When the Philistines went to return the Ark of the Covenant to Israel, their first stop was Beth-Shemesh (1 Samuel 6:9), which was situated in the border zone between the Judahite hill country and the Coastal Plains controlled by the Philistines. The Iron Age settlement of Tel Beer-Sheba in the Negev is often listed as Judah’s southern border (e.g., 2 Samuel 3:10). Located on the periphery of the Judahite kingdom, both Beth-Shemesh and Beer-Sheba are important for understanding Judah’s state formation in the tenth and ninth centuries B.C.E. Tel Beth-Shemesh Tel Beth-Shemesh: A Border Community in Judah (Renewed Excavations […]
