Shephelah Trip Part 1

     Our first day in the Shephelah comprised of the Sorek Valley (Beth-Shemesh), the Elah Valley (Gath, Azekah, and Socoh), the Guvrin Valley (Mareshet-gath Caves), and the Lachish Valley (Lachish). (Our second trip to the Shephelah was a week later)

     Beth-Shemesh lies in the border between the tribes of Judah and Dan. From Beth-Shemesh you could see Zorah, the place of the judge Samson’s birth (Judges 13:24-25) as well as Timnah, where he sought a Philistine wife, riddled with local Philistines, set fire to the in-laws for re-marrying his wife, as well as near the location where he would later be betrayed by Delilah. Beth-Shemesh is specifically mentioned in 1 Samuel 6:10-21. It was here that the Ark of the Covenant was returned by the Philistines drawn by two milk cows, as well as where 70 locals died for looking into the ark. After our little discussion of the events that occurred there we were able to explore the tel.  Along the edge of the tel were several empty tombs that we could crawl into and explore, and all the various paths were full of pottery shards from the residents who lived there throughout history.

     Our next visit was to the Elah Valley.  We first stopped at Gath, a Philistine city, also known as the hometown of Goliath. (1 Sam. 17:4) Benj showed us a Syrian siege trench that probably went around 3/4ths of the city when it was in use.  They would have used the trench to keep people from coming out until they starved to death.  This is the only siege trench that has been found in Israel. We also saw some of the ruins from the city that even non-believing archaeologists attested to proving historical truths in the Bible.  The rooms we saw appeared to have been supported by two central pillars as also noted in the account of Samson’s death when he killed the Philistines at Gaza in the building by pulling down the pillars. (Judges 16:26)

     There are a few other references of Gath in the Bible.  Gath was one of the Philistine cities that the Ark of the Covenant stayed at while it was in possession of the Philistines, (1 Sam. 5:8) it also was referenced a few times with David.  He escaped the king of Gath by pretending to be crazy (1 Sam. 21:10), later made a treaty with Gath (1 Sam. 27), and after becoming king, took over the city of Gath (1 Chron. 18:1). The last stop in the Elah Valley was quick.  The valley is known to be the location of where David had slain Goliath.  On top of the tel of Azekah there was a nice view and we read through the account in 1 Samuel 17.  It is always nice to be reminded of the power of our God.  Many people know the story of David and Goliath, and to some it is a fairy tale, or legend.  But it is a real event, with real people, and with a real God, our God. He loves to use the humble to shame the proud!

      We drove over to the neighboring Guvrin Valley and walked to the top of a mountain at Socoh.  It was full of beautiful flowers of all types!  People have said that springtime is the best time to come to Israel because it is green and full of flowers, and Sucouh definitely was! Benj demonstrated for us how a slingshot worked, and some of the guys tried it out while the girls were enjoying taking pictures in the flowers.  On our way back down a friendly Israeli man serenaded us and we got to sing “Hodu Ladonai ki Tov” with him!

     In the same valley near the hometown of Micah the prophet, Moreshet-gath are a couple of caves left from the Bar-Kochba revolt.  The rebels would dig tunnels and caves into the ground to hide in.  The tunnels were specifically designed to be small and narrow so that Roman soldiers would be unable to enter in with their armor and swords.  Inside the caves the rebels would raise pigeons for a source of food and sacrifice. We got to crawl in the caves.  There was one   Some tunnels were possible to crawl through on hands and knees, and some required an army crawl.  At first I was terribly afraid to go in, but once I made it to the inside chamber my inner adventurer came out and I explored a few other tunnels!  It is fascinating to imagine people living there and what it must have took for them to get by day after day.
entrance cave that led to a big hollow cavern with several other tunnels leading to separate chamber-like rooms.

     Our last stop of the day, perfectly timed at sunset too, was the ancient site of Lachish. The city of Lachish is at a strategic location for kings to protect their land, and was mentioned in Biblical texts as well as extra Biblical texts.  One of the extra Biblical references was from 701 BC when Sennacherib of Assyria conquered Lachish and 45 other fortified cities of Judah (2 Kings 18:13) He decorated a room in his palace with a depiction of its capture, now in the British Museum. One of the Biblical references to Lachish is from Jer. 34:6-7.  Lachish, Azekah, and Jerusalem were the only fortified cities of Judah that remained when the King of Babylon was fighting against King Zedekiah (the last king of Judah before the Babylonian Exile and first destruction of the Temple). There were several helmets and arrowheads found at this tel as well as 18 letters written on potsherds giving detailed communication between the cities at the time of the Babylonian Destruction. Our day came to a close as the sun disappeared beyond the hills and we descended back down the tel to the bus.  It had been a long, busy, dusty day. But fun and memorable!