BEER-SHEBA
— CITY OF THE PATRIARCHS
Time and again during their nomadic wanderings, the Patriarchs camped at Beer-sheba. Here, God spoke to them in dreams; sacrifices were made to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and dramatic family events took place.
Beer-sheba the Scene of Covenants
Abraham, and his son Isaac after him, made a peace treaty with Abimelech the Philistine here (Genesis 21:22–34 and 26:26–31). Following his testing with Isaac, Abraham lived at Beer-sheba for a time (Genesis 22:19).
God appeared to Isaac at Beer-sheba and renewed the Abrahamic covenant to bless him and multiply his seed (Genesis 26:23–25). The Bible indicates that Isaac made this area his main headquarters. Under the tribal tents at Beer-sheba, Isaac’s wife Rebekah successfully tricked him into bestowing the chief blessing on Jacob, rather than on Esau the first-born (Genesis 27).
When Jacob was an old man and on his way to Egypt to see his long-lost son Joseph, he stopped at Beer-sheba to offer sacrifices to “the God of his father Isaac.” While camped there, God appeared to him and promised to make of him a great nation (Genesis 46:1–4). At the close of the period of the Judges, Samuel made his sons “judges in Beer-sheba” (1 Samuel 8:2). During later Israelite history, under the kings, Beer-sheba became a major city of Judah.
Security And Water Supply Major Concern Of City Planners
The tel containing the ruins of Beer-sheba is located on the outskirts of the modern town which preserves the ancient name. Situated on the fringe of the desert, it was the capital of the Negev (Negev means “dry country” in Hebrew). A few miles to the south the great desert which divides Egypt and the land of Israel starts. Hence, Beer-sheba is frequently referred to in the Bible as the definition of the country’s southern border, which extended “from Dan to Beer-sheba.”
It is an area where agriculture is still possible, as is recorded of neighboring Gerar: “And Isaac sowed in that land, and reaped in the same year a hundredfold” (Genesis 26:12). However, droughts are frequent and settlement flourished only in times of a strong
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and efficient government which provided security and the maximal utilization of the available water sources.
It is, therefore, hardly astonishing that the foremost concern of its city planners was its security and water supply. A spur was chosen, surrounded by the Beer-sheba and Hebron dry river beds (“wadis”) which meet west of the tel. The traditional wells situated near the river bed were the source of the city’s water. It seems probable that the underground level was reached by a tunnel cut from inside the city. So far, only the entrance to a deep shaft with broad encircling steps, similar to the famous Megiddo water system, has been unearthed (see General Plan, 3).
City Walls And Defenses
Archaeologists found that the town had very strong defenses. Three successive city walls have been uncovered, each built with sun dried bricks on a stone foundation and each with an earthen ramp outside the wall (a “glacis”), on which attackers would be exposed to fire. To complete the fortifications, the entire complex was surrounded by a deep moat.
The earliest wall, from the time of Solomon, was about 13 feet thick and had houses attached to it. After its destruction, the breaches were blocked by two narrow, parallel walls, testifying to the relative weakness of the city during a parenthetic phase in its history. Later a casemate wall (double wall with partitions) was built on the foundations of the earlier solid wall. It consisted of two parallel walls with rooms in between, strengthened by a new glacis. The width of the walls was found to be identical to that of casemate walls discovered at other Israelite sites such as Samaria, Hazor, Ramat Rahel, Tel Beit Mirsim and Arad, i.e., the external wall being a little over five feet thick (three cubits). It was destroyed by a conflagration at the end of the eighth century, probably during the campaign of the Assyrian king Sennacherib in 701 B.C. (see 2 Kings 18:13). After the severe destruction, only the city wall was repaired, once more by a retaining wall built against it. Evidence indicates, however, that the dwellings of this period were not rebuilt.
Biblical History Of City Confirmed
Excavations have been proceeding at Beer-sheba since 1969 under the direction of Professor Yohanan Aharoni. Professor Aharoni is head of the Institute of Archaeology at Tel Aviv University and also
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chairman of the Department of Near Eastern Studies there. A number of interesting and significant finds have been made, the 1973 season being no exception. (For previous reports see Bible and Spade, Winter 1972, pp. 17-18, and Winter 1973, p. 19.)
As one would expect, the archaeologists have found no remains dating to the time of the Patriarchs. In those days Beer-sheba was only a camping ground around a well. In one area, the excavations of 1973 penetrated to the earliest levels which preceded the fortified city. Three occupational layers dating to the period of the Judges were found, with no evidence of any earlier cities. As the Israeli scholars wrote in their news release on the 1973 excavation: “Therefore, it is certain that Beer Sheva [Hebrew spelling of Beer-sheba] was founded early in the period of the Judges and that a Canaanite city did not exist here. This picture conforms to the Biblical tradition, which does not recognize a pre-Israelite city at Beer Sheva, in contrast to neighboring Gerar.”
A Well-Planned City
A glance at the plan of the Israelite city which has emerged from the earth after five years of excavating, leaves no doubt that it was a well-planned city from its inception in the time of Solomon (tenth century B.C.). The uncovered buildings belong to the latest, or eight century city; however, where earlier strata were exposed, they showed the same type of buildings with only minor changes. It seems that the overall plan of the city was preserved throughout the centuries as it had been laid out in the days of the United Kingdom.
The city plan was dominated by a circular street, starting from the gate and encircling the entire city, with rows of buildings on either side (see General Plan). The external houses joined the city wall, and the casemate rooms served as units of the buildings. The fully excavated houses (5, 6), have a uniform layout. They are typical “four-room houses,” with one broad and three long rooms, with one of the walls consisting of a row of pillars.
The gate, situated on the southern side (1), resembles the ninth-century gate of Megiddo. It measures 46 by 56 feet, and the 13 foot wide gateway is flanked on each side by two gate rooms and a tower.
The street to the left of the gate was flanked by large public buildings with broad entrances and long flights of steps leading to
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General plan of the Israelite city of Beer-sheba: 1, Gate; 2, Storehouses; 3, Water System; 4, Deep trench through the fortifications; 5–6, Living Quarters; 7–8, Administrative Buildings.
a second story (7, 8). These evidently served administrative purposes.
To the right of the gate, a complex was uncovered which consisted of three large adjoining buildings, identical in plan (2). Each is about 56 feet in length and has three long halls divided by two rows of pillars with shelves in between. The two external halls have a stone pavement, while the inner hall has a slightly raised mud floor.
The contents of these buildings leave no doubt that they were royal storehouses for cereals, wine and oil. In one hall alone, more than 100 pottery vessels were found intact. Many of them were typical storage jars, but other types of domestic vessels were also found. It seems probable that in each storehouse various products from a certain district were kept and that here they were also prepared
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for distribution and use. A Hebrew ostracon (a piece of pottery, or “sherd,” inscribed with ink) found in one of the units gives us some insight into the royal administration. It reads: “15 (the date of the year, or the day?); from Tolad (bath measurements). . ., Beth Amam. . .” A “bath” was a liquid measure equivalent to about eight and a half gallons (see 1 Kings 7:26, 38). Tolad and Beth Amam are two cities mentioned in the Bible in the region of Simeon, together with Beer-sheba (Joshua 15:26 — Amam; 19:4 — Eltolad; 1 Chronicles 4:29 — Tolad). Evidently, some product (probably wine) was brought to the royal storehouses from these two localities of the Beer-sheba district.
Horned Altar Found
The crowning discovery of the 1973 season was a horned altar found in re-use as part of the wall of one of the storehouses. The altar was central in Old Testament sacrificial worship. God instructed the Israelites to build the altar of the tabernacle five cubits square and three cubits high with horns on each of the four corners (Exodus 27:1, 2). The horns figured prominently in the sacrificial ritual when blood from the sacrifice was placed on them (Leviticus 4). The altar also became a place of refuge for one who feared execution. He would flee to the tabernacle and cling to the horns of the altar for safety, although safety wasn’t always found there! (Read 1 Kings 1:50–53 and 2:28–34.)
The altar found at Beer-sheba is the first sacrificial altar of this type to be found in Israel. Its design is similar to that of several smaller incense altars found at Megiddo (see Exodus 30:1, 2).
Professor Aharoni believes that the altar was originally part of a temple dating to the period of the Monarchy. He plans to excavate the temple during the 1974 season. The altar was subsequently removed from the temple and reused in building the storehouse. It appears that the dismantling of the altar took place during the reign of Hezekiah when he removed all of the altars outside of Jerusalem: “But if ye say unto me, We trust in the Lord our God; is it not He, whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away, and hath said to Judah and Jerusalem, Ye shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem?” (2 Kings 18:22). In their 1973 press release, the excavators wrote; “The present find serves as a dramatic confirmation of this event.”
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Horned sacrificial altar excavated at Beer-sheba during the 1973 season.
Strange Holes In Stone Pillars
The layout of the storehouses is identical to that of storehouses found at Megiddo. At first, the Megiddo storehouses were thought to be stables because of the presence of watering troughs and rows of compartments resembling stalls for horses. The Megiddo find was dated to the time of Solomon and received widespread fame as “Solomon’s Stables.” The Beer-sheba excavation makes it clear, however, that these “stables” were in fact storehouses.
One of the unsolved mysteries of the Megiddo storehouses was the presence of holes drilled through the corners of some of the upright stone pillars dividing the compartments. The Megiddo excavators thought the holes were for tethering horses in the “stable.” If the building was a storehouse and not a stable, then what was the purpose of the holes? The archaeologists at Beer-sheba believe they have the answer.
The storehouse complex was destroyed in the eight century B.C., probably by Sennacherib. Digging under the destruction debris during the 1973 season, the excavators found pillars with holes in them similar to those at Megiddo. The holes faced the center aisle, which was a passageway for delivering and issuing commodities. Thus, the archaeologists postulate, it would appear
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that the pack animals used for transporting goods were tethered in the center aisle by means of these holes.
Beer-Sheba To Live Again
During the 1973 dig most of the artificial balks (earth walls) and gangways separating the various excavation areas were removed. As a result, entire sections of the Israelite city have been uncovered. They are preserved to an astonishing degree and for the first time the basic plan of an administrative center from the time of the Monarchy has been revealed.
The Israelis plan to reconstruct the city as a tourist attraction. This work has already begun in the residential quarter. In order to restore the mud brick walls, courses of new bricks made of the same material and to the same measurements as the ancient ones are being added. The bricks are being baked for protection against the elements. The characteristics of the original buildings are thus being preserved so that the visitor can stroll through the streets of an ancient Israelite city and obtain a true impression of its houses, wall and gates.
(The Beer-sheba Excavations, The Institute of Archaeology, Tel Aviv University, 1972; The Biblical Archaeologist, Vol XXXV, December 1972; Beer-Sheva Excavations, 1973, Tel Aviv University Press Release.)
(Scripture references to Beer-sheba — Genesis 21:14, 31, 32, 33; 22:19; 26:23, 33; 28:10; 46:1, 5; Joshua 15:28; 19:2; Judges 20:1; 1 Samuel 3:20; 8:2; 2 Samuel 3:10; 17:11; 24:2, 7, 15; 1 Kings 4:25; 19:3; 2 Kings 12:1; 23:8; 1 Chronicles 4:28; 21:2; 2 Chronicles 19:4; 24:1; 30:5; Nehemiah 11:27, 30: Amos 5:5; 8:14)
Bible and Spade 3:2 (Spring 1974)