Holy Land Pilgrimage | Ideas for a memorable tour

 

HOME
BIBLE REFERENCES
BOOK GILA
GILA’S GIFT SHOP
HOLY LAND HEADLINERS
HOLY LAND HEROINES
HOLY SITES:
GILA’S HIGHLIGHTS
SONGS & PRAISE
TIPS FOR TOURS
ABOUT GILA
CONTACT
 
 
 


"BEHOLD HIS HEAD SHOULD BE THROWN TO YOU OVER THE WALL.
THEN THE WOMAN WENT UNTO ALL THE PEOPLE IN HER WISDOM.
AND THEY CUT OFF THE HEAD OF SHEBA THE SON OF BICHRI      
AND THREW IT TO JOAB."                            second SAMUEL 20      
                                                   

Holy Sites -- Gila's Highlights

Let's salute the wise woman from Abel Beit Maacah

Everyone knows about Absalom – that he was a long-haired beauty with nary a blemish from the crown of his head to the sole of his feet.  When Absalom rebelled against his father David, he had the misfortune to be caught hanging between heaven and earth, with his curly mane twisted in the branches of a terebinth tree as his mule stubbornly marched onwards.  David’s general Joab squashed the rebellion when he thrust three darts right into Absalom’s heart.

But then, an even more serious threat to David’s reign appeared on the scene.  He was a Benjaminite named Sheba, son of Bichri.

When King David saw that the men of Israel followed Sheba, he feared that Sheba would do more harm than Absalom and commanded his army to chase and capture Sheba.  Sheba and his men took refuge in the northern city of Abel in Beit Maacah, about 5 miles due west of Dan.  Joab and his army laid siege to the city while battering the wall in an effort to knock it down.

Satellite image of the Upper Galilee

Courtesy of NASA

Satellite image of Upper Galilee including Abel Beit Maacah

In the midst of the raging battle, a wise woman shouted from the city, “Hear, hear, tell Joab, ‘Come here, that I may speak with you’.”  When Joab approached the city wall, she asked why he sought to destroy a mother city (i.e. an important city) in Israel.  Joab replied, “Far be it …if you give up Sheba son of Bichri who has lifted his hand against King David, I will withdraw from the city.”  The woman told Joab, “His head shall be thrown over the wall to you.”

The unnamed wise woman kept her word and convinced the residents of Abel in Beit Maacah to cut off the head of Sheba son of Bichri and toss it over the wall, like a Frisbee, to Joab.  What a grisly tale!  It ends, however, with Joab blowing the shofar to announce his retreat back to Jerusalem, D.C., (David’s capital).

View from Dan to the west, towards Abel Beit Maacah

Photo:  Gila Yudkin

View from Dan to the west, towards Abel Beit Maacah

In the 1980s when I would take groups up to the “Good Fence” northern border with Lebanon, I would point out Abel Beit Maacah and briefly relate the story.  I hadn’t thought about it for years, until the hostilities with Lebanon (in the summer of 2006)  when Nasrallah, chief of the Hezbollah, appeared on our TV screens to taunt us. Suddenly I had a flash – if we could only find a wise woman in today’s Beirut, who would convince her fellow civilians to roll Nasrallah’s head out of a bunker or a TV studio, then we could quickly restore peace and tranquility to northern Israel and southern Lebanon.
This is a great story with the potential to spark a lively debate about the nature of war, the price of peace and the role of wisdom in negotiating between the two.  On your next visit to the Upper Galilee, ask me to take you by Abel Beit Maacah and let’s retell the story of a conflict threatening the lives of innocent civilians which was resolved by one wise woman.

COMING TO JERUSALEM? 
BOOK GILA for a customized private tour

 
2018 Update: Mystery of the Sculpted Biblical King
 

Head of biblical king recently discovered at Tel Abel Beth Maacah

Head of King ???? found at Tel Abel Beth Maacah

 
In June 2018, after five seasons of digging, excavators at Tel Abel Beth Maacah (also spelled Abel Beit Maacah) revealed a magnificent discovery found in a massive Iron Age structure dated to the ninth century BC: a five centimeter (two-inch) sculpture of a king's head.
 
This extremely rare figurine is made of faience, a glass-like material popular in jewelry and small human and animal figurines in ancient Egypt and the Near East.  The bearded figure's hair is plaited in thick locks that cover the ears and is held in place by a striped diadem of gold. His hair and beard are dark. The hairstyle is very similar to how the Egyptians depicted their Near Eastern Semitic neighbors.
 
During the ninth century BC, Abel Beth Maacah (just 4.5 miles to the west of Dan) was situated in a border zone between three regional powers: the Aramean kingdom with its capital in Damascus to the east, the Phoenician city of Tyre to the west and the Israelite kingdom with its capital in Samaria to the south.

Scholars are scrambling to decipher this mystery: Is this royal figurine a depiction of the king of Aram (either Ben Hadad or Hazael of Damascus) OR the king of Tyre (Ethbaal, father of Jezebel, Ahab's wife)) OR the king of Israel (either Ahab or Jehu who overthrew Ahab in a coup)??? Stay tuned…
 

Copyright 2006, 2010, 2019 Gila Yudkin.  Permission needed for any reuse.

 

Head of biblical king discovered at Tel Abel Beth Maacah

Five centimeter (2-inch) head of King ???? discovered at Tel Abel Beth Maacah

 
Gila Yudkin, who has been living in King’s David’s court for the past forty years, wants to be a “wise woman” when she grows up.  In the meantime, her goal as a guide is to bring the Bible to life and reveal its tapestry of vivid colors and moral dilemmas.
 
When Joab received Sheba's head, he blew the shofar (ram's horn) to signal that the battle was over.  If you want to know how Joab may have cleaned his shofar when he returned to Jerusalem, see "ask Gila how to clean a shofar."
 
There is another unnamed wise woman who plays a supporting role in the time of David.  She lived in Tekoa, a village not far from Bethlehem.  Read about the discovery of Herod's Tomb at Herodion which has a bird's eye view of Tekoa.
 
More on women of the Bible:
 

Let's meet where Mary met Elizabeth

Let's wander in the wilderness of Zin where Miriam died

Mary and Elizabeth   

Sarah in the Negev

Witch of En Dor

 

About Veronica!

Bathsheba Victim or Victor

Holy Land Heroines -- Mary Magdalena

Veronica

Queen Mother Bathsheba

Mary Magdalene

 


GILA YUDKIN TCHERNIKOVSKI 64A JERUSALEM ISRAEL
gila@itsgila.com

HOME HOLY LAND HEROINES TIPS FOR TOURS  ABOUT GILA


 

Copyright © 2005-2024 Gila Yudkin. All rights reserved.
Holy Land Photography by Gila Yudkin