{N}SAMARIA{/}

Samaria is essentially made up of a mountainous mass whose northern border is found in the mountains of Gelboa. This mass will extend towards the south through the mountains of Judea and finally ends in the Negeb. This whole mountainous area constitutes in a certain way the dorsal spine of Palestine. This region, which is characterized by its greenness, alternates between rolling valleys and small fertile plains full of mature wheat fields. It is also a favorite land for olive, almond, fig and damask trees. The calmness and sweetness of its countryside contrast with the tragedies that are told to us in the two books of the Kings which took place in Samaria.
Upon the arrival of the tribes to the Promised Land under the leadership of Joshua, the region was identified as the {C}mountains of Israel{/} [Jos_11,16], according to the texts of the Scripture; upon being converted into the inheritance of Joseph's children, it takes the name of the mountain or {C}the highlands of Ephraim{/} [Jos_17,15]. The prophetic literature will use besides very frequently the term of Ephraim in order to designate the kingdom to the north. Later, when at the beginning of the ninth century B.C., King Omri establishes his new capital, the name of Samaria will only designate the city itself; at the end of another century the name will then be extended to the whole region.
Land of scandals and calamities, Samaria suffers the accusations of the prophets and their oracles of judgement: kings, magnates, priests and even the people themselves will be judged by Amos and Hosea.

{K}HOSEA, THE PROPHET OF SAMARIA{/}
In the eighth century B.C. a prophet arises in the kingdom of the north: his name is Hosea and he denounces with strength the unfaithfulness of his people: {C}Without my approval they set up kings and without my blessing appointed leaders. With their silver and gold they fashioned idols to their own ruin. To me, Samaria, your calf is loathsome and my anger blazes against you ...{/} [Hos_8,4] - [Hos_8,7].
The kingships follow one after another; Hosea denounces the vices of the royal institution, unfaithful to its mission: intrigues, takeovers and assassinations are little by little digging the grave. The king no longer leads the people along the path of the Covenant; God is scorned, there is no peace or justice. A fratricidal war between Samaria and Judah (735 - 733 B.C), is the pretext for one and the other kingdoms to ask for help from the foreign powers: {C}Ephraim is like a silly pigeon without judgement, now calling on Egypt, now turning to Assyria {/}[Hos_7,11].
The kingdom to the north, Israel, is on the verge of ruin, the divine punishment seems irrevocable: will the conversion find a place in the heart of this perverted and unfaithful people? {C}My people are sick with their unfaithfulness; it will not be Baal who will help them to rise up if they ask it of him; How can I abandon you, Ephraim, or how to free you Israel?{/} (Note biblical reference is missing here.)
God reaffirms his fidelity and his untiring mercy; however, the name of Samaria will remain linked to one of the greatest failures of the Biblical history: the people will not return to their God [2K_17,1]. The kingdom that gathered together the majority of the tribes of the people of Israel, the one who considered the inheritance of Moses like a special asset, is going to end up in the most absolute ruin. Even those who escape from the deportation will be converted little by little into foreigners for the people of God; and even more, their brothers from Judea will repudiate them when these last ones return from the exile in Babylon. It will be necessary to wait for time to pass in order to understand and justify the hopes and promises that God made by Hosea's mouth: {C}So I am going to conquest her, I will lead her once more into the desert, where I can speak to her heart tenderly ... I will espouse you forever, betrothed in justice and integrity, we will be united in love and tenderness ... and you will come to know Yahweh. {/} [Hos_2,16] ... [Hos_2,22]
The history of Samaria will be in a great part that of its two capitals: Shechem and Samaria.

{K}- SHECHEM{/}
They arrived at Canaan. Abram traveled through the country as far as the holy place of Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time, the Canaanites were in the land. Yahweh appeared to Abram and said, "To your descendants I will give this land." Consequently, there he built an altar to Yahweh who had appeared to him. {/}[Gen_12,6] - [Gen_12,7]
This place of Shechem, where the elder patriarch stopped when he was entering the Promised Land, will remain, even after the capture of Jerusalem by David, as a privileged center for meeting among the tribes of Israel. Only because of the Schism, the descendants of David will stop going there in order to receive the royal investiture.
But before Shechem existed, two elevations already guarded the narrow pass where much later the city would rise up, the mountains of {N}Ebal{/} to the north and Mount {N}Gerizim{/} to the south. The Ebal, some 940 meters high and the Gerizim, somewhat lower (881 MST), watch over a particularly important passage: on one side the sea is found, going up towards the north, Galilee; and on the other side it goes down to Jerusalem. This strategic situation explains the presence of a city from the most remote times of antiquity, at the exit of this passage. Along the skirts of the hill there were great uncovered rocks that, forming a circle, surrounded an altar made of one piece of rock that had not been carved: this is a good example of the sanctuary on the hills of the times of the Judges. Along the side of the circle were ashes and skeletons of animals covering the ground that led to the elevated rock, without a doubt a "Massebah" (commemorative rock). Along the Gerizim remains have equally been found of an altar previous to the arrival of the Israelites.
The Samaritan tradition identifies this sacred mountain with the Mount Moriah where Abraham led his son to be sacrificed [Gen_22,2]. But also there, according to the same tradition, Adam, and after him Melchizedek, [Gen_14,18], offered sacrifices to God. Finally there as well, according to them, Joshua installs the rocks taken from the Jordan and builds an altar.

{K}THE PREHISTORY OF SHECHEM{/}
From the fourth millennium, before the construction of the city, a population of semi-nomadic peoples had already occupied the place. Like in other parts of the country, these left no more than pits with stucco walls probably covered with animal skins, representing in this way the intermediate stage between the tent and the house.
Taking advantage of the privileged situation of this passage, the local chiefs built a first city here. An egyptian inscription from the Middle Empire makes it the first objective of the pharaoh Sesostris III during his campaign against Syria and Palestine around the year 1850 B.C.
Still modest in those times the city later knew a considerable development that elevated it to the rank of one of the greater canaanite cities. Since then the history is divided into two principal periods: the period of the {C}Hyksos{/} and the {C}Israelite {/}period, that extended from Joshua until the destruction of the city by the Assyrians.

{K}THE POWERFUL CITY OF THE HYKSOS{/}
The asiatic princes from the Near East reigned over Egypt, Syria and Palestine from 1750 until 1550 B.C. The governor's palace was found in the highest place of the city. Under the pavement of one of the rooms traces have been discovered of a sacrifice of foundation: it dealt with a child of a very young age who had been immolated in this place, according to a well known canaanite practice, mentioned in the Bible [1K_16,34] and also verified in Megiddo by archeology. On the inside of the enclosure that protected the palace, several times modified or reconstructed, the remains of a temple, probably the first one to be constructed in Shechem, has been found.
Around the year 1650 B.C., the city, which had developed considerably thanks to the commercial activities favored by its geographic emplacement, is going to be equipped with an original system of defense. The Hyksos raised up a kind of artificial hill sustained by a wall made of enormous irregular blocks without carving them, joined together with smaller rocks. A monumental "three pronged" gate gives access to this citadel. A small sanctuary, probably dedicated to the protecting divinity of the city, dominated the citadel.

{K}ABRAHAM IN SHECHEM{/}
Upon arriving in the country of Canaan, Abraham crossed through the country until the holy place of Shechem, to the tree of Moreh. It is likely that the temple constructed by the Hyksos still had not existed when Abraham arrived in Shechem: the book of Genesis refers without a doubt to one of the many sanctuaries out in the open air that there were throughout Canaan.
{C}Abram stopped in the holy place of Shechem{/}: on the economic and political plane the city was important, but besides it was a place of pilgrimage for the Canaanites. There was where, in a vision, the Patriarch receives the promise: "I will give this land to your descendants." As a consequence of this, Abram built an altar to Yahweh who had appeared to him [Gen_12,7].

{K}THE EGYPTIAN INTERVENTION{/}
Around 1580 two theban princes retook into their hands the reins of Egypt: the Hyksos "lords" are expelled and pushed towards "Asia" and the pharaonic authority is re-established over the lands of Palestine. The city of Shechem is, then, razed and the temple destroyed. They will be newly reconstructed and what archeology has found of them, are precisely the ruins of the "Beith El Berit", the House of the God of the Covenant, from chapter 9 of the book of Judges. This is the place where, three centuries later, the people of Shechem looked for refuge and there they perished when they were set on fire. [Jdg_9,47].

{K}THE ISRAELITE PERIOD: THE TRIBES CELEBRATE THE COVENANT IN SHECHEM{/}
At the moment of the installation of the tribes in Canaan, the conquest of the city is made, seemingly peacefully. The division of the territory among the twelve tribes leaves Shechem within the share of the tribe of Manesseh. The frontier, however, is fragile and variable, since some time later Shechem is mentioned as belonging to Ephraim: {C}To the other families of Kohath, the levite clans of lower grade with their families they were given: of the tribe of Ephraim the city of refuge of Shechem with its surrounding areas in the hill country of Ephraim - it was a city of refuge for the murderers. {/}[Jos_21,20] - [Jos_21,21].
The book of Joshua, begins with the great procession of the crossing of the Jordan, and concludes with another solemn liturgy, one that is developed in Shechem: {C}Joshua assembled all of the tribes of Israel in Shechem. He summoned the elders of Israel, their leaders, judges and scribes, and together they presented themselves before God.{/} [Jos_24,1] Then began the liturgy of the renewal of the Covenant, according to the ritual foreseen in the book of Deuteronomy.

{K}THE RITUAL OF THE COVENANT{/}
The ritual attributed to Moses was renewed year after year, reminding Israel of its consecration: {C}When you cross the Jordan to go to the land which Yahweh, your God, will give you, set up large stones and plaster them with lime. Then you shall write upon them all the words of this Law at the time that you cross over ... set up these stones on Mount Ebal ... set up there an altar in honor of Yahweh{/}. [Dt_27,1] - [Dt_27,6].
After the holocausts, blessings and curses would be proclaimed in the manner of the ancient tragedies: along the sides of the Gerizim, one of the choirs formed by representatives of the six tribes will pronounce the blessings, leaving to the second choir gathered on the Mount Ebal (representing the other six tribes) the task of launching the curses.
With its naked and rocky sides the Ebal seemed to be destined to be the bearer of the curses of the Deuteronomy: {C}But do not let yourselves be seduced. Let it not be that you serve other gods and bow before them, the anger of Yahweh will break out against you. He will close up the heavens and it will cease to rain; the land will not yield its fruit and you will suddenly perish in that beautiful land which Yahweh gives you.{/} [Dt_11,16] - [Dt_11,17].
The Gerizim on the other hand, with its abundant vegetation loans itself well for the promises of blessings: {C}If you truly obey the commandments that I give you today, if you love Yahweh, your God, and serve me with all your heart and with all your soul, I will give rain to your land in season, both in autumn and in spring, that you may harvest your wheat, wine and oil. Your field will give you grass for your cattle, and you will eat until you are satisfied.{/} [Dt_11,13] - [Dt_11,15].
Chapter 28 of the Deuteronomy refers to this liturgy. It develops the promises and the warnings to be on guard of chapter 11: for those who serve God there will be happiness, prosperity and victories; but for those who have been unfaithful to the Covenant, there will be disease, defeat and deportation: {C}Yahweh shall bring you back to Egypt {/}[Dt_28,68].
The Chronicles with regard to the kings Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah and Joash records the renewal of this Covenant. Later, among the priests of Qumran, the principal columns of the Rule of the Community were dedicated to the annual renewal of the Covenant: they were inspired in the ancient ritual. At the same time, the christian ritual of the Easter vigil, with the renouncement of the devil and the profession of faith in the God of Jerusalem, is inscribed in the long tradition of the liturgy of Shechem.

{K}THE ASSEMBLY OF SHECHEM AND THE COMING OF THE KINGDOM OF THE NORTH{/}
The difficult succession of David and the revolt of Absalom, the despotism of Solomon and his politics of prestige, the blindness of Rehoboam before the political reality and his offensive attitude towards the tribes of the North, will generate a climate of partisan violence that will culminate in the division of the kingdom of Israel.
Solomon has just died; Rehoboam goes to Shechem, where all of Israel had assembled to proclaim him king [1K_12,1]. He is in front of disillusioned people, weighed down with taxes and charges that were divided unequally between North and South, {C}Jeroboam and all the assembly of Israel went to meet with Rehoboam and they told him: "Your father made our yoke heavy. So now lighten the heavy yoke and the hard labor your father imposed on us and we will serve you".{/} [1K_12,4].
The consequences are known: Rehoboam shares the dreams of the military aristocracy of Jerusalem. His young companions dream of going after Egypt and its pharaoh Sesac, who are beginning to shake things up along the southern border of the kingdom. But for that money is needed and the public coffers are empty; no other recourse remains but to raise taxes, the burdens will be increased. The same chapter 12 tells us the end of the meeting: {C}On the third day Jeroboam, with all of Israel, went back to Rehoboam, just as the king had said to them. But the king responded{/} {C}harshly. Instead of following the advice of the elders, he spoke to them in the way the greenhorns had advised him. The king did not listen to the people ... All Israel realized that the king refused to listen to them, and they answered in the same way: "What have we to do with David and his descendants? He is not of our family; let the son of David deal with his own, and you, people of Israel, let us go!" {/}[1K_12,3] ... [1K_12,19]
The political rupture was consummated:  Jeroboam, the rival of Rehoboam, was converted into the king of a separated kingdom, which retains the name of Israel.

{K}FROM THE POLITICAL RUPTURE TO THE RELIGIOUS SCHISM{/}
To the political rupture very soon will be added the religious schism: {C}King Jeroboam made two golden calves. Then he said to the people: "You have been going up to Jerusalem long enough. Here are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt." He put one of these in Bethel; ... the people went as far as Dan to accompany one of them.{/} [1K_12,26] - [1K_12,30].
The temptation will be great for the kings of Israel, to follow the model of the neighboring nations, imitating equally their despotism as their idolatry, and scorning the Covenant and its demands of faithfulness and justice.

{K}THE END OF SHECHEM{/}
Destroyed by Salmanasar V in 724 B.C., and later abandoned, the city was, however, raised up from its ashes by the Samaritans that made of it their capital city at the fourth century B.C. They had already constructed there a temple: it was the work of a jewish priest named Manesseh, grandson of the high priest Eliashib. Nehemiah had expelled him from the Holy City for having married the daughter of Sanballat, the governor of Samaria, designated for that position by the Persians who occupied the country [Ne_13,28].
In the year 128 B.C. John Hyrcan was not satisfied with destroying the city, he also covered it with stones and earth.

{K}- SAMARIA - SEBASTE{/}
Woe to the drunkards of Ephraim
proudly adorned, to that fading flower
of luxurious beauty on the head of a rich valley {N}{/}[Is_28,1]
This oracle pronounced by the prophet Isaiah against Samaria - whose excesses and riches, are no more than pride and idolatry - stigmatizes this metropolis and its dominant position. The capital of the Northern Kingdom for more than one hundred and fifty years, it refused to listen to the calls to conversion of the prophets Elijah, Hosea and Amos. Its fall in 721 brought about the disappearance of the Northern Kingdom created around 930 by Jeroboam as a result of the tragic assembly of Shechem.
After the rupture between the tribes of the North and the tribes of the South [1K_12,1], the capital of the Kingdom of the North was not immediately fixed in Samaria. The first king of Israel, Jeroboam, fortified Shechem in the hills of Ephraim and settled here. Later he set out to fortify Penuel [1K_12,25]. Some years later we find Jeroboam established in Tirzah, which will continue to be the capital during the reigns of Baasha, Elah, and Zimri. But the takeover of Omri will cause the fire in the royal palace and the new king then embarks on the construction of a new capital city.

{K}A NEW CAPITAL CITY{/}
Omri bought the hill of Samaria from Shemer for two talents of silver. He built a city on the hill and he called it Samaria, after Shemer, the owner of the hill [1K_16,24].
Was this choice inspired by the serene countryside and luxuriant vegetation of the hills of Samaria, whose sides covered with vines, extend towards the small valleys planted with olive, almond and damask trees? It should be easy to see here rather, a political decision with the idea of establishing a capital on a hill which were not taken from the territory of any tribe from the North. Besides, being a man of war, Omri weighed the strategic importance of this hill of abrupt inclines that was elevated over an important crossroads. To the north, a path went towards Phoenicia after crossing through the planes of Jezreel and Megiddo. To the west, another road led to the coast through the plains of the Saron. Finally, towards the east, was the route of Shechem that led to Jerusalem or to the valley of the Jordan.
This project, however, would not have been completed, if a recently discovered technique had not been developed and refined: the resurfacing of the cisterns. In fact, there, there were neither springs nor the possibility of digging wells along the hill of Shemer; therefore, it was necessary to rely on the reservoirs in order to supply the city with water.

{K}THE GREAT KING OMRI (882 - 871 B.C.){/}
Within a political and economic plan, Omri moves the capital from Tirzah - turning towards Transjordan - to Samaria situated at a crossing of the roads that were going to those rich countries of Philistia, Egypt and Phoenicia. With this, the monarch set the bases for the country to develop its economy and compete with the greater kingdoms of the epoch. In fact, Omri will be for his contemporaries, the greatest of the kings of Israel, and the assyrian texts name him always with respect and admiration: "Lord Omri".
From this day the whole of Samaria was identified with the kingdom of Omri. Even after the death of his grandson Joram, the new reigning dynasty in Samaria, will conserve the name of "the House of Omri".
Omri was also a great builder. Just as Solomon did for the construction of the Temple and the royal palace in Jerusalem, Omri, - and after him Ahab - needed qualified workers, which he found in Phoenicia. The royal palace was built at the top of the citadel. Under the reign of Ahab, since the assyrian threat became clearer, the city was enclosed in an immense wall with casements whose different pieces served at the same time as storage for weapons and food.

{K}THE DELUSIONS OF GRANDEUR{/}
The magnificent architectural works and their luxurious interior decorations were the result of the commercial, cultural and artistic links between the Kingdom of the North and their neighboring syrian phoenicians. They witness to the economic prosperity of the city, and the wealth of the kings and magnates of the time. However this politics of grandeur weighed heavily over the people of Samaria. The Israelites who had recently left their nomadism, were lacking in the necessary competence to work the ivory, cedar wood or stone. It was necessary then, to bring laborers from Phoenicia, Philistia or Egypt, who were in possession of secular craftmaking traditions. In order to pay these artisans from far away, the people were exploited to an extreme, and a rapid degradation was produced in the social relations. The solidarity that reigned among people of a nomadic society, gave way little by little to the social fractures linked to the process of urbanizing, to the extension of commerce and the growing power of money.

{K}THE VOICE OF THE PROPHETS{/}
The prophet Amos had to rise up against this social drifting and to remind them time and time again about the demands of the Covenant, in the heart itself of the daily life:{C} Because you have trampled on the poor and extorted levies on their grain, though you have built mansions of hewn stones you will not dwell in them; though you have planted choice grapevines, you shall not drink their wine {/}[Am_5,11].
After denouncing the exploitation of which the poor were objects on the part of the powerful, and the injustices of the judges because {C}they sell the just for money and the needy for a pair of sandals {/}[Am_2,6], the prophet will rise up against the pride of the inhabitants of Samaria: {C}you lie on beds inlaid with ivory and sprawl on couches; you eat lamb from the flock and veal from calves fattened in the stall. You strum on your harps, and like David, try out new musical instruments. You drink wine by the bowlful and anoint yourselves with the finest oils, but you do not grieve over the ruins of Joseph (of my people) {/}[Am_6,4] - [Am_6,6].
Justice and right are made fun of, humankind is scorned and the holiness of God is insulted.
The excavations performed in Samaria clearly let the progressive paganization of the country be seen: on the clay tablets that have been discovered, the names composed with the name of Baal, become progressively more numerous, while the names with the divine name of Yahu start disappearing as time goes on. Due to the agricultural feasts, the easy rites in honor of the Baals, their hillside outdoor sanctuaries around which the sacred prostitutes gravitated, the canaanite religion seduced these men who had passed from nomadism to agriculture. The God who had delivered them this land was rapidly replaced by the idols of the conquered country.
Although no evidence of the existence of sanctuaries dedicated to Baal has been found, the biblical story cannot be doubted: {C}Ahab, son of Omri did what displeased Yahweh, even more than all those who preceded him. Apparently the example and the sins of Jeroboam were not enough for him; he even married Jezebel, daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Siddonians, so he served Baal and worshiped him. He set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal which he built in its capital Samaria.{/} [1K_16,30] - [1K_16,32]

{K}THE DIFFICULT HOURS OF SAMARIA{/}
Very soon, under the reigns of Ahab and his son Joram, the city had to confront the constant attacks from Ben-hadad II, the king of Aram. In the book of Kings these peripetias are intimately linked to the history of the prophet Elijah. However, Samaria reconquers prosperity. Taking advantage of the weakness of the kingdom of Damascus (the Arabians) and of Assyria, Jeroboam II reconquers Transjordan and re-establishes the previous borders of his kingdom. The numerous documents written on clay tablets that have been found supply us with great precision the dates and places of certain events and give us interesting information about the administrative procedures being used (taxes, tributes in wine and in oil). All of this is a testimony to the economic prosperity of the kingdom during this time.

{K}SAMARIA FALLS AND PASSES INTO FOREIGN HANDS{/}
But the time of grace does not last too long. In the year 745, with the ascension to the throne of Teglatfalasar III in Assyria, the last kings of Samaria must pay tribute to the assyrian sovereign. As the king of Judah, who had refused to enter into the coalition of the kings of Damascus and Samaria, called for help from the Assyrians, these invaded Damascus and Samaria. From the Kingdom of the North nothing remained except the city of Samaria and the hills of Ephraim. SalmanazarV, following the politics of his predecessor, began by subjecting all of the smaller kingdoms situated around Mesopotamia; later he presented himself in Samaria; yet he died almost immediately. After laying siege for three years, his successor Sargon II overpowered the city in 722. The Assyrians deported the population of Samaria to Nineveh and replaced it with captives from the central plateau of Iran, whom he settled in the cities of Samaria, in place of the Israelites [2K_17,24].
During the following centuries, the power passes through diverse hands: assyrian, Babylonians, Persians and finally Macedonians, with the coming of the conqueror Alexander the Great.
In 107 B.C. John Hyrcan lays siege to the city, which is taken after a year of resistance and is completely demolished. Forty years later Samaria is annexed by Pompeius to the province of Syria, the roman proconsul Gabinus (57-55 B.C.) raises the city up from its ashes. But it would be Herod the Great who would return its entire splendor to the city.


{K}- BETHEL{/}
From there Abraham went on to the mountains east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel to the west and Ai to the east. There he also built an altar to Yahweh and called on the name of Yahweh.{N}{/} [Gen_12,8].
The city of Bethel was inhabited from the third millennium B.C. At the moment of the distribution of the Promised Land among the tribes of Israel, it was found on the limit of the territory of Ephraim. But all vestiges of that period disappeared after a vast fire, which is given testimony to by the thick layer of ashes discovered in the course of the excavations. Would this be the result of the conquest led by Joshua? It is difficult to confirm this.

{K}THE CALF OF BETHEL{/}
When in the tenth century Jeroboam rises up against Rehoboam, bringing behind him the tribes of the north, he decided to elevate to the dignity of a royal sanctuary the ancient place of local worship in order to prevent his people from going to Jerusalem (see: Shechem).
The biblical authors posterior to the book of Deuteronomy wanted to ignore that until the reform of Josiah, all those of Israel considered the provincial sanctuaries as legitimate [1K_3,2]. It is evident however, that the official character given by Jeroboam and his successors to the sanctuaries of Bethel and Dan, created a religious division between the kingdoms of Israel and Judah: the Temple of Jerusalem had rivals and stopped being a symbol of unity. Besides it seem rather probable that these sanctuaries of Samaria were open to the idols much longer than the one in Jerusalem. The prophets of the north did not hold back their words with respect to this subject: {C}To me Samaria, your calf is loathsome and my anger blazes against you. How long will you remain defiled, children of Israel? This calf of yours, a craftsman has made it; it is not God, and for this Samaria, it will become ashes. {/}[Hos_8,5] ... [Hos_8,13].

{K}JACOB'S STOPOVER IN BETHEL{/}
However, the popular explanation of the name of the city is due to another story from the Old Testament, the one about "Jacob's stopover" [Gen_35,6]; in the hebrew language, Bethel means House of God (from beith/house and El/God). But it is necessary to also see [Jdg_1,23] and [Gen_35,6]. It is also possible that the place had received the name of the canaanite God Bethel [Gen_35,7].

{K}- AI (HAY){/}
Ai means "Mountain of Stones", and that is the impression that this place actually gives to the visitor. There did exist, from the end of the fourth millennium, far from the springs and the fertile lands, a fortified city whose higher section was found surrounded by towers and walls that accommodated in its interior a great sanctuary. In the lower section of the city an immense cistern that was 25 meters long assured the city of its supply of water.
The city was demolished, very probably by a seism, and only around 2650 B.C. does life return to the ancient hillside. A wall of enormous dimensions surrounds it: blocks 7 or 8 meters thick! Inside there was a sanctuary built that was dedicated to an egyptian divinity; it was protected in its back side by the towers of the surrounding wall. Two centuries later Ai gets destroyed again and it will be necessary to wait until the time of the Judges for it to be born again into a modest village, made up of houses equipped with private cisterns.
Archeology seems to contradict the biblical story, since the city was found in ruins during the times of Joshua. When, in the epoch of the monarchy the first texts related to the entrance to the Promised Land is written down, said place was already called Ai, or meaning, "The Ruins". The explanation that is then given is that it received that name due to the conquest of Joshua and the lamentable state in which he would have left it.
The fact that the story is supported or based on popular traditions and that it is not historical, does not prevent it from being inspired, meaning, a bearer of the Spirit. The message is that only God delivers the Promised Land to his people, and it will only be given if the people are faithful to the Covenant. The failure in front of Ai, divine sanction for the sin of Achan, will have its positive counterpart with the victory conceded by God after the expiation of the sin (Jos 7 and 8).

{K}- SHILOH{/}
Shiloh is found on the edge of a small plain, connected with the depression of the Ghor by valleys watered by the modest {C}wadis{/} that went down towards the Jordan. At the beginning of the second millennium B.C., the city, then surrounded by a wall, maintained relations with the empire of the Hittites. A silver earring found during the excavations presented the effigy of the goddess-mother of Anatolia, who could have been venerated probably during this time, in the sanctuary recuperated by the archeologists. Around the year 1300 B.C., when hardly any trace of housing is observed, nor in that place itself or in its surrounding areas, we find a sanctuary isolated by a sacred enclosure. A center for pilgrimage for the groups of seminomadic shepherds that criss-crossed the region, this small plain open in the heart of the mountain was, in effect, a favorable place for great concentrations or assemblies.

{K}CENTRAL SANCTUARY OF ISRAEL{/}
After the conquest of the country, the children of Israel set themselves up in Shiloh with a Tent for divine Declarations and celebrated an assembly there [Jos_18,1]. There Joshua distributed the remaining territories among the seven tribes that still had not received their inheritance. Shiloh, hillside canaanite sanctuary, will be converted then, into the central sanctuary of Israel and it will shelter the Ark of the Covenant.

{K}THE ABDUCTION OF THE DAUGHTERS OF SHILOH{/}
Each year the feast of Yahweh was held in Shiloh, which is north of Bethel, and east of the roadway that goes up from Bethel to Shechem [Jdg_21,19]. During one of the feasts of the grape collection animated by the dances of the young maidens of Shiloh, the young men of Benjamin abducted the girls, to make them their wives. This happened in the time of the Judges after a hateful crime perpetrated within Benjamins' grounds. The tribe was left outside of Israel and almost totally exterminated. The book tells us of the rather fun way of how this abduction allowed the tribe of Benjamin to be saved without violating the oath made by the Israelites [Jdg_21,15] - [Jdg_21,22].

{K}SAMUEL, SON OF PRAYER{/}
The high priest Eli was the guardian of the sanctuary at Shiloh where the Ark of the Covenant rested. Here the history of Hannah, mother of Samuel, is developed. Here also, God will come to call Samuel, and here also he will announce the defeat during which the Philistines (-1Sam - 4) will capture the Ark.
The Philistines will return the Ark, but it will not return to the sanctuary of Shiloh, and Samuel will not stay there either. He will visit by turns the other sanctuaries around Israel, carrying out there his position as judge.

{K}THE ECLIPSE OF SHILOH{/}
Psalm 78 recalls the origins of the people of Israel, the marvels of the Exodus, the patience and the mercy of God; of the history of Shiloh it retains a teaching about the attitude of God in front of the unfaithfulness of his people.
{C}God heard them and filled with wrath He rejected Israel;
He abandoned his dwelling at Shiloh, the tent where he dwelt among humans...
He did not choose the tribe of Ephraim, but the tribe of Judah and Zion, his beloved mountain.
He chose David, his servant ...{/} [Ps_78,59] ... [Ps_78,70]
The fall of Shiloh goes together with the raising of Jerusalem, which David chose with much discernment.

{K}- TIRZAH{/}
The city rose up next to a tributary of the river Jordan and it was situated in an area that had been occupied since the Neolithic era (VI - V millennium B.C.)
At the end of the third millennium, Tirzah was a fortified city governed by kings and it found itself in the hands of the Canaanites. Under the command of Joshua [Jos_12,24] the Israelites took it over and after the schism, it is converted for a short time, into the capital of the Kingdom of the North. In the Song of Songs, the "husband" upon celebrating the beauty of his loved one makes the allusion to the two capitals of the divided Kingdom: {C}My love, you are lovely as Tirzah, beautiful as Jerusalem, majestic as bannered troops {/}[Song_6,4]
The demographic growth that accompanies this political promotion obligated a reorganization of the city's layout: then the typical israelite houses with an interior patio surrounded by four rooms appears. In spite of the similarity of its floors, the differences in the situation and the quality of construction of these houses-rooms reveal the social differences that are vigorously denounced by the prophets Amos and Hosea. The more modest houses are found relegated far from the area where the social life is developed, while the more luxurious rooms are grouped around the city gate and the small canaanite sanctuary where the worship of Baal will remain together with the worship of the God of Israel.
With Dan, Hazor and Megiddo, Tirzah was in the ninth century, one of the most important cities of the Kingdom of Israel. On the other hand, due to its condition as a capital city, it was raided during various takeovers [1K_16,15] - [1K_16,18].
