Day 6

Gezer Solomon Gate


Not a lot of pictures for this day because they aren't very interesting. We started out at Gezer which is in the Shephelah, rolling hills area west of Judah. At Gezer, was a Tel which had remains from a gate of Solomon. This matches the story in the Bible where Solomon fortifies Gezer along with Hazzor and Miggeddo.
After Gezer we went up onto the Beth-Horan Ridge Route, a roud taken from the West to Jerusalem, one of only two ancient routes taken. We took pictures and read the story of Joshua chasing the Caananites from Gibeon.
We next went up to a view point where we saw the Central Benjamin Plateau. Here we saw where the cities of Gibeon, Ramah, Gibeah (Saul's birthplace), and Mizpah. After lunch we went to the pass which is between Geba and Michmash, it is a kilt that is not very steep that is in two Bible stories, one with Jonathan the other a prophecy of Isaiah.
After this we went up to Shiloh and saw where the Tabernacle stayed for 300 years. The Tel did not have many excavations. The one of interest had houses from the time of the Tabernacle. Also at Shiloh, the Benjamites came and took wives from girls that were dancing at a festival.