GILGAL
Israel’s millions had crossed the river Jordan dryshod. They had walked around the
beleaguered city of Jericho, which had strengthened its
mud-brick walls in preparation for a siege. At the conclusion of the seven
circuits of the city on the seventh day, when all the people shouted, the walls
fell down outwards, as if by an earthquake, and the city was defenceless. All
perished, except Rahab and her family.
Jericho was not rebuilt for many years.
But the very fertile area around the site of the stricken city was an ideal
area for the flocks and families of Israel to remain, while the men of war
followed Joshua in the conquest of the land. Thus Gilgal was established, a
little way to the north of Jericho.
The land east of Jordan had already been conquered, and
the flocks and families remained there while the men of war crossed Jordan to give their aid to Joshua’s
forces. Thus Reuben, Gad and part of Manasseh had a base camp in the eastern
territory, and it makes sense to see the Gilgal area as the base camp for the
western territory. As it was near to Jericho and that city’s good water supply,
it would be quite reasonable to visualise the Gilgal camp as spread out over a
large area, to accommodate its million or more people, their flocks, and their
land for growing food, now that the manna had ceased.
Archaeological
discoveries at the site of Jericho have revealed the debris of a
nomadic population, who did not build houses, but presumably still lived in the
tents that housed them on the wilderness journey. Miss Kathleen Kenyon, the
British archaeologist who gave much attention to the Jericho area, wrote: “Town life there
came to an end for a space of several hundred years. Newcomers, who were
presumably the authors of the destruction, settled in considerable numbers in
the area, but they did not build themselves a walled town. They spread all down
the slopes of the mound and over a considerable part of the adjoining hillside
... occupation debris and pottery is found, but no structures ... the newcomers
therefore were essentially nomads”.1 While archaeologists find it difficult to
identify nomads, since they leave neither ruins nor inscriptions, they may
leave broken pottery to give a clue. Widespread potsherds abound in the area,
the pottery being of a superior type to that of the Canaanites, having been
turned on a fast wheel and showing a distinctive rim. The few weapons found in
this level of occupation were mainly of typical Egyptian design.
The evidence points to
the correctness of Josephus’s claim that the people of Israel had armed
themselves with the weapons of the Egyptians, which they had gathered from the
shores of the Red Sea.2 The people of Israel had also brought with them their
superior technique of making pottery, with distinctive features. Although still
living a nomadic existence, their occupation of the Gilgal area did leave traces
for the archaeologist to find.
That Gilgal had a central
feature of twelve stones taken up out of Jordan is clear from Joshua 4:20, but it
would not be practical to visualise Gilgal as a tight camp around the stones.
The numbers of people, and the extent of the flocks, would require a widespread
settlement area for the base camp that remained for several years while Joshua
and his army completed the conquest. The findings of the archaeologists would
seem to confirm this concept of Gilgal.
John V. Collyer
1. Archaeology in the Holy Land, p. 137.
2. Antiquities of the
Jews, Book 2, 16.6.