Summary: Rare discovery near Beit Shemesh reveals one of the earliest known temples in Israel, offering unique insights into the rural-to-urban transition in Canaan.
Now the people of Beth-shemesh [Beit Shemesh] were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley. And when they lifted up their eyes and saw the ark, they rejoiced to see it. – 1 Samuel 6:13 (ESV)
Ancient Settlement of Beit Shemesh
A remarkable archaeological discovery near Beit Shemesh has unveiled an ancient settlement that provides unprecedented insights into the beginning of the urbanization process in the Land of Israel.
The unique site may feature one of the earliest known temples in Israel. Many pristine ritual vessels were unearthed inside, signifying the extraordinary public building was used for ceremonial purposes. Two of the area’s oldest known pottery kilns were also uncovered.
“The size of this structure, its broad walls, the benches inside it and other variables indicate that it is an important and exceptional structure with a public function – perhaps a temple,” the excavation directors explained. “We know almost no public buildings in Israel from this ancient period and earlier.”
Researchers date the find to the first part of the Early Bronze Age, which standard dating puts at around 3,000 BC. Revisionists argue that ancient time periods have become over-stretched, and that later (more recent) dates should be assigned to this Bronze Age Period on the order of centuries. Regardless, these discoveries pertain to the land of Canaan in the centuries leading up to Abraham’s arrival.
Canaanites in the Bible
The land of Canaan was named after the descendants of Canaan who was a son of Ham, the son of Noah.
Canaan fathered Sidon his firstborn and Heth, and the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites, the Arvadites, the Zemarites, and the Hamathites. Afterward the clans of the Canaanites dispersed. And the territory of the Canaanites extended from Sidon in the direction of Gerar as far as Gaza, and in the direction of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha. – Genesis 10:15-19
The Bible uses the term Canaanite to refer to the direct descendants of Canaan, and also as an umbrella term for the residents of Canaan whether they were descendants of Canaan or not. The term “Amorites” seems to operate in a similar manner in the Bible.
There was strife between the Canaanites and Abraham’s family and eventually the Israelites defeated most of Canaan when they came up out of Egypt as a nation with a population that had multiplied to become “as numerous as the stars of heaven.” This was in fulfillment of the promises given to Abram in Genesis 15. Here the text says that Israel would be in Egypt for four generations before they would come out to take possession of the land because the sin of the Amorites was not yet complete (Gen. 15:16).
On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites.” – Genesis 15:18-21
Genesis 15 and other passages make it clear that the Canaanites were worshipers of false gods who practised violence, including sacrificing their children. If the recent find in the heart of ancient Canaan was a temple, it likely represents the development of these practices among the people there.
Not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart are you going in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations the LORD your God is driving them out from before you, and that he may confirm the word that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. – Deuteronomy 9:5
Numerous Ritual Vessels
The discovery was made during excavations by the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) at the site of Hurvat Husham in preparation for expanding the western “Brosh” industrial zone near Beit Shemesh located in the Judean Lowlands (or Shephelah in Hebrew), an area of grassy, limestone foothills between the coastal plain and the Judean hill country.
Archeologists uncovered about 40 perfectly preserved vessels, including numerous miniature ceremonial items in a chamber of the public building structure.
“It is interesting that these many pots and juglets were placed here just shortly before the entire site was abandoned forever,” said IAA excavation directors Ariel Shatil, Maayan Hemed, and Danny Ben-Ayon. “You can literally imagine the people who put down this ware and left it all here.”
“The room is so special and fascinating because it clearly doesn’t belong to a regular residential house. It is undoubtedly part of an important and exceptional public structure or complex the likes of which we rarely find from this period,” said Shatil.
“It is not known what happened in this room later, but there are signs of burning, and vessels that fell on top of each other,” said the archaeologists. “Laboratory examination of their former contents of the vessels using different scientific methods will shed additional light on the site: We will be able to tell if they contained oil, water, wheat – or perhaps they were specifically for exotic oils or other substances.”
Rows of Large Standing Stones
Near the main structure, archaeologists discovered an enclosed area featuring large standing stones arranged in rows. “The standing stones were erected even before this enclosed public building was erected,” said Dr. Yitzhak Paz, an Early Bronze Age specialist at the IAA.
The presence of these carefully placed stones “promises to be instructive of the socio-political process involved in the founding of the cultic service in Hurvat Husham,” Paz continued.
“It seems that originally there was an open cultic activity area for the general public which then transformed into ritual activity in an enclosed compound with more controlled access,” he said. “This development process on the site, along with other processes, attests to an increase in social complexity.”
Early Bronze Age Growth
The ancient site in Hurvat Husham was first discovered in 2021 by Marion Zindel and Natan Ben-Ari during IAA excavations. In the last three-and-a-half years the excavation has expanded to clarify the extent of the site and further understand its importance in regard to the urbanization of Israel.
The Early Bronze Age is one of the most complex periods in Israel’s history. Many changes took place with the population increasing dramatically. Society became more complex with the creation of a political structure. Acceleration of urbanization is evident with monumental public construction such as fortifications, religious and government buildings, expertise and standardization in various industries, and more intensive trade with neighboring regions such as Egypt, Syria, Anatolia, and Mesopotamia.
Beit (Beth) Shemesh in the Bible
The modern city of Beit Shemesh is located in an area of mostly farmland. Situated nearby is the Old Testament Beth-shemesh, where the Ark of the Covenant returned on a cart from Philistine territory in the days of Samuel before Israel had a king.
In 1 Samuel 4, the Philistines captured the Ark of the Covenant after conquering Israel in battle. They set it before the statue of their god Dagon and the next morning the idol was found fallen over and broken at the foot of the Ark. In addition to this, the Philistines began to be plagued with tumors.
After having the Ark for seven months, because of the problems it was causing, the Philistines decided to send it back to Israel, following the counsel of their diviners and priests:
“And take the ark of the Lord and place it on the cart and put in a box at its side the figures of gold, which you are returning to him as a guilt offering. Then send it off and let it go its way and watch. If it goes up on the way to its own land, to Beth-shemesh, then it is he who has done us this great harm, but if not, then we shall know that it is not his hand that struck us; it happened to us by coincidence.”
The men did so, and took two milk cows and yoked them to the cart… And the cows went straight in the direction of Beth-shemesh along one highway, lowing as they went. They turned neither to the right nor to the left, and the lords of the Philistines went after them as far as the border of Beth-shemesh. Now the people of Beth-shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley. And when they lifted up their eyes and saw the ark, they rejoiced to see it. The cart came into the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh and stopped there. A great stone was there. And they split up the wood of the cart and offered the cows as a burnt offering to the Lord. And the Levites took down the ark of the Lord and the box that was beside it, in which were the golden figures, and set them upon the great stone. And the men of Beth-shemesh offered burnt offerings and sacrifices on that day to the Lord. – 1 Samuel 6:8-11a,12-15 (ESV)
Conclusion
“The site uncovered in Hurvat Husham is exceptional not only because of its size, but because it reveals to us some of the first characteristics of the transition from village life to urban life,” said the excavation managers.
“The site teaches us that about 5,000 years ago, the first steps were already taken towards the development of an urban society in the Judean Lowlands. A few generations later, we already see large cities in the area, surrounded by a wall, with palaces and other buildings – such as at the site of Tel Yarmouth, which is in this site’s range of vision.”
“The Land of Israel, due to its nature and its geographical location, was a fertile ground for the development of ancient civilizations,” said IAA Director Eli Escusido. “The Hurvat Husham site uncovered by the researchers of the Israel Antiquities Authority, reveals another important piece in the puzzle of urban development in our region.”
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TOP PHOTO: Ancient vessels unearthed during an archaeological dig in a settlement near the central Israeli city of Beit Shemesh. (credit: IAA)
