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GEZER

(Heb. gezer)

A city attested in biblical, Egyptian, and Assyrian sources. It is to be located at Tell Jezer (Tell el-Jazari; 1425.1407), a 13.3-ha. (33 a.) mound prominently situated at the junction of the northern Shephelah and the Judean foothills, overlooking the Ayalon Valley. The site was extensively excavated in 1902-1909 by R. A. S. Macalister, briefly in 1934 by Alan Rowe; in 1964-1974 by a large multidisciplinary project directed by William G. Dever with H. Darrell Lance and Joe D. Seger; and finally by Dever in 1984 and 1990.

The principal literary references to Gezer are found first in Egyptian sources: in the annals of Thutmose III (ca. 1468 b.c.; no. 104 on the Karnak Temple inscription), in 10 of the 14th-century Amarna Letters, and in Pharaoh Merneptah’s “Victory Stela” (ca. 1207). Mesopotamian references include an inscription and relief of Tiglath-pileser III, who destroyed Gezer ca. 733. Biblical references reflect the facts that Gezer remained in Canaanite hands during the period of the Judges (Josh. 10:33; 12:12), was a territorial city (21:21, an Ephraimite town allotted to the Kohathite Levites), and finally came under Israelite control through an Egyptian treaty in Solomon’s day, being built up and/or fortified thereafter along with Jerusalem, Hazor, and Megiddo (1 Kgs. 9:15-17).

The following is an outline of the periods established by the most recent excavations at Gezer:

Stratum XXVI: Chalcolithic village (ca. 3600-3300)

XXV: EB I small town (ca. 3300-3100)

XXIV-XXIII: EB II unwalled town (ca. 3100-2600), followed by a gap

XXXII-XVIII: MB city (ca. 2000-1500), heavily fortified by “inner wall” and gate; many rich tombs, Macalister’s “high place”; Egyptian destruction at the end (ca. 1500)

XVII: Partial gap in occupation during LB I; multiple burials in Cave 1.10A (ca. 1450-1400)

XVI-XIV: LB II urban reoccupation; several palaces and Egyptian “residences”; construction of the “outer wall”; possible destruction at end by Merneptah (ca. 1207)

XIII-XI: Ceramic continuity into early Iron Age, but Philistine bichrome wares appear; large public granary and two “patrician houses” nearby (ca. 1200-1050)

X-IX: Intermediate phases, with red-slipped unburnished pottery characteristic (ca. 1050-950)

VIII: Construction of a four-entryway monumental city gate, outer gatehouse, and casemate (double) wall system, incorporating rebuild of LB “outer wall” and towers; “Palace 10,000” adjoining city gate; heavy destruction at end, probably by Pharaoh Shishak (ca. 950-925)

VII-VI: Iron II period (ca. 925-733); city gate and “outer wall” period; domestic quarters built up; destruction at end attributable to Tiglath-pileser III.

V: Slight recovery under Judean rule, but destroyed by Babylonians (ca. 587/586)

IV: Slight Persian occupation (5th-4th centuries)

III-II: Reoccupation in Hellenistic and Hasmonean periods; city gate rebuilt a final time, during Maccabean wars

I: Mound largely deserted, but adjacent region now part of a Herodian period private estate of one “Alkios”; Macalister’s “boundary stones”; only a few Byzantine tombs follow, then the founding of the Arab villages of ʾAbu-shusheh in the 19th century

The principal discoveries at Gezer include the MB I-III remains, especially the massive “inner wall,” “Tower 5617,” the three-entryway “south gate,” and the glacis. Also noteworthy is Macalister’s “high place,” now dated to the MB III period (ca. 1650-1500) and shown to have been in all likelihood an outdoor shrine utilized by a 10-city league, perhaps for covenant-renewal ceremonies.

The Late Bronze Age may be illuminated by the fortifications (the “outer wall”), the subject of much controversy but confidently dated to the 14th-13th centuries by the excavators. The various “palaces” and “residences,” as well as the rich deposits in Cave 1.10A, illustrate the Amarna age and Egyptian presence particularly well.

The four-entryway city gate, outer gatehouse, stretch of casemate wall, and reused LB “outer wall” with the addition of ashlar towers, all have been taken to reflect the 10th-century Solomonic era, the destruction at the end being attributed to Shishak. Some Israeli archaeologists, however, would date these features to the 9th century.

Finally, Gezer, not far from Modʿin, has produced some of our best evidence for the period of the Maccabean wars and Hasmonean rulers.

Bibliography. W. G. Dever, “Excavations at Gezer,” BA 30 (1967): 47-62; “Further Evidence on the Date of the Outer Wall at Gezer,” BASOR 289 (1993): 33-54; Dever, H. D. Lance, and G. E. Wright, Gezer I (Jerusalem, 1970); Dever et al., “Further Excavations at Gezer, 1967-71,” BA 34 (1971): 94-132; Gezer II (Jerusalem, 1974); Gezer IV (Jerusalem, 1986); S. Gitin, Gezer III (Jerusalem, 1990); J. D. Seger, Gezer V (Jerusalem, 1988).

William G. Dever

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GEZER

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)