Khirbet el-Qom

Khirbet el-Qom (or: al-Kum) is an archaeological site in the village of al-Kum, West Bank, in the territory of the biblical Kingdom of Judah, between Lachish and Hebron, 14 km to the west of the latter. It is sometimes identified with the ancient city of Makkedah, mentioned several times in the Hebrew Bible.

Khirbet el-Qom
Shown within the West Bank
Location al-Kum, West Bank
Coordinates31°32′4.98″N 34°57′59.63″E
History
Founded20 BCE
PeriodsEarly Bronze Age - Hellenistic period
CulturesCanaanite, Israelite, Edomite, Second Temple Judaism
Site notes
Excavation dates1967-8
ArchaeologistsWilliam G. Dever
ConditionIn ruins
Public accessyes

Findings

Archaeological excavations were conducted at the site in 1967 by William G. Dever on behalf of the Hebrew Union College.

Several Iron Age bench-tombs were discovered at el-Qom; both were investigated by William Dever in 1967 following their discovery by tomb-robbers. Both tombs contain inscriptions, dating from the second half of the 8th century BCE,[1] slightly after the Asherah-relating Kuntillet Ajrud inscriptions. The inscription from Tomb 2 is associated with a "magic hand" symbol, and reads:

"Uriyahu the honourable has written this
Blessed is/be Uriyahu by Yahweh
And [because?] from his oppressors by his asherah he has saved him
[written] by Oniyahu"
"...by his asherah
...and his asherah"[2][3]

Unlike the Kuntillet Ajrud inscriptions, they do not include a place-name with the name of Yahweh (the Kuntillet Ajrud inscriptions talk of "Yahweh of Samaria" and "Yahweh of Teman"); this seems to indicate that they were written after the fall of Samaria, which left Yahweh as the god of one state only.[4]

One thousand seven hundred ostraca in Aramaic may have been found on the site and the vicinity, dating from the Persian and Hellenistic periods, during which the area was classified as the Persian province of Idumea, with a mixed population of Edomites, Jews and Arabs.[5] The site is called Maqqedah in the Idumean ostraca.[6] Based on this, some scholars identify Khirbet el-Qom with biblical Makkedah (Joshua 10:10, 16, 17, 21, 28, 29; 12:16; 15:41).[7]

See also

References
  1. Hadley, Judith M. (1987). "The Khirbet el-Qom Inscription". Vetus Testamentum. 37 (1): 50–62. doi:10.2307/1517810. ISSN 0042-4935.
  2. Keel, Othmar, and Uehlinger, Christoph, "Gods, goddesses, and images of God in ancient Israel" (Fortress Press, 1998) p.239.
  3. Meindert Djikstra, I Have Blessed you by YHWH of Samaria and his Asherah: Texts With Religious Elements from the Soil Archive of Ancient Israel, in Bob Becking, (ed), "Only One God? Monotheism in Ancient Israel and the Veneration of the Goddess Asherah" (Sheffield Academic Press, 2001), p.p.32-34
  4. Keel, Othmar, and Uehlinger, Christoph, "Gods, goddesses, and images of God in ancient Israel" (Fortress Press, 1998) p.239.
  5. André Lemaire, 'Edom and the Edomites,' in André Lemaire, Baruch Halpern (eds.), The Books of Kings: Sources, Composition, Historiography and Reception, BRILL 2010pp.225-245 p.243.
  6. David F. Graf, 'Petra and the Nabataeans in the Early Hellenistic Period: the literary and archaeological evidence,' in Michel Mouton,Stephan G. Schmid (eds.), Men on the Rocks: The Formation of Nabataean Petra, Logos Verlag Berlin GmbH, 2013 pp.35-55 p.47
  7. Diana Vikander Edelman, The Origins of the Second Temple: Persion Imperial Policy and the Rebuilding of Jerusalem, Routledge 2005, ISBN 9781845530174, p. 265

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