Between Archeological Certainty and Amazing Conjecture

The Ancient city of Gezer… I have to admit I don’t think I could have said one thing about it two months ago. It’s not a major metropolis in the Biblical stories – nothing like Jerusalem or Shiloh or Beer Sheva, or Chevron. In fact, it is only mentioned about a dozen times in total in the Bible, and usually in an off hand way.
The book of Joshua recounts that Joshua defeated the Canaanite King of Gezer:

לג אָז עָלָה, הֹרָם מֶלֶךְ גֶּזֶר, לַעְזֹר, אֶת-לָכִישׁ; וַיַּכֵּהוּ יְהוֹשֻׁעַ וְאֶת-עַמּוֹ, עַד-בִּלְתִּי הִשְׁאִיר-לוֹ שָׂרִיד.	33 Then Horam king of Gezer came up to help Lachish; and Joshua smote him and his people, until he had left him none remaining.

From Joshua chapter 21 we learn that the city fell within the borders of the tribe of Ephraim but was designated as a city for the Levites.

וּלְמִשְׁפְּחוֹת בְּנֵי-קְהָת הַלְוִיִּם, הַנּוֹתָרִים מִבְּנֵי קְהָת; וַיְהִי עָרֵי גוֹרָלָם, מִמַּטֵּה אֶפְרָיִם.	20 And the families of the children of Kohath, the Levites, even the rest of the children of Kohath, they had the cities of their lot out of the tribe of Ephraim.
כא  וַיִּתְּנוּ לָהֶם אֶת-עִיר מִקְלַט הָרֹצֵחַ, אֶת-שְׁכֶם וְאֶת-מִגְרָשֶׁהָ--בְּהַר אֶפְרָיִם; וְאֶת-גֶּזֶר, וְאֶת-מִגְרָשֶׁהָ.	21 And they gave them Shechem with the open land about it in the hill-country of Ephraim, the city of refuge for the manslayer, and Gezer with the open land about it;

Joshua 16 recounts that at least some of the Canaanites of Gezer remained in the city after the conquest (see also Judges 1:29):

וְלֹא הוֹרִישׁוּ, אֶת-הַכְּנַעֲנִי הַיּוֹשֵׁב בְּגָזֶר; וַיֵּשֶׁב הַכְּנַעֲנִי בְּקֶרֶב אֶפְרַיִם, עַד-הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה, וַיְהִי, לְמַס-עֹבֵד.  {פ}

10 And they drove not out the Canaanites that dwelt in Gezer; but the Canaanites dwelt in the midst of Ephraim, unto this day, and became servants to do taskwork. {P}

Not much action or intrigue here. So why has this almost unremarkable city made my heart beat faster? Its because a few thousand years later, I have learned that we can be quite certain that we know exactly where Gezer was located!



Now I have always wondered how we can claim to have located the ruins of ancient cities. With our exploration of Gezer, I came to understand that in some cases there is nearly proof positive.



13 boundary stones inscribed with the words “the boundary of Gezer” were found surrounding a Tel in the Judean lowlands. These stones have been dated to the first century BCE. Check out these weekend explorers off to find the stones that still remain on cite in the youtube video to the right. Its hard not to accept that this Tel, which is located in the area where we would expect Gezer to be is in fact the Biblical Gezer.



With this as a given, Israeli archaeologist (and former chief of staff and deputy prime minister) Yigal Yadin made a fascinating and compelling conjecture about one of the structures uncovered in the Tel Gezer digs. The First Book of Kings recounts King Solomon's building campaign:

וְזֶה דְבַר-הַמַּס אֲשֶׁר-הֶעֱלָה הַמֶּלֶךְ שְׁלֹמֹה, לִבְנוֹת אֶת-בֵּית ה וְאֶת-בֵּיתוֹ וְאֶת-הַמִּלּוֹא, וְאֵת, חוֹמַת יְרוּשָׁלִָם; וְאֶת-חָצֹר וְאֶת-מְגִדּוֹ, וְאֶת-גָּזֶר.

15 And this is the account of the levy which king Solomon raised; to build the house of the LORD, and his own house, and Millo, and the wall of Jerusalem, and Hazor, and Megiddo, and Gezer.

my picture of "Solomon's Gate"

Yadin noted that the gates of the cities Hazor and Megiddo were identical. Since the building of the walls of Gezer is mentioned along side the building of the walls of Hazor and Megiddo, Yadin predicted that Gezer should also have a gate matching the structure of Hazor and Megiddo. He suggested that a partially discovered ruin in Tel Gezer was actually the gate of the wall that Solomon had built. Subsequent digging indeed revealed a gate identical to those at Hazor and Megiddo. The dating of the age of these gates synchs with the time of King Solomon. Amazing!