[1] The inscription is broken at the point where the tomb's owner would have been named, but biblical scholars have conjectured a connection to Shebna, on the basis of a verse in the Bible mentioning a royal steward who was admonished for building a conspicuous tomb.

[2] Clermont-Ganneau wrote about three decades later: "I may observe, by the way, that the discovery of these two texts was made long before that of the inscription in the tunnel, and therefore, though people in general do not seem to recognise this fact, it was the first which enabled us to behold an authentic specimen of Hebrew monumental epigraphy of the period of the Kings of Judah.

[4] The inscribed lintel was found by French archaeologist, Charles Simon Clermont-Ganneau in 1870 above the entrance to a home in Silwan, a village south of Jerusalem.

Clermont-Ganneau first published the discovery in the Quarterly Statement of the Palestinian Exploration Fund, but with little detail:[5] Hebrew inscription in Phoenician characters.

This inscription, discovered by myself several months ago, is the only monumental text which goes back to the time of the kings of Judah.

I will confine myself to saying that it has probably a religious signification, as is proved by the words beit and Baal, which are very distinctly to be read.Clermont-Ganneau arranged for the inscription to be purchased and removed by the British Museum one year after its discovery.

𐤀𐤓𐤅𐤓 𐤄𐤀[𐤃𐤌] 𐤀𐤔𐤓𐤉𐤐[𐤕𐤇] 𐤀[𐤕] 𐤆𐤀𐤕 ‎ זאת .

ארור הא[דם] אשריפ[תח] א[ת] זאת ‎ The three words "אשר על הבית" gave rise to the English translation "royal steward", although this is not a literal translation – the three words literally mean simply "whom/which (is) over the house", i.e. the one who oversees the house.

The royal steward or court chamberlain was a powerful figure in Ancient Judah.

Clermont-Ganneau speculated in 1899 that the tomb could be that of the Shebna mentioned in Isaiah, but described the idea as a "sanguine illusion".

[6] In the early 1950s, the idea was suggested again by Yigael Yadin, the Israeli Army Chief of the General Staff, who was later to become an archaeologist.

Nahman Avigad assessed the proposal, based upon the similarity of the text to that of the Siloam inscription and the fact that biblical story of Shebna took place during the reign of King Hezekiah (715–687 BCE),[7] describing it as a "highly conjectural suggestion".