{N}JUDEA{/}

The use of this term only appears in the texts subsequent to the Exile 
(Tobit, Judith, Maccabees, Daniel and later certainly in the New 
Testament). It is evident, besides, that behind it hides the name of 
Judah. Already starting from the captivity in Babylon the name of Judea 
is attributed to the southern part of Palestine, including the area 
between the Dead Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. It corresponded more or 
less to the ancient kingdom of Judah. The frontiers, however, did not 
exactly coincide due to the fluctuations produced by alliances and 
invasions.
When God chose David and the city of Jerusalem [1K_11,13] this southern 
region of Palestine became the heart of Israel.
{K}A HETEROCCLITE REGION{/}

From east to west, the mass of Judea subdivides into three totally 
disparate regions:
The western region of the Sefela, at the foot of the mountain, presents 
countryside of low rounded hills and ample valleys adequate for farming.
The mountain itself, which reaches over 1000 meters, extends along forty 
kilometers, from Bethlehem to Bersheba. It is made up of calcareous and 
rocky plateaus between which the {N}wadis{/} (valleys) are stuck. On the 
better-placed slopes, the cultivation of cereals, grapevines, olive trees 
and fig trees was situated along the grades on the slopes. In regard to 
Jerusalem, it was situated to the north of the mountain crest, not far 
from the border that, in biblical times, separated the tribe of Judah 
from the tribe of Benjamin. The deep valleys that cut through Judea from 
east to west, made passage between the coastal plain and the valley of 
the Jordan easy.
But this region also possesses its own desert: the desert of Judah that 
begins at the doors of Jerusalem and gradually descends until the valley 
of the Jordan and the Dead Sea, an incline of 1400 meters. On this slope, 
the rainfall diminishes and the growth of trees becomes more and more 
scarce. Here we find ourselves in the domain of the shepherds whose sheep 
and goats try to uproot from the hills, throughout a good part of the 
year, the thin layer of grass.
{K}AN UNCERTAIN ORIGIN{/}

The name of Judah seems more of a geographic origin than an historic one, 
the inverse of Naphtali or Ephraim. Actually, the most ancient texts of 
the Bible omit the tribe of Judah: they mention on the other hand the 
diverse clans that later constituted it: the Kenizzites, among them the 
sons of {N}Caleb{/} and those of {N}Othniel{/}, the {N}Jerajmeelites{/}, or even more 
the clans of Fares, Sela and Zera. It is made up then of a whole mosaic 
of nomadic clans that, finding unity under the shepherd's crook of David, 
will take the name of the region it occupies: the south of Palestine.
According to the customs of the societies of oral tradition, and in order 
to point out how this tribe belongs to the people of Israel, an ancestor 
among the sons of Jacob will be attributed to it, and the mother is Leah, 
the wife that was scorned but blessed by God.
Actually, the text in Genesis says: As Yahweh saw that Leah was not loved 
he made her fertile, while Rachel was sterile. Leah got pregnant for the 
fourth time and gave birth to a son. "{C}This time, she said, I will praise 
Yahweh." That is why she named him Judah and after that she had no more 
children.{/} [Gen_29,31] - [Gen_29,35] 
{K}BLESSED BY THE PATRIARCH{/}

Feeling that his death was drawing near, Jacob called to his sons. After 
having blessed the first three, he turned to Judah saying: {C}"To you, 
Judah, your brothers will praise you, you shall seize your enemies by the 
neck, and your brothers shall bow before you. Judah is a young lion! You 
return, my son, from the prey. Like a lion he stoops and crouches and 
like a lioness, who dares to rouse him? The scepter shall not be taken 
from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until he comes 
to whom it belongs, and who has the obedience of nations. He ties his 
foal to a vine, and his ass' colt to the choicest branch. He washes his 
garments in wine and his robe in the juice of grapes." {/}[Gen_49,8] - 
[Gen_49,12]
We can recognize without difficulty in these verses the work of scribes 
of the royal dynasty of Jerusalem. They praised in this way David who had 
managed to impose himself on all the tribes of Israel.
But behind David the image of another king is taking shape already: a 
king according to the heart of God, who will descend Mount Olive riding 
on a donkey, a king to whom all the peoples of the land will submit. His 
clothes will be stained with his own blood [Is_63,1] - [Is_63,3], so that 
by the wine of the New and Eternal Covenant, all the nations be 
reconciled definitively with God.
{K}- BETHANY{/}

On the eastern slope of Mount Olive the town of Bethany stands out over 
the austere countryside of the hills of Judah, which descend to the 
Jordan; on the horizon one can make out the mountains of Moab. In this 
town situated {C}near Jerusalem at a distance of some fifteen stages 
{/}[Jn_11,18] meaning a little more than two kilometers, the Gospel of John 
places the resurrection of Lazarus which, besides, has given its name to 
the present day arab town of El-Lazarieh.
The place was familiar to Jesus. The house of {N}Lazarus{/} and his sisters, 
Martha and Mary, was for him a haven of peace and friendship. In 
addition, it is renowned as the setting where Jesus performs the 
masterful sign of returning Lazarus to life, as told by John in chapter 
11 of his Gospel, announcing for the last time the mystery of his Passion 
and Resurrection.
Along the path that descends from the old town towards the east, one 
finds in a line the tombs from the times previous to the ruin of 
Jerusalem in the year 70: among these is Lazarus' tomb.
The tomb called Lazarus' is found today crowned by a minaret. Dug into 
the rock, it is formed by a vestibule and a funeral chamber that is three 
steps lower. The testimonies that refer to Lazarus' tomb are numerous 
from the third century on, among them the one from the same Origen can be 
counted (185-254 A.D.) Through the diverse stories of travel by the 
pilgrims during the fourth century, it can be verified that previously 
there had been a sanctuary with an atrium constructed over the tomb 
between 330 and 390 A.D.
Let us also remember here the anointment by {N}Mary{/}, who poured a pound of 
fine and very costly perfume over Jesus' feet (Jn 12, 1-11), a prophetic 
gesture that, some days before the Passover, anticipated the burial of 
Jesus.
{K}- BETHLEHEM{/}

Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea during the days of King Herod  
[Mt_2,1]. City of the Messiah Savior, but also city of David, the 
shepherd king, and of his ancestor Ruth, the Moabite, Bethlehem (in 
Hebrew Beith-lehem) probably owes its name to an old assyrian divinity, 
the god Lahamu (hebr: beith-/ house, or meaning, House of Lahamu). But in 
the christian tradition, due to an approximate popular etymology, it will 
remain as "the house of Bread" (hebr: beith-/ house; lehem/ bread. Yet, 
is not Jesus {C}the living bread who came down from heaven{/}? [Jn_6,51].
Bethlehem is located on the hills of Judah seven kilometers south of 
Jerusalem, about eight hundred meters high. It had a strategic importance 
from ancient times, due to its situation, since it was along the route of 
the caravans heading from Jerusalem to Egypt through Hebron. Settlers 
were established there since the Stone Age. According to the book of the 
Chronicles [2Chr_11,6] the town had been fortified by Rehoboam following 
a philistine occupation.
Cradle of the davidian dynasty, the humble village would never have 
reached such celebrity if Jesus, a descendant of David, had not been born 
there. It is exactly in this small town where, going back in time, we 
find ourselves during the first times with David and his ancestor Ruth, 
the Moabite.
{K}RUTH{/}

The book of Ruth is a true picture of family virtues. What a puff of 
freshness, affection and tenderness at a moment when the reader is often 
disconcerted by the violent stories of the book of Judges or the books of  
Samuel! Ruth, the foreign woman, wife of Boaz, who is the owner of the 
field where she went to glean. From this union Obed was born, the father 
of Jesse who will engender David.
{K}DAVID{/}

Had not God made the children of Israel know, in many ways, that their 
thoughts were not His Own, and that their ways were not His ways 
[Is_55,8]? Once again here in Bethlehem, God chooses an unknown person to 
make him the king of his people: the small shepherd preferred over his 
brothers [1S_16,1].
{K}THE PROFECY OF MICAH{/}

Bethlehem reminds us here also of Micah's prophecy, who awaits a Messiah, 
a new David also proceeding from Bethlehem: {C}Bethlehem Ephrathah, 
although the smallest among all the peoples of Judah, you will give me 
the one who should rule over Israel. He himself shall be your peace{/} 
[Mic_5,1] - [Mic_5,4].
It is this small village of Judah where the people of Israel await with 
their prophet the birth of David's descendant, the one who will come to 
bring them the long awaited salvation.
{K}WAS JESUS REALLY BORN IN BETHLEHEM?{/}

Among those that are disconcerted by the gospel, it is practically a fad 
to allege that nothing is known about the birth of Jesus. And they say 
that Bethlehem has been mentioned as the place of his birth solely 
because he was believed to be the Messiah, and consequently "Son of 
David". Then he should be a descendant of David who was from Bethlehem, 
and consequently he should be born in Bethlehem... There has never been 
any argument provided against the testimony of the gospels and, as 
Joachim Jeremiah wrote, the proof is incumbent upon one who denies the 
testimony, not the one who accepts it. Besides, to the testimony of the 
Scripture many others have been added.
In the year 135, Bethlehem is occupied by a roman legion that liquidates 
the last rebels incited by Bar Kochba. At that time the emperor Adrian, 
treating Judaism and Christianity with the same disdain, did the same 
thing against the Church as he did against the Synagogue.
In Mamre he transformed the place that was kept as the memory of 
{N}Abraham{/} into a market where the Jews reduced to slavery were sold. In 
Bethlehem, he surrounded the grotto with a sacred forest in honor of 
Tammuz, the Adonis of the Greeks, whose worship was going to be 
celebrated in the inside of the same cave. This tells us that the 
authenticity of the grotto was recognized by the most ancient christian 
tradition.
At the beginning of the third century, Christianity is in full expansion 
and Bethlehem attracts more and more pilgrims all the time. In 326, Saint 
Helen, the mother of Constantine, the emperor who converted to 
Christianity, promotes the construction work of a great basilica of five 
naves, preceded by an ample vestibule.
{K}THE GROTTO{/}

The cave of the Nativity is found under the basilica, which can be 
entered by a stairway placed at the right of the choir chamber. Each 
cavity of the grotto has known diverse denominations, destinations and 
modifications in the course of time. Saint Jerome would have worked on 
his translation of the Bible into Latin here, installing himself in a 
nearby cave. Let us not forget that during the time of Jesus, these caves 
were in the middle of the center of the town of Bethlehem. Just as in 
Nazareth and in many other places in Palestine, many houses were 
constructed from a natural cavity, and with time rooms were being added 
in front.
{K}RACHEL'S TOMB{/}

Tradition places the burial place of Rachel, the well loved wife of Jacob 
and mother of three tribes: Ephraim - Manasseh and Benjamin, at the exit 
from Bethlehem, along the route to Jerusalem. A small white monument, 
finished off with a dome, would protect the remains of the second wife of 
Jacob. Yet this localization is refuted by a passage of the book of 
Samuel that situates the tomb of Rachel in the territory of Benjamin 
[1S_10,2], near Bethel.
It is probable that the localization of the tomb had been transferred 
from Bethel to Bethlehem, as occurred with other venerated places, due to 
political events. When the territories of the north fell into assyrian 
hands, it was made impossible for the inhabitants of the south to go to 
venerate the tomb of Rachel. So they move the memories to the region 
around Bethlehem.
{K}- EKRON{/}

"The five small philistine kingdoms are: Gaza, Ashdod, Aphekah, Gath and 
Ekron{N}{/}" [Jos_13,3].-
Ekron formed part of this philistine federation that was going to 
dominate the fertile lands of the coastal plain and of the Sefela 
starting from the twelfth century B.C. and it would be in constant 
conflict with the Israelites of the mountainous region. Recipients and 
utensils made of flint somewhat previous to the philistine epoch 
discovered in the place, indicate that the place would have already been 
occupied in the fourth millennium B.C.
{K}THE PHILISTINE CITY-STATE{/}

Ekron is one of the principal sites of the Iron Age in Palestine. It was 
an important urban center between the twelfth and tenth centuries B.C.; 
the city is surrounded by a powerful system of fortification. Inside the 
surrounding wall, public buildings and industrial areas were built up and 
besides the philistine pottery that was discovered there were also 
objects of Cypriot and Aegean influence found. In the center of the city, 
various seated statues have been discovered in the place dedicated to 
worship.
{K}THE OIL INDUSTRY{/}

The processing of olive oil produced the wealth of the city. The 
production exceeded the necessities of the population. The surplus was 
exported towards the cities of the kingdom of Judah, especially to 
Jerusalem. First of all the olives were crushed and right away placed in 
straw baskets under a rudimentary press, made of a great rock actuated by 
wooden levers. The oil extracted in this way was poured into stone 
buckets. Hundreds of jugs for decanting or for conservation have been 
discovered in the different rooms. Actually it was a family run industry. 
Something characteristic of Ekron: altars constructed of one single rock, 
very often with four horns or antlers, similar to the Canaanite altars, 
were placed very near the oil presses.
Other installations were made up of two buckets; the flatter one was 
found at the entrance of the house and it was placed inside a deeper one. 
The inhabitants of Ekron, who were occupied only two months of the year 
in the olive oil production, were dedicated probably to artisan 
leatherwork and the cultivation of flax during the rest of the year.
Ekron was destroyed in the year 701 B.C. by Sennacherib who began his 
campaign razing the coastal cities of the Philistine territory.
{K}- GIBEON{/}

Gibeon was a very important city, a royal city greater than Ai, and its 
men were very brave.{N}{/} [Jos_10,2].
Gibeon, some fifteen kilometers to the northeast of Jerusalem along the 
route of Bet Horon was already in the second millenium B.C., a powerful 
Canaanite city. Joshua and the God of Israel made the city famous when, 
according to the tradition stemming from the Holy Book, they detained the 
course of the sun over Gibeon.
In this popular story taken from an older popular piece of poetic 
literature, the Book of the Just, the book of Joshua reminds Israel that 
it has conquered evil, not because of the strength of its weapons, but 
because his God gave him victory. He is the one who gives his people the 
Promised Land. {C}Some boast of chariots, others of horses, but we boast in 
the name of the Lord, our God .{/} [Ps_20,8]
{K}GIBEON DURING THE ROYAL EPOCH{/}

After his victory over the philistines, {C}Saul built an altar to Yahweh in 
that place, the first he ever built to Him. {/}[1S_14,35]; an examination 
of the area authorizes the identification of this improvised altar with 
"the big stone that was found in Gibeon" [2S_20,8], on top of which the 
animals were sacrificed. It was this sacred place of the tribe of 
Benjamin where King Solomon went to offer sacrifices. {C}The  king went to 
Gibeon to offer there sacrifices, since then this was the most important 
sanctuary of the hills. And it was in Gibeon that Yahweh appeared during 
the night in a dream and told him "Ask what you want me to give you.{/}" 
[1K_3,4] - [1K_3,5]
After the tenth century a wall surrounds the city. The system of water 
supply from a fountain or well that was found much lower, outside of the 
surrounding wall, reminds us of those of Megiddo, Hazor, Gezer and 
Jerusalem. A tunnel that came from the inside of the walls allowed the 
supplying of water without fear of the raiders. Some hundred steps cut 
into the rock, inside the tunnel, facilitated the access to the water 
deposit.
{K}- GEZER{/}

About some thirty kilometers to the west of Jerusalem, along the last 
foothills of the mountains of Judah, rises Gezer. In the times of the 
monarchy it was converted, with Hazor and Megiddo, into one of the three 
great fortresses that controlled the roads against possible invasions 
[1K_9,15]. However, even for a millenium Gezer will have to share the 
times of prosperity with times of war in this region of Judea.
{K}A GOOD OBSERVATORY{/}

Nothing apparently lets us guess, in this place where the hills sink, the 
strategic interest of Gezer; only the layout of the ancient routes 
explains its privileged position. The Via Maris comes up from Egypt; 
after following the northern coast of the Sinai peninsula, it crosses the 
country of the Philistines passing through Ekron, at some eleven 
kilometers as the crow flies. Afterwards it will carry on its path 
towards Mount Carmel and its prolongation's will cross on the way to 
Megiddo. Another transversal way coming from the coastal plain, climbs 
towards Jerusalem and then descends towards Jericho and from there 
penetrates Transjordan: these two principal routes cross under the eyes 
of Gezer. It can then be understood that this strategic position had 
brought with it very quickly the fortification of this hillock.
The place was occupied since the fourth millennium, as the commercial 
relations with the empire of the Pharaohs bear witness to. In the 
seventeenth century B.C., the Hyksos take over the city and construct an 
impressive system of defense: a colossal wall reinforced with enormous 
towers. On the inside of the wall on a vast meadow the sanctuary of Gezer 
exposes its ten "Masseboth" or {C}the rising stones{/} towards the sky. It is 
the best example of a hillside sanctuary of this type found in this time: 
the {C}rising stones{/} here are between 1,50 and 3 meters high; in front of 
one of them a bucket shape hollowed out in the stone in the form of a 
recipient served, probably, to hold the oil for the libations.
A new population that easily became assimilated with the Canaanites 
inhabited the city: the {N}Horites{/}. A people of unknown origin, intrepid 
horsemen and skillful drivers of chariots, they arrived from the 
Mesopotamia of the north. They dominated the neighboring states of Syria 
and Palestine during a long time.
{K}GEZER IN THE BIBLE{/}

In the sixteenth century the egyptian armies intervene and the city is 
razed. Later the egyptian decadence favors the dominion of the 
Philistines in the southeast of Palestine and the book of Judges leaves 
us an image of Gezer, inhabited primarily by a canaanite population, but 
controlled by philistine princes.
During the times of Solomon, Gezer is mentioned once again in the Bible: 
{C}Pharaoh, King of Egypt, had gone up and had captured Gezer, burning it 
and putting to death all the Canaanites who inhabited the city. Then he 
gave the city as dowry to his daughter, Solomon's wife. And he was the 
one who rebuilt Gezer.{/} [1K_9,16] - [1K_9,17] The architecture is then, 
characteristic of the solomonic epoch: today one can see it, admirably 
conserved, with its collector of waters, an underground system which runs 
through the town from one side to the other. During the same epoch, in 
the tenth century, the system that assured the access of water in case of 
a siege had been set up: it consisted of a seven meter deep well that led 
to a tunnel forty one meters long that flowed into the grotto where the 
water was available.
This formidable system of defense, similar in everything to those of 
Megiddo and Hazor, was maintained in the same state that it was found in 
until the conquest of the country by the Assyrians. In the constructions 
of what was the administrative center, a small plaque of calcareous 
material has been discovered on which was engraved the agricultural 
calendar. It was written in Hebrew and provides the list of the months of 
the year in relation to the seasonal development of the agricultural 
tasks.
Following the death of Solomon, the fortress at Gezer was partially 
destroyed; the pharaoh Sesonc went through there during the course of the 
campaign he undertook through Asia. In the seventh century, the south of 
Palestine was converted into a region of some special interest to the 
Assyrians since it included the route towards Egypt, object of their 
greed. The archeology gives testimony to the massive presence of 
Assyrians in the city, which took on then the rank of advanced fortress 
for the sovereigns of Nineveh. This would last until the babylonian 
invasion that will put an end to the reign of Judah.
The last occupation dates to the period of the Maccabees, the city is 
then called {N}Gazara{/}. Simon Maccabee takes over the city, occupied by the 
men of Bakides, a general of king Demetrius of Antioch. Simon installs 
himself there for a time and later entrusts it to his son, the future 
John Hyrcanus [1Mac_13,53].
The crusades made the name of Gezer revive for some years with the 
Dominion of Mount Gisart. It was at the foot of Mount Gisart where 
Baldwin IV, the leper king, in a heroic charge against an enemy proud of 
his first triumphs, annihilates Saladin's army that was marching towards 
Jerusalem at that time, around the year 1177 A.D.
{K}-  HEBRON - MAMRE{/}

"Abram picked up his tents then and went to settle by the trees of Mamre, 
in Hebron. There he built an altar to Yahweh." [Gen_13,18]
In the heart of the hills of Hebron, in past times covered by oak and 
turpentine trees, the faith of our forefathers is rooted. For the 
believers of three monotheistic religions: Jewish, Christian and Muslim, 
this place is full of meaning: Abraham's religious experience, the man to 
whom God revealed himself and in whom {C}all the families of the earth are 
blessed.{/} All worship there the tombs of the patriarchs and celebrate 
with the same fervor the common father Abraham, "{C}the friend of God"{/}. 
Hebron is besides the first great stage in the ascent of David: there 
{C}the men of Judah came and they anointed David as king over the house of 
Judah{/} [2S_2,4].
{K}ABRAHAM AT THE OAK TREE OF MAMRE{/}

Successive migrations lead Abraham and the clan of his father, from {N}Ur{/} 
of Chaldeans (present day Irak) to {N}Haran{/} in higher Mesopotamia (eastern 
Turkey of today). Calle by God, Abraham leaves the paternal tribe. Filled 
with blessings and promises, the promise of a land and of descendants, he 
leaves for a country in Canaan [Gen_12,15]. From camp to camp, the nomad 
goes through the holy place of Shechem, through Bethel (the House of God) 
and, finally, {C}he came to settle in the grove of oaks at Mamre in 
Hebron.{/} [Gen_13,18].
During the monarchical times, a holy path led to the holy place that held 
together the altar, the well and the oak of Abraham. Herod converted it 
into a walled enclosure of monumental characteristics, from which still 
remain enormous blocks of stone. The place was destroyed during the first 
jewish revolt against the Romans in the year 70 A.D. The stones were used 
again by the emperor Adrian who had a temple built in honor of Hermes.

Only the book of Genesis mentions the holy place of Mamre. This tribal 
sanctuary, where an oak was venerated, ran the risk of encouraging the 
return to the worship of nature condemned by the Law of Moses; without a 
doubt, due to this it was abandoned once the reform of Josiah in 722 B.C 
is promulgated [2K_23,1].
There came however the israelite pilgrims in the times of the monarchy. 
They commemorated the renewal of the promise made by God to the "father" 
of the believers: the promise to give him against all evidence countless 
descendants.
{K}A SON OF YOUR OWN, BORN OF YOUR BLOOD{/}

Then the word of God addressed him in these terms: {C}"Your heir will be a 
sond born of you, born of your own flesh and blood." Yahweh brought him 
outside and said to him: "Look at the sky and count the stars if you can. 
Your descendants will be like that" and Abraham believed Yahweh, who held 
him to be an upright man from then on{/} [Gen_15,1].
In Mamre Abraham prepares the ritual sacrifice of all covenants 
celebrated among the nomads: animals are split down and the contracting 
parties must pass in the midst of them. And here is where God himself 
commits himself in the first place: suddenly the night is illuminated, 
and the fire burns through the darkness ... God had passed by ...! The 
covenant has been signed by Yahweh's own hand.
Also in Mamre by the grace of God, what is impossible becomes reality and 
the son of the promise is born. And it is here as well where Abraham 
receives his three mysterious visitors, who are definitely no more than 
the presence of the Only One.
{K}HEBRON, ONE OF THE MOST ANCIENT CITIES OF JUDAH{/}

According to the book of Numbers, {C}Hebron had been built seven years 
before the city of Tanis in Egypt{/} [Num_13,22]. Tanis-Zoan was a 
flourishing city, in the northeastern part of the delta of the Nile, and 
the Hyksos situated their capital there. However, it seems that Hebron is 
even more ancient: at the beginning of the second millenium it was 
already a fortress city. The city fulfilled an important role in the 
mountains of Judah and already possessed a written culture.
The canaanite city was also called Qiryat-Arba (the City of the Four). 
Surely the four clans that occupied the different areas of the city and 
the surrounding areas must have gathered together in the central 
sanctuary.
{K}ABRAHAM BUYS A TOMB AND SOME LAND IN HEBRON{/}

The importance is known of this purchase made by Abraham, since the land 
acquired will become converted into the place of rest of the remains of 
{N}Sarah{/}. Abraham not only acquires the cave and the field, but besides 
all the trees that are found in the field; in this way he becomes the 
owner of a first piece of the land that God had promised to him.
{K}THE TOMB OF THE PATRIARCHS: HARAM EL JALIL{/}

Abraham converted the cave of Machpelah into his family tomb. There, 
together with Sarah, he himself was buried, after dying {C}at a very good 
old age, full of years{/} [Gen_25,8].
The holy place received the name of Haram El-Jalil (the Sanctuary of the 
Friend). An improvised synagogue, with architecture of the time of the 
crusades, as also muslim mimbar and mirhab remember here that all of the 
children of Abraham recognize only one God. All of them: Jews, Christians 
and Muslims, worship Abraham as the father of faith. Abraham is the 
father of all of us [Rom_4,16] - [Rom_4,17]. The hope that Abraham is the 
bearer of concerns all of humanity: {C}Here there is no longer any 
difference between Jew or Greek, or between slave or free men, or between 
man and woman, since all of you are one in Christ Jesus. And because you 
belong to Christ, you are also of Abraham's race and you are to inherit 
God's promise. {/}[Gal_3,28] - [Gal_3,29].
{K}KING DAVID IN HEBRON{/}

At the time of the conquest of the country of Canaan, Joshua was at the 
head of all of Israel and took over Hebron: {C}From Eglon they went to 
Hebron; he conquered it together with all the towns which were subject to 
it{/} [Jos_10,36]. Later Joshua grants the city and its territory to Caleb 
who{N} {/}was the only one among the explorers sent by Moses to recognize the 
Promised Land, who did not scorn the country nor discourage the people.
The region of Hebron that depended on the calebite clans carried out a 
decisive role in the beginning of the history of David. Pursued by Saul, 
David found a place of refuge there. He married {N}Abigail{/}, the widow of a 
famous calebite. This union got him integrated into this powerful tribe 
and made him a kind of heir of Caleb. Anointed by the Lord, a valiant and 
skillful warrior, crowned by the glory of his victories, {C}David consulted 
Yahweh: "Shall I go up to one of the cities of Judah?" The response was: 
"Go up." David asked, "Where shall I go?" The response was: "To Hebron." 
So David went up there with his two wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail 
the widow of Nabal of Carmel. David also brought up his men with their 
families and they settled in the towns of Hebron. Then the men of Judah 
came and there they anointed David king over the nation of Judah.{/} 
[2S_2,1] - [2S_2,4]

This was how the kingdom of Judah entered into history.
{K}- THE HERODION{/}

The fortress of Herodion rises up some five kilometers to the south east 
of Bethlehem, in the semi-arid lands that are within the confines of the 
hills of the desert of Judah. It forms part of the great architectural 
collection of buildings constructed by Herod the Great in way of defense, 
but also as a way of exalting his own prestige. It included within the 
collection: the palaces and fortresses of Jericho, Masada, Maqueronte, 
Hircania, Cypros, the Antonia of Jerusalem, the grandiose reconstruction 
of the Temple of Jerusalem and the conditioning of the maritime Caesarea.
{K}THE HERODION{/}

The fortress, that is named for Herod, was constructed starting in the 
year 37 B.C. in commemoration of the modest victory of his rearguard over 
those Parthians who were fleeing Jerusalem in order to find refuge in 
Masada.
From Jerusalem it can be perceived how this natural hill was fortified by 
Herod after having made his surroundings higher. It forms a kind of 
crater in which the sumptuous palace - fortress is lodged, hidden from 
indiscreet eyes. Herod felt sure only when he found himself up high in 
one of those eagles nests that had been conditioned as winter or summer 
residences.
The Herodion includes a palace fortress constructed over a hill and at 
its feet, a residential palace.
One entered the palace fortress through a side ramp of some two hundred 
steps, which were covered in marble. That ramp went up to the top of the 
hill and its highest part gave way to a tunnel that led to a small door. 
The visitor then arrives to a large courtyard with colonnades and an 
ornamental garden with water deposits , a fabulous luxury considering the 
situation of the place: at the doors of the desert. The magnificent roman 
baths that the complex possessed, included, according to the custom: a 
room for the hot bath, another for the warm baths and a third for the 
cold baths. Great cisterns had also been carved out of the living rock, 
to catch the rainwater of the winter. This whole complex included a 
sumptuous roman villa and a fortress from where Herod's personal guards 
watched over the surrounding areas.
The residential palace had been constructed some one hundred meters 
lower, on a terrain of some fifteen hectares. At the center of an immense 
patio a great pool served likewise as a reservoir and as a swimming pool. 
In the middle of the pool the columbarium was found, in a round shape 
where the urns of the incinerated deceased were deposited.
The incineration was a typically pagan form of burial. The Jews of the 
group of the Pharisees, who believed in the resurrection, could not adopt 
this funeral rite because of respect for their bodies, depositaries of 
the promise of eternal life. It seems that the columbarium was reserved 
for the personal guards of Herod, since they were all pagans (Thraces, 
Germans, Galatians ...). Herod thought that he could count better on the 
faithfulness of these foreigners than on that of the Jews, who searched 
for, possibly, the favorable opportunity to eliminate him.
The sumptuousness of the palace helps us to understand the emphatic pages 
of Flavius Josephus upon describing Herod's burial.
"At that time Archelaus thought to make the king, his father, a sumptuous 
funeral and resolved to be personally present. The body of the deceased 
was attired with his royal clothing, with a crown of gold on his head and 
a staff in his hand; he was carried on a gold litter with precious stones 
of great value set into it. Behind it went the children of the deceased 
and the closer relatives, followed by all the men of war by nation, after 
nation: the Thraces, Germans and Galatians marched at the head and all 
the rest followed commanded by their leaders. Each one carried his arms 
as on a day of battle. Five hundred officials, relatives of the deceased 
king, brought perfumes and ended this solemn march. They marched in this 
way, in this order, from Jericho until the palace of Herodion: there the 
prince was buried as he had ordered it" (Jewish Antiquities XVII 10).
{K}- JERICHO{/}

When they blow the horn, all the people shall come up to attack, shouting 
their battle cry. At that moment, the walls of the city will fall and 
everyone shall enter straight ahead of him.{N}{/} [Jos_6,5]
In this way the Bible tells us the story of the capture of Jericho by the 
israelite tribes, under the leadership of Joshua. With its trumpets and 
its walls that fall down, the history of the city belongs to the 
collection of the popular images from the Bible. But Jericho also serves 
as the setting for the miraculous healing of a blind man and the 
conversion of Zaccheus, who had climbed up the sycamore tree. In short, 
it is a decisive stage along the way up to Jerusalem by Jesus, in the 
course of which the Lord announced for the third time the proximity of 
his Death and Resurrection. For any traveler who has just crossed through 
the desert, this oasis, situated about ten kilometers to the north of the 
Dead Sea, and at two hundred and fifty meters below the level of the 
Mediterranean Sea, appears as a paradisiacal place. This is the city of 
the {N}palm{/} trees [Dt_34,3], of exuberant vegetation, where the leafy 
tropical fruit trees grow. In the center of the present day city, the 
ruins of Tell-es-Sultan remind us that much earlier than the christian 
era, much earlier even than the entrance of the tribes in Canaan, Jericho 
already had a long history that went back beyond the eighth millennium 
B.C.
{K}TELL-ES-SULTAN{/}

The place was occupied from the tenth millennium by peoples of the 
Natufian culture. These were semi-nomads who lived by harvesting and 
hunting; as a dwelling they used huts. Towards the IX millennium 
important changes are produced in the ways of life, due to which the 
historians rightly speak of the Neolithic{N} {/}revolution: during this 
period humans will pass from an economy of {C}predation{/} to an economy of 
{C}production{/}. The harvesting gives way to agriculture and the cattle 
raising progressively substitutes hunting; the families get linked to a 
ground and become sedentary. Because of this they observe the rhythm and 
the conditions of the development of vegetables and animals, making their 
own way of life evolve. One of the first sedentary agricultural 
communities gather together in this area, with settlements to the west of 
the fountain called "of Elisha" in memory of its purification by the 
prophet [2K_2,19] - [2K_2,22].
On the western part of the tell a round tower of stone that is 8,5 meters 
in diameter and 8 meters high flanks a thick wall. One remains astonished 
on seeing the conservation of these remains: let us think that they are 
approximately ten thousand years old and that the pyramids of Egypt are 
closer to us in time than what they are of that tower. An abrupt stairway 
placed on the inside of the tower, leads up to the top, over which one 
rock clearly bigger than the rest is noticeable, whose function was 
probably of sacrificial character. The role that this tower performed is 
not totally certain. It seems however, that on that plain that is like a 
corridor along the river Jordan, the tower was a type of "high place" 
from where top sacrificial rituals were offered.
The place, which was abandoned during many centuries, knew a period of 
expansion starting from 7500 B.C. In this period only agricultural 
communities can be talked about and not the city as such.
Beside the tower are found cylindrical structures that had probably been 
silos. It is not difficult to comprehend the vertigo that overpowered 
these men, who, after having observed nature and its laws for 
millenniums, launched themselves on the crazy adventure of agriculture, 
and saw their first attempts crowned with success. Nothing more natural 
then, than entrusting the fruit of their harvests - that great treasure - 
to beneficent divinities.
Humankind will easily forget this humble attitude of recognition. And the 
Deuteronomy puts Israel on guard against the temptation of believing only 
in the effectiveness of one's own work: {C}Yahweh, your God, will bring you 
into this good land, a land of streams and rivers, of subterranean waters 
that gush forth in the valleys and the mountains, a land of wheat and 
barley, of grapes and figs, of pomegranates and olives, a land of oil and 
honey, a land where the bread you eat is not rationed and where you will 
lack nothing.    ... So take care that you do not forget Yahweh, your 
God, ... lest you say, "With my own strength I have attained all these 
good things {/}[Dt_8,7] - [Dt_8,9]; [Dt_8,10], [Dt_8,17] - [Dt_8,18].
{K}JERICHO: A CITY OF THE BRONZE AGE{/}

The process of urbanization that extends from the fourth millennium B.C. 
all through the Near East lets us now talk about Jericho as a true city. 
Already in the third millennium it was surrounded by gigantic 
fortifications. The adobe walls are constructed at that time in 
independent sections, capable of resisting a seism, which was something 
frequent in this region of Ghor. A double wall and towers in a horseshoe, 
later rectangular, contribute to reinforce the system of defense.
Jericho is destroyed at the end of the third millennium. The place is 
newly occupied by a population of semi-nomads and a change can be 
observed in this period in the funerary customs. In an urban society, the 
collective tombs shelter several generations of the same family. 
Meanwhile among the well to do populations, the deceased are buried 
individually in tombs in the shape of vertical wells dug into the rock, 
forming, in this way, vast cemeteries.
{K}THE PASSAGE OF THE HYKSOS{/}

During the period that goes from 1800 to 1500 B.C., Jericho is the most 
important city in the valley of the Jordan. A wall protects it. In small 
houses spread along two long streets remains have been discovered such as 
millstones, grain and potter's wheels, things that give testimony to a 
local craft making. With the urbanized society, the return to the 
multiple tombs is produced. These deliver to us a precious information 
with respect to the way of life of the population of the epoch, thanks to 
the extraordinary conservation of the organic materials: wooden 
furniture, beds, benches, tables with three legs and several utensils, 
without counting the crockery made of alabaster. It is also known that 
this flourishing city suffered the destruction by a fire around the year 
1550 B.C. This disaster coincides with the expulsion of the Hyksos, 
pursued in Palestine by the Egyptians.
{K}DID THE WALLS OF JERICHO REALLY FALL DOWN?{/}

This question has not gone out of fashion and permits the unbeliever to 
scoff at the veracity of the Holy Books and the apologist to invent a 
thousand and one stratagems through which some men blowing on trumpets 
could have been capable of demolishing the walls of a fortress.
In fact, Jericho was practically abandoned during centuries and could not 
have sheltered more than a modest population in the time of Joshua. There 
is then, an apparent contradiction between the arqueological references 
and the biblical text. But it may be necessary to bring up the following 
question: What is the function of this story? The text is beautiful, in 
rhythm with the seven days of the creation, like an echo of the primary 
rhythm on which the seventh day represents the culmination. Here the 
capture of Jericho on the part of the Israelite invader does not belong 
to the factual history of Israel, but rather to the history of its faith. 
The origin of this grandiose liturgy should be searched for in the rite 
that was celebrated in Gilgal, around the circle of stones deposited 
there by Joshua, in order to commemorate the crossing of the Jordan on 
dry feel. That day, in fact, {C}Joshua set up the twelve stones taken from 
the riverbed of the Jordan, when they crossed it. Then Joshua said to the 
Israelites: "When your children ask you in the future what these stones 
mean, then you shall tell them that the people of Israel crossed the 
Jordan without getting wet, for Yahweh, our God, dried up the waters of 
the Jordan before us just as he did to the Red Sea which he also dried up 
before us to let us cross."{/} [Jos_4,20] - [Jos_4,24].
In Jericho the Israelites give thanks before the miraculous action of God 
that had just given them the victory. The first city found - in ruins - 
after having crossed the Jordan, is the first stage of the fulfillment of 
the promises made to the patriarchs. The story ends with the burning of 
the city and Joshua's curse: {C}"May Yahweh curse the man who rebuilds 
Jericho. May its foundations rise on the body of his eldest son and the 
gates on that of his youngest son"{/} [Jos_6,26]. Around the middle of the 
ninth century B.C., in times of Ahab, this curse will fall over one named 
Hiel of Bethel [1K_16,34]. This man did no more than resume the 
sacrifices for the foundation, practiced by the Canaanite peoples.
{K}THE HERODIAN JERICHO{/}

In the second century B.C. the city extends towards the south east, along 
the banks of Wadi Qelt. The hasmonean kings made it their winter 
residence, happy to leave the capital and its mountains during the cold 
season and to enjoy a more benign climate. Alexander Janeo (103-76 B.C.) 
started the construction of the first palace. He added two swimming pools 
surrounded on three of the sides by a vast meadow; gardens and baths 
complete the installations.
The palace was ready for lodging new occupants: this happened at the end 
of the first century B.C. Since the encounter with Cleopatra VII in 41 
B.C., the triumvir Marcus Antonius (83-30 B.C.) fell in love with the 
queen of Egypt. Much later she persuaded the Roman to make her his wife 
and give her part of his possessions: Crete, Cyprus and Phoenicia passed 
from the authority of Rome to that of Egypt. Marcus Antonius would also 
grant her the coastal area, from Lebanon to Gaza and later Jericho with 
its palm and balsam trees and its tropical fruits: every class of goods 
that assured Cleopatra a very appreciable income. She knew how to take 
benefit from these territories, leasing them to Herod the Great, who had 
just received the crown of Palestine from Octavius.
Without wasting an instant, Herod enlarged this luxurious residence. A 
first palace was built but disappeared with the seism in 31 B.C.. At the 
same time Marcus Antonius and Cleopatra, defeated by Octavius, took their 
own lives.
Herod passed in this way from being the tenant to being the owner. He 
constructed a second palace on top of the ruins of the hasmonean building 
that he had covered with a thick layer of dirt. Over this layer he 
installed a residence that dominated the whole palm grove area, and he 
constructed a great swimming pool to replace the previous ones. It was 
precisely in this pool where years later he drowned the high priest 
Aristobulos II, his young brother in law whose popularity shadowed his 
own greatness.
At the end of the first century B.C., a third palace was constructed on 
each side of the Wadi Qelt, completing in this way a sumptuous 
residential complex. It was in this winter residence where Herod died. 
And so as not to be lacking in his cruel and merciless instinct that had 
motivated him throughout his reign, he left it arranged that after his 
death all the notable of the Jews be assassinated. Happily for them, this 
bloody provision was not carried out.
{K}JESUS IN JERICHO{/}

Besides {N}Zaccheus{/}' old sycamore tree that is humorously mentioned in a 
garden along the way, no vestiges remain of Jericho in the times of 
Jesus, but the walls of the city in the times of Joshua.
However, it was here where Jesus cured the blind man {N}Bartimaeus{/} 
[Lk_18,35]. Jesus reveals in this place the irreplaceable character of 
the light he brings and the novelty of the ways of salvation. These two 
stories, situated immediately beside the last announcement of the 
Passion, are like a catechesis addressed to the disciples who turn away 
from the scandal of a crucified Messiah.
{K}THE MONASTERY OF THE FASTING{/}

To the west of ancient Jericho, a rocky wall of the Mount of the Fasting 
sustains, as if suspended on its flanks, the greek monastery of the same 
name that dates from the end of the fourth century A.D. A wall in ruins 
surrounds the place that is presumed was the fortress of Dock, where 
Simon Maccabee was murdered in the year 134 B.C. [1Mac_16,11]. On the 
inside of this enclosure there was a church built, in order to 
commemorate probably Jesus' temptations in the desert. However, nothing 
allows us to state that Jesus has ever been in these places.
{K}- LACHISH{/}

The low relieves of the royal palace of Nineveh have immortalized the 
capture of Lachish by the assyrian king {N}Sennacherib{/} in 701 B.C. 
Lachish, situated on a rocky promontory that dominates the coastal plain 
between Gaza and Hebron, was part of the fortresses that closed the 
passage to Jerusalem to invaders. This fortress was occupied from the 
third millennium B.C.
{K}A POWERFUL CANAANITE CITY 1580 - 1220 B.C.{/}

Of the three superimposed temples, constructed in the hyksos defensive 
ditch, very few remains are found. In the most recent temple, next to the 
typically canaanite objects, egyptian beetles and pieces of carved marble 
have been found that give testimony to the control that the Egyptians 
exercised in the place until its destruction in 1220 B.C. Two outstanding 
events mark this time: the arrival of the {N}peoples{/} of the {N}sea {/}(the 
Philistines), and the entrance of the tribes in Canaan under the 
leadership of Joshua. Let us hear what the Old Testament tells us: {C}From 
Libnah Joshua went to Lachish, laid siege to it and attacked it. Yahweh 
also gave them this city with its king and inhabitants, who suffered the 
same fate as Libnah {/}[Jos_10,31] - [Jos_10,32].
{K}THE ISRAELITE FORTRESS{/}

It was one of the most important strongholds in the kingdom of Judah, 
after Jerusalem. Starting from the reign of Rehoboam (928 - 911 B.C.), 
the palaces replaced one another at the top of the hill dominating the 
city and its surrounding areas. Rehoboam plants the north south route of 
Sefela with fortified cities like Azeca, Hebron and Lachish. {C}He 
constructed walls of these cities and put commanders in them with stores 
of food, oil and wine {/}[2Chr_11,11]. However, it will be the successors 
of Rehoboam: Asa and Jehosaphat, who will construct truly monumental 
fortifications, those which, thanks to the archeological excavations, 
have been newly given light.
{K}THE TAKING OF LACHISH BY SENNACHERIB IN 701 B.C.{/}

After the fall of Samaria, the threat of assyrian invasion over the reign 
of Judah, and especially over Jerusalem, is profiled as imminent.
{N}Hezekiah{/} (716 - 685 B.C.) took the initiative of a revolt against 
Assyria with the support of Egypt. He tried to persuade the philistine 
cities to take part in the cause and to join the revolt; but Gaza and 
Ashdod had been severely punished by Sargon II for their previous revolts 
and they had no intention of repeating the experience. However, King 
Sidqa of Aphekah accepted to join the group. As for Padi, the king of 
Ekron, who refused to enter into the coalition, he was chained and led to 
Jerusalem to be put before Hezekiah. The assyrian reaction did not take 
long to come. Sennacherib's army crossed through Galilee and Samaria; it 
conquered the philistine cities of the coast and laid siege to the city 
of Lachish. Sennacherib captured the fortress and converted it into his 
general headquarters. In order to commemorate this victory he had the 
capture of the city represented on the walls of his palace in Nineveh, 
with an incredible precision and richness of detail: a true tape drawn 
where one can appreciate the battle with the different divisions of the 
troops and the war machinery, the decoration of the fortress scrupulously 
reconstructed, and this from the first attack until the procession of 
prisoners being deported after the capture of the city.
The capture of Lachish was only the first stage for Sennacherib: from 
there he intended to continue with the attack on Jerusalem; only a 
miraculous intervention of God would be able, then, to save the Holy 
City, and this was produced [2K_18,12] - [2K_19,37]. When all seemed 
lost, God came to help his people, renewing in this way the miracles of 
the exodus.
Inside the city, numerous recipients with royal seals have been 
discovered, which served as storage for food for Hezekiah's army, 
permitting him to support the long and difficult siege. Hundreds of 
arrowheads made of iron, discovered at the level of the walls and the 
ramp from the assault of the Assyrians, demonstrate the violence of the 
combat.
The city was destroyed; remaining buried under a thick layer of ashes. 
Reconstructed rapidly in the seventh century B.C., it survived until the 
fall of the Kingdom of Judah. It must have, surrendered to the army of 
Nabuchodonosor. The famous "letters from Lachish" found near the door of 
the city, are, in their majority, the missives addressed to the commander 
of the Lachish fortress in times of Zedekiah and the prophet Jeremiah.
{K}- MARESHAH{/}

Situated at the extreme north of Sefela, Mareshah is quoted in 
[Jos_15,44], on the list of cities given to the tribe of Judah, at the 
moment of the distribution of the land. The second book of Chronicles 
mentions Mareshah among the cities fortified by Rehoboam [2Chr_11,8], but 
it seems that the work of fortification took place in the previous epoch, 
before the invasion of the pharaoh Sesong and no one knows what happened 
to what remained after the egyptian campaign. The Sefela will also be a 
place of transit of the Assyrians and Babylonians towards the country; 
and all of its cities will be destroyed at the moment of the conquest of 
Palestine by Sennacherib in the year 701 B.C.
At the end of the sixth century, the city passes to the hands of the 
Edomites and is converted into the capital of Idumea. Very probably it 
served as the setting for the slave trading with Egypt. Also established 
in the city was an important colony of Sidonians, coming from Phoenicia. 
Mareshah was destroyed by the Parthians in the year 4 B.C.
{K}- QUMRAN{/}

Qumran is spreads out on a terrace to the north of the wadi of the same 
name, at a height of three hundred meters over the {N}Dead Sea{/}. A high 
wall of red limestone, perforated with natural caves dominates the place. 
In the second century B.C., a group of Essenes, rupturing with the clergy 
of the Temple of Jerusalem, came to this place in search of solitude and 
withdrawal. The place had caused very little interest to the 
archeologists until the spring of 1947, the date of the fortuitous 
discovery of the celebrated "Dead Sea Scrolls".
{K}THE DISCOVERY{/}

On the first of April 1947, while looking for a lost sheep, a young 
shepherd of the Ta'amireh tribe, Mohamed el-Dib, threw a stone into the 
inside of a cavity of the rocky cliffs. The echo produced by the fall of 
the stone emitted a sound similar to that of broken objects. Intrigued, 
the young shepherd went into the cave: the ground was covered with clay 
pots. There were also eight containers preserved with their respective 
covers. One of them held several rolls of parchment wrapped in a linen 
cloth. The rolls contained an ancient writing. After all sort of events, 
the valuable rolls arrived to the hands of the archeologists, and later 
to those of the exegetes, who had rapidly become aware of the exceptional 
importance of this discovery. A methodic search was launched within a ten 
kilometers radius around the famous hiding place. Meanwhile, the natural 
grottos as well as any dug out in the marl, delivered manuscripts all the 
time more numerous. The excavations that were performed on the ground 
around the ruins, insignificant at first glance - revealed the presence 
of buildings of a community. Very soon it would be proven that these 
constructions were work of the Essenes in practically all cases.
{K}THE ESSENIAN MOVEMENT OF QUMRAN{/}

The history of the Essenes was known from ancient times because of the 
texts from Philon of Alexandria, Flavius Josephus and Plinus the Elder. 
This last man, in his "Natural History" (V, 17,73), defines them in this 
way: {C}"An extraordinary people, the most extraordinary that could exist, 
without women, without love, without money, and living in the company of 
palm trees... In this way, ever since thousands of centuries, an 
incredible thing, an eternal people subsists, where no one is born."{/} In 
spite of the notorious exaggerations of this description, marked by the 
imagination and skillful pen of the author, it is no less certain that 
the Essenes had formed from the second century B.C., a society of "{C}pure 
ones{/}" segregated from the world, practicing asceticism and prayer.
Their origin reveals at the same time a religious crisis and a political 
crisis. In 151 B.C. Alexander Balas, an imposter, usurps the throne of 
Syria, and Palestine is one of its provinces. One year later, he confers 
to {N}Jonathan{/}, brother and successor of Judas Maccabee, the dignity of 
high priest [1Mac_10,20], naming him besides military chief and governor 
of Judea. As a partisan of Hellenism, meaning then the greek culture, 
Jonathan abandons at that time the politics of advocating independence 
and the religious reform that his father and his brothers had been 
dedicated to. Before this situation of drifting, the priestly medium of 
conservative Jewish did not take long in reacting: the secularization in 
course corrupted the fundamentals of Judaism. And to make matters worse, 
the one who had just accepted said position did not fulfil the 
conditions. In fact, Jonathan did belong to a family of priests, but he 
had not come from the descendants of Sadoch. The substitution of the 
traditional liturgical calendar for the hellenistic calendar is added as 
well to the complaints that weighed against the new high priest.
{K}THE EXODUS TO QUMRAN{/}

On seeing that the Temple was defiled by an illegitimate and unworthy 
priest, a small group made up of twelve lay people, symbolizing the 
twelve tribes of Israel, and three priests representing the three 
levitical clans, exile themselves in Qumran between 140 and 130 B.C. This 
is how it is expressed in the Rules of the Community: {C}they will separate 
themselves from the inicuous and they will leave their houses to go to 
the desert in order to prepare there the way of God according to what is 
written: "in the desert, prepare the way of the Eternal One, straighten 
out on the steppe a path for our God"{/}(Rule of the Community, column 
VIII).
It is in this way that - following the Master of Justice - founder and 
master of the movement, who by a special grace understands the hidden 
mysteries of the Holy Books - the community of Qumran is born, founded on 
the Covenant, of which the group is considered as the only unique 
depositary. By retiring to this arid place on the shores of the Dead Sea, 
the Essenes revive the experience of the "forefathers" and the crossing 
of the desert before the entrance to the Promised Land. Convinced of 
representing the true Israel, that {C}small remnant{/}, the only heir to the 
messianic promises, they prepare the new Israel that will be the answer 
to the intent of the salvation of God. Only the community life, 
practically monastic, consecrated to the reading of the Scripture, to 
prayer and the meditation of the Law and the Prophets, will permit them 
to live a re-encounter with God.
During approximately three centuries, these priests and lay people 
voluntarily withdrawn to the area around the Dead Sea, will copy and 
recopy the Holy Books, at the same time that they will redact original 
writings.
{K}DIFFERENT STAGES OF OCCUPATION{/}

The archeological excavations let us follow in detail the history and the 
lifestlye of the {C}Community of the Covenant{/}. When its "founders" arrived 
at the banks of the Dead Sea, they found a tower and a cistern more or 
less in an abandoned state: these were the witnesses to the work 
performed in the eighth century B.C. by king Uzziah {C}who constructed 
towers in the desert{/} {C}and dug a great many cisterns{/} [2Chr_26,10], 
probably in order to install small guard houses in this frontier region. 
Around these elements were built towards the middle of the second century 
B.C., the first community installation.
Around the year 135 B.C., under the reign of John Hyrcanus I, the 
enclosure was enlarged and developed a hydraulic system. During this time 
the place acquires the aspect with which it is known today. The traces of 
its violent destruction can also be appreciated: without a doubt the 
earthquake of the year 31 B.C.
Under the reign of Archelaus (4 B.C to 6 A.D), the damaged buildings are 
repaired and the tower is consolidated with a stone terrace. Seventy 
years later the coming of the tenth legion will be felt along the banks 
of the Dead Sea. Rome had sent Vespasian to repress the first jewish 
revolt. After finishing his mission in Galilee, he launches his troops 
towards the coastal plain on one side, and towards the valley of the 
Jordan on the other. Upon arriving at Qumran the legionaries massacre the 
community and plunder the installations (68 D.C.).
A roman guard will occupy the place until the end of the century. The 
partisans of Bar Kochba will come later to take refuge in the time of the 
second jewish revolt (132 - 135 A.D). But it will be necessary to wait 
close to two thousand years for the archeologists' shovels to pull out 
from their sleep the ruins of Qumran and their surprising secret.
{K}A FUNCTIONAL PLAN{/}

The plan of the complex reveals the preoccupation with responding to the 
needs and demands of an important group desirous of living in self-
sufficiency and community life on this separated platform.
Near the entrance, on the path going up along the banks of the Dead Sea, 
a tower controls the accesses. The tower is prolonged towards the south 
by a construction with a floor consisting of a room surrounded by low 
seats; maybe it was a meeting room and the "scriptorium" (room where one 
writes). There is where the {C}desk {/}of the scribes was discovered, a long 
table of baked clay late plastered, with its bronze inkwells. Besides, in 
this complex, there were rooms available for the service with kitchen and 
washing spaces. A long room seems to have been the dining room.
The work shops are grouped: in the southern part are found the pottery 
shops admirably conserved: a pool, a bucket for mixing the clay, a wheel 
and two ovens of different sizes - the bigger one must have served for 
cooking the recipients that conserved in such an invaluable way so many 
manuscripts. In the western sector the mill was found, the bread shop 
with its ovens, the stores of grain and fruit, as well as the stable. The 
hydraulic system was like the dorsal spine of the enclosure: all around 
there are cisterns and pools for the decantation, besides numerous 
channels that fed into the already mentioned deposits for water.
{K}THE CEMETERY AND THE FARM{/}

Separated from the city of the living by a long wall of stones that rises 
up over the gully, the dominion of the dead included no less than 1100 
tombs. The deceased in their great majority were men. They were buried in 
"loculi", in graves dug less than a meter of depth, without traces of 
offerings nor pieces of coin, as the jewish custom of the time required. 
Down lower there have been found some skeletons of women and children, 
which seems to contradict the Rule of the Community and the testimonies 
of the time, since the mentioned Rule was directed towards celibate 
single men who had chosen to live in a perfect state of ritual pureness. 
Maybe it means families linked to the Community, since the "Annexed Rule" 
mentions women and children in the areas surrounding the "monastery".
At about three kilometers to the south of Qumran, the great oasis of Ain-
Fesja, populated with date trees, assured the subsistence of the 
Community. Abundant fountains irrigated the farmlands; these springs were 
equally necessary for the tanning of the skins, that later, transformed 
into {N}parchment, {/}were used by the scribes.
{K}THE LIBRARY OF QUMRAN{/}

The discovery of the manuscripts of Qumran constitutes, certainly, one of 
the most valuable archeological findings of the twentieth century. The 
caves have returned to the light the library of these men, who, in times 
of danger, withdrew to the natural spaces found in the cliffs. Caves 1 
and 4 contained the documents of the Community that must have been hidden 
very hurriedly, when the place was destroyed and abandoned. Thousands of 
fragments of all different sizes have been patiently put together, but 
only eleven rolls are practically complete; among these, two correspond 
to Isaiah and one to the Psalms. The manuscripts are written in general 
on {N}parchment{/}, in square hebraic {N}writing{/}, especially those that 
correspond to the biblical books; but also there can be appreciated some 
examples written in Aramean or in the more ancient forms of Hebrew 
characters.
The documents can be classified in three categories: biblical 
manuscripts, Apocryphal writings of the Old Testament and the writings 
proper to the community.
{K}THE BOOKS OF THE BIBLE{/}

If we confront the biblical texts in the hebrew language discovered there 
with the copies that were known until that day - and from which the most 
ancient did not go back beyond the ninth century A.D. - one remains 
amazed at the similitude, which manifests the extraordinarily 
conscientious work of the scribes that through their meticulous work have 
guaranteed the perfect transmission of the Holy Book. The discovery of 
these manuscripts confirms the hebrew text of the Old Testament and 
demonstrates that the composition of the text that we read in our bibles 
had practically ceased at the beginning of the first century B.C.
All of the hebrew books of the Old Testament, except Esther, were found 
reproduced. There are fourteen copies of the Deuteronomy, twelve of 
Isaiah and a dozen of the Psalms. The book of Daniel was very much read 
in Qumran: seven copies were found; and since this book had been composed 
in the year 164 B.C., these copies are only fifty years away from the 
original. With respect to the book of Qohelet the manuscript from Qumran 
is only one hundred years away from the original version.
{K}A VARIETY OF APOCRYPHALS{/}

The Apocryphals of the Old Testament are books that have not been 
included in the Bible, but they move within the tradition of the Old 
Testament; the apocalyptic literature here has an outstanding role. The 
apocalyptic current, with its vision of a world under the domination of 
the devil and of a history whose events are already written down in the 
heavenly books, agree with the beliefs and the theology of the Community. 
Just as the case of its esotericism that reserves the truth only for the 
initiated ones and its hope in the victory at the end of all times.
The book of the {N}Jubilees{/} presents the sacred history from the Creation 
until the theophany of the Sinai. The story is developed in 49 periods of 
49 years each. The author manages to find in the events of the origins, 
and preferably in the patriarchal epoch, the justification of the laws 
and customs of his time. This order, born of the Law given to the people 
of Israel in the framework of the Covenant, was, besides, guaranteed by a 
solar calendar whose rigorous observance ruled, each year on its own 
dates, the religious feasts and the sabbaths.
The book of{N} Henoc{/}, one of the major jewish {C}revelations{/}, tells the 
story of the travels through the world beyond of this patriarch mentioned 
in Genesis, as well as his visions of the confrontation between the 
angels and the demons.
The{N} Testament{/} of the Twelve {N}Patriarchs{/} gathers the recommendations of 
the twelve sons of Jacob to their descendants exhorting them to observe 
the Law and to subject themselves to the priestly tribe of the Levites. 
They called their descendants to sainthood, the ideal that had inspired 
the group, author of this book where the qumranian theme of the two 
Messiahs is found.
{K}WRITINGS PROPER TO THE COMMUNITY{/}

The literature of the Community is very abundant.
The Rule of the Community, the most important document, was discovered in 
the cave 1 practically in its whole state; it can be assimilated to the 
monastic rules. It contains the annual ritual of the renovation of the 
Covenant and the penal code of the Community. One doctrinal part exposes 
the theory of the two Spirits. A Rule for the congregation of Israel in 
the last days and a series of Blessings were asociated to this Rule of 
the Community.
In 1910 two manuscripts had been discovered from the tenth and the 
twelfth centuries A.D., that turned out to be copies of a manuscript 
previous to the ruin of the Temple in the year 70 of our era. The priests 
sons of Sadoc, had there an outstanding place; it also spoke about the 
"New Covenant in the country of Damascus": it was made clear that the 
community whose rule had just been discovered was related to the Essenes 
already known of through Philon of Alexandria and {N}Flavius Josephus{/}. The 
manuscripts of Qumran, and very particularly the Rule of the Community, 
came to confirm these intuitions.
The Rule of War was to assure the victory of the "Sons of the Light" over 
the "Children of the Darkness". It provides the warring strategy that 
should be followed in order to conquer the world.
The Roll of the{N} Hymns{/} of praise to God, is a thanks giving for the 
divine mercy that grants the salvation to humankind, in spite of its 
fragility. The whole contents of the book express a profound desire of 
communion with God.
The Commentaries (or Pesharim) on the books of Habakkuk, Micah, Nahum and 
Isaiah intermingle the explanation and the meticulous interpretation of 
the texts in terms of the eschatology and of the contemporary history of 
the Community. 
The Roll of the{N} Temple{/} is largely inspired in the Deuteronomy; the laws 
that had been transmitted to the people through Moses, are enunciated 
here directly by God, in the first person, and addressed to the Community 
of this New Israel.
The Rolls of{N} Bronze{/}, finally, establish a list of hiding places, in 
their majority grouped together around Jerusalem, and that would hide a 
fabulous treasure, so mysterious that all search has resulted fruitless 
until our days.
This literature clarifies the evolution of the jewish world on the 
threshold of the christian era; it serves besides, in a certain way, as a 
link between the last books of the jewish Bible and the writings of the 
New Testament. On the other hand, these manuscripts provide a direct 
testimony about the life and the doctrines of this essenian group, 
retired to Qumran, far from the Temple and from the Holy City.
{K}THE ESSENIAN DUALISM{/}

In order to reach the communion with God, the members of the Community 
must defeat the impotency of humankind before Evil. In the heart of all 
humans the two spirits who fight for the world confront each other: the 
spirit of the Darkness and the spirit of the Light, the forces of Evil 
and the forces of Good. In this cosmic fight God himself assures the 
triumph of the Good, not without the contest of the Children of the 
Light, who must commit themselves to a war of extermination, whose 
strategy is found meticulously analyzed in the "Rule of War".
{K}THE LITURGY OF THE NEW COVENANT{/}

The highly spiritual ideal of all the members was fed and sustained by a 
strict observance of the social and religious rules, by the rites of 
purification (which is proven by the great quantity of reservoirs found), 
by the rites related to the conversion of the heart, and finally, by the 
liturgical assemblies in whose development the sacred feast of bread and 
sweet wine, represented a "pregustation" of the eschatological banquet.
The solemn feasts were ruled by the lunisolar calendar that assured the 
harmony of the earthly liturgy with the heavenly praise. This life of 
community prayer constituted in itself the first fruits of the angelic 
life, promised at the End of All Times.
To the feast of Pentecost they attributed an exceptional importance. This 
community of the "New Covenant", whose members received the Spirit of 
Sainthood, and through it, the access to the divine mysteries, should 
give exceptional solemnity to the day which remembered the delivery of 
the Law to Israel on the Sinai. The liturgy was inspired in the 
renovation of the Covenant, just as it is told in the Deuteronomy: {C}These 
are the words of the Covenant which Yahweh commanded Moses to make with 
the children of Israel in the land of Moab ... Moses summoned all the 
people of Israel and said to them: "You have seen all that Yahweh did 
before your eyes in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh, to his servants and to 
all his land ... So observe the conditions of this Covenant and put them 
into practice, that you may succeed in whatever you do. You are here in 
this place to celebrate a Covenant with Yahweh, your God. Through this 
oath he makes you his people and he becomes your God, as he said to you 
and promised to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.{/} [Dt_28,69] - 
[Dt_29,1], [Dt_29,8], [Dt_29,11] - [Dt_29,12]
In spite of its authentic spiritual profoundness and of the ideal of 
sainthood that it motivated, this community of the "Pious Ones" almost 
had no influence on the palestinian Judaism, nor on the newborn 
Christianity. They were so convinced of their superior vocation that they 
considered themselves the group of the saved ones, the only ones entitled 
to interpret the Scripture, and they became enclosed in a sovereign 
isolation.
The sectarian dualism that constituted the basis of the theology of 
Qumran, the combat without pity of the Children of the Light against the 
Children of the Darkness destined to the extermination, allows us to 
capture the reach of their intransigence.
Several parallels can be noted between the essenian writings and the 
texts from the New Testament; some elements were borrowed from them, 
others imitated and revised them. This does not impede that christian 
faith conserve all of its originality with respect to the beliefs and 
practices of the Community of the Covenant. The Messiah Son of God 
announces the Kingdom of God already present on earth, the salvation is a 
free gift of God's love, and all of humankind are called to participate 
in the banquet at the End of All Times.
