Isaiah 22:15-17 Castigates an official of King Hezekiah’s named Shebna ,who was in charge of the royal palace, for coveting a tomb worthy of a king. Isaiah tells us that Shebna carved out a fine tomb for himself on a high cliff in Jerusalem. This is a seemingly unimportant passage and never expected to be verified.

Now Shebna’s tomb has been found and just as the Bible tells us, the tomb is cut high on a cliff in Jerusalem’s Kidron Valley complete with his inscribed name. Additionally an inscribed seal indicating that Shebna was indeed a servant of the king has been found.

Critics often question the inerrancy of the Bible. Many claim that the books of the Old Testament were fiction, written in Babylon hundreds of years later then the time reported in the Bible and for political motives. However finding Shebna’s tomb provides one more piece in a growing multitude of concrete evidence of Biblical accuracy and reliability. If the Bible is faithful in the lesser details, surely we can trust it to be faithful in the greater truths.

Source: Biblical Archaeological Review May/June 2009, Vol 35, No. 3, pp 45-49