Shephelah Archives - Page 59 of 68

Adullam: A City in No-Man’s Land

According to the book of 1 Samuel, David found an ideal hideout at Adullam where he gathered hundreds of men into a small militia. In his earlier days, David had served King Saul well, but the king’s growing jealousy of his popular warrior forced David to flee. For reasons that don’t seem to make sense, David thought he could find safety in the Philistine city of Gath. When his identity was discovered, his feigned madness allowed him to escape once more. Desiring safety from both the Israelite forces as well as the Philistine garrison, David found refuge at the ideal location of Adullam (1 Sam 22).

Aerial view to the east.
Adullam is the tree-covered hill in the center.

Adullam has been identified as Tell esh-Sheikh Madhkur, and its situation is ideal for one seeking to avoid the Israelites and the Philistines because it was effectively located in “no man’s land.” The Israelites controlled the hill country to the east, and the Philistines were in possession of the coastal plain to the west. That left the low rolling foothills known in the Bible as the Shephelah as the “middle ground.” It was in this region that the Israelite Samson had defeated the Philistines, and it was here where David’s slingstone sent the Philistines running. During the period of the late judges and early monarchy, the Shephelah was contested ground that neither party could consistently control.

Adullam is situated on the eastern edge of the Shephelah, well out of range of the Philistines and apparently in territory that the Israelites were reluctant to travel. This reality is borne out by the story in the next chapter, in which the Philistines are attacking Keilah (Khirbet Qila), a city about three miles (five km) south of Adullam. Saul was apparently unwilling to go to the city’s defense, and it was only his motivation to capture David that changed his mind (1 Sam 23). That Adullam was apparently safe from either side is suggested in the comment that David was joined by men in debt and distress.

The situation of Adullam today is remarkably similar to ancient political realities, though the sides have switched. Israelis hold the territory once controlled by the Philistines, whereas the Arab Palestinians live in the hill country of Judah. The Shephelah is mostly populated by Israeli cities and villages, but parts of the eastern Shephelah are on the other side of the “green line.” Adullam today sits immediately next to the large border fence that Israel has constructed to prevent unauthorized access by Palestinians. A few years before that fence was erected, a friend and his wife were hiking in the area and decided to camp the night on the hill of Adullam. My friend was crossing a portion of the site that evening when he was suddenly tackled in the darkness. An enforcement team from the Israel Antiquities Authority was monitoring the site because of recent illegal excavation activity. The site was attractive to thieves because of its easy access to and from the Palestinian territories.

Chalk trough with border fence view e from Adullam, tb021707853

View east from Adullam showing the border fence

Recently Adullam has been in the news because of oil exploration in the area. According to a citizen group fighting the project, the American company IDT has been given a license without public hearings of environmental assessments. The commercial activity was only discovered when a resident of nearby Moshav Aderet happened upon it while out for a walk. In some ways it is not surprising that the government would grant such permission and that the activity would be discovered by accident, given Adullam’s location. Its out-of-the-way location is just as attractive to oil drillers today as it was to David in antiquity.

Tagged Shephelah

Weekend Roundup

Excavations this week have uncovered some potentially dramatic new material at Khirbet Qeiyafa, reports Luke Chandler. We’ll have to wait for word from the authorities before we know what it is.

At Gath, on the other hand, they keep pulling out great stuff and telling everyone about it. On Thursday, they not only worked in the field until 8 pm (work usually ends by 2 pm), but Aren Maeir still took time late that evening to report on the discoveries. Arutz-7 also had a story this week on the excavations at Goliath’s hometown.

The Mystery of Bethsaida – if you are hoping that this op-ed at The Bible and Interpretation will deal with the substance of the objections to the identification of et-Tell as Bethsaida, you’ll be disappointed. Here’s one of the claims: “At Bethsaida in the 1996 season of excavation was uncovered a Roman temple.” Notley has pretty well demolished this idea, but since it’s the only thing they have, they keep repeating it (see The Sacred Bridge, pp. 356-59). Only the grammar gets worse.

The Magdala synagogue stone with the menorah inscription is now on display in the (not quite open) Israel Museum. There’s a photo here. Expect a lot of stories on the newly renovated museum in the next two weeks.

As a follow-up to last week’s notice on the pre-publication special on the two Talmuds for Logos, see this post that explains some of the advantage of this electronic edition.

Tagged Galilee, Resources, Shephelah

Weekend Roundup

The first excavation season at Tel Burna has concluded. They had a fantastic season, and they would be most grateful for some support. They’ll have aerial photos taken and posted on the blog next week.

Robert Cargill has written an insightful essay on the “Misuse of Archaeology for Evangelistic Purposes,” specifically with reference to the recent “discovery” of Noah’s Ark.

In his recent Asia Minor Report 9, Mark Wilson (Seven Churches Network) notes that the Black Sea Studies series has been made available online for free by the publisher. In particular, he points to volume 7 as providing useful background on the early Christian communities mentioned in 1 Peter 1:1.

Analysis of the Temple Scroll suggests that it was written at Qumran.

The Israeli army is keeping the ruins of the Samaritan temple closed to the public because they say it is too dangerous. The Samaritans are unhappy because of the entrance fees they could be charging.

The July/August issue of Biblical Archaeology Review is available, and the article on the destruction of Pompeii is online for free. I’m looking forward to reading the article on Jezreel.

The Magdala Center is the Catholic plan for a Galilee pilgrimage center, the “Notre Dame of the Galilee.” They plan to complete excavation of the on-site “synagogue” (see previous post) in one year and the rest of the city in three years.

If you’ve ever taken a series of photos with the intention of stitching them together to create a panorama, you might check out the free Microsoft Research Image Composite Editor (ICE).

Tagged Dead Sea, Galilee, Italy, Shephelah, Technology, Turkey, Weekend Roundup

Weekend Roundup

Yesterday was the first day of excavation in the history of Tell Burna (Bornat). They have already uncovered fortifications. Maybe one of these days someone will go back to Azekah. There must be treasures untold there.

Last week’s LandMinds show was entitled “Mystery: Who Built Ramat Rahel?”

The Wall Street Journal runs a brief article on the display on James Henry Breasted at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago.

Hershel Shanks has written an autobiography, but it is entitled Freeing the Dead Sea Scrolls and Other Adventures of an Archaeology Outsider. My bet is that it’s an interesting read. Whatever you think of his ideas and approach, Shanks has had a significant impact on biblical archaeology. The NYT has a brief article in connection to the book’s release.

Logos Bible Software has a prepublication special entitled “Travels through Bible Lands Collection” (now $130). The description claims that “these fifteen volumes embody some of the best travel writing of the nineteenth century.” That could be, though I’ve never heard of the majority of the authors or titles.

Perhaps you didn’t know that you could subscribe to the BiblePlaces Blog on the Kindle. This blog is reviewed in that context at the Kindle Blog Report.

HT: Joe Lauer

Tagged Judah, Resources, Shephelah, Weekend Roundup

Biblical Archaeology in 2010

Brian Janeway has just posted a review of last year’s ASOR meetings in an article entitled “Biblical Archaeology in 2010: Going Strong Still!” If you missed the meetings or just would like a review, start here.

Eight papers were given on Khirbet Qeiyafa, the 10th century site next to the Elah Valley.

Khirbet Qeiyafa is the only known fortified city in Judah dated to the time span from the end of the 11th century to the beginning of the 10th century BC. The excavated pottery places the site in Iron IIA period and includes finger-stamped jar handles, ‘pre-LMLK’ jars, and late Philistine decorated pottery known as ‘Ashdod Ware.’ Petrographic analysis shows that the Philistine vessels were not made locally and were probably imported to the site. Dr. Aren Maeir, director of the excavations at nearby Tel es-Safi/Gath confirmed during the response period that the pottery assemblage was definitely not Philistine. Interesting comments were also offered by Bill Dever and John Holladay, both of whom compared the Qeiyafa pottery assemblage to Gezer 8 below the Solomonic Gate and Jane Cahill believes it parallels material found in Jerusalem above the stepped-stone structure at a time that coincides with an expansion of the city. Ron Tappy spoke about a new early 10th century phase found at Tell Zayit that predates the famous abecedary inscription.

The Elah Valley was the scene of the battle of David and Goliath, and this was the subject of another paper:

Another interesting presentation was given by Jeffrey Zorn of Cornell University entitled “Reconsidering Goliath: An Iron I Philistine Maryannu.” In it he revises the idea that Goliath was an infantry soldier through a textual analysis of his weaponry and accoutrements. Zorn asserts that the fish scale body armor, probably attached to an underlying tunic, bronze greaves, which are only found in Mycenaean Greek contexts c. 1200 BC, and his being accompanied by a shield-bearer, all point toward Goliath being a maryannu. Maryannu is a Hurrian term for an elite warrior who fought on chariots, usually alongside two attendants, as attested in Egyptian depictions at Medinet Habu of 3-man Egyptian and Hittite teams fighting at the Battle of Kadesh (c. 1275 BC).

Janeway reviews other presentations, but I’ll excerpt only one more.

“Hebrew Bible, History, and Archaeology” featured papers by Anson Rainey, who made the case for identifying biblical Ziklag at Tell Sera’, based on biblical and medieval texts and Jeffrey Hudon of Andrews University, who proposed that the now famous LMLK storage jar seals had a longer period of production and use that originated during the reign of King Uzziah in the late 8th century and not to the later Hezekiah. The circumstances in 2 Chron 26:9-10 in its description of royal estates and viticulture occur in the same regions as the stamps have been found. They served as important royal symbols of the Judahite kingdom. These estates were established all across the kingdom from ‘En Gedi to the Shephelah and were the functional explanation for the LMLK stamps according to another paper by Hayah Katz of The Open University of Israel.

The full article is here.

Tagged Lectures, Philistines, Shephelah

Weekend Roundup

The latest LandMinds program features Wheaton professor Daniel Master concerning his excavations of Ashkelon. This year they are focusing on periods before and after the Philistine occupation.

Another recent LandMinds program interviews Amnon Ben-Tor, excavator of Hazor. The second part of the show features the directors of the survey and excavation team of Tel Burna (Bornat), possible biblical Libnah.

Over on PaleoBabble, Michael Heiser has announced a new online institute in which you can study the Bible, the ancient languages, ancient history, and more for a very low price.

In Jeremiah 32, the Lord tells the prophet to purchase a plot of land even though the Babylonians are about to conquer the city. If you want to see how archaeological background can help us to understand the details of a biblical story, check out Gordon Franz’s “archaeological exposition” of the passage.

360Cities has some beautiful panoramas from Egypt, including the Pyramids in Giza and the Karnak Temple in Luxor.

If you haven’t had a chance to walk through the sewers of ancient Jerusalem, Ferrell Jenkins is guiding tours today.

Tagged Egypt, Jerusalem, Resources, Shephelah, Weekend Roundup