Debating Khirbet Qeiyafa

 

Debating Khirbet Qeiyafa: A Fortified City in Judah from the Time of King David

Yosef Garfinkel, Igor Kreimerman and Peter Zilberg

Israel Exploration So Yosef Garfinkel ciety and The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 2016

ISBN: 978-965-221-106-4

Read by the author in April 2021 and reread in 2024

I bought this book on a trip to Herodium at the tale-end of Covid-19. Most people who are tuned in to the Israeli archaeology scene know about the long-standing debate on high vs low chronology and how it pertains to the Kingdom of David. This book provides a very clear and for-the-layman example of how to lay out an archaeological argument, taking the readers step-by-step as the authors make the case for the high chronology based on the findings in Khirbet Qeiyafa. 

The site in question is a fortified city at a distance from Jerusalem. The authors argue that it is certainly from the period described in Samuel in which the House of David is expanding its reach. The fact that this city also demonstrates a connection to Jerusalem proves that the House of David was no small, tribal entity but rather a proper kingdom. 

I found three sections particularly interesting. The first two relate to small elements that Garfinkel has written about more extensively elsewhere: the casemate walls, indicative of Iron Age II construction, and two exceptional model shrines with distinct architectural features that recall the architecture of the Temple in Jerusalem. In 2021, shortly after reading the book, I went to visit the site with my kids and we did a quick hike around the city. The next day we visited the Israel Museum, where the models were on display, and I was able to connect the artifacts to where we had been the previous day. 

The most fascinating section of the book comes when the authors make a point about the Bible as a source for historical information, even if not taking its stories at face value. The authors argue that in this period major cities needed, in order to command enough resources, to be spaced at a certain distance. In Gaza, where there were five major Philistine cities and most were spaced accordingly, but Gath and Ekron were too close to one another to co-exist as major cities. This is exactly what archaeologist have found. Ekron thrived until the end of the 11th century BCE, at which point Gath grew and flourished. Gath in turn was destroyed at the end of the 9th century BCE, and Ekron once again rose in prominence. As it happened, this push and pull is reflected in Biblical stories. Ekron is located on the Sorek Valley, along which we find Biblical stories in Iron Age I about Shimshon and later the capture and return of the Ark. Later, in Iron Age II, stories shift to the Elah Valley and Gath, with David and Goliath and his battles with Gath. Thus the Biblical stories match what archaeologists have found. The authors make this point as a way of demonstrating how Khirbet Qeiyafa fits into the grid of major cities that extended the influence of Jerusalem and confronted the Philistine cities.