Hazor
Hazor is
located about 8.5 miles north of the Sea of Galilee in the area known a Huleh
basin (or valley). At 200 acres, Hazor is the largest tell in Israel. As a
gateway city controlling the principal trade routes, the ancients recognized
its strategic value so that the site developed into a mighty fortress at
critical times in its settlement history.
We find Hazor in the conquest narrative of Joshua 11 when a
northern coalition of Canaanite kings led by King Jabin of Hazor organized a
counter-offensive to remove the Israelites from Canaan. This battle would become Joshua’s toughest
challenge yet. The gathered armies
represented an overwhelming threat “as numerous as the sand on the seashore” due
in no small part to the presence of horses and chariots – an eerie echo of Israel’s
old foe, Pharaoh of Egypt, who also challenged the people of Yahweh with
overwhelming force.
Following the victory, which included the permanent
disabling of Jabin’s armor (hamstringing the horses and burning the chariots),
the narrative adds that Joshua burned Hazor.
Yigael Yadin, a true legend among Israeli archaeologists of the post
World War II era, identified the Joshua destruction with Level 13 (a “layer” of
archaeological phasing) at Hazor, which corresponded to a date around 1200 B.C.. More recent excavations have uncovered
earlier destruction layers, including that of a Canaanite palace, which could
also be the result of Joshua’s destruction (1400 B.C.). The uncertainties of
assigning specific historical events to specific archaeological phases at a
site represents one of the many challenges in connecting the archaeological
record with the biblical record.
However, whether it was in 1200 or 1400, we do know it actually happened
since Scripture bears witness to the destruction of Hazor at the hand of
Joshua.
