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Eliakim ( he, אֶלְיָקִים, el, Ελιακιμ, la, Eliacim) was the son of Hilkiah, succeeded
Shebna
Shebna () was the royal steward (''`asher `al ha-bayith'', "he who is over the house"; the chief or prime minister of state) in the reign of king Hezekiah of Judah, according to the Hebrew Bible.
Because of his pride he was ejected from his off ...
to become
prime minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...
for King
Hezekiah
Hezekiah (; hbo, , Ḥīzqīyyahū), or Ezekias); grc, Ἐζεκίας 'Ezekías; la, Ezechias; also transliterated as or ; meaning "Yahweh, Yah shall strengthen" (born , sole ruler ), was the son of Ahaz and the 13th king of Kingdom of Jud ...
* Book of Kings 2 Kings 18:18, 18:26, 18:37 and 19:2
*
Book of Isaiah
The Book of Isaiah ( he, ספר ישעיהו, ) is the first of the Latter Prophets in the Hebrew Bible and the first of the Major Prophets in the Christian Old Testament. It is identified by a superscription as the words of the 8th-century B ...
22:20, 36:3, 36:11, 36:22 and 37:2
Archaeology
In 2019, archaeologist
Yosef Garfinkel
Yosef Garfinkel (hebrew: יוסף גרפינקל; born 1956) is an Israeli archaeologist and academic. He is Professor of Prehistoric Archaeology and of Archaeology of the Biblical Period at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Biography
Yosef (Yo ...
claimed to have discovered a reference to Eliakim, son of Hilkiah, in two bullae unearthed at
Tel Lachish
Lachish ( he, לכיש; grc, Λαχίς; la, Lachis) was an ancient Canaanite and Israelite city in the Shephelah ("lowlands of Judea") region of Israel, on the South bank of the Lakhish River, mentioned several times in the Hebrew Bible. Th ...
. He described the seal legends as reading "Eliakim, (son of) Yehozarah".Garfinkel, Yosef; Klingbeil, Martin; G. Hasel, Michael; H. Petruk, Néstor (May 2019) «(PDF) Four Judean Bullae from the 2014 Season at Tel Lachish» ''Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research''. .
Found in 1974, an unprovenanced 8th century B. C. bulla, allegedly coming from the Hebron district, was acquired on the antiquities market by the Israel Museum for its Hebrew seals section, and its legend reads "(Belonging to) Yehozarah, son of Hilqi au, servant of Hizqiyahu". Garfinkel suggests that the biblical reference of Eliakim as "son" of Hilkiah may be more precisely understood in the sense of descendance, as sometimes happens in other biblical passages.