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Façade
of the restored six-chambered gate from the time of King Solomon at Hazor, 10th
century BC; in the background in the far left: the roof above the ceremonial
palace. |
Joshua turned back at that time, and took Hazor, and struck its king down with the sword. Before that time Hazor was the head of all those kingdoms. And they put to the sword all who were in it, utterly destroying them; there was no one left who breathed, and he burned Hazor with fire.
—Joshua 11:10-11. New Revised Standard Version
Who Destroyed Canaanite Hazor? By Amnon Ben-Tor. Biblical Archaeology Review, Vol. 39, No. 4 (July/August 2013).
Ben-Tor:
If we can eliminate the Egyptians, the Sea Peoples, rival Canaanite city-states and even the local population of the city as being responsible for the fall of Hazor, who then are we left with?
The differences between the Alt and Albright schools with regard to the process of the early Israelites’ settlement in Canaan (outlined above) were discussed with much passion at the time but are of little consequence for the issue at hand. Both sides eventually agreed that Hazor was indeed destroyed by the early Israelites. Even Martin Noth, the greatest exponent of Alt’s school of thought, admits to a link between the capture of Hazor and Joshua 11:10. Both sides thus agree on the “who”—the early Israelites—but still differ with regard to the “how”—the nature of the process by which the early Israelites took possession of, and eventually settled in, the Land of Canaan.
An array of publications by various scholars over the years, trying to determine who was responsible for the downfall of Hazor, indicates a tendency to attribute the site’s destruction to anyone except the ones specifically mentioned in the Bible as having done so.
As clearly shown by the famous Merneptah Stele, dated to the last decade of the 13th century B.C.E., the Israelites were present in Canaan at this time. They must have arrived some time before their encounter with Merneptah, the Egyptian pharaoh. Some prefer to call this group “proto-Israelites,” but there is no reason for this. If the term “Israel” was good enough for Pharaoh Merneptah to designate this particular group of people, it should be good enough for us. Indeed, those Israelites were still largely a seminomadic society, and their national identity was not exactly the same as that of Israel in the ninth century B.C.E. A lot of changes occurred during the three centuries separating their presence in the region in the 13th century B.C.E. from the foundation of the Kingdom of Israel. Certain groups from among the local population must have been absorbed into Israel, while others left. The same is true for other national groups: The Americans of today are certainly different from those two centuries ago, and even more so the Israelis of today are very different from those who were in the country just 65 years ago when the State of Israel was founded. Such changes do not justify considering the Israelites of Merneptah and the inhabitants of the Kingdom of Israel as two different peoples.
Biblical historiography, in particular the books of Joshua–Kings, cannot be considered a completely accurate account of the events described in them, because they are motivated by a theological and—to some extent—a political agenda. They do contain a considerable number of true historical nuclei, however, and the account of the downfall of the last Canaanite city of Hazor is very probably one of them. Left with the early Israelites as the only viable agent responsible for the destruction of Hazor, one may wonder how it was possible for such a ragtag group of people to bring down a mighty city like Hazor. We need only look at analogous instances of ancient states, and even empires, being overwhelmed by “uncivilized” tribes—for example, the destruction of the Roman Empire by Germanic tribes and the Arab conquest of Byzantine Palestine.
As for Canaan, after some 300 years under oppressive Egyptian rule, it was drained of most of its resources. Egyptian documents tell us about constant military raids, during which the pharaoh’s army lived off the land; what was not consumed or taken as tax was burned. Huge numbers of sheep, cattle and slaves were taken to Egypt as well. The various Canaanite cities were divided and poor. Most of them were not fortified, and even Canaanite Hazor’s fortifications probably went partially out of use. The constant disputes among the Canaanite city-states are clearly reflected in the 14th-century Amarna letters, which also inform us of the meager number of warriors kept by the Canaanite rulers: Requests for military assistance from neighbors often mention no more than 10 to 50 men. The decline in the 13th–12th centuries B.C.E. of all the major powers that had previously ruled the region has been documented and discussed thoroughly.
Seizing the opportunity—while the cat was away, the mice filled the power vacuum and settled all over the region at the end of the Late Bronze Age (c. 1200 B.C.E.): the Greeks in western Asia Minor, the Sea Peoples in the eastern Mediterranean, the Arameans in Syria, the Arabs in the Arabian peninsula—and the Israelites in Canaan.
Scorched Wheat May Provide Answers on the Destruction of Canaanite Tel Hazor. By Noah Wiener. Bible History Daily, July 24, 2012.
3,000-year-old wheat traces said to support biblical account of Israelite conquest. By Asher Zeiger. The Times of Israel, July 23, 2012.
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| A bronze statue of a Canaanite king from Hazor. |
Hazor: “The Head of All Those Kingdoms.” By Abraham Malamat. Journal of Biblical Literature, Vol. 79, No. 1 (March 1960).
Hazor and the Archaeology of the Tenth Century BCE. By Amnon Ben-Tor and Doron Ben-Ami. Israel Exploration Journal, Vol. 48, Nos. 1-2 (1998).
Hazor—A City State Between the Major Powers. By Christa Schäfer-Lichtenberger. Scandinavian Journal of the Old Testament, Vol. 15, No. 1 (2001).
Anatomy of a Destruction: Crisis Architecture, Termination Rituals and the Fall of Canaanite Hazor. By Sharon Zuckerman. Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology, Vol. 20 (2007).
“. . Slaying Oxen and Killing Sheep, Eating Flesh and Drinking Wine . .”: Feasting in Late Bronze Age Hazor. By Sharon Zuckerman. Palestine Exploration Quarterly, Vol. 139, No. 3 (November 2007).
The Renewed Hazor Excavations. By Amnon Ben-Tor. Near Eastern Archaeology, Vol. 76, No. 2 (June 2013).
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| The Merneptah Stele. Cairo Museum |
Israel in the Merneptah Stela. By Michael G. Hasel. Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, No. 296 (November 1994). Revised version here.
Israel in Merenptah’s Inscriptions and Reliefs. By Anson F. Rainey. Israel Exploration Journal, Vol. 51, No. 1 (2001).
Archaeologist Amnon Ben-Tor Explains Hazor on Site. Video. Galyn Wiemers, July 10, 2012. YouTube.
Israelite Conquest of Canaan Debated. National Geographic. Video. digkabri, September 29, 2007. YouTube.
[Download the articles on Hazor from Near Eastern Archaeology, June 2013, when it becomes available on Academic Search Complete/EBSCO]
