Gideon's Name of Jerubbaal -Rare Pottery Discovery In Israel Dig By Archaeologists

 Nadene Goldfoot                                                  

      Here Gideon is threshing wheat.  God called Gideon to lead the Israelites to throw off the oppression of Midianites and allies. Gideon was the 5th judge over Israel in the Promised Land.  Judges were used before Kings were in Israel.  They were more like mayors or even governors.  

Gideon (/ˈɡɪdiən/), (Hebrew: גדעון) also named Jerubbaal and Jerubbesheth, was a military leader, judge and prophet whose calling and victory over the Midianites are recounted in chapters 6 to 8 of the Book of Judges in the Hebrew Bible. As a result of his father's successful argument, Gideon received the nickname of Jerubaal, a contraction of "let Baal take up the grievance" against him, for breaking its altar." Baal was the pagan god of the Midianites, usually a statue of some sort.   

               The Archaeological Discovery

                           

 His name of Jerubbaal was just found in Israel on a piece of pottery as told on ILTV this morning.  It was a first. Archaeologists digging in southern Israel may have found the name of Jerubbaal, scourge of the Midianites, on a broken fragment of a Judges-era clay pot. The inscription in primitive alphabetic writing from the time of the biblical Judges was found in Khirbat er-Ra'i, near Kiryat Gat in southern Israel.  

                                                    

Prof. Christopher A. Rollston is a scholar of the ancient Near East, specializing in Hebrew Bible, Old Testament Apocrypha, Northwest Semitic literature, epigraphy and paleography.  He is currently Associate Professor of Northwest Semitic Languages and Literatures at George Washington University.

The translator of the pottery was Christopher Rollston of George Washington University in Washington,DC.  "We can compare the language of inscriptions, quite often, with the language of the Bible and that gives us a separate way of attempting to date things as well.” — Christopher Rollston

 "The clay vessel bearing the name of Jerubbaal could have belonged to Gideon, son of Joash, who vanquished the Midianites, archaeologists excavating Khirbat el-Ra'i in southern Israel postulated."  It's a 3,100 year old inscription and is very rare.  

The field-walking survey at Khirbet el-Rai collected pottery dating to the 12th, 11th and 10th centuries BCE (1200-1000 BCE). This means that humans were living on the Tel (Hill) in these time periods.

Gideon, also called Jerubaal, was from the 12th century BCE.  He was a judge of Israel for 40 years and was a member of the tribe of Manasseh, one of the 10 northern tribes that was later lost, taken away by the Assyrians in 721 BCE. He defeated the Midianites near Ein Harod using a group of picked volunteers.   

He was offered the kingship, but refused out of loyalty to the principle that G-d is King of Israel.  (Judg.6-8).  It takes a rare human to turn down such a chance.                   

Judges goes on about Gideon saying, "all of Midian, Amalek, and the people of the East gathered together.  They crossed the Jordan and encamped in the Valley of Jezreel.  The spirit of Hashem clothed Gideon.  He blew the shofar, and the family of Abiezer was mustered (to assemble (troops, a ship's crew, etc.), as for battle) after him. Abiezer or Abieezer is the name of three Biblical characters. The name means "father of help" i.e., helpful. The characters are: The prince of the tribe of Dan at the time of the Exodus. The second of the three sons of Hammoleketh, the sister of Gilead, also called Jeezer. He was the grandson of Manasseh. He sent messengers throughout Manasseh, and it, too, was mustered after him.  He sent messengers to Asher, Zebulun and Naphtali, and they ascended to confront them.  The tribes were named after Jacob's sons and grandsons. They were Asher, Dan, Ephraim, Gad, Issachar, Manasseh, Naphtali, Reuben, Simeon, Zebulun, Judah and Benjamin. Of these 12, only the tribes of Judah and Benjamin survived and are the Jews.

The Book of Judges mentions twelve leaders who are said to "judge" Israel: Othniel, Ehud, Shamgar, Deborah, Gideon, Tola, Jair, Jephthah, Ibzan, Elon, Abdon, and Samson.

                                                

The Midianites were a Beduin tribe related to Abraham (Gen.25-:2).  It's members traveled with caravans of incense from Gilead to Egypt, and later to other countries.  They were closely connected with the Israelites.  Moses fled from the Pharaoh to Midian and married there the daughter of Jethro.                                         

Judg 6:33-35    In c.1208BC, the Midianites and Amalekites camp in the Vale of Jezreel. Gideon assembles a mixed force of Israelites. Here are the  remains of the fortress at Afula  (Deror_avi)  

At the end of the Desert Period, the princes of Midian cooperated with Moab against Israel (Num.21:29) and a later period conducted a plundering expedition against the Valley of Jezreel;  this was repulsed by Gideon (Judg.6).  They lived near the Moabites and Edomites.  

From the 2nd Temple times, the Land of Midian was thought to be located in NW Arabia.  

Resource:

Tanakh, Stone Edition (Old Testament of Judges) 

https://www.jns.org/rare-book-of-judges-era-inscription-found-in-southern-israel/

https://cmsedit.cbn.com/cbnnews/israel/2021/july/israeli-archaeologists-uncover-rare-jerubbaal-inscription-from-time-of-biblical-judges

https://www.haaretz.com/archaeology/israeli-archaeologists-find-biblical-name-jerubbaal-inked-on-pot-from-judges-era-1.9990617

https://www.mq.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/862412/Investigating-The-Past-at-Khirbet-el-Rai-1.pdf

ILTV  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmyUJgUskcQ

 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuxgEyMeaks7HS5gAw6Tt7w

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biblical_judges#:~:text=Judges%20mentioned%20in%20the%20Hebrew%20Bible,-In%20the%20Hebrew&text=The%20Book%20of%20Judges%20mentions,Elon%2C%20Abdon%2C%20and%20Samson.

https://www.thebiblejourney.org/biblejourney2/28-the-israelites-face-continuing-opposition/gideon-defeats-the-midianites/

https://peteenns.com/interview-with-christopher-rollston-where-does-hebrew-come-from/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Rollston