el (Jos 7:2)Joshua further told the spies that Ai was “to the east of Bethel.” The best candidate for Bethel is el-Bireh (Livingston 1998); Kh. el-Maqatir is east of el-Bireh.Near Bethel (Jos 12:9)In the list of defeated kings in Joshua 12, Ai is described as being “missad Bethel,” meaning “in the vicinity of” Bethel. Kh. el-Maqatir is 2 mi east of el-Bireh. Bethel was aligned with Ai, as the men of Bethel joined forces with the men of Ai in fighting the Israelites (Jos 8:17).An Ambush Site West of Ai (Jos 8:9, 12)Joshua placed an ambush force (or forces) “between Bethel and Ai, to the west of Ai” (Jos 8:9, 12). This requirement is met by the Wadi Sheban between el-Bireh and Kh. el-Maqatir. It is a very deep valley, hidden from view from both Kh. el-Maqatir and el-Bireh.A Militarily Significant Hill North of Ai (Jos 8:11, 13)When the Israelite army arrived at Ai, Joshua and his generals “set up camp north of Ai, with a valley between them and the city…they had the soldiers take up their positions—all those in the camp to the north of the city and the ambush to the west of it” (Jos 8:11, 13). Jebel Abu Ammar, 1 mi north of Kh. el-Maqatir, is the highest hill in the region and would have been an excellent command post from which Joshua’s generals could have viewed the entire battle field.A Shallow Valley North of Ai (Jos 8:13–14)Joshua did not remain with the main army, but rather took a small diversionary force and spent the night in the valley between the camp and Ai (Jos 8:13). This mimicked the small force that initially attacked Ai and was defeated (Jos 7:4–5). “When the king of Ai saw this, he and all the men of the city hurried out early in the morning to meet Israel in battle” (Jos 8:14). The valley north of Ai must have been a shallow valley in order for the king of Ai to observe Joshua and his men. The Wadi el-Gayeh between Kh. el-Maqatir and Jebel Abu Ammar is just such a valley.Archaeological Correspondences between Joshua’s Ai and Kh. el-MaqatirFortified at the Time of the ConquestSince a gate figures prominently in the account of the capture of Ai (Jos 7:5; 8:29), it can be assumed that the site was fortified. Already in the first exploratory season in 1995, a large lower gate socket stone was discovered. Subsequent seasons revealed the west chamber of a two-chambered gate, as well as an additional lower gate socket stone and an upper gate socket stone (Wood 1999c: 28). Pottery found in conjunction with the gate dates to the Late Bronze I period (ca. 1500–1400 B.C.; Wood 2008: 231–36), the time of the Conquest. The east chamber of the gate has not survived as the stones were robbed out by later occupants, probably during the Hasmonean period (167–37 B.C.) when another fortress was built over the east half of the Late Bronze I citadel. Excavations from 1996 to 2000 uncovered sections of the Late Bronze I fortress wall 12–13 ft wide on the north, west and south sides of the enclosure.Gate on the North Side of the Fortress (Jos 8:11)When Joshua arrived at Ai with the “whole army” (Jos 8:1, 3), he was “in front of” Ai on its north side (Jos 8:11). The “front” of the fortress would have been the side where the gate was placed. Therefore, an important archaeological requirement for any contender for Ai is that it has a gate on its north side. The gate at Kh. el-Maqatir is on the north side of the fortress.Smaller than Gibeon (Jos 7:3; 10:2)When the spies came back from Ai they reported to Joshua that “only a few men are there” (Jos 7:3), indicating that Ai was a small place. This is further quantified in Joshua 10:2 where it is recorded that “Gibeon…was larger than Ai.” In the Middle Bronze Age period (ca. 1800–1500 B.C.) Gibeon was ca. 7 acres in size (Broshi and Gophna 1986: 74, 82). We can assume that it was about the same size in Joshua’s day. The Late Bronze I fortress at Kh. el-Maqatir is much smaller than Gibeon as it occupies an area less than 3 acres.
Abimelech at Shechem
内容: Tags: shechem, abimelech, judges 9, baal-berith--> This article was first published in the Spring 2005 issue of Bible and Spade.For some 800 years, from the time of Jacob until the time of Gideon, Shechem was an important highland urban center controlling the area from Megiddo to Jerusalem (Wood 1997). It is no surprise, then, that Gideon’s son Abimelech went to the leaders of Shechem (1) to gain support for his failed attempt to become king of the Israelite tribes. Three archaeological discoveries at Shechem relate to the narrative of Judges 9.Temple of Baal-berith References to the “temple of Baal-Berith” (v. 4), “Beth-Millo” (vv. 6, 20), “temple of their god” (v. 27), “tower of Shechem” (vv.46, 49) and “temple of El-Berith” (v. 46) all appear to be the same structure at Shechem (Stager 2003; 1999: 242, 245; Toombs 1992:1184; Campbell 1983: 269; Campbell and Ross 1963: 16). Berith is the Hebrew word for covenant, so the temple was for &ldqRosetta Stone
没有评论:
发表评论