The Shechem Temple, Lawrence E. Stager, BAR 29:04, Jul-Aug 2003

 

Shechem Excavation

Shechem Excavation, 1961

Where Abimelech Massacred a Thousand

In the time of Abimelech, a powerful warrior in early Israel, great events occurred in a fortified temple in Shechem. I believe that temple was found in an excavation at Shechem more than 75 years ago. But neither the original Austro-German excavators nor the later American excavators recognized it as being the temple of El, Lord of the Covenant, featured in Judges 9. The American excavators believed the temple was in use only in the Middle Bronze Age IIC period (1650–1550 B.C.E.), too early to be linked with the Biblical story, which is set in the period of the Judges (about 1200–1000 B.C.E.)

Once properly dated, the great fortified temple at Shechem, variously known as the Tower (migdal) Temple or the Fortress-Temple,1 can be seen as the setting of the dramatic events narrated in Judges 9.

In the days before the Israelite monarchy, when charismatic “judges” ruled the tribes of Israel, a certain Abimelech, the son of the judge Gideon (also called Jerubbaal) and Gideon’s Shechemite concubine, sought to rule over Shechem. When Gideon died, the kingdom of Shechem was to be ruled by Gideon’s 70 sons (Abimelech’s half-brothers; Judges 8-30 tells us, somewhat unnecessarily, that Gideon had many wives).

Read the rest of The Shechem Temple in the Biblical Archaeology Society Library.

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