Back when I first began visiting Yerushalayim (and Israel), I would always get excited when we passed the village of Abu Ghosh. Because it meant we were almost in Jerusalem, my place of choice when visiting Israel. (I have generally stayed in the same hotel for all these years, too.)
But, I recently learned something new, something really cool, about Abu Ghosh. And, yes, it does mean that we can follow parts of someone’s hypothesis without agreeing with the entire scenario they may present.
In this case, I am considering Dr. Israel Finkelstein’s hypothesis. Dr. Finkelstein believes that the Tora is wrong- that during the time of King Josiah (7th century BCE), folks invented a story about the Kingdom of Judah and the Kingdom of Israel. The latter kingdom was destroyed by Shalmanesser (Assyrian), while the Kingdom of Judah survived. Except that (according to Finkelstein) Judah was a vassal state to Israel (aka Shomron, Samaria) and invented the fact that folks went to Jerusalem to pray and not in Samaria and/or Beth El. And, Judah wanted to blame the polytheistic Northern Kingdom for its own destruction- which also led to their invention of the stories of Joshua and the conquest of Israel, to justify their control of the land.
Which brings up his reporting of the Abu Ghosh findings. Those of you familiar with the Tora (what many of you call the Old Testament) remember that the Jews lost control of the Aron (what you call the Ark of the Covenant) in a battle with the Philistines, who brought the captured treasure to Ashdod, where it made the Philistines ill. So, the Philistines did the logical thing- they brought the Aron back to Israel. Where the folks of Kiryat Ye’arim (קרית יערים) brought it to what was called ‘bet Avinadav’ (the house of Abinadab) on the hill. And, there it remained until David brought it to Jerusalem.
Amazingly, there still is a hill by the Church of Our Lady of the Ark of the Covenant, which is identified by many scholars as the site of Kiryat Ye’arim. (That includes Dr. Finkelstein.) Which is part of Abu Ghosh’s neighborhood.
The work is being done by Dr. Finkelstein, along with Drs. Thomas Romer and Christophe Nicolle (College of France). They’ve determined that the hill is man-made, not natural- being a mound with four retaining walls. (Think of the Temple Mount with its retaining walls.) That would make this place ‘suitable’ for Aron, and for people to come and worship there.
The walls are 110 by 150 meters square and from 6 to 7 meters tall, in perfectly straight east-west and north-south orientation. It seems to have been constructed sometime between 1150 to 770 BCE- but most of the potsherds and other evidence localized the date closer to the latter times (during the reign of King Jeroboam).
I wonder what else they will find in the coming year. (No, not the Ark of the Covenant…)
