Really Digging Jericho
by
Damien F. Mackey
“In the central and northern parts of Israel, the EBIII urban culture
flourished. The MBI invaders in the south overwhelmed this urban Canaanite
civilization and destroyed their cities but thereafter persisted in a
semi-nomadic way of life. This bears a striking similarity to the tradition of
Joshua’s devastating campaign against the Canaanite centers in central
Palestine and his ban on rebuilding some of them (e.g., Joshua 8-28). Both
Jericho and Ai were fortified cities at the end of the Early Bronze Age. According
to the Biblical account, they were both destroyed by the Israelites; God
specifically instructed that these cities should not be rebuilt. Interestingly
enough, after the EBIII destruction of Jericho and Ai, both cities lay in ruins
for hundreds of years.”.
Dr. Rudolph Cohen
Anyone who has ever seriously attempted to align the
biblical record with the archaeology of Palestine can be guaranteed of one sure
‘outcome’ at least: a sore head.
I, and certain fellow correspondents at least, can vouch
for it.
However, thanks to the painstaking efforts and research of
the likes of Drs. Donovan Courville (The
Exodus Problem and its Ramifications, 1971), Rudolph Cohen (“The Mysterious MBI People”, BAR 9:04, Jul-Aug 1983), and John Osgood - whom I have frequently
quoted - some clear
signposts amidst all of the oft-sifted rubble can now, I believe, be identified,
enabling for a reasonable biblico-stratigraphical pattern to be discerned.
From Canaanites to
Abraham
“PNA [Pottery Neolithic
A] appears to be from the north and may indicate a Hittite influence (Genesis
15:20 and 25:9), or the same may be speculated of
Proto-Urban Jericho (equivalent to Chalcolithic - see North8) who had rock cut
tombs”.
Dr John Osgood
Dr.
John Osgood I have found to be by far the best guide for making sense of early
Jericho.
He has
argued in his ground-breaking (archaeologically appropriate) article:
A Better
Model for the Stone Age
that the first level at Jericho, the Natufian level, must
have been Canaanite, and possibly Hivite: Wikipedia: “The Hivites were one group of descendants of Canaan, son of Ham, according to
the Table of Nations in Genesis 10 (esp.
10:17)”.
Osgood’s next level at Jericho he thinks could have been
Hittite (rock-cut tombs). Wikipedia:
"In Genesis 23:2,
towards the end of Abraham's life, he was staying in Hebron, on lands belonging
to the "children of Heth", and from them he obtained a plot of land
with a cave to bury his wife Sarah. One of them
(Ephron) is labeled
"the Hittite", several times. This deal is mentioned three more times
(with almost the same words), upon the deaths of Abraham, Jacob, and
Joseph".
Then we get to the Neolithic phase that Osgood has
connected with Ghassul, which is Abram’s
era. Abram as a contemporary of Late Chalcolithic En-geddi and Ghassul IV is
one of those clear signposts (refer back to Part One) now, thanks to Dr. Osgood. See e.g. my:
Narmer a
Contemporary of Patriarch Abraham
Dr.
Osgood has written in the above-mentioned article, regarding Proto-Urban
Jericho:
Kebaran - Natufian.
Kebaran culture seems
to have been a less vigorous culture than Natufian and may have been
overwhelmed by the latter.
Neolithic.
Neolithic (1) or Pre
Pottery Neolithic A of Palestine appears to have been very much the same as the
Mesolithic Natufian culture. This is apparent at Jericho from Kenyon's
excavations.
Chalcolithic
A case has already
been made for the Ghassul culture to have been Amorite (see 'The Times of
Abraham', this volume). Furthermore, it may well have been in Canaan during the
Late Neolithic, as suggested by North (Jordan I),8
One thing is clear
from the biblical model; all the Stone Age inhabitants of Palestine, unless
they happened to be transient cultures passing through to other lands, should
be grouped under the label 'Canaanite' according to the biblical tradition of
Genesis 10.
A further suggested
identification is here made, that is, to equate the most dominant
archaeological culture in Palestine of this era, namely, Natufian - PPNA-PPNB
(suggestion of continuity after Moore5:16-23), with the Bible's most widespread
southern groups - the Hivites (see Genesis 36:2,20; 14:6 Horites = Hivites; also later in Palestine, Genesis 34:2).
PNA appears to be
from the north and may indicate a Hittite influence (Genesis 15:20 and 25:9), or the same may be speculated of Proto-Urban Jericho
(equivalent to Chalcolithic - see North8) who had rock cut tombs.17:273
It is, however,
freely admitted that the last two attempted reconciliations are tenuous and
speculative for the most part, but worth investigating.
PNA appears to have
arrived from the north; as did Proto-Urban Jericho.
[End of quote]
So - and it needs to be noted that Dr. Osgood does not
insist on his Hivite and Hittite identifications (“tenuous” and “speculative
for the most part”), but only on the general era - we may perhaps have this
biblico-archaeological sequence for early Jericho:
Hivites;
Hittites;
Abram
According
to the Book of Genesis 23:1–20,
Sarah, the wife of Abraham, "died in Kiryat-arba; the same is Hebron in
the land of Canaan". Abraham the Hebrew (Avraham Ha-Ivri[4])
was tending to business elsewhere[5] when she died, at the age of 127 years,[6] and he "came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for
her." (Genesis 23:2) After a while, he stood up and spoke to the
"sons of Heth" and requested they give him a
possession as a "burying place", and they offered him his
"choice" of their sepulchres. And then in verse 7 he again
"stood up" to speak to them. Abraham then requested that Ephron the Hittite, the son
of Zohar, give him the cave of Machpelah, in the end of his field, "for as
much money as it is worth". (verse 9) After Ephron confirmed that he would
give the cave, in verse 11, Abraham further requested that he give him the
field for money, in verse 13. Ephron agreed and named a price.
Genesis
23:16 ¶ And Abraham hearkened unto Ephron; and Abraham weighed to Ephron the silver, which he had
named in the audience of the sons of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver,
current money with the merchant. [17] And the field
of Ephron, which was in Machpelah, which was before Mamre, the field, and the cave
which was therein, and all the trees that were
in the field, that were in all the borders round about, were made sure [18] Unto Abraham for a possession in
the presence of the children of Heth, before all that went in at the gate of
his city.
From Joshua to
Hiel of Bethel
The fundamental starting point for any
biblically-conscious reconstruction of the history of the ancient Near East has
to be with the firm identification of the Middle Bronze I (MBI) nomadic people
with the Israelites under Moses and Joshua!
·
For the archaeology
of Jericho at the time of Joshua,
see my article:
Joshua's Jericho
“The contemporaneity of the Exodus with the end of
Early Bronze III and the end of the Old Kingdom [of Egypt] has chronological
ramifications which alter to a considerable degree the historic structure of
the ancient world”.
·
For the archaeology
of Jericho at the time of the Judges,
see my article:
Eglon's Jericho
“The next mention of Jericho
following Joshua’s destruction is in Judges 3 where we are told that Eglon,
king of Moab, took possession of the “City of Palms” and built a palace there.
The City of Palms, of course, is none other than Jericho (Dt 34:3; 2 Chr
28:15)”.
·
For the archaeology
of Jericho at the time of Hiel of Bethel,
see my articles:
Hiel's Jericho
Joshua 6:26: “At that time Joshua
pronounced this solemn oath: "Cursed before the LORD is the one who
undertakes to rebuild this city, Jericho: At the cost of his firstborn son he
will lay its foundations; at the cost of his youngest he... more
I Kings 16:34: “In Ahab’s time, Hiel of
Bethel rebuilt Jericho. He laid its foundations at the cost of his firstborn
son Abiram, and he set up its gates at the cost of his youngest son Segub, in
accordance with the word of the LORD spoken by Joshua son of Nun”.
Hiel of Bethel who rebuilt the city of Jericho (I Kings 16:34)
will be here, in Part Two, identified as King Mesha of Moab.
Does Mesha tell us straight out in his inscription that he built Jericho –
and with Israelite labour?
will be here, in Part Two, identified as King Mesha of Moab.
Does Mesha tell us straight out in his inscription that he built Jericho –
and with Israelite labour?
If, as I am claiming, Hiel of Bethel was
the same person as the contemporaneous King Mesha of Moab, then it becomes
necessary for me to account for why the Bible would attribute to him two
completely different names and geographical... more
If King Mesha of Moab really had ruled the
city of Jericho for a time, as Hiel, then he would have been following an
ancient tradition, because another king of Moab, Eglon, had ruled over that
same city roughly half a millennium earlier.
King Mesha of Moab, who I consider to have
been a follower-king of the mighty Syrian master-king, Ben-Hadad I, appears to
have had a chequered career in relation to the Omrides, now being subservient,
now in revolt. If Mesha were Hiel, as... more
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