Yavne-Yam ostracon

[1][2][3] The artefact was found in 1960 by Joseph Naveh at Mesad Hashavyahu, near Yavne-Yam.

The genre of the inscription is the subject of debate, and it was identified by different scholars as a letter,[2] legal document, extrajudicial petition addressed to a king or his subordinate [4] or even as a poem.

[5] In the inscription, the worker makes his appeal to the governor on the basis of both the garment's undeserved confiscation and by implication, the biblical law regarding holding past sundown a person's cloak as collateral for a debt (Exodus 22; cf.

Although the petition does not specifically cite the law, it would have been commonly known by rulers and peasants alike.

Some scholars argue that the ostracon bears the first known extra-Biblical reference to the Sabbath, but the issue is debated.

[6][7] Concerning who was in control of this area of the Philistine Plain, Shmuel Ahituv stated,[8] "The letter is written in clear Paleo-Hebrew, plus a possible scribal omission here or there, and the script is that of a trained scribe.

The work supervisor mentioned in the text bears a clearly Judaean name, Hoshavyahu.

Naveh agrees, "The four Hebrew inscriptions together testify to this fortress having been under Judaean control at the time.

It seems likely that Josiah placed a military governor in charge of the fortress, and that the force garrisoned there was supplied with provisions by the peasants living in the unwalled settlements in the vicinity.

rḥ —Paleo-Hebrew and romanized textThe following is an edited translation[10] of the ostracon, which is composed of fourteen lines in Hebrew: Due to breaks in the ostracon and a missing lower right section, Naveh states that there are too few letters available in line 13 to make an educated guess what it said.