DAY 9 of the Tour - Israel's Southern Frontier

On this day of traveling, we will encounter more beautiful landscape, with a rich history stretching long before Israelite presence in the land.  The “Negeb” (“South” in Hebrew) was Israel’s southern frontier in biblical history: inhabitants of the Negeb lived in a zone that was prone to tribal incursions (e.g., the Amalekites against David at Ziklag, I Sam. 30) and pressures from Edom, their neighbor to the east. The region was also quite strategic: whoever controlled the eastern Negeb controlled the lucrative trade routes and access to the treasures of Arabia (spices) and Africa (ivory).  

In the western Negeb, trade was conducted directly with one of the Ancient Near East’s superpowers and Israel’s neighbor: Egypt.  From times long preceding the biblical period, Egyptians were particularly fond of olive oil and wine from Canaan.  The Negeb sites functioned as important trading posts for the hubs on the coastline (Ashkelon, among others).  Scholars have a catchy name for this type of trade network:  “Port Power.”  Our modern equivalent --not a perfect one, of course-- would be the FedEx hub in Memphis, Tennessee or how Singapore functions as hub for the East Asian sea trade.

Arad
Arad is one of the most fascinating settlements on the southern border of Israel.  From the Early Bronze Age city (mid-second millennium BC) to the settlement on the acropolis during the time of the Israelite monarchy in the OT, Arad provides extraordinary windows into life in ancient Palestine/Israel.  To get a feel for the significance of Arad, I am including as part of this post the link to an article I wrote a few years ago for The Dictionary of the Old Testament: Historical Books (InterVarsity Press, 2005; see "Arad," pp. 39–41).

Beersheba
Archaeologically, Beersheba is just as impressive as Arad.  Beersheba is famous in the Bible because it came to define the southern border of the land of Israel.  The phrase “from Dan to Beersheba” (I Sam. 3:20) is the Bible’s way to describe the northernmost and the southernmost boundaries of the land Yahweh granted to Abraham in the OT. Features of significance at Beersheba include:

• The large pillared building attests to the significance of the site during the period of the Israelite monarchy.  Some believe the structure could have been storehouses, but on the basis of parallel evidence at Bastam in northwestern Iran, many scholars think the building was a horse stable.
• The horned altar, which is characteristic of the biblical way of describing altars. (The previous link points to an article describing various depictions of "horn" and "horns" in the Bible.)
• Abraham’s well in Gen. 21:22-33 describes the origin of the name “Beersheba” (“well of seven”), which evokes God’s providential care for His people.  Abraham also takes the opportunity to make a shrewd move in securing the rights to the well that he dug (Gen. 21:30).  This is actually a common (and vital) way for pastoral nomadic tribal groups to effectively to mark their territories: “I dug this well, therefore I can live around here.”  Abraham will apply the same principle in Gen. 23, but now under much unhappier circumstances: the death of Sarah.  In his (very Middle Eastern) way of negotiating with the Hittites of Hebron, Abraham secures a family burial ground at the cave of Machpelah (Gen. 23:9).  He is making a permanent claim of ownership, by faith, of the land Yahweh promised to give him in Gen. 15.  

At the end of quite a long day, I think most of us we will be glad to rest in our hotel (and our home base for the rest of the trip) in Jerusalem.  But we won’t get used to putting our feet up just yet.  There are still very exciting days ahead of us!

• Scripture References: Gen. 15, 21:22-33, 23, I Sam. 3:20, 30