Tonight I am writing a quick post about Goliath. While I was in Israel this summer I visited a couple of places that he is associated with.

I have also been trying to get acquainted with Windows 10, so it has taken me a while to get my information together. So, it will be mainly just a picture post 🙂

This first picture was taken in the Elah Valley and is possibly where the battle between David and Goliath took place. If not right here then somewhere very close to here in the valley.

Today there is a melon patch here. The brook where David chose his stones was just behind me when I took this picture. However, we don’t know exactly where along the brook he picked them up. But, somewhere along in this area would have been the place.

See another picture that includes the vegetation growing along the banks of the brook in my post Sea to Sea II.

I took this picture during my first trip to Israel while we were in the Shephelah.

This is Tel es-Safi, Tel Tsafit or Gath. For the past nine years Professor Aren Maeir has been excavating there.

Luke, Royce and I visited Gath on the Sunday after our excavations at Lachish  ended. From where we parked our car we had a long climb to get to the top of the tel. We had received instructions from Professor Maeir, but unfortunately they were not digging on Sunday, instead his team was visiting Lachish.

Near the top of the climb we saw this interesting sign. In a square near this sign they found a fragment of pottery that had an inscription with an early version of the name Goliath. There is also extra-biblical evidence of the name Goliath.

We also took pictures of some of the current excavations. Sometime I will find out more about the pictures that I took and post more of them along with explanations of what they are digging for in each spot.

You can also find out more about the excavations by visiting their blog:

The Ackerman Family Bar-Ilan University Expedition to Gath Official (and Unofficial) Weblog

During my first visit to Gath, this was as close as we got to the tel. This is the entrance on the north side and they have some neat sculptures there. We drove by these on our way to and from where we parked on the east side of the tel.

As we were leaving Gath I took this picture out of the car window. From where I took the previous picture, this is directly behind where I was standing.

Now I wish that we would have stopped and looked a little closer at this spot. It was only the next day that Professor Maeir announced that they had found the Gates of Gath and portions of the city wall in this spot.

The media has been abuzz with the news that the Iron Age IIa fortifications of Gath have been found. This is a very significant find as it shows that they had a need to be fortified at this time in history. This has interesting ramifications for other sites in the area.

Enough for now, I need to review my class material for tomorrow morning. We will be studying the Sin of Achan in our class.

Steven