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Beth-Shemesh 1. Boundary of the Tribe of Judah

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Beth-Shemesh 1. Boundary of the Tribe of Judah 1019 Beth-Shemesh 1020 The second group of sarcophagi, of which there Shearim operated as a public cemetery from the are about 20 specimens, and an additional one in middle of the 3rd century CE to the middle of the the cave of the “single sarcophagus,” are character- 4th century CE, after which it began to decline. ized by suspended wreaths surmounted by discuses, Bibliography: ■ Avigad, N., Beth Shearim III, Catacombs 12– and sometimes in the center a tabula ansata (a rec- 23: Report on the Excavations During 1953–1958 (Jerusalem tangle flanked by ear-shaped triangles), usually a 1976). ■ Ilan, Z., Ancient Synagogues in Israel (Tel Aviv 1991). place for an inscription, but sometimes used only ■ Mazar, B., Beth Shearim I: Report on the Excavations During as a decorative element without an inscription. This 1936–1940 (Jerusalem 1973). ■ Schwabe, M./B. Lifshitz, Beth type of sarcophagus decoration is actually an imita- Shearim II: Greek Inscriptions (New Brunswick, N.J. 1974). ■ tion of unfinished, row decorations of marble sar- Tepper, Y./Y. Tepper, Beth She arim: The Village and Nearby Burials (Jerusalem 2004). [Heb.] cophagi that were imported from abroad and whose Mordechai Aviam and Iosi Bordowisz decoration was completed (or not) in workshops in the land of Israel. Sarcophagi with identical decora- See also /Burial; /Catacombs; /Dead, Cult of tion were found in about 10 towns in the western the; /Necropolis; /Sarcophagus; /Tombs lower Galilee, north and east of Beth Shearim, as well as in Sepphoris, the capital of Galilee. The widespread use of sarcophagi decorated in this Beth-Shemesh manner in the villages of lower Galilee (and the lack The name Beth-shemesh (MT Bêt šemeš), meaning of finds of boxes decorated with human or animal “House of the Sun,” seems to indicate the Canaan- figures), indicates that the Jews of Galilee refrained ite practice of sun god worship and refers to four from using figurative art in their burial practice. distinctive cities in the HB/OT. This fact confirms the distinction made earlier be- tween Diaspora and land of Israel Jews with regard 1. Boundary of the Tribe of Judah to the figurative art of the sarcophagi of Complex The most prominent Beth-shemesh in the HB/OT is 20. identified with Tell er-Rumeileh, west of the Arab 7. Finds. In the center of the hall of the modern village of Ain Shemes (“Well of the Sun” in Arabic) visitors’ center is a huge block of raw glass, weigh- and located between Chesalon and Timnah, along ing about 8.9 tons (!) which was found on site. It the Valley of Sorek in the northeastern Shephelah. was used in the early Muslim period as a melting Situated on the main road leading up from the Phi- spot for glass production, when the cave ceased to listine territory and the coastal plain in the west to serve as a water cistern. This raw material was bro- the Judean highlands and Jerusalem in the east, it is ken into pieces and sold to craftsmen who melted closely connected with a route running northwards them and blew from the molten glass various from Hebron. As a border town, Beth-shemesh was household utensils, examples of which were found the scene of several important events in the history at Beth Shearim and other sites. of Israel, including the Philistines’ attempt to re- One of the most significant finds of the exten- turn the ark to the Israelites (1 Sam 6) and the battle sive and lengthy excavations in the burial complex between Israel’s King Jehoash and Judah’s King at Beth Shearim is the wealth of inscriptions and Amaziah (2 Kgs 14 : 11, 13; 2 Chr 25 : 21, 23). Other- Jewish symbols: 218 Greek inscriptions, 46 in He- wise, it is mentioned only in lists: the northern bor- brew, three in Aramaic, and about 10 Palmyrene der of the tribe of Judah (Josh 15 : 10), the allotment ones. to the tribe of Dan (Josh 19 : 41; expressed as Ir- 8. Conclusions. The excavations revealed a large shemesh [“City of the Sun”]), the Levitical cities variety of inhumation methods practiced by Jews in given to the Aaronites (Josh 21 : 16; 1 Chr 6 : 59), cit- the area: burial in niches; arcosolia; kokhim cut into ies of Solomon’s second administrative district the stone walls; trough graves; sarcophagi and cof- (1 Kgs 4 : 9), and cities destroyed by the Philistines fins made out of wood, pottery, lead, local stone, in the reign of Judah’s King Ahaz (2 Chr 28 : 18). and marble; and even the gathering of bones into According to the results of the excavations by clay ossuaries. The types of graves, and the methods D. Mackenzie in 1911–12 and E. Grant in 1928–33 of burial, the language of the inscriptions, the (with the final report published in 1939 by G. E. abundance of Jewish symbols (a phenomenon not Wright) and on-going explorations by S. Bunimo- found in the cemeteries of rural Galilee), and espe- vitz and Z. Lederman since 1990, Beth-shemesh cially the mention of the places of origin of the de- started to emerge as a modest town during the Mid- ceased, attest to the fact that Beth Shearim was, dle Bronze Age (2200–1550 BCE), as evidenced by a essentially, a cemetery for Diaspora Jews, from Asia city wall, a gate, and a patrician house built against Minor, the Syrian desert, southern Arabia, Egypt, the wall. Most likely destroyed by the Egyptian Lebanon, and even from Gentile towns in the land campaign in the second half of the 16th century of Israel. The reason for this was clearly the impor- BCE, the city was later rebuilt and enjoyed prosper- tance of being buried in the land of Israel, as it is ity in the Late Bronze Age (1550–1200 BCE), repre- abundantly attested in the written sources. Beth sented by a spectacular jewelry hoard and a copper- Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception vol. 3 Authenticated | [email protected] © Walter de Gruyter, Berlin/Boston, 2011 Download Date | 12/12/18 3:03 AM 1021 Beth-Shemesh 1022 smelting furnace. The Iron Age I (1200–1000 BCE) tradictions within Judg 1, including the fate of Je- is the period that intersects with biblical accounts. rusalem (vv. 8, 21) and the extension of the Juda- 1 Samuel 6 suggests Beth-shemesh was the first hites’ conquest (vv. 18, 19). Since the span of Josh place inside Israelite territory adjacent to the Philis- 13–19 runs from pure idealization of the conquest tine city Ekron, in the Valley of Sorek. Archaeologi- and settlement to precise geographical description, cal excavations found the city full of collar-rim jar and since the possible date of its composition may fragments that retain strong Canaanite traditions be the exilic period or even later, it is difficult to during the 12th century BCE. Yet the settlement as claim that the boundary list of Judah came from the a whole reveals a large but unplanned village with time immediately following Dan’s forced migration simple house structures and a general absence of to the north. Regarding the historicity of Solomon’s pig bones, a situation akin to contemporaneous “Is- district list, recent studies question whether Solo- raelite” sites (such as Shiloh) but dissimilar to “Phi- mon’s reorganization for taxation purposes is de- listine” and “Canaanite” sites (Ashkelon and La- monstrable in the context of Iron Age II in the hill chish, respectively). The city experienced a massive country of Palestine. The list could contain some destruction in 1100 BCE from unknown causes and reliable historic data, but it is not historical in its was rebuilt with pillared houses containing square entirety. monolithic columns and thick plaster floors, which On the other hand, Beth-shemesh is mentioned indicates a sharp departure from the architecture of in Josh 21 : 16 and 1 Chr 6 : 59 as a city given to the previous century. These finds may reflect the the Aaronites from the tribes of Judah and Simeon, cultural and ethnic interaction between the “Ca- implying that the city belonged to the tribe of Ju- naanites” and “Israelites” that occurred at border dah not Dan. This inconsistency is compounded by sites like Beth-shemesh during the 12th–11th cen- a logical sequence within Josh 14–21 that the Levi- turies BCE. tical cities in ch. 21 must be taken from the inherit- The fluidity of ethnic identification during the ance of the 12 tribes in chapters 14–19. This literary pre-monarchic period also sheds light on whether dependence, however, does not necessarily negate Beth-shemesh belonged to the tribe of Dan or Ju- historical reliability. If the list of Levitical cities ex- dah. Joshua 19 : 41 suggests that Beth-shemesh isted separately from Josh 14–19, and if the list re- originally belonged to the tribe of Dan but was later flects the geographical and political reality of the occupied by the Amorites, who pushed the Danites early monarchic period, then Beth-shemesh would into the hill country (Judg 1 : 35; identified with belong to the tribe of Judah originally. Later, when Har-heres) and left Beth-shemesh open to the Juda- Solomon reorganized his kingdom without honor- hites to occupy with a mixed population. The list ing the old tribal boundaries, the city fell into the of cities in Solomon’s second district (1 Kgs 4 : 9), tribe of Dan. However, recent studies argue that the which seems to represent the eastern part of the list of Levitical cities could not reflect the monar- Danite territory, may strengthen this scenario.
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