Ketef Hinnom

This is one of the more important finds in the past few decades in Israel. This is the earliest part of the Bible that has ever been discovered, even though it is only a few verses, and its relationship to the Bible is debated. But it is very old, at least back to pre-exilic times. The tombs in which this was found can be seen today, behind the Begin building across the valley from Mt. Zion and Jerusalem University College. Gabriel Barkai, one of my teachers at Hebrew University, was the director at the dig and told us the story about how it was found. The tombs had been known for a long time, so they were not expecting any great finds. One day there were some junior high kids who came to help at the dig, and one boy in particular turned out to be very annoying to Barkai, asking incessant questions. So he gave him a broom and told him to sweep out one of the repositories, the hollow area under the place where the bodies are laid and in which the bones are stored. Just a few minutes later the boy came up to Barkai and showed him a nearly complete lamp. It turned out that the boy had gotten bored and started pounding on the floor of the repostiory with a hammer. Underneath he found a secret stash of items, untouched since they had been buried thousands of years ago. The junior highers were sent home and archaeology students from Hebrew U. were enlisted. The dig was done around the clock in utmost secrecy for several days until all the items were taken out. There were many, many items of various types, including a lot of silver items. The most famous are the two tiny silver scrolls which contain part of the Aaronic blessing, available for viewing at the Israel Museum. They are so small the second one was not even noticed until they sifted the dirt. Great story.  

Ketef Hinnom 1:

YHWH…. The great one who keeps the covenant and kindness to those who love him and guard [his commandments?] … the eternal… blessing more than any snare or evil because in him is redemption. For YHWH is our restorer and rock. May YHWH bless and keep you. May YHWH make his face shine…

b. For Ketef Hinnom 2, there appear to be four main sections. The first we are not sure of since we only have what looks like the end of a name, but it appears to be something like “For PN.” This is the person the scroll is about. The second section is an asking for a blessing from YHWH. The person listed in the first part wants YHWH to bless them, similar to the inscriptions from El-Qom and Ajrud. The third section is a description of YHWH and gives two of his relevant characteristics: warrior (or helper) and rebuker of evil. These are relevant because they allow YHWH to fulfill the blessing that the person wants him to give. Finally, the fourth section is the priestly blessing, known from Numbers 6. It is in a shortened form, but it is unmistakably the same blessing.

In Ketef Hinnom 1, the train of thought is more difficult to follow. It appears to begin with what is the third section of the other scroll, that of a description of YHWH. This description is longer, and instead of emphasizing his power as the other scroll does, it looks at his faithfulness and kindness to his people. There is also a mention of a blessing here, but we do not know what it is doing in the train of thought; if it is being asked for, or if God gives blessings or what. Lastly, the priestly blessing is given again at the end.

The literary genre of these scrolls appears to be that of an amulet. The asking for a blessing in 2 certainly helps to indicate this. The way YHWH is described fits in well with the scrolls being amulets, especially the mention of “the evil” in 2. Perhaps they were worn on their person, or kept close by in the house, in order that they would have this blessing always close by them and hence keep them from danger.

c. The literary relationship between the scrolls and the text of Numbers 6 is difficult to determine. The scrolls certainly present a blessing that is very similar to the one found in Numbers 6, but there are significant differences. One of the major differences is the content: Ketef Hinnom 2 jumps from the middle of verse 25 to the middle of verse 26 of Numbers 6. This could be explained from various reasons. First, it could be a scribal error. Since the second, third, and fourth words of verses 25 and 26 are exactly the same, then it would be very easy for the eye of the scribe to jump from the אליך of verse 25 to the same word in verse 26. This requires that the scribe is copying from a written copy of the blessing. Another option is that it is simply shorter because the scribe was running out of room on the amulet. If this was the case, then it no longer requires a written text, but it does seem to indicate that the blessing is well known and can be shortened at will. A further option (although unlikely) is that the Ketef Hinnom amulets record an earlier form which is expanded later and seen in Numbers.

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