Tel Gezer is an important archeological site located on the western edge of the Shefela and overlooking the Ayalon Valley to the east. The tel is in the shape of an oval and is about ½ mile in length. It contains important finds from the time of the Canaanites and King Solomon.
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Gezer was inhabited by the Canaanites during the Early Bronze Age in the 3rd millennium and the city covered the entire area of the tel. It was then unfortified. It was subsequently destroyed and abandoned for several centuries.
The city reached its peak during the Middle Bronze Age (2000-1550 BCE) and was one of the foremost cities in the country. Its importance is testified by many references in Egyptian sources. It was then a fortified city with a massive exterior wall constructed of 4-meter blocks of stone with periodic towers. This wall in turn was protected by a 5-meter-high earthen rampart covered with plaster. A partially reconstructed city gate can be viewed from this period, the foundations of a protective tower for the gate, and the city’s internal water supply.
The biblical patriarchs lived during the Middle Bronze Age, but, interestingly, Gezer receives no mention in the Bible during this period, even though the city was then at its peak. It could be that Abraham felt he would have little influence on a city like this because of the strong cultural influences around it, particularly its connections with Egypt. Alternatively, he intuited that not being on the mountain range it would play little part in early Jewish history.
At the time of the conquest of Canaan, Gezer was allocated to the tribe of Ephraim (Joshua 21:20-22), and was also one of the ten Levitical cities allocated to the Kohathites. However, the tribe of Ephraim was unable to drive out the Canaanites “but rather the Canaanites lived among Ephraim until this day” (Joshua 16:10). This, despite the fact that Joshua smote the king of Gezer during a battle against Lachish (Joshua 10:33). On an open battle field, Joshua was able to be successful, but overpowering a strongly fortified city was beyond the ability of the tribe of Ephraim. By the time of David, the city seems to have been taken over by the Philistines. David was able to attack it, but it probably never became Jewish (2 Samuel 5:25), and this remained the situation until the time of King Solomon.
During the reign of Solomon, Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, burnt down the city and gifted it to Solomon, together with his daughter as a wife. After Solomon’s reign it became part of the Northern Kingdom and fades from the biblical narrative.
Directions and parking: Enter “Tel Gezer” into Waze. You will pass through the village of Karmei Yosef. From Karmei Yosef there is an asphalt-covered road, although some parts of the road may not be in good condition. When you get to the Waze destination, a notice will point you up the hill to the parking lot at the base of the tel.
Admission: This is a site of the Israel Parks and Nature Authority. There is no park office, restrooms, or park hours. There is no admission charge. The findings within the park are well described on signs, including in English. There is a map of the site by the parking lot.
Public transport: It is a walk of several kilometers from the nearest bus stop. Enter “Tel Gezer” into Moovit.
The approach road to Tel Gezer, with the nearby settlement of Karmei Yosef in the distance.
A partially-paved path encircles the tel and permits you to view all the main sites of interest.
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From the parking lot head towards the “Lookout.” The path on the left goes to the monoliths and you will take this path on your return. View the Gezer Calendar.
The Gezer Calendar
The Gezer Calendar is one of the best-known finds in Gezer. It is a 7 x 11 cm plaque related to the agricultural calendar. The original is on display at the Istanbul Archaeological Museum. It was probably composed in the Israelite period and is one of the oldest examples of the ancient Hebrew script. This is called the proto-Canaanite script, although I maintain that it is probably misnamed, in that it could well be that it was the Israelites who brought this script to Canaan from Egypt. There is no indication that the Canaanites were particularly literate, while the Israelites were. This script is a phonetic script, in which each letter represents a sound. The letters were borrowed from hieroglyphics, which is a pictorial script. Hebrew changed to a Mesopotamian phonetic script after the return from Babylon, which is why it is as unintelligible to us as it was to the Jews who returned from Babylon. (For further details about this script click on the following essay “With what script did God write the Ten Commandments?”
What this particular inscription was used for is unclear. It reads:
“Two months of harvest
Two months of sowing
Two months of late planting
One month of hoeing flax
One month of barley harvest
One month of harvest and measuring
Two months of vine pruning
One month of summer [fruit)”
A model of the Gezer Calendar. The original is in a museum in Istandbul,Turkey.
Overlooking the Ayalon Valley from the observation terrace with the Judean Mountains in the distance.
The Canaanite tower and gate from the Observation Terrace.
The Observation Terrace
Ancient Gezer had considerable strategic importance as it overlooked the Coastal Plain. Close to Gezer would have been the Via Maris, the main highway between the Egyptian and Mesopotamian empires — now approximately the location of Route 6. On a clear day you can see Ashkelon in the south and far in a northernly direction. The city would thus have had advanced warning of any approaching army. To the east, the city overlooked the Ayalon Valley. From this valley, an important east-west road led to the Judean Mountains via the Beth-Horon Pass. Once in the mountain range, a road led southwards to Jerusalem. A sign on the observation terrace identifies locations from the Ayalon Valley and beyond.
Below the terrace you can make out the Canaanite tower and gate. You will soon view this close up.
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Walk down the steps from the Observation Terrace. Just before the wooden bridge is the path to the Canaanite water system on your left.
The Canaanite water system
The Canaanites would have known that the water table was close to ground level at the base of the tel because of the nearby Ein Yarod spring. They therefore dug a diagonal shaft to about 40 meters below the surface of the tel. Some academics suggest that this system was constructed during the Israelite period, but the consensus is more the Canaanite period. At the bottom of the shaft is a cave and from here one can walk to a pool fed from an aquifer. There have been cave-ins since the system was first exposed, and you will probably not be permitted to progress beyond the shaft. This system differs from that at Megiddo and Jerusalem in that the water source was totally within the city walls, and hence did not require protection, as in Jerusalem.
The shaft to the cave, to about 40 meters below ground level of the tel.
The partially reconstructed Canaanite Gate made of mud bricks.
The gate and a tower of the Canaanite fortress
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Two findings are displayed from the Canaanite period just after the wooden bridge — the base of a tower immediately on your right and the partially reconstructed city gates a bit further along on your left.
This tower is the base of one of the 25 watch-towers around the city wall. This tower protected the gate which was some 20-meter away. There would also have been another tower on the other side of the gate. This is the largest Canaanite tower found in Israel. The base of the tower is 16 meters wide and the tower would have reached to a height of 15-meter. Mudbricks were used above the stone blocks base, although these have not survived.
The Canaanite gate is on the southern slope of the Western Hill close to the water system. It was made of sun-dried mud bricks built on top of a stone foundation. It had a narrow wooden entrance and the gates were mounted on three pairs of upright stone structures. The passage-way was intentionally narrow for defensive reasons. It has been partly reconstructed with sun-dried bricks. This plan is very typical for a Canaanite gate of this period. The best example is at Tel Dan, which in contrast to this gate, is completely preserved.
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Continue along the path to Solomon’s Gate.
The base of a Canaanite tower protecting the gate.
Partially reconstructed Canaanite city gate.
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Continue along the path to Solomon’s Gate.
Solomon’s gate
The Israelite period dates from about 1000 BCE, during the Iron Age, when King Solomon acquired the city from the Egyptians as a gift. During this time, he built a new set of inner and outer walls around the city, the outer wall being on the foundations of the outer wall from the Canaanite period. The inner wall was in the form of a casement wall. In this type of wall, there are two parallel inner and outer walls that are connected at intervals creating chambers. A casement double wall was a common design for the Israelites in the 10th century BCE. It was not exclusively Israelite, being first seen in Canaanite cities as early as the 17th century BCE. A new gate was also built on the southern slope of the tel, about 200 meter east of the former Middle Bronze Age gate.
You will first notice a typical four-roomed Israelite home and then the gate. Identification of the probable builder of this gate was achieved by the well-known Israeli archeologist Yiga’el Yadin, who performed excavations here in the 1950s and 1960s. He noted similarities between this gate and those at Megiddo and Hazor. A sentence in the Book of Kings allowed him to date them to the period of king Solomon: “And this is the matter of the tax levy which King Solomon raised: to build the Temple of the Lord, and his own house and the Milo, and the wall of Jerusalem and Hazor and Megiddo and Gezer” (I Kings 9:15). Also, “And Solomon built Gezer and the lower Beth Horon” (ibid 9:17).
The gate consists of a central passageway with three guard rooms on each side. The one closest to the entrance still contains a water trough. Each of the rooms had plastered stone benches along its walls. The floor of the passageway had a rainwater drainage channel covered with large paving slabs. To the right of the gate are the ruins of a large administrative complex, also dated to the period of King Solomon. All its rooms had access to a central courtyard. Some of the rooms formerly contained olive presses, grinding surfaces and clay ovens for cooking.
The gate shows evidence of a major fire, and this may well be attributed to the conquest of the city by Pharaoh Shishak or Sheshonk I in 925 BCE during the reign of Rehoboam, the son of King Solomon. Shishak’s campaign is described in the Bible, although Gezer is not specifically mentioned (1 Kings 14:25-26 and 2 Chronicles 12:2-4).
Gezer continued to be part of a Jewish kingdom until it was captured by the Assyrian Tiglath-Pileser II between 734 to 732 BCE, and he completely burnt it down.
Solomon's gate has a similar plan to those in Hazor and Megiddo, which were also likely built by Solomon.
The ancient mud bricks can be clearly distinguished from the recently made ones in the Canaanite Gate.
The monoliths or matzevot
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The path will continue past an observation area and then to the monoliths.
Matzevot (plural of matzeva) or religious pillars were not uncommon in the ancient Middle East, and Gezer has a cultic area with 10 pillars. The presumption is that they were erected by the Canaanites as part of their cultic practices, although their precise function and why there were ten is unknown. Of interest is that by one of the monoliths is a stone basin which could have been used for anointing with either oil or blood or it may have just contained water.
Matzevot in paganism served several purposes — including commemorating important events, marking sacred locations, representing deities, and identifying places associated with divine presence. In that awareness of the presence of God was a prominent feature of the Jewish forefathers, it is not surprising that the erection of matzevot is mentioned quite frequently in the Torah. They were used particularly to commemorate divine encounters and treaties or promises to God. Hence, Jacob, erected a pillar after his encounter with God on a ladder rising up to heaven in a dream at Beth-el and he poured oil on the stone. He also made a covenant with God that if He were to protect him in his future travels, he would return to Beth-el and make there a house of God. God clearly approved of this promise when He said to Jacob in Haran: “I am God of Beth-el where you anointed a pillar where you vowed a vow to Me. Now arise, leave this land [Mesopotamia] and return to the land of your birth” (Genesis 31:13). Moses also erected 12 matzevot at the foot of Mount Sinai to commemorate the 12 tribes receiving the covenant of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 24:4).
However, by the time of the giving of the Torah, it had turned completely against matzevot for cultic purposes: “You shall not plant for yourself a tree for idol worship, any tree, near the altar of YHWH your God that you shall make for yourself. And you shall not erect for yourself a matzevah which YHWH your God hates (Deuteronomy 16:21-22).
The Torah prohibited the erection of standing stones as cultic objects, even when dedicated to the God of Israel. Traditional Jewish commentators explained this change largely through the association of such pillars with Canaanite idolatry. However, stones used to commemorate historical events, mark agreements, or identify graves continued to be acceptable.
But there is a question that could be asked. Why are these particular matzevot still standing?
The Book of Deuteronomy states clearly that they should be destroyed: “You shall surely destroy all the places where the nations whom you shall dispossess served their gods, on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree. You shall tear down their altars and dash in pieces their pillars and burn their Asherim with fire. You shall chop down the carved images of their gods and destroy their name out of that place” (Deuteronomy 12:2–3). Also, Exodus 34:12-13).
This is how these pillars were found — mainly buried, but upright. It could be that they were erected by the northern kingdom. More likely is that they were Canaanite and Solomon did not destroy them. Why not? One might say that this was not his policy, which was open-minded regarding other people’s gods. Nevertheless, the Bible had a definite opinion regarding this type of policy.
Note the stone stone basin by one of the pillars.
Why specifically ten pillars? We do not know.
Solomon and his many wives
The circumstances of Pharoah’s gift to Solomon and its long-term consequences are of considerable interest: “Pharoah king of Egypt had gone up and captured Gezer and burned it with fire, and had killed the Canaanites who lived in the city and had given it as dowry to his daughter, Solomon’s wife” (I Kings 9:15).
This royal marriage was consequential. The Pharaohs did not give their daughters to any minor kingdom, and this marriage was an indication of the esteem in which Solomon was held. This marriage would have strengthened the relationship between the Israelite kingdom and Egypt, particularly in the areas of security and trade: “And Solomon became allied by marriage to Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh’s daughter and brought her into the City of David, until he had completed building his own house and the House of the Lord and the wall of Jerusalem round about” (I Kings 3:1).
There has been academic discussion as to who this unnamed Pharaoh was. Most likely it was Siamun. He reigned from 986 to 967 BCE, which aligns with the early years of Solomon’s reign (Solomon ruled from about 970 to 930 BCE). Siamun may well have conducted military campaigns in Canaan, although there are no historical records to corroborate this.
Nevertheless, the Book of Deuteronomy is quite explicit about the dangers of having many foreign wives: “And he shall not acquire many wives for himself, lest his heart turn away, nor shall he acquire for himself excessive silver and gold” (Deuteronomy 17:17). King Solomon was prepared to ignore this: “King Solomon loved many foreign women and the daughter of Pharaoh, Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians and Hittites. Of the nations about which the Lord had said to the Children of Israel: “You shall not go (mingle) among them and they shall come among you, for certainly they will sway your heart after their deities. To these did Solomon cleave to love. And he had seven hundred royal wives and three hundred concubines, and his wives turned away his heart” (I Kings 11:1-3).
It is probably no coincidence that the daughter of Pharaoh is mentioned first on this list, as she would have been diplomatically the most important wife. The Talmud is of the opinion that these foreign wives converted to Judaism, but one can question this: “Solomon brought Pharaoh’s daughter up from the City of David to the house that he had built for her, for he said: “My wife shall not live in the house of David king of Israel, for the places to which the ark of the Lord has come are holy“ (2 Chronicles 8:11).
Particularly in his old age, Solomon developed an open-minded policy regarding the religious practices of his foreign pagan wives. It is questionable whethe he actually engaged in pagan worship himself, but he certainly made arrangements for the practices of his many wives and may even have symbolically joined them in worship: “For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. So, Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and did not wholly follow the Lord, as David his father had done. Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites, on the mountain east of Jerusalem. And so he did for all his foreign wives, who made offerings and sacrificed to their gods (1 Kings 11:4–13).
Solomon’s deviation from the Torah would result in the splitting of his kingdom under his son Rehoboam to a northern Israelite kingdom and the southern Kingdom of Judah: “And the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods. But he did not keep what the Lord commanded. Therefore the Lord said to Solomon, “Since this has been your practice and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes that I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you and will give it to your servant" (1 Kings 11:9–11).
In those days, for a king to have many wives meant multiple political liaisons. For Solomon, the daughter of Pharaoh was his most important wife. But to accommodate these wives meant introducing their foreign worship into his kingdom. Solomon bent the rules, and his dynasty would now suffer the consequences.