Free Republic

While some scholars have argued that the Bible’s description of King David ruling over a great kingdom is exaggerated, new research suggests that the land overseen by the Old Testament king was more well-developed than some experts believe. Prof. Yosef Garfinkel of the Institute of Archaeology at Hebrew University theorized in a paper published in the peer-reviewed Jerusalem Journal of Archaeology that King David ruled over an urban network of fortified cities, which supports the Bible’s description of his kingdom. Garfinkel outlined five different sites in his study — Khirbet Qeiyafa, Beth Shemesh, Lachish and Tell en-Naṣbeh and a country...

Tel Beth Shemesh was one of the first biblical sites to be excavated in the Land of Israel. The site is perched on a low hill overlooking the wide Soreq Valley, a main water source crossing lush agricultural land, on the border between the higher Shephelah (foothills) to the west and the Judean Highland to the east. Biblical Beth-Shemesh appears in the Books of Joshua, Judges, 1 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1 and 2 Chronicles—notably as the place where the Philistines returned the briefly captured Ark of the Covenant to the Israelites (1 Samuel 6).In 1856, Edward Robinson...

Religious archaeologists in Israel claim they have discovered the stone on which Ark of Covenant once sat. The biblical claim was made by researchers from Tel Aviv University who found a 3,100-year-old temple near the modern-day town of Beit Shemesh. Religious teachings claim that the Ark contained the Ten Commandments received by Moses on Mount Sinai. They also preach that the Ark rested on a square table and this latest find is being hailed as merging biblical teachings with archaeological evidence. Archaeologists say it is strikingly similar to the mythical 'large stone' described in the First Book of Samuel. It...

American Jewish liberals can congratulate themselves – finally, the boycott of Israel has gone mainstream with Montgomery County, MD, deciding to drop its “Sister City” agreement with the Israeli town of Beth Shemesh. The reason for this unprecedented decision to stick it to a poor Jewish township within the “green line” has to do not with the Palestinians, but with the internal affairs of the Jewish state – namely, the recent spate of ugly attacks against women by some members of a local ultra-Orthodox sect. Celebrating this “brave” decision by his hometown, Marc Tracy pointed out in “Tablet” that Montgomery...