Perhaps, evidence has been found for the existence of one of the greatest Old Testament prophets, Isaiah, who predicted the birth of Christ from the Virgin and the suffering of the Savior. He owns the famous phrase "hammer their swords into plowshares, and their spears into sickles."
If a small piece of clay 10.16 mm long with an imprint of a seal and the inscription "Yeshayahu [Isaiah] the prophet" really belonged to the most famous of the Old Testament prophets, and not someone with the same name who lived 2,700 years ago, this will be the first archaeological evidence and confirmation in addition to the Holy Scripture of the existence of the author of the book of the prophet Isaiah.
Isaiah consists of 66 chapters. The first 12 chapters contain five prophecies against the Jews and the Israelites. Chapters 13 through 23 contain eight prophecies about the fate of the Babylonians, Philistines, Moabites, Syrians and other neighboring nations. Chapters 36 through 39 describe the events of the prophet today. Finally, in the last chapters, starting with the 40th, there are prophecies about the appearance of the Messiah in the flesh, various events in His life and the fate of His kingdom.
The wreck was discovered during excavations in 2009 in Ophel, in the East Jerusalem area, located between the City of David archaeological site and the Temple Mount (site also known as al-Sharam al-Sharif).
The archaeologists, led by Eilat Mazar, a professor of archeology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem's Institute of Archeology, said they found the seal of King Hezekiah of Judah about three meters from the seal of Isaiah.
Researchers are still very cautious about their findings. Although the name Yeshayahu, or Isaiah, which means “the salvation of Jehovah,” is read, it is difficult to say whether it belongs to the prophet. There are several characters in the Bible with this name.
At the top of the artifact, one can see the lower part of the "grazing fallow deer", Eilat Mazar wrote in her article, noting that the fallow deer is "a recurring motif of blessing and protection made in Judea, especially in Jerusalem, of finds."
Isaiah's name is inscribed with nvy. Archaeologists are unsure what exactly this word might mean. Eilat Mazar noted that if the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet "Aleph" were at the end of nvy, it would be a word that would mean "prophet." However, examination of the damaged part of the print did not reveal the remains of the letter "Aleph", writes Eilat Mazar.
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