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Post 18 – The burial of King Uzziah, this week in #weeklybiblereadingarcheology. When the leperous Uzziah dies (2 Chr 26:23) he was buried, not in the City of David with the other kings (see Post 17) but in the burial field belonging to the kings, because of his leprosy. The location of that field is unknown, though some speculate that it was just outside the city walls in the valley of Kidron. In 1931 the stone tablet pictured above was discovered in the collection of the Russian Orthodox Monastery on the Mount of Olives. No one had ever noticed its significance and no one could remember how long it had been there. The tablet is universally regarded as authentic. The tablet reads, “Hither were brought/the bones of Uzziah/King of Judah./Do not open!” The inscription indicates that the plaque marked a secondary burial place. It’s been reasonably suggested that his remains had been moved as the city had grown, likely in the first century. Today the tablet is part of the collection of the Israel Museum. #biblereadingarcheology #biblereadingarchaeology