Tel Azekah

Tel Azekah is an archaeological hill located in the heart of the Shfela (the Judean lowlands), some 45km from Tel Aviv and 30km from Jerusalem. The town of Azekah, which at one time existed on the hill, played a central role in the ancient history of the region. It was the control point of a strategic junction of roads leading from the coastal plain to Jerusalem and the south. Today the hill lies within the British Park, a 40,000 dunam park that was built by the Jewish National Fund (JNF) with the contribution of British Jewish communities. The park is an area rich in planted forest, natural woodland and archaeological sites.

Tel Azekah has a long history, stretching back some 3,500 years to the Early Bronze Age when it was first settled. After a period of abandonment, Azekah was once again settled in the Iron Age II and flourished as a Judean town. The many artefacts discovered at Tel Azekah include an Egyptian scarab depicting a gazelle with her suckling baby and other antiquities such as LMLK seals. Excavations have revealed a Hasmonean fortress, water systems and hideout caves used during the Bar Kokhba revolt.

Azekah is mentioned several times in the Bible. It is said to be one of the places where the Amorite kings were defeated by Joshua, and one of the places their army was destroyed by a hailstorm (Joshua 10:10–11). It was given to the tribe of Judah (Joshua 15:20). In the time of Saul, 1st Samuel 17:1 references the area around Azekah as the arena for the battle between David and Goliath.

Outside of the Bible, King Rehoboam, the first king of the Kingdom of Judah, fortified the city. It was later destroyed, together with other Judean cities, during the campaign of the Assyrian king Sennacherib. The city was rebuilt and conquered multiple times yet continued to flourish. It was populated in the Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine periods, when it was listed in the Madaba map as Beit Zechariah. Another glorious page of Azekah's history took place in the Hasmonean period. At the top of the hill there is a large fortress built by the great Hasmonean king, John Hyrcanus I.

Despite its long occupation, Tel Azekah was eventually abandoned and forgotten. In the late 19th century it became one of the first sites to be excavated in Israel. A small team of British archaeologists briefly excavated the sites between 1898-1899 on behalf of the Palestine Exploration Fund. Due to time restrictions, the team was forced to abandon excavations and backfill their project.

A team of archaeologists returned to the site in 2012 and it is still being excavated to this day. Signs explaining the layers revealed and the various periods of history that have been uncovered can be spotted around the site.

Hikers who climb up to the top of Tel Azekah are accompanied by Biblical verses that are etched on plaques, some of which describe the battle which took place nearby between David and Goliath. From the top the hill there are spectacular views overlooking the Elah Valley to the east. Tel Tzafit, which is associated with Philistine Gat, the city of Goliath, can be seen to the west and beyond is the Coastal Plain, between Tel Aviv and Ashkelon.

In the centre of the hill is a huge sundial and a stone plaza on which directions and the names of various close by settlements are engraved. Nearby long stones serve as seats for hikers, above. Verses from the Book of Samuel referencing David and Goliath and other battles with the Philistines are engraved on them. At the foot of the hill the JNF has built a picnic area.

* This post has been shared on Little Things Thursday, Friday Bliss, Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday), Our World Tuesday and My Corner of the World.

Tzora Forest

We started our hike in the Tzora Forest at Samson's Ridge, a lovely short trail named after the biblical hero known for his great strength and bravery. The trail twisted and turned through the woods and the green fields and views of Beit Shemesh below were impressive. After a few minutes of walking the path led us back to where we started and it was at this point that our real hike in Tzora Forest began.

Tzora has been identified with the biblical Zoreah (Joshua 15:33) and is believed to be the birthplace of Samson. It was here that he killed the lion barehanded and returned to eat the honey from its carcass. A grave which some attribute to Samson and his father, Manoach, can be found in the forest. The altar where his father took a young goat as an offering to G-d and where his barren mother received word of her pregnancy is nearby. "And the angel of the Lord appeared to the woman, and said to her, Behold now, you are barren, and bearest not: but you shall conceive and bear a son" (Judges 13:3)

The Palestinian village Sar'a was located in the presumed location of the biblical town. It was captured by Israel's Harel Brigade in July 1948 during the War of Independence and its inhabitants fled or were later expelled.

The trail we decided to follow lead us down towards some orchards and past rows of carob trees and pine forest planted by the Jewish National Fund. This part of the forest was incredibly peaceful and so very beautiful. Narcissus flowers and cyclamen blossomed along the pathways. At this point we stopped to drink coffee and take a short break before following the path all the way to Tzora Forest's top holy site - the grave of Samson the warrior.

Samson lived a very stormy life. It began with his miraculous birth and continued with Israel's wars with the Philistines, which revolved around the romances that he conducted with Philistine women. He died in Gaza by pulling down a Philistine temple on top of its inhabitants and on himself. "And Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines"…and they buried him between Tzora and Eshtaol in the burying place of Manoach his father" (Judges 16:31). Jewish tradition identifies Samson's grave in Tzora, at least since the Middle Ages. The historian Josephus says it was in a village called Sarasat.

Kever Shimshon, or Samson's grave, is located is at the top of a tel or hill. There is a plaza and at its centre are two large gravestones, above. On the northern gravestone there is a marble plaque commemorating Samson and on the southern gravestone there is a plaque for Manoach, his father.
It is however not likely that this is the exact place of their burial and some believe that the tomb is in fact a Sheikh's tomb.
The views of the coastal plain, the Judean Plains and the Judean Mountains from this point were breathtaking.

From this point our hike got a little confusing. We followed the trail back down the hill but took a wrong turning and ended up walking a lot further than we had expected. Though we saw plenty of gorgeous flowers and some of the statues along Derech HaPsalim (The Statues Trail), the forest was busy in this area and there was a lot of traffic. The second part of our hike was nowhere near as peaceful as the first!

We did however get to see the Tzora lookout, designed in the shape of a bow of a ship, with amazing views of the Sorek Valley and the city of Beit Shemesh. The stone structure at the lookout was in the past the home of the mukhtar (head official) of the village of Sar'a. During the War of Independence the house served as the temporary headquarters of the Harel Brigade. Later on the structure served the first members of Kibbutz Tzora until their move to permanent homes at the foot of the Tzora mountain.

We were almost back at our car when we spotted this beautiful red fox enjoying what looked like the remains of someone's picnic. The fox was not afraid of us at all and we were able to stand nearby and watch it for several minutes. Foxes in fact play an important part in the story of Samson and it seemed a fitting way to end our hike.

Samson's wife, a Philistine woman from Timnah, was with another man. Samson went to see her but her father would not let him near her. Angry, Samson rounded up 300 foxes, tied their tails together, set the tails on fire and turned them loose on the Philistine fields which were ready to be harvested, burning all in their wake. This action crippled the Philistines' source of food and economy.
"Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took torches, and turned the foxes tail to tail and put one torch in the middle between two tails." (Judges 15:4)

Tragically, the Philistines returned the evil by burning Samson's wife and her family to death, using fire, the very weapon he had used against them. In revenge, Samson slaughtered many more Philistines, saying, "I have done to them what they did to me."

And you thought you were reading a genteel post about nature and history in Israel 😉

* This post has been shared on The Good. The Random. The Fun., Nature Notes, Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday), Tuesday's Treasures, Pictorial Tuesday, Our World Tuesday, My Corner of the World and Friday Bliss.