ABSTRACT
While el-Jib showed some occupational activity during the Early Bronze Age IV period (2200-2000 BCE – Pritchard’s Middle Bronze Age I), the first permanent settlement was dated to the Middle Bronze Age I (Middle Bronze Age II in the reports). Furthermore, many jar handles stamped with the word gb˛n (Gibeon) seem to confirm the biblical identity of the site. Most of the discussion about the city has centered around the periods thought to illuminate the biblical description of Gibeon. According to the famous story in Joshua (chapter 9), the “Gibeonites” tricked the Israelites into making a treaty with them. When the trick was discovered, the Israelites honored their oath but made the Gibeonites “hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of (my) God” (9: 23; see vv. 21, 27). While there are considerable exegetical issues here (i.e. the date and function of this story in its biblical context), there is also a serious archaeological problem. If there was an Israelite “conquest,” it is usually dated towards the end of the Late Bronze Age (c.1250 BCE). From Gibeon, the only remains that can be dated to this period are a few pottery sherds discovered in tombs. No architectural remains from the Late Bronze Age were ever found. It is true that there was not a lot of lateral exposure of this site and such remains of a Late Bronze Age city may lie buried elsewhere. But until such remains are found, the Joshua story remains historically suspect. This is even more so when the famous “sun standing-still” story is added to the discussion ( Josh. 10: 12-13). While such stories may serve the theological purpose(s) of its author(s), one hardly expects to find archaeological evidence of such an event (I will leave aside the entire question of the scientific implications of such a story).
