Tell es-Safi (or al-Tsafit) is a non-existent Arab village in the Hebron region. Since 1996, archaeologists have been conducting planned excavations on the Tsafit Hill. Why is this place so attractive to them? The answer is simple: according to the Bible, the famous giant Goliath was born here.
At the time when Palestine was a British Mandate, Tell es-Safi had 208 houses and about a thousand Muslims. Here, as usual, there was a bazaar and a mosque, there was even a local righteous person, Sheikh Mohammed. In 1948, after the formation of the State of Israel, the front line with Egypt passed here. The entire area was completely cleared of residents - by methods, say, not the most humane. Then this area became a national park.
Can You Trust the Bible?
The fact that the hill of al-Tsafit may be mentioned in the Old Testament by the Philistine city of Gath (in the generally accepted Western spelling - Gat), was said back in the 19th century, when “biblical archeology” was born, and this term appeared in scientific use. The biblical scholars strictly followed the "directions" of the sacred texts and even made maps with the alleged archaeological sites. More rational scientists were skeptical about all this. Prominent Israeli archaeologist Zeev Herzog, who has been digging Israeli antiquities for decades, is convinced that the text of the Bible can be trusted only with great reservations. In the real history of the Israelites, there was neither the Egyptian captivity, nor the glorious campaign of Joshua, David and Solomon were not powerful kings, but ordinary tribal leaders,and monotheism came into use only shortly before the conquest of Israel by Babylon.
Some place names mentioned in the Bible, especially those related to "antediluvian times", are completely fictitious. But some, already firmly connected with the history of the country, were quite real. Another thing is that these real ancient cities and their inhabitants, along with reliable facts, were overgrown with a whole heap of legends. Al-Tsafit Hill is one of those.
True or myth?
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We know about Goliath and his hometown of Gath (or Ghat) from the First Book of Kings, which tells about the battle of young David with a giant. According to this unreliable source, when two armies - the Philistines and the Israelites - met, the battle was preceded by a duel between the strongest. The Jews were represented by the fragile David, the Philistines by the huge warrior Goliath. David won not in a direct fight, but using cunning - he threw a stone from a sling. After which, of course, the Philistines were horrified and in awe and disgracefully fled to Gat.
This story is firmly entrenched in the minds of believers. David defeated the giant. However, the Bible itself contains very contradictory information on this matter. If you read the Second Book of Kings, then Goliath was defeated by Elchanan, the son of Jagar of Bethlehem. And David himself and his nephew Jonathan killed the brothers Goliath, also giants. These giants came from the last surviving Rephaim and, in addition to their enormous stature, differed from ordinary people by the presence of six fingers instead of five on their hands and feet. There were four of them in the Philistine army. Probably, "other" giants in the sacred text appeared for the simplest reason: the interpreters of the Old Testament noticed the discrepancy in time and added relatives to Goliath.
But when the biblical places began to be unearthed, true biblical scholars began to hope to find an artifact with the name of Goliath. In the meantime, archaeologists who did not trust the sacred text only laughed when it came to the possible burial of the giant and its huge bones.
Originally from the Old Testament
The homeland of Goliath was calculated based on the Old Testament text. It said that after the battle, the Philistines fled along the Shaarim road to Gath and Akkaron. Probably, Ghat and Akkaron (Ekron) were located close to each other, on the very border of the Israelites. Ghat is repeatedly mentioned in the Bible, which is why it could be concluded that at that time it was a large city inhabited by the Philistines. In total, five cities of the Philistines were known: Ashkelon, Ashdod, Ekron, Ghat and Gaza. For the Jews of that time, these were the worst enemies, so the sacred texts give them a significant place. Everything that we knew about the Philistines has long been known precisely from the Bible. And, obviously, in Israel they hated their neighbors so much that their name became a household name, the word "philistine" came from him - that is, a soulless self-lover,interested only in material wealth. The Philistines, whom the Bible attributed to the Anakim tribe, were an alien people, possibly migrating to the Arabian Peninsula from the Mediterranean, but where exactly is unknown. Some believe it is from Crete. Unable to capture a strong Egypt, they moved east and settled on the Arabian coast of the Mediterranean Sea. This is how the Semitic tribes encountered the Cretan-Mycenaean civilization.
Ghat is referred to in the Bible as a strong city where wealth is worshiped. It already existed under Joshua, but was not conquered by the Jews, just like Gaza and Ashdod. The capture of Ghat dates back to the era of David. It is known that at one time David himself was hiding in this city from the fury of King Saul, and later, after the capture of Gat, soldiers from this city served in David's army. For some time the city was part of Judea, then it was lost and recaptured from the Philistines under King Uzziah. But from the middle of the VIII century BC, references to Pat in the biblical texts disappear. Obviously, it was destroyed and forgotten.
Only ashes
Until the middle of the 19th century, the scientific world believed that Ghat was located north of Kiryat Gat, there they stubbornly searched for it. Only a century later it became clear that there had never been a powerful Philistine city in this place, and indeed no settlements at all. In the 1960s, archaeologists decided to locate Ghat on the outskirts of the Negev Desert. There really were traces of buildings from the era of the Philistines, but not Ghat. And only in the 1990s, luck finally smiled at the scientists - they began to dig in Tell es-Safi. Until the middle of the 20th century, excavations were not carried out there for the simplest reason - it would have had to demolish a Muslim village and a cemetery. And there was always interest in this place, because there you could find not only the ruins of Gata, but also traces of other buildings, layered over the centuries of history on each other - the Neolithic, the Bronze Age and even the era of the Crusaders. The first "excavations" there were carried out by General Moshe Dayan, however, completely to no avail.
In 1996, archaeologist Aren Meir from Bar-Ilan University came to Tell es-Safi. And he stayed there for many years. His expedition was fortunate enough to find the ruins of a Bronze Age city with houses, fields and ancient tombs.
In the layers of the early Iron Age, they discovered absolutely gigantic structures made of huge stones. The thickness of the walls of the ancient Ghat reached four meters, and during the construction two-meter stones weighing several tons were used. These walls encircled a city unprecedented for that time, which occupied an area of about 50 hectares. In 2015, archaeologists unearthed a huge gate that may well have been described in the biblical account of David's flight to King Achus. In 2009 they discovered a monumental two-horned altar and temples of the Philistines of the 11th-9th centuries BC and a workshop where they smelted metals.
Archaeologists have found many interesting artifacts of the Philistines - bowls with unusual molded figures, pendants with images of a scorpion and fish, looms, cow's shoulder blades with skillfully engraved ornaments and even a couple of inscriptions. The inscriptions intrigued scientists also because it contained a name very similar to "Goliath". All these finds were buried under the rubble of buildings that died during a strong fire.
Such, if compared with the Bible, occurred during the storming of the city by King Azael at the end of the 9th century BC. This biblical date is consistent with archaeological material. The layer with traces of fire is preceded by a layer with new buildings - the city was restored and regained its independence. But not for long. The upper "living" layer is rather thin. And above it there are no longer any large buildings or powerful walls. Ghat ceased to exist.
And only a mention in the Bible remained of it. Scientists believe that the biblical Goliath - a giant, originally from Ghat, could just be an ancient metaphor showing the strength and power of an enemy city. Obviously, this name was very common among the Philistines. This is how the giant Goliath appeared in the sacred text - the symbol of the city of Gata.
Magazine: Mysteries of History №41. Author: Elena Filimonova