Shalom This is Satellite Bible Atlas video Number 7
Commentary for Maps 1-10 and 1-11,
the Shephelah of Judah.
The Shephelah of Judah is a buffer region between the Hill Country of Judah and the Coastal Plain.
This is the Shephelah. The Shephelah is the main point of conflict between the Philistines and the Israelites
The word Shephelah means foothills or lowlands The foothills are bisected by wide valleys
The foothills protect the western side of the Hill Country of Judah.
Here is an aerial photograph of the Elah Valley in the Shephelah
For security reasons, cities and towns were built on the hills
The ruins of the Biblical town called Azekah are on this hill
The routes ran in the wide valleys bisecting the hills.
The Shephelah has rich agricultural, especially from trees -- like grape vines...
Sycamore and olive trees...
Grains and vegetables grow in the rich soil of the Valleys.
Note the elevation of the Shephelah, tucked between the Coastal Plain and the Hill Country
At around 1300 feet above sea level, the Shephelah is approximately half the height of the Hill
Country.
Find the Shephelah on Map 12-3 Here is the relatively flat Coastal plain
To the east, the higher, rugged Hill Country Situated between them, about 40 miles long
and eight miles wide, is the Shephelah Note the routes in the wide valleys
that divide the foothills
On Map 1-10 take a look at the Coastal Plain The Philistines settled as a nation here in about 1200 BC
The main cities of the Philistines were situated
along the two branches of the International Coastal Highway
Along the Coastal branch are Gaza, Ashkelon, and Ashdod
Along the inland branch of the highway were Gath and Ekron
Note again the Hill Country of Judah to the East, and the buffer zone Shephelah
Now let's examine the Shephelah Valleys and routes.
Map 1-11 is a close up of the Shephelah of Judah region
On the map shaded in darker green are five wide valleys that run predominantly east to west,
connecting the Hill Country to the Coastal Plain
An earlier video examinied how the wide Aijalon Valley, the northernmost Shephelah Valley,
functions as the main route from the Coast to Jerusalem
The route was guarded by the city of Gezer in the Shephelah Hills.
The next valley, running parallel but south of the Aijalon, is the Sorek Valley
Note the towns of Zorah and Eshtaol on the north side of the Sorek Valley, where the
Spirit of the Lord first moved upon Samson Across the Valley to the south is the important town of Beth-shemesh
To the west is Timnah
And near where the Sorek opens into the Coastal Plain is the Philistine town, Ekron
Like the Aijalon, the Sorek Valley is an east-west route, connecting Coastal Plain to the Hill Country
From near Beth-shemesh and Eshtaol , routes
into the rugged hill country travel on ridges.
Let's take a look at the Sorek Valley from the ruins of ancient Beth-shemesh.
We're standing here at Betshemesh overlooking the Sorek valley.
It was along the Sorek that the ark of the covenant returned from the Philistines to Judea. Also behind me you can see the town of Zorah.
This is where the spirit of the Lord first moved upon Sampson. It was Sampson, if you recall, who later was able to kill 1000 philistines with the jawbone of a donkey.
Map 4-8 shows that many of the events in the life of Samson occurred in the Sorek Valley
The spirit of the Lord came upon Samson between Zorah and Eshtaol
He killed a lion on a journey to Timnah The lion had probably come out of the thickets
of the Sorek River which runs through the valley.
Note the proximity of Zorah to Timnah, where Samson saw a Philistine gal
We're at the biblical town of Timnah where Sampson saw the Philistine girl that he wanted to marry.
The Sorek Valley is the setting for the return of the Ark of the Covenant to Judah
The Philistines had captured the Ark in a Battle at Aphek and brought it to their city, Ashdod
The Philistines, like so many others through
the ages, believed they had subdued the God of Israel
But they were wrong The Ark was sent to Gath and Ekron, from where
two cows pulled it on a cart straight up the Sorek Valley to Beth-shemesh
From Beth-shemesh it was brought up to Kiriat-Jearim in the hill Country, where it stayed 20 years
until Samuel led Israel in a national repentance
South of the Sorek Valley is the Elah Valley Note the cities of Azekah Socoh, and Adullam
To the west where the Elah Valley spills into the Coast is Gath, home of the giant Goliath
Between Azekah and Socoh on the north side of the Elah Valley is a ruin called Hirbet Qieyafa
where recent excavations have exposed ruins of an ancient Israelite town,
perhaps dating to either King Saul or David.
Let's take a look at the Elah Valley, looking east from Azekah.
We're at the ancient site of Azekah looking out over the Elah Valley- this is where the Philistines were encamped
when David fought Goliath - between Azekah and Socoh
And now from Socoh looking back west.
We are at Socoh in Judah. Behind me on the hill is Azekah the Philistines encamped between Socoh and Azekah
this side of the Elah Valley when David fought Goliath
This is the brook in Elah Valley where David would have come down to collect his 5 stones before going to fight Goliath
As Map 5-3 shows, David fought Goliath in the Elah Valley
Again, the Shephelah proved to be the buffer zone where Philistines battled Israelites
We suggest the battle occurred just below Socoh
The victory confirmed that David was chosen by God to be king in Israel, and that the
God of Israel saves neither by the sword nor spear
When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled on the Road of Shaarayim
to Gath and Ekron.
The next Valley in the Shephelah is today called the Guvrin Valley
Note the towns of Mareshet-gath and Maresha The prophet Micah lived in this region
The cities in the southern Shephelah are important for confronting enemies from Egypt
King Asa of Judah learned that the Lord could be trusted when a huge attacking army was
routed, turned and fled at Maresha
Because of the wickedness of King Ahaz of Judah, the prophet Micah witnessed Philistine incursions
into the Shephelah But Micah said this was just the beginning of difficulties
Israel and Judah's real trouble would come
from mighty Assyria
On Map 1-10 note one more valley in the Shephelah, last but not least
Here is one of Judah's most important cities, Lachish.
Ancient Lachish covered over 30 acres.
As seen on Map 3-6, Canaanite Lachish was conquered by the Israelites under Joshua.
Map 7-7 shows how Lachish played a role in one of the most dramatic interventions of the Lord
on behalf of Jerusalem The event is described in three books of the Bible:
Kings, Chronicles and Isaiah.
This is Lachish, tel Lachish, the city where Sennacherib of Assyria conquered in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah.
The mighty empire of Assyria under King Sennacharib around 700 BC controlled the entire ancient
Near East to the border of Egypt Tiny Judah under King Hezekiah decided to
revolt from Assyrian rule.
Sennacharib came to subdue Hezekiah The Assyrians first secured the Coast, then
began sieging the buffer zone Shephelah , especially Lachish
He boasted of making Hezekiah a prisoner in Jerusalem like a bird in a cage.
Sennacharib was particularly proud of his conquest of Lachish
He decorated a large room in his palace in Nineveh depicting the siege and conquest of
the city.
Here Sennecharib is depicted with an inscription that reads: "Sennacharib, King of Assyria,
King of the Universe, seated on his thrown as the booty of Lachish comes before him"
But then the Lord dramatically intervened in the affairs of men
In response to the faith of Isaiah and Hezekiah, and as evidence that the God of Israel is
Lord of all , the angel of the Lord decimated 185,000 Assyria troops in one night.
Sennacharib retreated to his capital in Nineveh where later his own sons killed him.
110 years after the Assyrian attempt to conquer Judah, the Babylonian Empire tried do the same
This time there was no divine protection for Judah
Like Assyria, Babylon had to conquer the buffer zone Shephelah
to reach Jerusalem The cities of Azekah and Lachish appear in
both the biblical and archaeological record.
We're standing here in the gate room of Lachish where some potsherds were found mentioning the two cities, Azekah and Lachish
Now, these are the same two cities mentioned by the prophet Jeremiah and they were the only two ones left standing when the Babylonians sieged Judah.
With the cities of the buffer Zone Shephelah conquered, Babylon stepped up into the Hill Country
and destroyed Jerusalem.
To review, note on Map 1-11 a route that runs north-south through the Shephelah
It is called the diagonal route It runs from the city of Aijalon, to Eshtaol
and Beth-shemesh in the Sorek Valley, then to Azekah in the Eilah Valley, through Bet-guvrin
to Lachish.
Take a look at Map 6-1, which shows the fortifications of Solomon's son Rehoboam
Many of these towns will sound familiar now You can understand better now why Rehoboam
fortified the towns in the Shephelah Aijalon, Zorah, Gath, Azekah, Soccoh, Adullam,
Mareshet-gath, Mareshah and Lachish The writer of Chronicles records that these
fortresses did Rehoboam no good when he forsook the word of the LORD.
We're at Socoh where the giant goliath probably taunted the Israelites who were standing over there
Behind us is the hill that has the ruins of Gath, the hometown of Goliath the Philistines.
We're at the caves of Adullam where David hid from saul
This video was written by Professor William Schlegel and translated by Dr. Simon Liu, Ms Anny Zhang and Dr. Joseph Kim.
Please visit www.logos101.org for more information
Again, Please visit Dr. Joseph Kim's website www.logos101.org for more information. Thank you!