Second Samuel 20 tells the story of a short-lived rebellion against the rule of King David led by a Benjamite named Sheba, a kinsman of David\u2019s predecessor, Saul. It\u2019s a short, almost enigmatic, tale involving, among other things, cloistered concubines, deadly beard-pulling, and an unintentionally \u2014 or perhaps not \u2014 comical siege scene that could have come out of a Monty Python movie.<\/p>\n
Comic or not, the site of the siege was a real place that testifies to the historical nature of the biblical narrative.<\/p>\n
In II Samuel, David, fresh off his tragic victory over his beloved son Absalom, is confronted with a new rebellion resulting from strife between the ten northern tribes and the tribe of Judah. The aforementioned Sheba takes advantage of the situation and rallies men under the cry,\u201dWe have no share in David, no part in Jesse\u2019s son!\u201d<\/p>\n
David sends his nephews Abishai and Joab, along with his \u201cmighty men\u201d ( gibborim in Hebrew) in pursuit of Sheba. Sheba hides from them in the city of Abel Beth Maacah in what is now northern Israel and back then, at the crossroads of the ancient kingdoms of Israel, Damascus and Tyre.<\/p>\n
As David\u2019s forces lay siege to Abel Beth Maacah, a \u201cwise woman\u201d asks Joab why they are attacking a \u201cpeaceful\u201d and \u201cfaithful\u201d part of the kingdom. He replies that if they hand over Sheba, he will withdraw his forces, to which she replied, \u201cHis head will be thrown to you from the wall.\u201d It was, and Joab did as he promised.<\/p>\n
At this point, we shouldn\u2019t be surprised when archaeology confirms that the biblical narratives weren\u2019t simply making up places and people.<\/p>\n
What is, if not surprising, then intriguing, is what the team of American and Israeli archaeologists found at the site: a tiny \u2014 about 2 inches by 2 inches \u2014 \u201dintricately carved sculpture of what may be the head of a biblical king.\u201d<\/p>\n
The carving, which is made of a glazed ceramic known as \u201cfaience,\u201d is of \u201ca man with long, black hair and a beard who is wearing a yellow and black headband.\u201d<\/p>\n
The archaeologists are reasonably certain it depicts an important person, probably a king given that the figure \u201cwas crafted with artistic precision almost unheard of for that time and region.\u201d<\/p>\n
But who? The most tantalizing possibilities are, as hinted earlier, three kings mentioned in the Bible whose reign coincided with the timing of the carving, sometime in the ninth century B.C., which also corresponds with the years of the city\u2019s next biblical mention in 1 Kings 15. They are King Ahab, King Ethbaal of Tyre, the father of the notorious Queen Jezebel, and King Hazael of Damascus, who was anointed king by the prophet Elijah.<\/p>\n
As the archaeologists admit, they\u2019re only guessing about who the carving represents. As one member of them put it, \u201cIt\u2019s like a hello from the past, but we don\u2019t know anything else about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s a \u201chello\u201d from an actual, not mythical, past that we only know about because of the historical nature of the biblical accounts. These accounts tell the story of a God who has acted in human history and whose actions, in turn, have left behind artifacts.<\/p>\n
________<\/p>\n
RESOURCES<\/p>\n
\u201cA 3,000-year-old glass head deepens one of the Bible\u2019s oldest mysteries,\u201d by Avi Selk, Washington Post, June 9, 2018; < https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/news\/speaking-of-science\/wp\/2018\/06\/09\/a-3000-year-old-glass-head-deepens-one-of-the-bibles-oldest-mysteries >.<\/p>\n
\u201cA Royal Enigma: Ancient Head from Biblical City Displayed at Israel Museum,\u201d Azusa Pacific University, May 2018; < https:\/\/www.apu.edu\/media\/news\/release\/26193 >.<\/p>\n
\u201cHello, Hezekiah! Archaeology and Biblical History,\u201d by Eric Metaxas, BreakPoint.org, December 4, 2015; < http:\/\/www.breakpoint.org\/2015\/12\/hello-hezekiah >.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe God Who Works in History: Archaeology Testifies in Stone,\u201d by John Stonestreet, BreakPoint.org, August 17, 2015; < http:\/\/www.breakpoint.org\/2015\/08\/god-works-history >.<\/p>\n
________<\/p>\n
Copyright (c) 2018 Prison Fellowship Ministries. Reprinted with permission. “BreakPoint” is a radio ministry of Prison Fellowship Ministries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Second Samuel 20 tells the story of a short-lived rebellion against the rule of King David led by a Benjamite named Sheba, a kinsman of David\u2019s predecessor, Saul. It\u2019s a short, almost enigmatic, tale involving, among other things, cloistered concubines, deadly beard-pulling, and an unintentionally \u2014 or perhaps not \u2014 comical siege scene that could […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1180,1181,1202,1203],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8015"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8015"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8015\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8015"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8015"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}