Tel Gezer

Yesterday, we went to the ancient ruins, Tel Gezer, for a tiyul. Tel Gezer  is located on the “Derech Hayam” or road of the sea, due to its central location in the Fertile Crescent. Like in the game ‘Risk’, the Middle East is a perfect place to trade as it is a pathway to three continents. Of the 5 geographical areas in Israel, Gezer is strategically located next to the coastal plain, in the foothills. Even though the city itself is not large, its location makes it incredibly important to trade around the world.

My impressions of the Canaanite people who lived in this area are extremely mixed. Intelligently, the Canaanites made the walls surrounding the city over 30 meters thick. These casemate walls made it virtually impossible for anyone to penetrate the village. Secondly, even without the use of modern power tools, they were able to tap into the water table by manually digging over 40 meters through bedrock. While there is no doubt these people were nifty (not to use a play on words), some may say they were also inhumane. The Canaanites had many slaves working inside the walls of the city. Also, many of the “lesser” beings of the town, such as prostitutes, were given homes inside of the defensive wall where the rooms could be more easily destroyed.

In the Torah portion Lekh Lekha, God tells Avram to go to the land that he will show him, all in exchange for a brit, or covenant. Avram (who later becomes Avraham) packs his bags and travels place to place looking for this land and a place to settle. Along this journey, Avraham looks for the five D’s that stand for what you need for a well-established civilization. The five D’s are Drink, Diet, Defense, Deals and Deity. In a place such as Gezer, Avraham would find Drink, a big well. He also would find lots of food (Diet), a great security wall (Defense) and lots of opportunity for trade outside of the city entrance (Deals). However, Avraham failed to find Deity. In the city, Avraham found a series of altars where sacrifices were held. Unfortunately for Avraham, these people were polytheistic. Avraham, though, would only pray to one god.

In Tel Gezer, archaeologists found many artifacts that gave historicity to the site. In the area, archaeologists found a large shard with writing on it, an ostracon, with a calendar on it. This calendar showed all of the harvest festivals which were extremely important to the Jews. On the same tablet, a few stray marks can be seen indicating that perhaps a child was practicing writing. This may show that this ancient Jewish civilization valued education (the calendar was anachronistic, as it was found from the time of King Solomon, about 1,000 years after the Canaanites). Archaeologists also found an Arab village nearby called Charab Jazal, which sounds very similar to Gezer. Lastly, as mentioned earlier, archaeologists found huge idols where people made sacrifices to the gods. This is extremely similar to the story in the Tanakh when God tells Abraham to sacrifice his son, Isaac. This connection leads me and others to believe that it may have been a tradition to sacrifice children. In conclusion, how do you think that the attempted sacrifice of Isaac affected the relationship between Avraham and his son? Also, was this attempted sacrifice justified because god sent Avraham to do it?