GESHUR: Archaeology Unveils More From the Pages of the Torah

 Nadene Goldfoot                              

Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) archeologists work in 2020 at a fortified complex from the time of King David which was exposed for the first time in archaeological excavations carried out by IAA in the Hispin settlement in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights.  It's a 3,000 year old fortress.  Barak Tzin, who directed its excavation for the Israel Antiquities Authority, estimated that it covered more than 1,000 square metres. Archaeologists unveiled a fortified structure from the time of the King David on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights that sheds light on the borders of a Biblical Israeli ally.   The 3,000-year-old fortress, found near the Jewish settlement of Hispin ahead of works to build a new neighbourhood, is believed to have belonged to the Geshurites, King David's allies. on November 11, 2020.

                                                 

A stone stele to the moon god found in 2019 at a site called et-

Tell, north of the Sea of Galilee, which may have been the ancient capital of the kingdom of Geshur. (Image credit: Ivgeni Ostrovski/Israel Antiquities Authority)

Archaeologists uncovered a fortified building in the Golan Heights dated to the time of David’s rule, about 1,000 B.C.E A large basalt stone in the fortress is engraved with two horned figures with outstretched arms.  Diggers found a large stone with an engraving of two horned figures stretching out their arms and a statuette of a woman holding a musical instrument, possibly a drum.“That also links us to finds from the Iron Age,” Tzin said, noting similar artefacts uncovered in Bethsaida, “a site linked to the capital of the Geshur kingdom” that lies west of Hispin on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee.                      

Archaeologists believe this building was an outpost of the kingdom of Geshur, an ally of King David. David’s wife, Maacah, the mother of Absalom, was the daughter of the king of Geshur.

The name "Geshur" is found primarily in biblical sources and has been taken to mean "stronghold or fortress". The Bible describes it as being near Bashan, adjoining the province of Argob (Deuteronomy 3:14) and the kingdom of Aram or Syria (2 Samuel 15:8; 1 Chronicles 2:23). (Jair, son of Manasseh took the entire region of Argov until the border of the Geshurite and the Maacaathite, and he named them, the Bashan, after himself. "Havvoth-jair, until tis day.)  Deut. 3:14 (For your servant took a vow, when I lived in Geshur in Aram, saying, ..")Sam. 15:8, Aram was the name for Syria.  

Absalom's mother is not mentioned in my encyclopedia, only that he is the 3rd son of David.  He killed his half-brother, Amnon or Aminon, David's oldest son by Ahinoam, the Jezreelite. 

He had been attracted to his step-sister, Tamar, daughter of Maacah,  and had raped her. Maacah and Absalom complained to David, but he did nothing. It was 2 years later that Absalom killed him to avenge the rape of his sister, Tamar. 

He was a popular young man, and this popularity stirred up his rebellion against his father, who was obliged to flee across the Jordan River.                                       

In the end, Absalom's army of young followers was vanquished and he himself was killed by Joab, David's nephew and commander-in-chief,  after his long hair became entangled in a tree. Joab killed Absalom in defiance of David's orders.   His life is cited as one of vanity and rebellion.  Absalom's tomb is a monument in the Valley of Kidron outside of Jerusalem called Yad Avshalom, but is in fact a structure from the 1st century BCE or CE.  In the end, Solomon, David's son by Bathsheba,  put Joab to death in accordance with David's testament.  Let's face it;  David could not harm his own son, a problem all fathers wouldn't want to face.  

Resource:

https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2020/december/biblical-archaeology-new-discoveries-2020-bible-artifacts.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geshur#:~:text=The%20name%20%22Geshur%22%20is%20found,1%20Chronicles%202%3A23).

https://www.thehindu.com/society/history-and-culture/3000-year-old-fortress-unearthed-in-golan-heights/article33081984.ece

https://womeninthebible.net/women-bible-old-new-testaments/tamar-judah/tamar-amnon/

https://www.livescience.com/ancient-fort-figures-biblical-geshur-kingdom-discovered.html