On location in the hills of Judea, archaeologist and Bible teacher MB speaks of an Israelite name, Eshba’al, found on an Iron Age pottery jar fragment at the hilltop fortress of Khirbet Qeiyafa. Not yet developed into a tourist site, these nearby ruins hail from the era of King David and lie outside of Jerusalem close to Bet Shemesh. The Valley of Elah spreads below, place where Goliath was defeated as the Philistines challenged the Israelites.
Now restored from the pottery sherds excavated, this name is the same as one of King Saul’s sons, rival of King David, and was only used around this time period (approx. 1,000 BC). However, this incised inscription, written before the storage jar was fired, says “Eshba’al, son of Beda” (it can also be written Ishba’al). Names on pottery could mean that the produce stored inside came from his fields, or that the produce was being sent to him and destined for his use.
What’s remarkable comes from the fact that the name itself speaks of Ba’al, the Canaanite god of thunder. Yet, Israelites used this theophoric element in their personal names! Talk about the surrounding culture infiltrating and affecting the people dedicated to the one true and living God…. Bible writers dealt with this reality in their own way. I Chronicles 8:33 refers to Eshba’al (Ishba’al = man of Ba’al), Saul’s son and second king of Israel, but in II Samuel 2:10, the pagan-sounding name is changed to Ishbosheth (man of shame), instead.
Samuel, don’t hold back, tell us what you really think about pagan names!
The writing itself on this storage jar, uncovered in Area C during the 2012 seventh season of excavations with Hebrew University and the Israel Antiquities Authority at Khirbet Qeiyafa, signals a new stage of development for local literacy, as well. Around the shoulder of the 58 cm/22 inch tall storage jar, the Hebrew writing, employing the Canaanite alphabet as it did in the Early Iron Age, stretches from right to left (Garfinkel, Golub, Misgav & Ganor – BASOR 373 – 2015). This is how modern Hebrew is written, right to left. But prior to this time, a sentence might be written from left to right—or top to bottom! Talk about challenging.
Imagine if this were an urgent message being sent in time of battle on a piece of pottery sherd instead of on a storage jar—I hope you had a skilled linguist in your ranks! Might take a while to decipher the writing.
Just sayin’….
So the message to us from Khirbet Qeiyafa: yes, some folks were indeed literate in the 11th century BC, just as the Bible depicts. Some were already using local-sounding names and losing their uniqueness as the people of God. But reformers like the prophet Samuel started changing names and calling the people back to God.
A timely message from the hills of Judea.
Comments are closed.