Shephelah field study

Today we were looking at the area of the Shephelah. The Shephelah is the area between the Judean hills and the coastal plains. Many things happen in this region because it is the ultimate place of conflict and opportunity.

            Throughout this region the terrain shifts and changes depending on where you are. Six wadis cut through the hills and open out to the Coastal plains and the Mediterranean Sea. These wadis create paths and roads that are important in connecting people and cities and were compared to a set of doors that can swing both ways depending on who influences who.

            We started out the morning at a look-out point across the Aijlon valley to Zorah and the Sorek valley on the other side. It put things in perspective of how close places really are to each other here in Israel. When the land flattens out it is possible to see from one city to the next or even multiple cities at one time. Using compasses we could line ourselves up with the maps pick out many of the cities and routes that were and are still important to the land today.

There are many stories that focus around the Shephelah and understanding the interaction between the Israelites in the Judeans Mountains, the Philistine on the coast and the Canaanites somewhere in between is important to understanding what the stories are telling us.  

            The first story that we talked about was the Samson story. The story is much more complex than we often hear it to be. Samson was the last of the judges, and although we often portray him as a hero, he story is one of flaws. Samson lived at Zorah in the region of Dan. From there the coastal plain is well within sight. Maybe the riches and alluring things of the Philistine and Canaanite culture was too much for Samson, because the first story is that he saw a beautiful woman and asked his father to get her for him.

Samson’s was under a Nazarite vow from birth. (for details see Num. 6)  And throughout the stories Samson breaks every aspect of the vow. The last part of that is that Delilah found the secret to his strength in that he was never to cut his hair. I found it interesting that the story never specified that Delilah was a Philistine, maybe she wasn’t....

We traveled down to the next wadi, the Elah valley. We hiked up to the remains of a fortified city that looked over the valley. It is an interesting city because it has two gates which is not common for cities. Here we talked about the story of David and Goliath. This well known story is also one that is connected to the culture and the geography of the land in significant ways.

We talked of how the battle was actually likely to take place further up the valley because the term used for valley says that it was a ‘gai’ and gais are steep valleys created in the Cenomanian limestone. Just up a little ways there is a steeper valley. Also the Israelites are more comfortable in the hills and the Philistine on the coast. There is no way that Saul, if he had any say, would move the battle out onto the flat land if he could stay hidden up in the hills.

I really liked the idea the word play going on between describing Goliath and David can be made to be saying that Goliath was ‘bronze’ like an idol or the best Philistine ‘war machine’. And the word used to describe David was ‘red’ which is like ‘Adam’ or the person made in God’s image.

The discussion of how Goliath was hit and killed with a stone was also interesting. The suggestion that the stone that David threw hit him just about the knee while it was exposed is interesting. The Hebrew words for forehead and the spot above the knee are very similar, and a stone traveling over 100km/h to just above the knee would put Goliath face first on the ground, held down by a massive armour and in all practical purposes, defenceless, and ultimately in battle dead. All David would have to do it take his sword and cut off his head.

Bet Guvrin was the next stop. The Biblical city of Maresha was one of the cities guarding the diagonal road, protecting the gateways into Judah. It was cool to see some of the caves that were dug in this area. The cave that we went into seemed to be a quite complex cave dug out of the rock to live in. Apparently it was easier to build underground than above because it was Eocene stone with the hard nari crust and the soft chalk underneath. 

The last city was the city of Lachish. Lachish was quite large and was important to the land of Israel. It controlled the land was almost like a second capital. One of the most significant times in history for this city is the time when the king of Assyria is coming in to conquer the land in 701BC.  In Jer. 34:6-7 it is mentioned as one of the last two cities holding out. On a piece of clay found within the gates, it reports that they can no longer see the fires of Azekah, Lachish is the last one holding out and would eventually fall to the Assyrians in 701 BC.

The last stop of the day was at Ashkelon. We got to briefly see the oldest arch gate found in history and go swimming in the Mediterranean. It was refreshing. Then off to Arad for the night.