Shaaraim

Shaaraim (Hebrew: Sha'arayim, שעריים‎), meaning "Two Gates", is an Israelite city mentioned several times in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament.

The city appears in the city list of Judah's tribal inheritance, after Socoh and Azekah (Jos 15, 36). After David killed Goliath, the Philistines ran away and were slain on the “road to Sha'arayim" (1 Sam 17:52). In the city list of the tribe of Simeon, Sha'arayim is mentioned as one of the cities "unto the reign of David" (1 Chr 4:31). The name means "two gates" in Hebrew.

Possible archaeological identification

Some archaeologists believe that the dig at Khirbet Qeiyafa is Shaaraim as the excavations have uncovered a wall that makes a nearly complete circuit with two gates, and because this is "the only contender for Sha'arim with two gates, all the other sites of the period have only a single city gate."[1] Israel Finkelstein disagrees, commenting that Megiddo and several other ancient towns in that region also had two gates at this period of time. [2]

References

  1. ↑ Oldest Hebrew inscription' Discovered in Israelite Fort on Philistine border, Biblical Archaeology Review, March/April 2010, p. 52.
  2. ↑ Julia Fridman, 'Crying King David: Are the ruins found in Israel really his palace? ,' at Haaretz, 26 August, 2013.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Thursday, December 05, 2013. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.