When you purchase through links on our site , we may gain an affiliate commission . Here ’s how it work .
A biblical land site visit by the kings of Israel , harmonize to the Hebrew Bible , has been identify in Jordan , researchers claim .
The Iron Age site , known as Mahanaim , was a part of the kingdom of Israel ( also phone the Northern Kingdom ) . The team also believes they have identified the corpse of a construction at Mahanaim that was used by elect person , possibly even by thekings of Israel .
A view of Tall adh-Dhahab al-Gharbi, which researchers identified as Mahanaim in a new study.
Today , the internet site that may be Mahanaim is called " marvellous adh - Dhahab al - Gharbi , " archaeologistsIsrael Finkelstein , of Tel Aviv University , andTallay Ornan , of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem , write in a newspaper published Nov. 20 in the journalTel Aviv . They based their claim on archaeological remains find at the site and an psychoanalysis of the scriptural passages that cite Mahanaim .
Identifying Mahanaim
The name " Mahanaim " imply " two encampment " in ancient Hebrew , and scriptural passages suggest it is located beside another website , named Penuel , the research worker indite in the study . Today , a smaller archaeological web site known as improbable antidiuretic hormone - Dhahab esh - Sharqi , which may be Penuel , is place near Tall adh - Dhahab al - Gharbi , which may be Mahanaim , they wrote in the report . Biblical passage intimate that Penuel had a temple , and the remains of a rectangular program that may be a synagogue have been found at magniloquent adh - Dhahab esh - Sharqi .
Related : Ancient ' torment tablet ' may show earliest Hebraical name of God
The site of Tall adh - Dhahab al - Gharbi was excavated by a German archaeological squad between 2005 and 2011 . During that meter , the German team unearthed the corpse of stone closure that hold in a variety of engraved image , including word-painting of people playing a stringed instrument call off a lyre ; a Leo the Lion , in all likelihood from a hunting picture ; a date - palm tree diagram ; and a person convey a goat to what seems like a feast , probably " mean as a food supplying to a feast , " allot to the new field .
A bird’s-eye view of Tall adh-Dhahab al-Gharbi. It would have been known as Mahanaim in ancient times, researchers believe.
In the subject field , Finkelstein and Ornan say these blockage are likely the remains of a edifice used by elite individuals .
The researchers also observe that the way of the engravings is exchangeable to that of murals from the 8th century B.C. at a land site known as Kuntillet ' Ajrud in the northeastern Sinai desert in Egypt . Previous workat Kuntillet ' Ajrud indicates that the site was curb by the kingdom of Israel during the eighth 100 B.C. , which suggests the blocks witness at Tall Pitressin - Dhahab al - Gharbi also date stamp to the eighth century B.C. and were made by artists associated with the kingdom of Israel .
The researchers total that both Mahanaim and Penuel were built by Jeroboam II , a king of Israel who ruled during the 8th century B.C.
Did Israel’s kings visit?
— 20 of the most bizarre story from the Bible
— Ancient Yahweh worshipper ’s jarful bear Hebrew script in biblical metropolis
— lose scriptural tree resurrected from 1,000 - year - sometime mystery come base in the Judaean Desert
This building may have been used by king of Israel . Finkelstein noted that story in the Hebrew Bible mention that an Israeli king distinguish Ishbaal was crown at Mahanaim and thatKing Davidfled to Mahanaim when he was in a state of war against Absalom , one of his sons . While these biblical stories suggest that a few of the big businessman of Israel may have visited the building at Mahanaim , ultimately there is " no way to acknowledge , " Finkelstein told Live Science in an email .
Bartosz Adamczewski , a theology prof at the Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw , Poland , who was not involved with the study , pronounce he thinks Tall adh - Dhahab al - Gharbi ’s proximity to grandiloquent vasopressin - Dhahab esh - Sharqi serve to explain how it got the name " Mahanaim " — two camp .
