Courtesy Nahman Avigad

The antagonist of Jeremiah and Baruch, Yerahme’el, also seems to have left his mark in a surviving seal impression. This bulla, part of the same hoard as the Baruch bulla, reads: “Belonging to Yerahme’el / son of the king.” After Baruch publicly read Jeremiah’s prophecies of doom against King Jehoiakim, the king sent Yerahme’el and two courtiers to arrest Jeremiah and Baruch, but “the Lord hid them” (Jeremiah 36:26). Although some scholars believe the title “son of the king” may refer to a royal official rather than to a literal family member, the combination of name, title and association with the Baruch seal strongly suggest the identification of the Biblical Yerahme’el.