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Beersheva region
- 1. BEERSHEVA
- 13. Beer-sheba - N
- 14. Beer-sheba - SW
- 16. Gaza - E
- 17. Trucks backed up at Gaza checkpoint
- 18. Gaza street
- 19. Gaza Strip house reportedly destroyed by Israel
- 20. Gaza Strip refugee camp near beach
- 22. Ziklag, Tel Sera, from east
- 24. Gerar - SE
- 25. Gerar wheatfield (Isaac reaped a hundredfold; Gen 26:12)
- 26. Nahal Gerar
- 27. Nahal Gerar from Ziklag
- 30. En Avedat - S
- 31. Ein Avadat - SW
- 32. Nahal Zin
- 34. En Avedat - S
- 35. Obodah with En-Avedat in distance- W
- 38. Kadesh-Barnea
- 39. Kadesh-Barnea
Editor's Notes
- Tel Arad commanded the southern entrance to the Internal Ridge route and served as a guard city toward Edom and the road across the Arabah (Jordan Rift Valley) through Tamar in the Old Testament Period. With the Invasion of Senacharib to the south after the fall of Israel in 722 BC the Edomites appear to have begun taking advantage of Judah’s weakening position. A temple in En-Hatzevah (Biblical Tamar) is extensive and elaborate. This attests to a strong enough presence to make an architectural investment. Later it seems Arad fell into Edomite hands. Although Josiah seemed to recover the city evident from the smashed Edomite idols excavated in Arad. As Babylon drew near so did Edom. A written letter was found in Arad that reads “You shall send from Arad 50 [men] and from kinah.. To Ramat-negev, lest anything should happen to the fortress… lest Edom should come”. It was addressed to a Eliashiv, the commander of the Arad fortress. Is speaks to the mounting threat of Edomite Invasion. From Jim Monson and Steven Lancaster’s “Regional Study Guide” pg 49.
- When Babylon invaded, so did Edom. The crossroads is Arad and Tamar. As Israel fled, Edom cut them down, enslaved and even handed them over to Babylon. Since they were the half brother of Israel, it made their treachery betrayal. 10 a Because of the violence done to your brother Jacob, shame shall cover you, b and you shall be cut off forever. 11 a On the day that you stood aloof, b on the day that strangers carried off his wealth and foreigners entered his gates c and cast lots for Jerusalem, you were like one of them. 12 a But do not gloat over the day of your brother in the day of his misfortune; b do not rejoice over the people of Judah in the day of their ruin; c do not boast 1 in the day of distress. 13 a Do not enter the gate of my people in the day of their calamity; b do not gloat over his disaster in the day of his calamity; c do not loot his wealth in the day of his calamity. 14 a Do not stand at the crossroads to cut off his fugitives; do not hand over his survivors in the day of distress. (Oba 1:10-14 ESV) Israel Responds in an Impecatory Psalm praying… 7 Remember, O LORD, against the a Edomites b the day of Jerusalem, how they said, c "Lay it bare, lay it bare, down to its foundations!" (Psa 137:7 ESV) This psalm is the one of Lament sung by those taken as slaves by Babylon through the northern Bacca Vally (Valley of Weeping). Many of these would have been on this journey because Edom would have handed them over to the Babylonians.
- Arad Temple. Probably built during the time of King Solomon in the 10th century B.C., the Arad temple is the only true Israelite temple discovered so far. A broad-room temple, with its entrance on one of the long walls (see plan), the Arad temple may reflect early Israelite residential architecture and may represent an authentic Israelite temple form. In contrast, the Solomonic Temple in Jerusalem was a long-room temple built by Phoenician craftsmen and modeled on temples that originated in northwestern Syria in the second millennium B.C. The Arad temple was rebuilt several times and finally abolished in the late eighth century B.C.—perhaps as part of King Hezekiah”s attempt to stamp out cult sites outside Jerusalem. The temples at Lachish and Tell es Seba (see plans) are broad-room temples dating to the fourth century B.C. or later—evidence that the Israelite building tradition survived into Hellenistic times. Like the Arad temple, the temples at Lachish and Tell es-Seba were part of a larger complex that featured a central courtyard. Remains of courtyard altars for animal sacrifices were found at Arad and Tell es Seba but not at Lachish. Editor, H. S. (2004; 2004). BAR 13:04 (July/Aug 1987) . Biblical Archaeology Society.
- This altar was uncovered at Arad in 1963, in the courtyard of a tenth- to eighth-century B.C.E. house temple discovered inside a small fort on the border of the Negev desert. The temple as a whole is shown and described on AR55: Arad, House Temple. The altar measured 5 royal cubits (almost 9 feet) square, the same as the original size of the altar later found at Beer-Sheva (see AR45: Beer-Sheva, Horned Altar) and as was prescribed for the wilderness tabernacle and Jerusalem Temple altars. This altar, however, was built of unhewn stones, in contrast to the altar blocks found at Beer-Sheva. There are specific instructions attributed to Yahweh in the Exodus laws that “if you make me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of hewn stones; for if you wield your tool upon it you profane it” (Exodus 20:25). The Arad altar may have been intentionally constructed in conformity with that demand. If so, the carefully dressed altar stones found at Beer-Sheva may indicate that those particular instructions had not been universally accepted. On the other hand, it is not clear that the Arad altar had horns at its upper corners, as the Beer-Sheva altar did. If it did, they have been lost and, in any event, could not have been “of one piece” with the altar, as prescribed in Exodus 27:2 and 30:2. But then, the instructions in Exodus concerned an altar to be built from acacia wood; perhaps the requirement about horns was not felt to apply to a stone altar. Sometimes archaeological discoveries raise as many questions as they answer. On the top surface of this altar at Arad were channels to collect the blood of the sacrifice and a metal rack over coals for the burning. The house temple at Arad, along with this altar in its courtyard, appears to have gone out of use toward the end of the eighth century B.C.E., evidently in connection with King Hezekiah’s religious reforms (2 Kings 18:4). The Biblical World in Pictures; BAS Biblical World in Pictures . 2003; 2003. Biblical Archaeology Society.
- The shrine of the Arad temple is seen here as it was reconstructed following excavation. It consists of three steps leading to a raised stone platform. Two stone altars for burning incense stand on the top step flanking the entrance to the shrine area proper, separating it from the broad-room at the bottom of the steps. The vertical, light-colored, lozenge-shaped stone stela at the back of the shrine and the darker one to the right, built into the wall, may be massebot —sacred pillars used as cult symbols in early Yahwistic worship. The altars and the massebah on the left are exact replicas of the originals, now in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. Editor, H. S. (2004; 2004). BAR 27:03 (May/June 2001) . Biblical Archaeology Society.
- An ostracon, or inscribed potsherd, found at Arad confirms the deity to whom the Arad temple was dedicated; the last line contains the phrase “the house of Yahweh.” Editor, H. S. (2004; 2004). BAR 27:03 (May/June 2001) . Biblical Archaeology Society.
- 11 And Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice, a and water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their livestock. (Num 20:11 ESV)