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Joshua's Altar, Jacob's Well and Joseph's Tomb

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  • Joshua's Altar, Jacob's Well and Joseph's Tomb

    JOSHUA’S ALTAR,
    JACOB’S WELL
    &
    JOSEPH’S TOMB


    001.jpg
    Google aerial showing Shechem, Askar, Jacob’s Well, Joseph’s Tomb, Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim. Joshua’s Altar is farther to the north.

    PART ONE
    JOSHUA’S ALTAR




    002.jpg Drawing of the Israelites carrying the coffin with Joseph’s bones into the valley between Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal.
    003.jpg
    Mount Ebal, angular view looking west, with Jacob’s Well, Joseph’s Tomb in the foreground, and Joshua’s Altar on the northern face of the mountain.

    Then Joshua built an altar unto the LORD God of Israel in mount Ebal, As Moses the servant of the LORD commanded the children of Israel, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses, an altar of whole stones, over which no man hath lift up any iron: and they offered thereon burnt offerings unto the LORD, and sacrificed peace offerings. And he wrote there upon the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he wrote in the presence of the children of Israel. (Joshua 8:30-32)
    Israeli scientists and archaeologists generally reject the notion of any significant historical value of the Bible. The most anti-Biblical archaeologists are professors in Hebrew universities. And Adam Zertal used to be one of them. Until he made a discovery that supported the Biblical account of Joshua.

    004.jpg Adam Zertal ( 1936 – October 18, 2015) was injured in the 1973 Yom Kippur War, was hospitalized for twelve months, and since then has to walk with crutches.

    In 1978 Adam Zertal, professor of archaeology at the University of Haifa, began an archaeological survey of the regions occupied by the tribe of Manasseh, a task that was expected to last twelve years.

    In 1980 he began to survey Mount Ebal. Among his earlier finds were several heaps of stones with no significant historical value. On April 6 he and his team found another heap on the northeastern face of the mountain. It was larger than the others, but this one had several scraps of pottery fragments dating to Iron Age 1 (about 1220-1000 B.C.) The next two years were spent raising funds for further expeditions to the site. 1982-1984 saw several trips to the site to excavate the stone heap.

    005.jpg The stone heap found by Adam Zertal, before excavation.

    Beneath the stones they found several structures. The central structure, made of uncut stone cemented together, was a rectangle measuring 25'x30' on the exterior. Its walls were nine feet high and five feet thick, and had no entrance. Adjoining the structure on the southwest are two small courtyards outlined by rock walls. Between the two courtyards is a rock ramp three feet wide, 23 feet long, with a 22 degree incline leading to the top of the central structure. The central structure contained several layers of earth, rock, pottery fragments and animal bones. The bones were later taken to a zoological laboratory where they were determined to be male sheep, goats, bulls and deer, mostly burnt in open-flame fires at low temperatures. But what were these structures? It was an unlikely place for a watchtower. The scarcity of domestic pottery ruled out its being a house.

    007.jpg Enhanced color view of the structure after excavation

    It wasn’t until October, 1983 that David Etam, a visiting archaeologist, suggested an idea, a paradigm shift: Instead of looking at the structure, look to the fill material for clues. It was an altar of sacrifice! But was it Joshua’s altar?

    009.jpg Illustration of how the altar probably looked.

    011.jpg A reconstruction of the altar, at Garden of Biblical Samaria, located at Eshal Hashomron. The human figure is disproportionately large in comparison to the structure's actual size.


    It fit the Biblical description of what God commanded, made of unhewn stones cemented together. It was square and had a ramp rather than steps leading to it. Goats, bulls and sheep were used for sacrifices to the God of the Israelites. Although deer aren’t, they are considered ceremonially clean animals. It was odd that it was on the northeast side of the mountain, facing away from the valley between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim where the Israelites gathered together.

    We read in the Old Testament about the beginning of construction of Solomon’s temple,

    And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month Zif, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of the LORD. (1 Kings 6:1)
    Solomon became king around 960 BC. This would place the exodus from Egypt at around1440 BC, and the crossing of the Jordan around 1400 BC. This suggests that the smaller circular structure, rather than the large square structure, would be Joshua’s altar.

    There are reasons to support this date. For example, the clay tablets containing letters to Pharaoh Akhetaten from Canaanite cities asking for military help against the invading Hapirus. Evidence of destruction at Jericho and Hazor dating around 1400 BC.

    But several doubts have been raised by scholars, even by conservative Christian scholars, about those words in bold type. Egyptian and Canaanite history (such as the absence of an Egyptian military presence in Canaan) suggest an exodus and conquest of Canaan in the 1200s BC. Archaeology suggests many cities had been destroyed at this time. Josephus and several church fathers seem either unaware of this phrase, or quote the verse without the boldface text. The loosely-translated Septuagint has a different number altogether. Was it missing from the Hebrew Scriptures of their day?

    What about the chronology of the Book of Judges. The years of the judges add up to at least 306 years. But are they end-to-end or overlapping?

    There are many supporters on both sides. And strong historical, archaeological and Scriptural arguments for both sides.

    After excavating the layers of debris in the altar, Adam Zertal found something else: another stone structure, somewhat older. It too was made of uncut stone and cemented together, a circular structure 6.5 feet in diameter. It definitely predates the upper structure, but by how much? Some have argued that this circular structure may date back to the 1400s BC, and maybe this, and not the upper structure, is the true altar of Joshua.
    THE MOUNTAIN OF BLESSINGS AND
    THE MOUNTAIN OF CURSINGS
    012.jpg
    Angular Google view of the amphitheater.




    013.jpg Photograph of the amphitheater taken from above Mount Gerizim.

    014.jpg View of Mount Gerizim to the left, Mount Ebal on the right, and Nabulus in the valley between the mountains. In the immediate foreground are remains of Shechem.

    And it shall be on the day when ye shall pass over Jordan unto the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, that thou shalt set thee up great stones, and plaister them with plaister: And thou shalt write upon them all the words of this law, when thou art passed over, that thou mayest go in unto the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, a land that floweth with milk and honey; as the LORD God of thy fathers hath promised thee. Therefore it shall be when ye be gone over Jordan, that ye shall set up these stones, which I command you this day, in mount Ebal, and thou shalt plaister them with plaister. And there shalt thou build an altar unto the LORD thy God, an altar of stones: thou shalt not lift up any iron tool upon them. Thou shalt build the altar of the LORD thy God of whole stones: and thou shalt offer burnt offerings thereon unto the LORD thy God: And thou shalt offer peace offerings, and shalt eat there, and rejoice before the LORD thy God. And thou shalt write upon the stones all the words of this law very plainly. And Moses and the priests the Levites spake unto all Israel, saying, Take heed, and hearken, O Israel; this day thou art become the people of the LORD thy God. Thou shalt therefore obey the voice of the LORD thy God, and do his commandments and his statutes, which I command thee this day. And Moses charged the people the same day, saying, These shall stand upon mount Gerizim to bless the people, when ye are come over Jordan; Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Joseph, and Benjamin: And these shall stand upon mount Ebal to curse; Reuben, Gad, and Asher, and Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali. And the Levites shall speak, and say unto all the men of Israel with a loud voice, Cursed be the man that maketh any graven or molten image, an abomination unto the LORD, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and putteth it in a secret place. And all the people shall answer and say, Amen.... (Deuteronomy 27:2-15)
    And all Israel, and their elders, and officers, and their judges, stood on this side the ark and on that side before the priests the Levites, which bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD, as well the stranger, as he that was born among them; half of them over against mount Gerizim, and half of them over against mount Ebal; as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded before, that they should bless the people of Israel. And afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessings and cursings, according to all that is written in the book of the law. There was not a word of all that Moses commanded, which Joshua read not before all the congregation of Israel, with the women, and the little ones, and the strangers that were conversant among them. (Joshua 8:33-35)
    We all remember being taught in English class that there were five letters that were always vowels: A, E, I, O and U. We were also told that there were two other letters that sometimes were vowels: Y and W. We can think of lots of words in which Y is a vowel. But what about W? There are only two words, and they are actually Welsh: One word is cwm (pronounced “koom”), a circular depression, a valley, a naturally occurring amphitheater.

    In the valley between Mount Ebal to the north and Mount Gerizim to the south is one such cwm.

    Mount Ebal, to the north, is the higher and steeper of the two mountains. It is dry, barren and rocky. To its south is Mount Gerizim, covered with trees and fountains.

    God commanded through Moses that when the people entered into the promised land, they were to gather into two groups on the sides of the two mountains. The altar of unhewn stone was to be built on Mount Ebal and a sacrifice was to be made to the Lord. Then from Mount Gerizim the priest would shout to the people about the Lord’s promises of blessing for obedience. Then the priests would shout from Mount Ebal the Lord’s warnings of the curses for disobedience. (Deuteronomy 27-28)

    After Joshua led the people of Israel into the Promised Land and they conquered the cities of Jericho and Ai, he led the people to the two mountains and fulfilled God’s commandment to Moses.

    In case you’re still wondering, crwth is a stringed musical instrument. It’s used to play Welsh music.015.jpg
    MOUNT GERIZIM

    According to the ancient historian Flavius Josephus, Alexander the Great, while invading Tyre, granted a man named Sanballat permission to construct a temple on Mount Gerizim, to be a refuge for all Jews who had violated the Law of Moses. This account appears to be a variation of Nehemiah 13:28, which occurred 90 years earlier.

    The Samaritans follow the writings of the Samariatan Pentateuch, a document copied from the Hebrew Pentateuch but with minor deliberate changes. The most significant change is Deuteronomy 27:4, where it reads that the Israelites were commanded to build the altar on Mount Gerizim, not on Mount Ebal.
    Antiochus Epiphanes, king of Syria, consecrated the temple to Jupiter, defender of strangers, at the request of the Samariatans (2 Maccabees 6:2) According to tradition in the Talmud, John Hyrcanus destroyed the temple in 109 B.C. The Samaritans, though few in number, still sacrifice their Passover lamb on top of the mountain.

    Excavations from 1882 to 2000 have resulted in uncovering some remains of the temple, including a flight of steps and outlines of gateways. The remains of animal sacrifices have also been found.

    Next: Part Two, BIR YAKUB (JACOB’S WELL)
    Last edited by Faber; 10-31-2020, 06:15 PM.
    When I Survey....

  • #2

    JOSHUA’S ALTAR,
    JACOB’S WELL
    &
    JOSEPH’S TOMB


    PART TWO:
    BIR YAKUB (JACOB’S WELL) AND SYCHAR

    101.jpg102.jpg
    Two sketches of how the well probably appeared in the days of Jesus. Mount Gerizim is in the background.

    BIR YAKUB

    When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John, (Though Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples,) He left Judaea, and departed again into Galilee. And he must needs go through Samaria. Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour. (John 4:1-6)
    John the Apostle connects the well with the city of Sychar (John 4:5), but opinions on the identification of this town are divided between those who see in the place-name the modern town of Askar located north of this well and others who associate Sychar with Shechem. The former position favoring Shechem was held by the Old Syriac Bible and the church father Jerome. This identification has been shaken by recent archaeological evidence according to which Shechem ceased to exist by the 1st century B.C. Thus, nearby Askar receives more attention today despite the fact that the town is not as close to the traditional well as the proponents of this thesis would wish; in addition to this, Askar has its own well whose water is not as good as the one of the well in question.

    Yet in spite of the difficulties connected with the identification of the city of Sychar, the well has been confidently identified with Bir Ya'aqub in the proximity of Tell Balatah. This well is located at the entrance to the ravine which separates Mt. Ebal from Mt. Gerizim in a Greek Orthodox church that has been under construction since 1903. This location is plausible since it agrees with the suggestion from John 4:20 that the well is found next to Mt. Gerizim. It is near the fork of a road which comes from Jerusalem and branches to Samaria and Tirzah respectively.

    The authenticity of this well is not only based on the details from the story, which agree with its identification, but also upon the fact that all traditions - Jewish, Samaritan, Christian, and Muslim - support it. This led A. Parrot to declare that this site is the most authentic of all the Holy Place in Palestine. The earliest evidence comes from A.D. 333 when Pilgrim of Bordeaux mentions a pool or a bath filled with water from this well. Also, Eusebius in the 4th century speaks of the well in his Onomasticon. According to Jerome there was a church in this place toward the end of the 4th century, a fact confirmed by the story of Arculf's pilgrimage in A.D. 670, which states that the church was built in the shape of a cruciform. Archaeological excavations of the site have unearthed the ruins of an old crusader's church which dates to the 11th century. In 1881 a stone was discovered nearby which is believed to have been a cover of the well.

    The well itself is about 100 feet deep, a fact reminiscent of the woman's words in John 4:11.

    The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water? (John 4:11)
    The well bottom has varied in depth through the centuries, from 240 feet in A.D. 670, to 105 feet when explorer Edward Robinson examined it in 1838, to 67 feet in A.D. 1881. The water is clear and cool and visitors today are still offered a cup of this refreshment. The upper part of the well is built in masonry, while the lower is cut through rock. The words from John 4:6 can be translated as "on the well" which suggests that the well was covered by stone blocks. The well is supplied in two ways, by underground sources and also by surface water -like rainwater. The water source was certainly not a cistern, nor is it today but rather a rich supply of water at a great depth.

    For long the well was unprotected, opening among the ruins of a vaulted chamber some feet below the surface of the ground. Major Anderson, who examined the well in 1866 and was actually lowered to the bottom of the well, describes it as having "a narrow opening, just wide enough to allow the body of a man to pass through with arms uplifted, and this narrow neck, which is about 4 ft. long, opens into the well itself, which is cylindrically shaped, and about 7 ft. 6 inches in diameter. The mouth and upper part of the well are built of masonry, and the well appears to have been sunk through a mixture of alluvial soil and limestone fragments, till a compact bed of mountain limestone was reached, having horizontal strata which could be easily worked; and the interior of the well presents the appearance of having been lined throughout with rough masonry.” At that time the well was only 75 feet deep, having been partially filled with debris.

    103.jpg Floor plan showing the 4th century church and the 11th century Crusaders church.

    In the 4th Century AD a small cross-shaped church was built around the well. Its remains became the crypt of a second church that was built over the well by the Crusaders in the 11th century AD. The Crusader church had later been demolished by the Muslims after they took over the countryside in AD 1187. In 1860 Greek Christians managed to purchase the site. By 1893 they managed to clean out the well.

    “A ruined vault stands above the well twenty feet long, ten feet broad and six feet high. The pieces of broken marble you see in the front belong to some ancient church. It was here by this lonely well that Jesus told to a woman and to all the world the story of the true relationship between God and man.” (John Jeyl Vincent & James Wideman Lee; Robert E.M. Bain, illus.; Earthly Footsteps of the Man of Galilee and the Journeys of His Apostles; 1894. p. 163.)
    104.jpg Photograph, about 1869, colorized.

    In 1914 construction had begun on a Greek Orthodox monastery, funded by the Tzarist Russian government. But as a result of the Bolshevik Revolution, funding was stopped and the construction project was put on hold. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1990, work on the monastery resumed.

    105.jpg Jacob’s Well around 1900-1920, showing the steps and pillars that remain from the Crusaders church. Looking southwest, with Mount Gerizim in the background.
    106.jpg107.jpg108.jpg

    Today, tourists are permitted to drink from a cup of water drawn from the well.

    109.jpg110.jpg
    111.jpg112.jpg

    SYCHAR
    113.jpg
    Google map showing the relationship between Askar, Shechem and Jacob’s Well.

    There are differing opinions about the identity of this city. Some, as the church father Jerome and the Syriac translation of the Bible, connect it with the town of Shechem, which Jerome believed to be the same as the Roman town of Neapolis (now called Nabulus or Nablus). But recent archaeology located Shechem 1.5 miles southeast of Nablus at the foot of Mount Gerizim and suggests that Shechem ceased to exist by the 1st Century B.C.

    The other possibility is the City of Askar. Askar is 0.6 mile north of Jacob’s Well, and sits on the eastern slope of Mount Ebal. It agrees with church historian Eusebius’s statement that Sychar was located east of Neapolis.

    Next: Part Three: KEVER YOSEF (JOSEPH’S TOMB)
    When I Survey....

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    • #3
      Interesting.
      Watch your links! http://www.theologyweb.com/campus/fa...corumetiquette

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      • #4
        JOSHUA’S ALTAR,
        JACOB’S WELL
        &
        JOSEPH’S TOMB


        PART THREE
        KEVER YOSEF (JOSEPH’S TOMB)


        200.jpg Grave of Joseph, undated photograph
        201.jpg Joseph’s Tomb, 1899 or earlier. The mountain in the background is identified as Mount Ebal. (Note that the image is reversed on a Wikimedia website. But this view agrees with the Matson collection stereoscopic photos.)
        202.jpg Joseph’s Tomb, about 1935.

        Joseph, confident that the people of Israel would some day return to the Promised Land, asked that his bones be carried and be buried there.

        And Joseph said unto his brethren, I die: and God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land unto the land which he sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence. (Gen 50:24-25)
        And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him: for he had straitly sworn the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you; and ye shall carry up my bones away hence with you. (Exodus 13:19)
        And the bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel brought up out of Egypt, buried they in Shechem, in a parcel of ground which Jacob bought of the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for an hundred pieces of silver: and it became the inheritance of the children of Joseph. (Joshua 24:32)
        About a quarter mile north of Jacob’s Well is the traditional site of Joseph’s Tomb.

        203.jpg204.jpg Aerial view of the compound, looking north; looking east.

        Following the 1967 Six-Day War, Israel regained access to the site and a small Jewish seminary (a Jewish yeshiva, Od Yosef Chai (Joseph is Still Alive)) was built there in the 1980s. The site was also used as an Israeli military outpost, and a number of soldiers were stationed there to protect the seminary students and the site itself.

        205.jpg206.jpg207.jpg
        208.jpg209.jpg

        1995

        In 1995, the area was transferred to Palestinian National Authority jurisdiction, however Israeli troops continued to control the site, to ensure free access to students and pilgrims in accordance with the Oslo accords.

        September, 1996

        Six Israeli soldiers were killed, and many others, including yeshiva students, were wounded in September 1996 when Palestinian rioters and Fatah gunmen attempted to over take the tomb. Eventually, Israeli soldiers regained control of the site.

        NEXT: PART FOUR, "JOSEPH'S BROTHERS HAD SOLD HIM AGAIN!"
        THE TRAGEDY THAT TOOK PLACE ON OCTOBER 7, 2000
        When I Survey....

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