#36 Iconographic Analysis: Hezekiah’s Bulla
The clay bulla of king Hezekiah is from the latter part of his reign. The bulla shows a central figure of a disk with wings. the disk has three lines coming out of the top and the bottom. The wings on the disk are outstretched and angled downwards. This disk has an ankh on either side, above and below there is text. Furthermore there is a double rim around the edge of the seal. The lettering and symbols on the seal are raised. The edges of the bulla are uneven indicating that a signet was used to press the shape into the bulla.
Early bulla from Hezekiah’s reign showed a winged scarab with upturned wings the change from that bulla to the one with a disk and downwards wings shows how Hezekiah moved Judah closer to Egypt. The disk in the bulla symbolises the eye of Horus and the wings his power or protection. As can be seen on the entrance to the Temple of Edfu. Furthermore the ankh on either side of the disk are Egyptian in origin and commonly symbolize life. Together with the disk we could understand that the bulla symbolized that the life of the kingdom was under god’s protection.
This bulla of Hezekiah should be understood in terms of both ancient near eastern iconography and biblical texts. Hezekiah likely used these common images and symbols to describe the God of Judah. Many Psalms from this time period describe things like “wings” which may help explain the meaning of the symbols to Hezekiah. Since the ankh symbolized life it could be that one represented the king and the other his people. Or perhaps that the king or the king and his people were all around God. While the winged figure likely represented God. In Pslam 17, 36, 57, 61 and 63 describe God as a winged figure where people take refuge such as in “People take refuge in the shadow of your wings” (Psalm 36:7 NIV). Early bulla from Hezekiah show a winged figure with upturned wings while this one has downturned wings. What this means is unclear, but as a bird turns to attack it pulls its wings back. Thus the downturned wings could symbolize that God was coming to Hezekiah’s defense, by attacking his enemies. The connection to these Psalms is somewhat tenuous as the ankh is not in the shadow of the wings per se but rather to either side. But on the other hand there are three lines coming from the top and bottom of the central disk. This could mean that the glory of God was radiating outwards. If this is the case then the shadow of the wings would be on the outside of the wings rather than on the inside.
When we read the Old Testament we confront many things which we might not understand properly. If we are to understand what the authors of the Old Testament meant by the things that they wrote we must see what they saw how they saw it. The ancient near east was overwhelmingly polytheistic and non-jewish. Thus the way that the writers of the Old Testament understood the world around them was heavily influenced by the ancient near east. By understanding the context of the Old Testament we may more easily see the similarities to the ancient near east that are not important. Furthermore we can see where the authors went in a different direction than their ancient near eastern counterparts this helps outline what they considered important. Beyond this we may learn how the roles of items and titles affect interpretation of the Old Testament. Such as in Pslam 110 where context sheds light on the role of priest and king.
