Seals of Hilkiah and Gemeriah

Azariah the son of Hilkiah, the son of Meshullam, the son of Zadok, the son of Meraioth, the son of Ahitub, the officer over the house of God (1 Chronicles 9:11). 

Israeli archaeologist Yigal Shiloh uncovered 51 bullae (clay seals) in 1982. One of the notable bulla, measuring just under a centimeter in diameter, contained two lines of ancient Hebrew text. The inscription reads “Belonging to Azariah, son of Hilkiah.” The 2,600-year-old seal dates roughly to the time of King Nebuchadnezzar’s first siege of Jerusalem in 605 B.C.

Shaphan the scribe is mentioned several times in the Bible including a notable occasion when he was sent by Hilkiah the high priest to deliver a “book of the law” to the king (2Kin. 22). His name appears on a seal uncovered in 1982. The tiny bulla bears the inscription: “Belonging to Gemariah, son of Shaphan.” This father and son is also mentioned in several other scriptures (Jer. 36:10-12).