The Arad Ostraca

Arad was an ancient city located in the semiarid area called the Negeb, considerably south of Jerusalem. Excavations at Arad revealed six successive Israelite fortresses, from the time of Solomon’s kingship (1037-998 B.C.E.) down to the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem in 607 B.C.E. The excavators recovered from Arad the largest collection of ostraca from Biblical times. It includes more than 200 inscribed objects in Hebrew, Aramaic, and other languages.

Some of the Arad ostraca confirm the Biblical information about priestly families. For example, one potsherd mentions “the sons of Korah,” referred to at Exodus 6:24 and Numbers 26:11. The superscriptions to Psalms 42, 44-49, 84, 85, 87, and Ps 88 specifically attribute these psalms to “the sons of Korah.” Other priestly families mentioned on the Arad ostraca are those of Pashhur and Meremoth.​—1 Chronicles 9:12; Ezra 8:33.

Consider another example. In the ruins of a fortress dated to the period just before the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem, excavators found a potsherd addressed to the commander of the fort. According to the publication The Context of Scripture, it says in part: “To my lord Elyashib. May Yahweh [Jehovah] concern himself with your well-being. . . . As regards the matter concerning which you gave me orders: everything is fine now: he is staying in the temple of Yahweh.” Many scholars believe that the temple referred to is the temple in Jerusalem, originally built in the time of Solomon.

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A potsherd from the ruins of Arad addressed to a man named Elyashib

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Photograph © Israel Museum, Jerusalem; courtesy of Israel Antiquities Authority