs of the Temple","og_url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/israel\/hezekiahs-seal\/","og_site_name":"OU Life","article_published_time":"2015-12-15T17:31:18+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-12-15T17:43:44+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/hezekiahs-seal-300x169.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Rabbi Dr. Joshua Berman","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Rabbi Dr. Joshua Berman","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/israel\/hezekiahs-seal\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/israel\/hezekiahs-seal\/","name":"Hezekiah's Seal - OU Life","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/israel\/hezekiahs-seal\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/israel\/hezekiahs-seal\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/hezekiahs-seal-300x169.jpg","datePublished":"2015-12-15T17:31:18+00:00","dateModified":"2015-12-15T17:43:44+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/ebd3d31e262cdb09d439a3d7a7e21d5b"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/israel\/hezekiahs-seal\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/israel\/hezekiahs-seal\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/hezekiahs-seal.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/hezekiahs-seal.jpg","width":300,"height":169},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/","name":"OU Life","description":"Everyday Jewish Living","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/ebd3d31e262cdb09d439a3d7a7e21d5b","name":"Rabbi Dr. Joshua Berman","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f7cdd58ff6743914aedc372fb04dcd49c157bbebbb6583295774c9f09abb9c7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f7cdd58ff6743914aedc372fb04dcd49c157bbebbb6583295774c9f09abb9c7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Rabbi Dr. Joshua Berman"},"url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/author\/rabbi-dr-joshua-berman\/"}]}},"acf":[],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52577","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/133101"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52577"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52577\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52579,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52577\/revisions\/52579"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}