Jerusalem to the Elah Valley, Tel Lachish, Tel Be'er Sheva, and Mitzpe Ramon

January 4, 2019

Jerusalem to the Elah Valley, Tel Lachish, Tel Be’er Sheva, and Mitzpe Ramon

Today is our first day of exploring Israel by going south to Mitzpe Ramon, which is the furthest in the Negev.  We go up at 5:45 am to be ready with our bags in the hotel lobby and breakfast at 7:00 am and bus departure by 7:30 am.  Leaving the Gloria Hotel, to which we will return for our last 6 nights in Israel, we walked through the Jaffe Gate to exit the old city and walk to our bus. 

Departing Through The Jaffe Gate

Almost to the Bus

 We headed west and then south to the Elah Valley for our first stop of the day to the area of the confrontation of the Israelites and Philistines when David killed Goliath.  The Philistines occupied the ridges to the west with the Israelites on the ridges to the east. The David and Goliath skirmish occurred by the stream in the valley formed between the ridges. 

In the Elah Valley

Stream Bed in Elah Valley

 

We then backtracked to western Jerusalem to meet a driver who had retrieved the baggage of the four people whose luggage did not arrive yesterday.  Success and four very happy young people.  Then we drove south to Tel Lachish, which is a Tel where settlements began in the 4^th millennium BCE and is now a national park.  It was a central metropolis during the Canaanite period and Judean kingdom in the 9^th and 10^th centuries BCE.   At that time, it was heavily fortified and became the second most important city after Jerusalem, being on the road from the coast plain to the Hebron mountains.  It became an important battle ground during the first Temple period.  First, it was conquered by the Assyrian King Sennacherib in 701 BCE.  Second, it was conquered by Nebuchadnezzar in 586 BCE, which lead to the destruction of the First Temple in Jerusalem and the end of the Kingdom of Judah.  It was finally abandoned after the Hellenistic period (332-63 BCE).

The Tel focuses on structures from the time of King Hezekiah that were destroyed in Sennacherib’s conquest, which are documented in the Bible, Assyrian inscriptions, and reliefs in Sennacherib’s palace in Nineveh.  In the conquest, the Assyrian army built a huge stone ramp (70 m wide by 16 m high; the most ancient siege ramp in the world and only one know to be built by Assyrians) against the city walls.     

Numerous objects (arrow heads, olive oil press, iron chains) thrown from the walls against the attackers have been recovered.  In the end Sennacherib conquered the city and exiled the inhabitants before destroying other cities in the Judean lowlands.  He then sent a force to Jerusalem which resulted in King Hezekiah paying a heavy tribute to Assyria and Judah becoming a vassal of Assyria.  Hezekiah was trying to enlarge his kingdom and stop the Assyrian attempt to create administrative states in the region.  Therefore, Sennacherib set out on a military campaign to stop Judah’s rebellion against Assyria’s rule. In addition to the brief accounts of the battle in 2 Kings 18-19, Isiah 36-37, and 2 Chronicles 32, Sennacherib’s Prism (691 BCE) boasts of his military campaigns including that in Judah.  

The city had two gate houses (lower built at time of King Asa, 908-867 BCI, and destroyed by King Sennacherib); upper built at time of King Josiah, 639-609 BCE, and destroyed by Babylonian army at the time of the destruction of the First Temple in 586 BCE.  The walls of the palace are visible.

We walked around the Tell site, which gave excellent views of the surrounding landscape and its strategic importance as an outlying city on the way to Jerusalem.  

City Wall

Entering Lachish

Palace Remains

Exploring Lachish

Defending

Attacking from Ramp

Countryside

Our next stop was Tel Be’er Sheva, which is one of the three World Heritage Sites in Israel.  The 15 strata of the mound reveal find from the 4^th millennium (Chalcolithic period), settlements from the Israelite period (1200 – 586 BCE, Iron Age), fortress from the Herodian (Early Roman) period, and from the Early Muslim period.  The main stratum that is seen is Strata 2, which was built during the Israelite period and probably the reign of Hezekiah with approximately 300 inhabitants.   At the entrance to the city, is a well of 70 meters depth.  Just inside the gate and to the left is an area that is speculated to have held the four-horned altar for sacrifices.  Next to this was the governor’s palace.  Remains of Israeli four-room houses and the storehouses can be seen.  From a tower, we had a good panoramic view of the ancient city.  Again, the Tel gave superb views of the surrounding landscape and you could understand its strategic importance.  We exited the Tel by descending down into the impressive underground water system, which was constructed to collect and hold water collected during the rainy season to provide a water source to the city in times of siege.

Be'Er Sheva Well

Walls of Houses and Rooms

Model of Be'Er Sheva

Storerooms

Descending into the Cistern

Approaching the Cistern

We now drove to Mitzpe Ramon, which is on the edge of the huge Machtesh Ramon crater where the ground drops abruptly by over 1,000 ft to create an almost surreal landscape. Here we saw numerous ibex scrambling over the rocks and walking through the area.  The views, with the setting sun were gorgeous.

At Mitzpe Ramon

Machtesh Roman Overlook

Ibex near the Overlook

Tonight, our lodging is at the Desert Shade eco lodge, where we are staying in adobe huts.  Dinner was a desert meal with lentil soup, cucumber/melon salad, chicken breast with rice, and dates. 

Dinner at the Desert Shade

At Home in our Adobe Hut

Tomorrow we have breakfast at 7:30 am and on the road at 8:00 am.