Clay seals for making impressions in wax, known as bullae, are of great importance to archaeologists studying the ancient Near East. Recently, experts have determined that one such bulla, discovered in the 1980s but long suspected of being a forgery, is indeed authentic. Amanda Borschel-Dan writes:

The oval bulla is almost identical to a rare—and now lost—much larger jasper stone seal that was found in 1904 by an archaeological excavation at Tel Megiddo led by Gottlieb Schumacher. Both the remarkable lost seal and the newly authenticated seal impression are adorned by a roaring lion that stands with his tail raised, over which is a paleo-Hebrew inscription, “l’Shema eved Yerov’am” (belonging to Shema the servant/minister of Jeroboam). Jeroboam II, [now undoubtedly the king the inscription refers to], is historically understood to have ruled from 788 BCE to 748 BCE.

Jeroboam II ruled the northern kingdom of Israel and presided over a period of geopolitical strength and economic growth. The career of the prophet Amos coincided with his reign. Borschel-Dan adds:

While it is extremely rare to find a seal from the kingdom of Israel, such as this new bulla, there are hundreds that have been discovered in the kingdom of Judah. Some . . . have signs of being sealed upon papyrus, sometimes fabrics, and sometimes wood. . . . However, there are indications that some of these seal impressions didn’t actually seal anything at all. . . . These tokens, [known as “fiscal bullae], may have been created as a reference for an official agreement or transaction.

While it is commendable that administrators of several universities finally called upon police to crack down on violent and disruptive anti-Israel protests, the actions they have taken may be insufficient. At Columbia, demonstrators reestablished their encampment on the main quad after it had been cleared by the police, and the university seems reluctant to use force again. The school also decided to hold classes remotely until the end of the semester. Such moves, whatever their merits, do nothing to fix the factors that allowed campuses to become hotbeds of pro-Hamas activism in the first place. The editors of National Review examine how things go to this point:

Since the 10/7 massacre, Columbia’s Jewish students have been forced to endure routine calls for their execution. It shouldn’t have taken the slaughter, rape, and brutalization of Israeli Jews to expose chants like “Globalize the intifada” and “Death to the Zionist state” as calls for violence, but the university refused to intervene on behalf of its besieged students. When an Israeli student was beaten with a stick outside Columbia’s library, it occasioned little soul-searching from faculty. Indeed, it served only as the impetus to establish an “Anti-Semitism Task Force,” which subsequently expressed “serious concerns” about the university’s commitment to enforcing its codes of conduct against anti-Semitic violators.

But little was done. Indeed, as late as last month the school served as host to speakers who praised the 10/7 attacks and even “hijacking airplanes” as “important tactics that the Palestinian resistance have engaged in.”

The school’s lackadaisical approach created a permission structure to menace and harass Jewish students, and that’s what happened. . . . Now is the time finally to do something about this kind of harassment and associated acts of trespass and disorder. Yale did the right thing when police cleared out an encampment [on Monday]. But Columbia remains a daily reminder of what happens when freaks and haters are allowed to impose their will on campus.