SHEPHELAH...

Today was one of the best field trips that we had. The combination of biblical sites and the adventure of spelunking, the excitement of seeing where David fought Goliath, and where he grew up. The Shephelah played a major role in biblical times. It is home to many of the easier routes up to the hill country. There are five major valleys making up the Shephelah, or the “Low Lands”, and those are: the Aijalon valley, Sorek Valley, Elah Valley, Guvrin Valley, and Lachish Valley. These valleys are broad and have very good soil to have crops such as wheat and barley and some of the best grapes come from the vines in these valleys. Each valley has cities that contribute to the significance of role the valley plays.
Since we visited the Aijalon Valley on the Jerusalem approaches trip, we started out with the Sorek Valley. We started out at Beth-Shemesh where we looked at two major events. We looked at Judges 13-16 which involves Samson, and I Samuel 6-7:2 which has to do with the Ark of the Covenant. Beth-Shemesh means House of the Sun. This city was a Canaanite city and was probably named because the inhabitants worshiped their god of the sun. From the tel-Beth Shemesh we could see the broad valley and Timnah in the distance giving some guard to the entrance of the valley. And further than that to the south of Timnah is Ekron, which provides more control of the mouth of the Sorek Valley.
As we were at Beth-Shemesh we read the account of how the Ark of the Covenant was brought up from the Philistine cities up to Kiriat Jearim. This really made me think of the fact that the Lord is in control of everything. The fact that the Ark was taken in the first place, when the Israelite were depending on themselves, and God allowed the Ark to be taken so that the Israelites might repent of their sins, and then the Ark was brought back to them… by some cows. Of all things, cows! Again, this account that was written actually knew all of the terrain, and was a first hand account. There is an emphasis in the coming DOWN from Kiriat Jearim, and taking it back UP to Kriat Jearim. Knowing the geography helps to understand what really happened when we read the Bible.
We then went to Azekah, in the valley of Elah where David and Goliath had their feud. As we stood on the tell on the top of the hill we could clearly see the where they probably were and where Goliath stood every morning taunting the Israelites. The Philistines were camped from where we were standing, at Azekah, all the way to Socoh, and it was really neat seeing how many Philistines were actually there to cover all that ground! From the top we drove down to the brook that goes through the Elah Valley, close to Azekah, probably where David chose the 5 smooth stones to sling at Goliath. After reenacting the events of the fight I realized again how this fight was not David’s or the Israelites, but God’s. That was probably the highlight of the trip… all of these fights were not anyone else’s but the Lords. For example, when the Amorites were chased as far as Azekah with hail stones from the Lord. No one caused that but the Lord.
Working our way southwards we hit Maresha, which is the hometown of the prophet Micah. Here we saw well excavated and preserved Hellenistic and Idumean cities. This was also the spot that is in II Chronicles 14:9-15 that talks about Asa repels an attack by Zerah the Ethopian king.
Lachish was the next spot that we visited. This is where Joshua smote the inhabitants with the edge of the sword. Meaning that he didn’t burn or destroy the city. This is something that helps out with the 1446 exodus from Egypt. Archaeologists who look for burn layers for the Israelite periods are looking for the wrong things because the Lord told them that they would be living in houses that they didn’t build, and reaping fields they didn’t plant. They wouldn’t burn down the cities that they conquered, they would just move into it.
Gath, the hometown of Goliath was the last place that we went to. This was a nice hike up to the tell. And as we were up there you can tell why this was a good city to have. It controlled the entrance to the Elah Valley and you have a commanding view of the coastal plains and the hill country. This was the one of the places fled from Saul. Of all places, this one is ironic, because it was the hometown of Goliath who David killed not too long before he visited the city this time. And this is where David acted insane so that his life would be spared. David was not only thinking about himself when he fled to Gath. Yes, David was fleeing for his life, but he knew that if he were to flee to some other town in Israel, Saul would have punished both David and the people helping him. So he wasn’t just thinking about himself when he came to Gath.