Khirbet Qeiyafa

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Aerial view
southern four-chamber gate

Khirbet Qeiyafa is a ruin site in Israel, about 25 kilometers southwest of Jerusalem. During antiquity, the site was located on the border between the ancient kingdom of Judea and the land of the Philistines . In this region, near the Elah valley , according to biblical tradition, David is said to have fought against Goliath . The identification with the biblical place Sha'arajim is controversial.

Today's Bet Shemesch is named after this earlier settlement of the same name, which lies a little west of the present-day city; and where excavations have been taking place for many years. This city, which was populated by Canaanites and Hyksos, among others, dates back to the 18th century BC. BC back.

Excavations

From 2008 to 2013, the ancient fortress was examined by Yosef Garfinkel from the Archaeological Institute of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in an archaeological research project . A city from the Iron Age that was heavily fortified with casemate walls was discovered. Garfinkel dates it to the 10th century BC - corresponding to the biblical time of David . Both in the south and in the west, the city wall was interrupted by a four-chamber gate. The south gate was bricked up in antiquity, but could be recognized by the different wall structure. Garfinkel deduced from the presence of two gates, which was unusual for cities at that time, that it must be the city of Scha'arajim (Hebrew for two gates ) mentioned in the Bible . ( Jos 15.36  EU , 1 Sam 17.52  EU , 1 Chr 4.31  EU )

Ostracon

Khirbet Qeiyafa ostracon

During the excavations in the area, a. an ostracon , an inscribed pottery shard, uncovered, which bears a difficult to read inscription in a Northwest Semitic language , possibly Hebrew . With the help of radiocarbon dating , the age of the pottery shard was established around 1000 BC. BC determined what would correspond roughly to the time of the biblical King David . It shows five lines of text separated from each other by black lines. Roots of the words "judge", "slave" and "king" have been deciphered so far . Many of the letters written in ink, however, are very faded or only preserved in fragments. Another uncertainty is that even the writing direction is unclear, as most letters do not have stable alignment. Gershon Galil from the Department of Bible Studies at Haifa University suggested the following reading in 2010:

1 ... you shall not do [...] but serve the [YHWH].
2 Seek justice for the slave and the widow / help the orphans to be right
3 [and] the stranger. [Step up] for the child / step up for the arm [and]
4 the widow. Defend [the poor] in the hands of the king.
5 Protect the poor and the slave / support the stranger.

The reading is uncertain, however, and the additions must be viewed as highly speculative. For Gershon Galil, the ostracon of Khirbet Qeiyafa written in ink not only proves that in this small place about 30 km west of Jerusalem around 1000 BC. A scribe worked, but that he was familiar with the concept of care for the socially disadvantaged, which is a unique selling point of Hebrew society. This suggests that parts of the Hebrew Bible were already written under King David.

Other reading, translation and interpretation suggestions come from Émile Puech and Ada Yardeni. In line 4 the name of a king of Gat has been assumed. Lester L. Grabbe noted in 2017 that the interpretations of the experts differed widely and that “not much of an intelligent message” could be extracted from the ostracon.

literature

  • Israel Finkelstein , Alexander Fantalkin: Khirbet Qeiyafa: An Unsensational Archaeological and Historical Interpretation. ( Memento from June 12, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) In: Tel Aviv 39 (2012), pp. 38–63.
  • Israel Finkelstein, Eli Piasetzky: Khirbet Qeiyafa: Absolute Chronology. In: Tel Aviv 37 (2010), pp. 84-88.
  • Yosef Garfinkel, Saar Ganor: Khirbet Qeiyafa: Sha'arayim. ( Memento of January 12, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) In: Journal of Hebrew Scriptures 8 (2008), Art. 22.
  • Yosef Garfinkel, Saar Ganor: Khirbet Qeiyafa 1st Excavation Report 2007-2008. Jerusalem 2009. ISBN 978-965-221-077-7
  • Yosef Garfinkel, Saar Ganor: Khirbet Qeiyafa in Survey and in Excavations: A Response to Y. Dagan. In: Tel Aviv 37 (2010), pp. 67-78.
  • Yosef Garfinkel, Saar Ganor, Michael G. Hasel: Khirbet Qeiyafa Vol. 2. Excavation Report 2009-2013: Stratigraphy and Architecture (Areas B, C, D, E) . Israel Exploration Society, Jerusalem 2014
  • Yosef Garfinkel, I. Kreimerman, P. Zilberg: Debating Khirbet Qeiyafa: A Fortified City in Judah from the Time of King David. Israel Exploration Society, Jerusalem 2016.
  • Nadav Na'aman : In Search of the Ancient Name of Khirbet Qeiyafa. ( Memento of January 4, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) In: Journal of Hebrew Scriptures 8 (2008), Art. 21.
  • Nadav Na'aman: Shaaraim - the Gateway to the Kingdom of Judah. In: Journal of Hebrew Scriptures 8 (2008), Art. 24.
  • Christopher Rollston: The Khirbet Qeiyafa Ostracon: Methodological Musings and Caveats. In: Tel Aviv 38 (2011), pp. 67-82.
  • Lily Singer-Avitz: The Relative Chronology of Khirbet Qeiyafa. In: Tel Aviv 37 (2010), pp. 79-83.

Web links

Commons : Khirbet Qeiyafa  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 31 ° 41 ′ 46.7 ″  N , 34 ° 57 ′ 27 ″  E

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Yosef Garfinkel, Saar Ganor, Joseph Baruch Silver: Qeiyafa's unlikely Second Gate
  2. ^ University of Haifa press release, January 7, 2010 (signed; accessed August 2, 2011).
  3. ↑ Most ancient Hebrew biblical inscription deciphered. In: University of Haifa Press Release. January 7, 2010, accessed September 27, 2018 .
  4. ^ Lester L. Grabbe: Ancient Israel: What Do We Know and How Do We Know It? 2nd Edition. London / New York 2017, pp. 151 .