Eliakim, son of Hilkiah

Not to be confused with Eliakim, son of Abiud.

Eliakim (Hebrew: אֶלְיָקִים, romanized: Elyāqim, Greek: Ελιακιμ, Latin: Eliachim^[1]) was the son of Hilkiah. He succeeded Shebna to become royal steward or prime minister for King Hezekiah of Judah, according to the Hebrew Bible.^[2]

Eliakim, son of Hilkiah
Relatives	Hanan

Archaeology

Found in 1974, an unprovenanced 8th century BC 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[ya]hu, 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.^[3]

In 2019, archaeologist Yosef Garfinkel claimed to have discovered a reference to Eliakim, son of Hilkiah, in two bullae unearthed at Tel Lachish. He described the seal legends as reading "Eliakim, (son of) Yehozarah".^[3]

Name

In the biblical account, he is driven "like a peg" or "like a nail" into a firm place,^[4] in wording suggesting either a tent peg or a nail on which utensils might be hung.^[5]

In the canon

• Book of Kings 2 Kings 18:18, 18:26, 18:37 and 19:2
• Book of Isaiah 22:20, 36:3, 36:11, 36:22 and 37:2

See also

• List of inscriptions in Biblical archaeology