Where God made the sun stand still

I was unprepared for Tel Gezer.

The contrasts of Israel often take my breath away: the juxtaposition of the ancient and modern side-by-side, never more than a few feet (and millennia) apart... like watching children skip over the ruins of an ancient city while a modern one looks on half a mile away, or a family picnicking where a battle once took place.

What I knew about Tel Gezer before going was simple: as one of the places Solomon fortified, it is one of the remaining trio of cities with its iconic gates. I’ve been to the other 2, Megiddo and Hatzor; this was my chance to “collect all 3.”

What I didn’t know was that Tel Gezer overlooks the Valley on Ayalon, where God made the sun stand still for the battle in Joshua 10. The valley itself is huge; here are the views in each direction:

EPIC.

As sunset neared and turned the valley pink behind us, we walked back to the parking lot, passing these stone monuments.

These stones mark a place of ancient Canaanite worship. The soil below them has been tested, and the remains of burned infants had been found there, evidence of ancient child sacrifice to pagan gods.

I’d never been to a place like that, and, in the shock and the sorrow of the moment, I was struck again by another juxtaposition: how unimaginable it was to witness this place of sorrow at all, let alone maybe a mile from where the Creator of those infants made the very sun stay still in the sky.

It’s another contrast I’ll never forget.

What made it even more sobering was that the sign marking the monuments said nothing about the infant sacrifice that happened there. And nearby, a group of women sat in a circle. When one of my tour guides went to talk with them, they told her that this was a place of worship for femininity and fertility, and they were there to connect with each other and this place. They had no idea about the real truth of this place.

Tel Gezer: Watch out for bats!

What do you know about Tel Gezer?

Tel Gezer lies in central Israel, south of Tel Aviv and west of Jerusalem. A major biblical city that was conquered by Joshua (Joshua 10), given to the Levites, and fortified by Solomon in 1 Kings 9 after it was given to him as a wedding present from Pharaoh, its ruins date back to the Bronze Age and including civilizations like the Canaanites, Israelites, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, and Romans.

There's so much here in this park that we're going to explore in 2 posts. First, the ruins!

We first come to the Canaanite tower, which is close to the city gates. What's interesting here is how far down the archeologists had to dig just to get to it! Can you see the contrast from the tower remains to the height of the wall directly behind it?

Above is the remains of the tower. 

Next to it is the water system. I was going to go down there and then I heard that one was in fact full of bats- more than 1 million!- and my tour guide said: "Remember, 1 million bats = a lot of poop." I said, "That's okay, I'll take a picture of the entrance, haha."

From there, you go around to the Canaanite Gate:

Made of mud, I can't help but think of the 4,000-year-old gate at Tel Dan. Remember how well preserved it is? This one is not as well preserved.

But, can you see the mud bricks that still remain? How cool is that?

From here, you go up the hill and can see the ancient Solomonic-era city, complete with its city gates—the same ones that match Megiddo and Hazor!

The views to the valley beyond are beautiful. On the opposite hill you can see the caves mentioned where the kings of the conquered cities were buried in Joshua.

The 6-chambered Solomonic Gate!

In these photos, you can see the walls of the city are actually double-walls, with a chamber between them. It reminded me of Masada, where the families of the warriors were right there in the room with them. 

What was cool about this part were the families picnicking near the ruins. Children were exploring, walking around the walls and jumping between rocks. It's so mind-boggling to see ancient and modern side-by-side, and such a picture of how time moves on.

That's it for part 1 of Tel Gezer. Next week's post is about the most powerful part of the visit for me. See you then!

Was King Herod born here?

Last week, we talked about the history of Maresha and the EPIC battle that happened below it.

This week, we'll talk about the tel, its views, and something intriguing directly below it.

The tel hasn't been full excavated yet, so I definitely need to go back in the future! Also, to see the Sandahanna (St. Anne's) ruins. We could see it from far away, but there wasn't time to go close to it. Still, the view of it surrounded by spring's beautiful was enough for a first visit!

The 360-degree views from the top are incredible!

Below the tel, on the way to the cave with the olive press, are these interesting ruins. The villa here has been partially reconstructed, and it's too dangerous to walk on right now. It's from the Hellenistic era, and a hoard of 25 coins were found under the floor of one of the rooms. The latest coin was 113 BC, and it's assumed the house was destroyed that year (or else there would have been newer coins).

Excavation revealed cisterns directly underneath the village, which stored rain water.

The reason this is interesting, is because when Maresha was conquered by John Hyrcannus I, he left a small group there. At the time, this area had Idumean immigrants. Idumean comes from the word "Edomean", or from Edom. These were descendants of Esau, BibleWalks says this fulfills the prophecy of Obadiah 1:19: "and they of the south shall possess the mount of Esau".

Josephus says that the Hasomeans force-converted the Idumeans to Judaism, allowing them to remain there.

Who do we know, from about 50 years later, was an Idumean?

King Herod.

Was he born here at the base of tel Maresha? Could this area have been his hometown? The presence of this villa (and others not excavated by it prove a settlement here, and the findings of the coins prove the time period. History tells us the Idumeans were here. What about Herod 'the Great'?

We don't know, but it is intriguing to think about!

Where God gave victory over 1 MILLION Cushites

It's not everyday you learn about a Bible story while seeing the exact place it happened!

My favorite part of Bet Guvrin/Maresha National Park was the ancient tel of Maresha. It wasn't a name I knew of from the Bible, and while I have read its story several times in the past, I didn't remember it. So it was like I was experiencing the story for the first time!

Settled in Joshua 15, the city was fortified by King Rehoboam in 2 Chronicles 11: 5-8. Today, the path at the top is actually not solely the chalky limestone the area is famous for, but the top of walls of the ancient city. On this beautiful spring-like day, the Judean hills glowed green, with bright red anemones waving at the sky, and the sun gave views that took my breath away.

The path below is not sand; its the top of the ancient city walls that Rehoboam fortified!

Then, came King Asa.

The year was 900 BC, and 2 Chronicles 14 tells the story of the son of Shishak in Cush (Ethiopia) sending an army of 1 MILLION Cushites (Ethiopians) against Judah. 

King Asa rode out to a valley in the lower Judean hills with an army of 580,000 and their chariots. Asa cried out to God and said, "'Lord, there is no one like you to help the powerless against the mighty. Help us, Lord our God, for ewe rely on you, and in your name we have come against this vast army. Lord, you are our God; do not let mere mortals prevail against you'"

The LORD struck down the Cushites before Asa and Juda. The Cushites fled, and Asa and his army pursued them as far as Gerar. Such a great number of Cushites fell that they could not recover; they were crushed before the LORD and his forces. The men of Judah carried off a large amount of plunder."

WOW! And, when you are standing on top of tel Maresha, the only place in the area where this could have happened is this one clearing below.

I have to say, sitting on top of that tel, walking on its walls, then hearing the reading of this story while looking at the valley and the beautiful Judean hills in a 360-degree view is can only be summed up in 1 word:

EPIC.

Next week, we'll talk about what's at the base of this tel!

Gladiators, wild animals, and a fortress, oh my!

Like I said last week, Bet Guvrin is HUGE. There's so much to it! I think you could spend all day in this park and still not see everything. from the caves running under the lush (in winter) Judean hills to what we're going to explore this week: the Roman, Byzantine, and Crusader era ruins!

WOW!

So, let's start with the Roman amphitheater. 

This elipitcal amphitheater is amazing to explore. You can walk through the stands (complete with cut-outs of 'audience members'), stroll through the area, and then walk through the gladiator sections. It's actually the only Roman amphitheater in Israel that is completely open to the public, and walking through it gives you a good idea what it was actually like. 

Built in the 2nd century, during the Bar Kochba revolt, its purpose was to keep the bloodthirsty Roman garrison happy and entertained, holding up to 3,500 people. There are even places next to the walls with openings for the wild animals to emerge from their cages (below).

Get this, it wasn't uncovered until the mid-1990s! I was maybe 10-11 years old. That's how long it laid under the surface! Incredible!

Close to the amphitheater is the Crusader Fortress. This area fascinating as well!

Like its BC story, Bet Guvrin's AD story is fascinating as well. The city was granted 'free status' by Emperor Septimus Severus in 200 AD, and it controlled the area between the coastal plain and the Dead Sea in that region. It became an important junction, and the city build up despite the lack of springs there, as the city benefited from Roman-era aqueducts.

The Jewish population in the area grew, and then in the Byzantine era, Bet Guvrin became an important Christian center. Then it was conquered by the Mamluks in the 6th century, then the Crusaders came and built a church (as well as the fortress), and then it was conquered by the Ottomans, who turned the church into a mosque.

Because of that, you can see the mix of materials everywhere in this fortress- and it cracked me up! You can even see it in the photo above: see how the rocks change? But I'm going to take you on a closer tour so you can see it all:

Can you see the random columns stuck in the walls? And closed entrances/arches?

There's another one! The arch below is intentional- to fortify the wall. 

But see how stones, column bases, etc. don't match each other as far as time period?

Below, right, is the church-turned-mosque:

The view from above!

Now, down into the fortress.... Only a few pictures here because we ran through it quickly.

The mix of materials cracks me up. It's like the builders were like, "Hey, this fits!" Which, honestly, is what I would do. And it matches the history of using found materials and building on former foundations.

There's such a wide mix that throughout the park are stations with flip books where you can find what you are seeing and see what era it was from, what kind of stone, etc. My friend, who was in the middle of furnishing her apartment was looking through it, and I teased her that she was looking for ideas. I mean, it was basically a giant HGTV warehouse, haha.

Can you see the base of the arch starting to curve out from the wall on the left?

That's it for this portion of Bet Guvrin. Next week is my favorite part: Maresha!

Oh yeah, one final photo. This is a simulation of a dig as you walk onto this part of Bet Guvrin, and it was awesome! One of my friend said that 'models' were the same from our Hebrew textbook, haha.