Gezer: A lesson in Middle Eastern Diplomacy

This last Saturday I went on another field study, this time around the region of Benjamin. It was again my second time on this trip (with only a few minor changes in itinerary), so you can re-read my original thoughts here if you want to review the area we covered. This time, instead, I am going to offer a few thoughts on the Biblical site of Gezer, our last, and possibly my favorite, stop of the day.

Gezer lies in ancient "no-man's-land" - in sight of the hill country of Israel and in sight of the Philistine coast. Both wanted it, but its safe to say that neither had it...at least not for long. During the time of David it was apparently under Canaanite rule, and though he managed to expand his kingdom greatly, he didn't make it quite that far.

Why was Gezer such a sought after city, the proverbial belle of the ball (locally speaking? Simply put: trade. Gezer was along the ancient international highway. Traders and armies regularly passed this town: Egypt, going to fight Syria (and vice-versa); spices, fresh off the windy desert, bound for Tyre; so on an so forth. This was a route that could enrich whatever kingdom controlled it. Control over even one city on the route would have been a huge boost for relatively small kingdoms like Judah and Philistia. However, its great value also entailed great risk: there was always someone with a bigger army, ready to snatch it away. In the game of Risk, it would be Europe: you bide your time, stacking up armies and then fight hard to take it all over in one turn, only to be utterly annihilated by your opponents in the next round.

There are, however, a large number of towns along this route, of roughly equal strategic importance...except to the kingdom of Israel. The easiest routes from the coast to the capital city of Jerusalem is through the Aijalon valley, and the mouth of the Aijalon valley was guarded by Gezer. Safety, as well as riches, were on the line for the kingdom of Judah.

Eventually David died and Solomon, his son, became king. Solomon was not a man of war and would have no hope of capturing Gezer on his own. He used other methods of expanding his kingdom, most of them apparently involving marriage. The Bible records that he had 700 wives. Most of them were princesses of a sort, married to validate his control over a region or to seal a covenant with a neighboring kingdom and effectively widening Solomon's range of influence.

One such marriage just happened to be to a daughter from a very powerful empire: Egypt. The fact that such a marriage occurred gives us reason to believe that at this time either Solomon was very powerful indeed, or Egypt was very weakened, or possibly a combination of both. Very powerful kings did not give their daughters in marriage to very weak kings, from whom no help could be expected. Thus, at this time at least, it seems that Israel and Egypt were on roughly equal footing. For her dowry, the king of Egypt conquered Gezer and gave it to his daughter.

1 Kings 19:15-17 tells the story:
And this is the account of the forced labor that King Solomon drafted to build the house of the LORD and his own house and the Millo and the wall of Jerusalem and Hazor and Megiddo and Gezer. (Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up and captured Gezer and burned it with fire, and had killed the Canaanites who lived in the city, and had given it as dowry to his daughter, Solomon's wife; so Solomon rebuilt Gezer).

Archaeologically, Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer all have something in common: they all have 6-chambered gates, which seem to date to about the time of Solomon (thus, they are called, "Solomonic gates" - original, no?).

So, through this alliance, Solomon gained Gezer. This gave him relative safety from attack from the east, and probably also increase his income from taxes immensely. Egypt, in return, was likely allowed safe passage through the area, and possibly given a break from the tolls. Everything seemed happy.

Then Solomon died. His son Rehoboam became king in his place, but he was not the son of the Egyptian princess. Things had changed.

1 Kings 14:25-26 tells the story:

In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem.
He took away the treasures of the house of the LORD and the treasures of the king's house. He took away everything. He also took away all the shields of gold that Solomon had made.

What the story doesn't tell us is something that is obvious with a quick glance at the geography. Shishak would have come up from Egypt travelling along the coast. To get to Jerusalem from the coast he would have gone right past Gezer, the place his father conquered and gave to Solomon. He must have reclaimed it in the name of Egypt and kept right on a-trucking up to Jerusalem. Who knows if there was even a fight? Technically, the city belonged to Pharaoh's daughter as her dowry. Perhaps there was even a small Egyptian outpost there who just opened those big "Solomonic Gates" and let the rest of the army in to refuel before climbing up to Jerusalem. Maybe that was the plan all along.

It's clever. Sneaky. And in a place where Jacob is a hero for tricking Esau and Laban, its very Middle Eastern. It is good to be friendly, to form alliances...but everyone is always looking out for their own interests. If friendship will serve that, then friendship it will be. Until something more profitable comes along. It doesn't sit well with our western mindset, this trickery and two-facedness, but it fits with this land, both now and then.

Ash Wednesday

The Prayer of Manasseh:

O Lord, Almighty God of our fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, thou who hast made heaven and earth with all their order; who has shackled the sea by thy word of command, who hast confined the deep and sealed it with thy terrible and glorious name; at whom all things shudder, and tremble before they power, for thy glorious splendor cannot be borne, and the wrath of thy threat to sinners is irresistible; yet immeasurable and unsearchable is thy promised mercy, for thou art the Lord Most High, of great compassion, long-suffering, and very merciful, and repentest over the evils of men.

Thou, O Lord, according to thy great goodness hast promised repentance and forgiveness to those who have sinned against thee; and in the multitude of thy mercies thou has appointed repentance for sinners, that they may be saved.

Therefore thou, O Lord, God of the righteous, hast not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance; thou hast appointed repentance for me, who am a sinner. For the sins I have committed are more in number than they sand of the sea; my transgressions are multiplied, O Lord, they are multiplied!

I am unworthy to look up and see the height of heaven because of the multitude of my iniquities. I am weighted down with many an iron fetter, so that I am rejected because of my sins, and I have no relief; for I have provoked thy wrath and have done what is evil in thy sight, setting up abominations and multiplying offenses.

And now I bend the knee of my heart, beseeching thee for thy kindness. I have sinned, O Lord, I have sinned, and I know my transgressions. I earnestly beseech thee, forgive me, O Lord, forgive me! Do not destroy me with my transgressions! Do not be angry with me forever or lay up evil for me; do not condemn me to the depths of the earth.

For thou, O Lord, art the God of those who repent, and in me thou wilt manifest thy goodness; for, unworthy as I am, though wilt save me in thy great mercy, and I will praise thee continually all the days of my life. For all the host of heaven sings thy praise, and thine is the glory forever.

Imposition of the Ashes:

Turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel,

Remember, you are dust and to dust you will return.

The Kairos Document

In this historic document, we Palestinian Christians declare that the military occupation of our land is a sin against God and humanity, and that any theology that legitimizes the occupation is far from Christian teachings because true Christian theology is a theology of love and solidarity with the oppressed, a call to justice and equality among peoples.

~From the Kairos Document

I came across this document on a blog that I occasionally read. I will readily admit that I have not thoroughly read through this entire document and have no intention of commenting on its entire worth and validity. This one quote caught my attention, though, and raised a number of thoughts which I will attempt to share.

I will start by saying that I am much less "pro-Israel" than I may have been at one point in my life. Indeed, there are times when I think that living in Israel is enough to turn the most Zionistic Jew a little anti-Semitic. (That was a joke...but living in Israel can be quite a frustrating experience at times, and most Israelis I know would agree with that assessment.) So bear that in mind.

...the military occupation of our land is a sin against God and humanity...

Is the Israeli occupation of Palestine a sin? While there would be people who would strongly argue against such a notion, let us assume for the moment that this is in fact a true statement.

And then let us consider a hypothetical situation where a marriage is falling apart. The wife, fed up with all the hurt and shame she has borne because of her philandering husband declares that "your unfaithfulness is a sin against God and me. You need to change your ways or this marriage will never work. There will never be peace between us."

See the parallels?

It is true that the marriage will not work out as God intended unless the husband is faithful to his wife, and it could also be said, in a rough sort of equivalence, there will not be peace between Israel and Palestine until Israel treats Palestinians correctly.

There's only one problem. In the marriage scenario, in her accusations and just confrontation of her husband, the wife utterly failed to mention the lovers she had taken, her indiscretions, her lies. The fact is, the wife is just as much to blame for the failure of the marriage as her husband. For the marriage to stand a chance, both husband and wife must take their eyes off the faults of the other and instead work on their own failures.

I really think that the same principles apply to the Israel-Palestine conflict. especially in the Christian communities of both of those groups. Instead of admitting to their faults, each side can only see how they've been wronged. Palestinian churches ring with the refrain: "The wall is unjust! Bring down the wall!" while Israelis (and probably Israeli churches) express relief that the wall has stopped the suicide bombings. What if, instead, Palestinian churches condemned violence committed against Israelis and Israeli churches lamented the hardship that the wall has brought to their Palestinian brothers?

Maybe, then, this marriage could work.

Sudden Light

This is not exactly a brilliant recording of this song, but it's the best I can find.

I was learning this song in choir my senior year in high school, the first time I came to Israel. The concert was right after my return to the states, so part of my homework was to practice this song. To this day it reminds me specifically of the Sea of Galilee: "The sweet clean smell, the sighing sound, the lights along the shore." There's something of a Galilee feel in the air tonight, so in honor of that, I thought I'd pass this song along.

"Where's it coming from?"

Such was the response of a friend when first told the title of today's field study: Jerusalem Approaches. "And how does a city move, anyway?"

Today was my second time on this field study, examining approaches TO the city of Jerusalem. Last time I went we were interrupted by an ignorant rock, set on shattering our dreams of becoming world-famous historical geographers. It failed, instead shattering only one of our bus's windows. Still, it did cut the day's outing short. This time around we cleverly avoided flying rocks and had a wonderful day in the field.

We spent most of our time looking at the city of Jerusalem, finding where the ancient routes would have gone, and comparing the look of the land on either side of the watershed ridge.

Favorite parts of the day?

1. Just getting out, reviewing sites and routes, and enjoying the beautiful weather.

2. Getting to know some of the new students a little better.

3. Seeing some new-to-me sites

a. We got to walk through part of the cemetery on the Mt. of Olives. I'm sure that's something I could enjoy looking through for some time, but it was fun to get a little bit of a feel for it.

b. The Russian Orthodox site commemorating the Garden of Gethsemane. This church is usually close to the public, so it was fun to get a brief chance to see it. I'll have to go back someday and get pictures - it's beautiful.

c. A threshing floor just outside of Bethlehem. Too bad my Boaz wasn't there. :)

d. The grotto in the church next to the church of the Nativity - apparently where Jerome lived and worked on translating the Bible?

e. A place on the Promenade, further along that I had been, where we could see the city.

4. Listening to Dr. Wright's teaching again. On the Mt. of Olives we paused to talk about the flight and return of David with Absalom's rebellion and defeat. Think of the excitement that would have been felt by David's faithful subjects as he returned, victorious. The Bible doesn't say much about that, but it records a similar entrance to Jerusalem, about 1000 years later, as the Son of David came to his own people and kingdom, knowing that instead of welcoming him as the heir of David, they would shortly crucify him.

All in all, a very good day. Really, some of you should visit. You'd like it. :)

Just one thing

Can I just say that it really bugs me when Christians promote things that are clearly not academically sound? Are we so desperate for "proof" of our beliefs that we abandon discernment? So fearful that the Bible will be crushed under the weight of secular criticism? So terrified that Christianity will abandoned like a sinking ship unless we provide the masses with "scientific" proof that their beliefs are not unfounded? Honestly, if you're going to make something up to make yourself feel better, at least make it less easy to disprove.

The PaleoBabble Blog has had two such examples in the last week or so.

The most recent talks of a claim that archaeologists have found giant skeletons, thus proving the Biblical passages that mention giants? Apparently this claim can be found on some creationist websites. How unfortunate.

The older posting offers a link to this article, claiming that Adam's body, without a naval, was found in Noah's ark on Mt. Ararat, thus proving special creation. Yes, and aliens have been captured by the government in area 51 and the ark of the covenant was recovered by Indiana Jones and is in some government storage somewhere. All true. Proof? Well, I would have proof...but the government is suppressing it.

I mean, I realize that Christianity is bound to appear foolish (see I Corinthians 1), but really, do you have to go out of your way to make it appear utterly ridiculous?

Purposes

“Perhaps we could succeed in vanishing without a trace if they would let us be, but they will not let us be. After brief periods of toleration their hostility erupts again and again.”

~Theodor Herzl (from Ideological Perspectives by Gideon Shimoni, p.10)

Herzl, one of the founders of Zionism, maintained that the main thing that defined the Jews as a people was their enemies. Others argued that shared history, culture, and religion were more important in defining this separate people. These things are certainly important, but Herzl discounted them as the most important. He had a point. Especially with the advent of the Enlightenment and the emancipation of the Jews, many Jews began to assimilate into the societies in which they found themselves, adopting the culture, and, in many cases, the religion. These adaptations did not end the persecution of the Jews, however. Indeed, assimilated Jews could even be considered more of a “threat” in the anti-Semitic propaganda that circulated. With all the different branches and schisms within Judaism itself, it is possible that the Jews as a cohesive people would have ceased to exist, if it were not for the persecution that lumped them all back together.

In Jewish and Christian circles the question is often asked, “How could a loving and just God have allowed something as terrible as the holocaust?” It is a valid question to wrestle through and has no simplistic answer, in part because our finite minds cannot grasp the infinite purposes of God. However, I wonder if, in part, God allowed the holocaust to preserve the Jewish people. It sounds contradictory, but the holocaust brought Jews all over the world together as nothing else would have.*

The next often asked and debated question is then, "Does God have a plan for the Jewish people?" I would argue that their survival in spite of the odds, and the existence of a Jewish state, clearly indicate that God has a plan for the Jewish people. It is less clear what that plan is and how it fits into the Biblical account. There are passionate opinions on both sides, which I don't want to go into in this post. I merely wanted to pass along the thought that, in a round-about-way, perhaps the holocaust offers evidence that God has a plan for the Jewish people.

*Please know that I am not at all defending the holocaust. It was a horrible thing. I am simply stating that I believe that God is sovereign and good, and therefore, maybe this was one of His purposes in allowing this event.

Reflections in Galilee

Last week I had the opportunity to head north for a few days with a friend and her mom. We visited various places in the Galilee/Golan region of the country, most of which I had seen before. However, the weather and seasonal differences helped to make the sites a new experience.

Our first day we went west and then north from Jerusalem along the route our guide-for-the-day called the "Via Maris." (Note for geeks: that is not the correct term, historically speaking. The ancients never called it the way of the sea. The usage of that term is a modern misunderstanding.) Our first stop was Megiddo. It was the fourth time I'd been there, and I still haven't managed to leave my own destruction layer, but perhaps that will come next time. The day was a lovely mix of rain and sun, just enough to give us the first rainbow of the day on Masada, along with a lovely view of the Jezreel Valley.

The rain made our plans a little uncertain, so for our next stop we ended up at Sepphoris/Zipori. It was only my second time there, so I enjoyed looking around and being more aware of what I was seeing (Nazareth, Gath-hepher, Cana, Hanathon...) It cleared off beautifully just as we approached the summit and tower, enabling us to get a great view of the Beth-Netophah Valley.

From there we continued on to Hazor...my second visit there, and the second "Solomonic Gate" of the day.

Our final stop ended up being Zafat, one of the more important religious cities in Jewish history. Jewish Mysticism (Kabalah) originated in Zafat. We went through the "Old City," and would have like to spend some time exploring, but our guide was single-minded, taking us to three of the oldest Synagogues in the town. They were very interesting to see, but I made a mental note that someday I want to go back there on my own time and explore.

Our guide dropped us at the Christ Church associated guest house in Migdal, just off the shores of Kinneret. (I believe the town name is associated with the hometown of Mary Magdala.) The next morning we caught a bus into Tiberias where we rented a car for the remainder of our adventure.

Our first stop on the second day (other than ElDan) was Ginosaur where the so-called "Jesus-Boat" is on display. I had seen the boat before, but it was quite a while ago, before it was moved to its current museum display area. It's really quite impressive that a boat from around the time of Jesus survived to the modern day, and their methods of preserving it as it was extracted from the sands in which it was buried are also quite impressive.

Next we ended up at Chorazin. It was, again, my second visit, and again, the first was long ago. I enjoyed climbing things, taking pictures, and looking at plants. In fact, most of my trip could be summed up those three activities.

After that we headed into the far north, visiting Dan, Banias, and Nimrod's Fortress. Again, none of them were new sites, but I saw them with more water and foliage than I had seen before, so it was a fun perspective. Additionally, Mt. Hermon was visible from many places, in all its snow-covered glory. Unfortunately, we didn't get close enough to actually touch snow...but at least I saw it.

Proof of skiing facilities nearby:

On our way home from Nimrod we saw numerous cars parked along the side of the road with lots of people out, climbing over the hillside. Wondering if something interesting was to be seen, we got out and looked around and found this:

For our final day we started our morning on the beautiful Mt. Arbel, with a dramatic view of Galilee, into the Golan. In the background you can see Hermon in its winter finery.

With the sun shining and puddles from the recent rain scattering the landscape, I had fun trying to take pictures with reflections. I think it looks like a little piece of the sky escaped and is watering the plant below it.

After Arbel we drove to the east side of the lake where we visited Capernaum, Kursi, and Hippos.

Our final stop was the epic decapolis city, the entrance to the Harod pass, Beth Shean.

All in all, it was fun to get out of the city and do a little extra exploring and thinking. Hopefully I'll manage to do something similar again this semester.