Field
Study 4: The Land Of Benjamin
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| Tell Gezer |
As
we traveled around the area once belonging to the Tribe of Benjamin,
I found myself repeatedly returning to the issue, or question of
space. Israel is a much smaller country than I had always imagined
it, probably because my idea of a long journey is driving across
several states in the U.S.A. Israel, however, is only about the size
of New Jersey, the 5th
smallest state back home. Could so much have happened in such a small
space, and did it even feel small to the people who lived there in
the time of the Bible?
Our
first stop was near the coast, at Tell Gezer. The luscious green site
is larger than many Tells, about a kilometer long. Even though this
would have been considered a large city, I can’t help but think of
how in the U.S. one family might own that amount of property as their
back yard. Could a whole city really have lived within the walls of
this Tell, spreading their fields into the surrounding valleys?
Recalling to mind our first field study, and the statement that
within the Old City of Jerusalem today, some 30,000 people live
within 1 square kilometer, I suppose it makes sense that Gezer also
would have been a large city.
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| 6 Chamber gate at Gezer |
As
we looked to the coast, where the Phoenicians would have ruled, and
towards the north where the tribe of Ephriam would have been just
within the hills, and of course the nearby tribe of Benjamin in the
East, it is easy to understand why people would gather into protected
cities rather than spread out all over the countryside, where they
would be vulnerable to whatever “cat” was prowling nearby.
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| Playing around on Gezer Standing Stones |
Still,
in spite of this logic, it seems odd that a city like Gezer might
remain so separate from other nearby cities, close enough to be
easily seen and walked to. However, here again I must remember that a
town near to where I live might be a 15 minute drive away, and out of
site. It feels close, like a neighbor, but not really like my town.
Similarly, I imagine, if a nearby city were well within view of
Gezer, but still a 15 or 30 minute walk away, it would be easier for
the inhabitants to remain separate in their identities, and for
cities to act almost like their own kingdoms.
The
one place that truly felt spacious was the Judean wilderness, where
one might look in any direction without seeing an ancient city or a
modern town. The only inhabitants were the Bedouin shepherds, whose
families live mostly apart from each other, and who might be seen in
pairs of two, or even alone watching the flocks graze. Well beyond
the 12” rain line, and made of Senonian chalk, the Judean
Wilderness is a land where you “have nothing, but need nothing.”
In the Bible it is a land of both judgment and temptation, but also
of needed solitude, and a place to draw near with God.
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| Gezer |
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| Walking up to Wadi Kilt |
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| Cypros |
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| Wilerness |
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| Wilderness |
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