Gezer

Pharaoh [i.e., Siamun], king of Egypt, had attacked and captured Gezer. He had set it on fire. He killed its Canaanite inhabitants and then gave it as a wedding gift to his daughter, Solomon’s wife. And Solomon rebuilt Gezer. (I Kings 9:15–16)

Gezer is a site from ancient Israel that has yielded 10 monumental megaliths (possibly a Canaanite bamoth), 9 inscribed boundary stones (which allowed it to be the first definitively identified Biblical city) and a Solomonic 6-Chambered Gate (similar to those at Hazor and Megiddo). Also found at Gezer is the Gezer Calendar (~900 BC), the earliest known example of Hebrew writing.

Two months of ingathering,
Two months of sowing,
Two months of late sowing,
One month of chopping flax,
One month of barley harvest,
One month of harvest and completion,
Two months of grape cutting,
One month of summer fruits.
(Sivan 1998)


Written by      First published December 25, 2011      Last modified March 28, 2012
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