It’s amazing how a small insignificant piece of pottery can punch above its weight.

In its news release, Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) stated that was the case for a small fragment found in an excavation near Jerusalem’s Western wall. It was less than one inch wide (2.5 cm) and is approximately 2,700 years old.

It also has Assyrian cuneiform writing on it. It is dated to around 700 BC, when Assyria had subjugated Judah. As was typical for the day, Assyria demanded regular tribute from Judah.

When King Hezekiah came to power, he initiated a revival returning the country to the worship of Jehovah in 2 Kings 18. Then in verse 7, we read that Hezekiah “rebelled against the king of Assyria and refused to submit to him.”

This meant only one thing. King Hezekiah was no longer paying the tribute. We see this clearly in verse 14, after the Assyria’s King Sennacherib sent his army to quell this rebellion. It destroyed several of Judah’s northern cities.

King Hezekiah quickly got the message.

“I have violated our treaty,^” said Hezekiah in a letter to Sennacherib. “If you leave, I will do whatever you demand.”

King Sennacherib then demanded 300 talents of silver and 30 talents of gold as tribute, which Hezekiah willingly paid.

This is why that this clay pottery is so significant. It was part of official correspondence between the Assyrian and Judean governments.

It was a small piece of a larger clay royal bulla that would have sealed an official government document. Soft clay was added to the document, that allowed an image and/or message to be imprinted on it.

Often the seal of the sender would have been part of this indicating it was an official document.

But it was also common for these bullas to have inscriptions indicating who it was intended for and as well a brief overview of what was inside the document.

The latter was the case for this particular bulla.

According to IAA, it appears that larger document was dealing with “delay in the payment of a tax or other obligation.”

“The text [on the bulla] specifies a deadline—the first day of the month of Av—and explicitly mentions a ‘chariot officer’ (literally, ‘the one who holds the reins’ in Assyrian), a high-ranking figure responsible for transmitting official royal communications, known from Assyrian administrative archives,” IAA added in its news release.

Because of its dating, it’s entirely possible that this bulla was addressing the late tribute payment, after Hezekiah refused to pay.

But IAA noted that it may have been addressing a late payment by King’s Josiah or Manasseh. They were also subjugated by Assyria. But the mention of Hezekiah’s specific refusal to pay the tribute clearly puts him as the front runner.

Even though Hezekiah eventually paid the tribute, his problems didn’t stop there.

Sennacherib ordered his army to surround Jerusalem. He believed Hezekiah was looking to form an alliance with Egypt to challenge Assyria’s hold on the region.

It’s probable at this point that Sennacherib wanted to remove Hezekiah from the throne.

But God has a sense of irony.

In the days that followed, the massive Assyrian army was destroyed by the Angel of the Lord. Now severely humiliated and weakened by the defeat, Sennacherib returned to Assyria and was assassinated by two of his sons (2 Kings 19:35-37).

He was the one removed from the throne, not Hezekiah.