“And David Sent Spoils … to the Elders in Aroer” (1 Samuel 30:26–28) - The BAS Library
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“And David Sent Spoils … to the Elders in Aroer” (1 Samuel 30:26–28)

Excavators bring to life ancient Negev fortress but find no remains from David’s time

By Avraham Biran

Three sites in the Bible—and perhaps foura—are called Aroer (pronounced Ah-roe-air). We call one Aroer of the Negev. The other two—or three—are east of the Jordan River. Aroer may mean “crest of a mountain.” This very general description would explain why several sites have this name. Or, Aroer may be derived from the name of the juniper plant, Ar’ar (Juniperus Phoenicia), a common plant in arid zones; this meaning also could give rise to several Aroers. The most frequently mentioned Aroerb is on the bank of the river known in the Bible as the Arnon (the Wadi Mujib). The […]

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Footnotes

1.

Readers who remember Amos 1 will recognize this as a paraphrase.

2.

Joshua 12:2; Joshua 13:9, Joshua 13:16; Deuteronomy 2:36; Deuteronomy 3:12; Deuteronomy 4:48; 2 Kings 10:33; Jeremiah 48:19; Judges 11:26; 1 Chronicles 5:8.

3.

Numbers 32:34; Joshua 13:25; 2 Samuel 24:5.

4.

It may however be referred to in Joshua 15:12 as Adadah, which the Septuagint renders as “Aruel.”

5.

A wadi (Arabic) or nahal (Hebrew) is a dry river bed or small river common in Israel and the neighboring regions. During the rainy season, a wadi or nahal may become a raging torrent for a few hours, or even days, or it can be a relatively calm stream.

6.

American students at HUC-JIR and Israeli volunteers formed the enthusiastic labor force. In 1978, students from Wooster College, Ohio, under the direction of Dr. and Mrs. J. Arthur Baird, were welcome workers. In 1980, students from Lewis and Clark College, Portland, Oregon, under the direction of Dr. and Mrs. Richard L. Rohrbaugh, joined us. And in 1981, students from the University of Wisconsin, under the direction of Professor Keith N. Schoville, and from the Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, under the direction of Dr. and Mrs. B. Elmo Scoggin, were part of our excavation team.

7.

We did find a Rhodian jar handle, a few Hellenistic sherds and two coins of Antiochus III (233 B.C.–187 B.C.), indicating that some activity may have taken place at the site in the third to the first centuries B.C. However, no architectural remains were found.

Endnotes

1.

See Dan Cole’s review of Digging for God and Country, by Neil Asher Silberman (Books in Brief, BAR 08:04).

2.

See A. Dupont-Sommer, Les Inscriptions Araméennes de Sfiré (Paris 1958), and B. Mazar, “The Aramean Empire and its Relations with Israel,” Biblical Archeologist Vol. 25, (1962), p. 118.

3.

Edward Robinson, Biblical Researches in Palestine, Mount Sinai and Arabia Petraea. London, 1841.

4.

Rudolph Cohen is familiar to BAR readers as the author of “Did I Excavate Kadesh-Barnea?” BAR 07:03, and “The Marvelous Mosaics of Kissufim,” BAR 06:01.