When I visited Israel last year one of the most interesting days of the tour was the last one when we traveled through the Shephelah.

Since I really like Old Testament History, this was a very interesting area. We visited places associated with Samson, David and Goliath and many others from the early periods of Israel’s history.

I have also been following blogs that cover ongoing archaeological digs at some of the sites. Today one of the blogs announce the release of a new video about Khirbet Qeiyafa. I am not sure how to embed a video link into my blog, so I will let you click on the link to Luke Chandler’s Blog page. He is one of the dig supervisors at the excavation site. He provides additional information that you may want to read before watching the video. The video is embedded in his blog page.

I have only one picture of Khirbet Qeiyafa, as we only drove by the site.

You can just barely see the foundations of the fortress on top of the hill. You can see great pictures of the fortress in the video.

Across the valley from Khirbet Qeiyafa is tel Socoh. An archaeological dig is scheduled to begin there next year and will add to the great wealth of data that is being gathered in the Elah Valley.

Here is a view a bit farther down the Elah Valley from the two sites. On the hill to the left of the picture is the fortress Azeka. It guards the entrance to the valley. I can just imagine a battle raging here between the Philistines and the forces of King Saul.

Make sure that you view the video here: Khirbet Qeiyafa

Exploring Bible Lands also has a post about the video today.

Also visit my post from last September about The Shephelah. You will see a few pictures of Samson’s stomping grounds as well as other sites near here.

Steven