Farewell to Tell es-Safi/Gath

The new gateway spire over West Jerusalem


As I type, it is Saturday night in Jerusalem and Vonnie and I have just had a wonderful Sabbath. It's hard to believe that I had the privilege of sharing a few thoughts at Advent House this morning for the English congregation. The President of the Israel Field, Elder Elofer, was with me on the platform, just hours before he and his wife would fly off to three meetings in both North and South America.

After a lovely luncheon, Vonnie and I drove in our rental car to the Israel Museum and the Shrine of the Book. There we had the great privilege of seeing several chapters of the original scroll of Isaiah found in a cave above Qumran, one of the Dead Sea Scrolls found in 1947. No cameras were allowed, so it will just be stories from us.

Let's go back to Tell es-Safi, however. Friday was the last day for any activity. A large helium balloon provided a platform for the remote control camera and last pictures were taken. It was a blessing from God that everything went as scheduled, for we arrived in Jerusalem earlier than planned, and were able to get our rental car before they closed for Sabbath!

But it was hard to say good-bye to our new friends from around the world. Will we see them again? We had many invitations to return, including from the director, Aren Maeir. It would take some special planning to make that happen, and at this time seems unlikely. But . . .

On the last day of the dig at Area E, our Early Bronze excavations allowed an amazing find to be preserved. The previous week, some bones were discovered to be "articulated", meaning they were connected to other bones in the right places. At first our leader thought it would prove to be a pig, a big wild boar from 4,500 - 5,000 years ago. Then some teeth were discovered that indicated it was a herbivore, so it seemed it might be a big sheep. Only when the zoologist arrived on the last day of excavation did he reveal that it was from the horse family, or the equid family. Microscopic analysis will reveal whether it was really a horse, a wild ass, or a donkey.

Apparently horses were just being domesticated and ridden on the steppes of Russia at this early time. In fact, horses don't show up in Egypt (what? no chariots?) until 200 years later!

One of the curiosities that will be explored and reported is whether this burial has any relationship with other finds of ancient horses/asses/donkeys in the Levant. What does it mean? Why would someone bury this animal? Did they normally eat any such animals, but bury this one whole? Why was it arranged in death as it was?

Archaeology is full of mysteries and hypotheses. It was always fun to listen in on discussions of what this or that means.

For the whole tell, this was an interesting but minor find. Much more within the target of the dig were the finds of wonderful pottery untouched since the buildings were destroyed during the Iron Age, during the time of some of King David's descendents.

2 Kings 12:17 Then Hazael king of Aram went up and fought against Gath and captured it, and Hazael set his face to go up to Jerusalem. 18 And Jehoash king of Judah took all the sacred things that Jehoshaphat and Jehoram and Ahaziah, his fathers, kings of Judah, had dedicated, and his own sacred things and all the gold that was found among the treasuries of the house of the LORD and of the king's house, and sent them to Hazael king of Aram. Then he went away from Jerusalem.

Sunday we drive to Jericho, Qumran, and Lake Kinnerett (Sea of Galilee). And many from Milton and BMV Churches are enjoying the Church Campout at Camp Elkanah. We will all have stories to share!

Brief Note from Revadim

Heather told me people were noticing our "absence" from the blog - just as Israel was more in the news than usual. Well, we are fine, but terribly pressed for time. I'm writing this at midnight, and must wake up at 4:45 for this week's last day on the dig. And then it's back to Jerusalem for another weekend of adventures.

Today was a big day on the dig as Area D (we are working in Area E) uncovered many wonderful pots and bowls, including one with metal tools inside from the time of David and Solomon. Wow, was everybody excited.

And we've had a good week in Area E as well, much earlier in the Early Bronze Age, about when the pyramids were being built. Vonnie and Erika both found little pieces of metal, like needles. We've heard that Vonnie's was not bronze, but was probably copper. First time metal has been discovered at this early level of Tell es-Safi.

Last weekend, our greatest adventure was wading through Hezekiah's water tunnel, and seeing the uncovered remains of the Pool of Siloam where Jesus did his famous healing.

Now I must run get a few hours of sleep. We pray for so many of you and recognize that God is keeping His loving hand on each one.

Life on the Kibbutz and the Tel

Yes, we are having the same sense of awe, mentioned in your comments, as we touch the pottery that someone used 4500 years ago! Today I was chipping away the mudbrick that surrounds the stones of the short wall in the area where I'm working, and I was wondering about the person who built this wall so many thousands of years ago. Was he a young married man building it for his bride, or was he one of the city fathers improving a common area where people came to grind their grain. I felt sad to be undoing his work. I didn't find anything of significance today, but Lauren and Zvi found a complete jug big enough to hold about a gallon of milk next to a stone oven they had been excavating. It had been tipped over, and the top was slanted down, but even the handles were intact. Inside the jar they found a lot of organic matter that they guessed might be wheat or barley--unrecognizable after all these thousands of years. Lauren and Zvi are on our team of eleven that is working on area E. (Lauren is a precious, earnest young Jewish girl from Philadelphia and Zvi is a local dairy farmer who just comes to help because he is fascinated. He grew up and farmed in Ohio until 1959 when he and his wife moved to Israel. Our claim to fame now is that we have an alley running through our site, and they have brought in a special archaeologist to work with us as we begin to excavate it. The reason they are taking such care with the alley is that they imagine people threw their garbage out there, and we will find lots of interesting things packed in there.

I must tell you that the leaders are doing everything possible to keep us safe and well. They have erected huge black sunscreen canopies over our work sites that help enormously to keep us out of the sun. Every half hour they enforce a break to drink water. This afternoon for the first time, we had to do pottery washing. Each piece is placed in a box that corresponds to the area where it was found. The leaders look over each box for anything that might be significant. I was happy to see that they were excited about my rim because it had some primitive looking letters drawn in the clay before it hardened. It looked to me like an M and a Hebrew G. I said it stood for Mrs. Goliath, but of course, Goliath wouldn't be born for many centuries after that jug was used.

I found out, too, why there are some meals when we don't have butter for our bread. Ole's rabbinical student roommate has been educating us. We are being served kosher meals, and dairy products and meat cannot be mixed. When meat is served, we have no butter and no milk for tea or coffee. He also pointed out that when we have dairy products we have blue trays and white dishes with blue designs on them. When we have meat meals, we have brown trays and plain white dishes. The silverware for the dairy meals has a hole punched in the end of the handle to assure the eater that this silverware has never been used for meat. So interesting.

Well, it's time for our lecture. Tonight we are listening to the archaeologist who will be helping us with our alley. He is teaching us how to deal with bones we find -- because they are expecting to find lots of bones in our alley. I'd better go pay attention!

First days at Tel es-Safi

Is it possible? Thursday is about to begin? It's just 5 am, and we must be on the bus in 20 minutes. And last evening Jonathan (Yonathan) and I stayed up till 10:30 discussing Jewish halakic (sp?) laws (clean and unclean).


My battery recharger is not working through the 220 adapter, so I'm not getting many photos, but here are a couple from our first days. And Oh my! They have been full! What with early morning digs, afternoon and evening lectures, and already one field trip, there's barely time to keep up with everything. We are thoroughly enjoying it, however.

They have assigned Vonnie and me to work in Area E where they have excavated for 8 previous seasons. We are digging down into what is called the Early Bronze period, at the same time as the pyramids were being built. So when we dig up the rim of a pot, as Vonnie did, we think about the fact that it has been buried for around 5,000 years! Before even Abraham! For "newbies" like us, that's impressive.

Our field trip took us to Samson's hometown. And to the town, Beth Shemesh, where the Ark of the Covenant came home, pulled by two cows, after destroying the Philistine idol of Dagon. Most impressive.

Well, I must run. God be with you all.