Seal of Gedaliah, 586 BCE
The Seal of Gedaliah was found in 1935 in excavations at Lakhish (Lachish). It was found in a layer of ashes left behind from Nebuchadnezzar’s fire. Inscribed on the seal are the words, “Belonging to Gedaliah, who is over the House.” Gedaliah the son of Ahikam governed the people of Judah after the destruction of the First Temple-
“Then he made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, governor over the people who
remained in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had left. Now when all the captains of the armies, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah governor, they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah.” (2 Kings 25-22-24)
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Gedaliah himself must have been well trained for his position, for his grandfather, Shaphan, was also a royal official—the scribe or secretary of King Josiah.