ABSTRACT
The oldest known historical reference to Gezer is in an inscription of conquered sites on the temple at Karnak from the time of Thutmose III (fifteenth century BCE; ANET, 1969: 242). In the Hebrew Bible, the city is mentioned some 14 times. Most of these come primarily from two periods: the “Conquest” ( Josh. 10: 33; 12: 12; 16: 3, 10; 21: 21; Judg. 1: 29), and the time of David and Solomon (2 Sam. 5: 25; 1 Kgs. 9: 15-17). In the Amarna correspondence of the first half of the fourteenth century BCE, there are ten letters in which the name occurs (ANET, 1969: 486, 487, and so forth). Perhaps the most famous extra-biblical occurrence is on the so-called “Merneptah Stela” dating to the end of the thirteenth century BCE. Gezer is also thought to be listed in a cuneiform relief from the eighth century BCE palace of Tiglath-Pileser at Nimrud.
