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A Good Look

Hi-Tech Peek at the “Priestly Blessing” Amulets

A new study using the latest photographic and computer-imaging technologies has confirmed conclusions reached by Israeli scholars nearly 15 years ago regarding the date and contents of two unusual silver amulets discovered in an excavation in Jerusalem.a The amulets were rolled up when they were found in 1979 by Israeli archaeologist Gabriel Barkay. Both Barkay and Israeli epigrapher Ada Yardeni independently studied the faint inscriptions on each of the amulets (Yardeni in connection with an exhibit of the amulets at the Israel Museum) and separately published their results.b They substantially agreed with one another: The amulets, although written by […]

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Footnotes

1.

Gabriel Barkay, Andrew G. Vaughn, Marilyn J. Lundberg and Bruce Zuckerman, “The Amulets from Ketef Hinnom: A New Edition and Evaluation,” Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 334 (2004), p. 41.

2.

Gabriel Barkay, “The Priestly Benediction on the Ketef Hinnom Plaques,” Cathedra 52 (1989), p. 37 (Hebrew); Ada Yardeni, “Remarks on the Priestly Blessing on Two Ancient Amulets from Jerusalem,” Vetus Testamentum 41 (1991), p. 176; Gabriel Barkay, “The Priestly Benediction on Silver Plaques from Ketef Hinnom in Jerusalem,” Tel Aviv 19 (1992), p. 139.