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| The gate structure, seen to the left, exposed at Tel Lachish National Park. (Guy Fitoussi, courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authorit |
An
ancient city gate and shrine that King Hezekiah ordered to be destroyed
during the eighth century B.C., according to the Hebrew Bible, are
seeing the light of day following an excavation in Israel,
archaeologists reported.
The so-called gate-shrine is likely evidence of
actions taken by King Hezekiah, the 12th king of Judea, to abolish
idols, according to the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA). Hezekiah's
father, Ahaz, was known as a godless man, and as soon as Hezekiah
ascended the throne, he ordered the destruction of all of the false
idols (objects, other deities or animals that people worshiped) in the
kingdom, according to Chabad.org, a website on Judaism.
In the Hebrew Bible, a verse explains how "He
[Hezekiah] removed the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut
down the Asherah poles [associated with a sacred goddess]…" (II Kings
18:4), the IAA said. [See Photos of Artifacts Recovered from the Excavation at the Gate-Shrine]
Sprawling gate
The gate is located in the ancient city of Tel
Lachish within an 80-by-80-foot six-chambered area, with three chambers
on each side and the city's main street passing between them, the IAA
said.
The northern section of the gate was unearthed
decades ago by an expedition led by archaeologists from the United
Kingdom and Tel Aviv University. The latest excavation, which took place
from January to March 2016, focused on uncovering the entire gate, the
IAA said.
The excavation was no small task, as the gate is the
largest one in Israel dating back to the First Temple period, a time
when the kingdom used the temple built by King Solomon, the IAA said.
"The size of the gate is consistent with the
historical and archaeological knowledge we possess," Sa'ar Ganor, an
excavation director with the Israel Antiquities Authority, said in a statement.
According to biblical narrative, "everything took place" at the gates
of the ancient city of Tel Lachish, where the gate-shrine was originally
built, the IAA said.
High-ranking people — including city elders, judges,
governors, kings and officials — would sit on the benches by the city
gate, and "these benches were found in our excavation," Ganor said.
Moreover, the new discovery illustrates "how biblical
tales that are known to us become historical and archaeological
stories" as research progresses, said Ze'ev Elkin, who serves as
minister of Jerusalem affairs and heritage and environmental protection
as well as a member of the Knesset, the Israeli parliament.
Broken alters
The Tel Lachish city gate is now exposed and
preserved to a height of about 13 feet. The excavation revealed that the
first chamber held benches with armrests, as well as jars, scoops that
were used for loading grain, and stamped jar handles that have the name
"lmlk" on them, the seal belonging to the king, the IAA said.
These jars were likely related to the military and
administrative preparations of the Kingdom of Judah in the war against
Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, in the late eighth century B.C., the
IAA said. [The Holy Land: 7 Amazing Archaeological Finds]
Further excavations revealed more evidence of Hezekiah's actions.
"Steps to the gate-shrine in the form of a staircase
ascended to a large room, where there was a bench upon which offerings
were placed," Ganor said. "An opening was exposed in the corner of the
room that led to the holy of holies [the gate-shrine]; to our great
excitement, we found two four-horned altars and scores of ceramic finds
consisting of lamps, bowls and stands in this room."
However, the horns on the alter were intentionally cut.
"That is probably evidence of the religious reform
attributed to King Hezekiah, whereby religious worship was centralized
in Jerusalem and the cultic high places that were built outside the
capital were destroyed," Ganor said.
In addition, archaeologists found a stone toilet
installed in the corner of the gate-shrine, perhaps as a means of
desecration, the IAA said. The Bible mentions other descriptions of
placing toilets in cultic areas for desecration purposes. For instance,
King Jehu ordered the destruction of the cult of Ba'al in Samaria. "And
they demolished the pillar of Ba'al, and demolished the house of Ba'al,
and made it a latrine to this day" (II Kings 10:27), according to the
IAA.
However, this is the first time an archaeological
discovery has confirmed a "latrine" passage from the Bible, the IAA
said. Laboratory tests on the stone toilet suggest that it was never
used and may have served a symbolic purpose before the gate-shrine was
sealed and later destroyed by Sennacherib in 701 B.C., the IAA said.
In fact, the excavation also found signs of the
kingdom's defeat, including arrowheads and sling stones, which indicate
the practice of hand-to-hand combat near the city's gatehouse. However,
this isn't the only evidence of Sennacherib's military campaign. His
campaign is also known from the archaeological record, the Bible (II
Kings 18 and II Chronicles 32) and the Tel Lachish wall reliefs from
Sennacherib's palace in Nineveh, which depict the tale of the city's
conquest, the IAA said.
The IAA excavation was part of an initiative led by
the Ministry of Jerusalem and Heritage, in cooperation with Israel's
Nature and Parks Authority. The site, located within Tel Lachish
National Park, isn't yet open to the public.
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