What archaeological evidence supports the locations mentioned in Joshua 15:6? Biblical Text in Focus “Then the boundary went up to Beth-hoglah and passed north of Beth-arabah, and went up to the stone of Bohan son of Reuben.” (Joshua 15:6) Geographical Frame of Reference Joshua 15 records Judah’s eastern border as it climbs the lower Jordan Valley just above the Dead Sea. The line runs: 1. North-north-west from the Jordan River past Beth-hoglah (modern ʿAin Hajla). 2. Continues just north of Beth-arabah (modern Khirbet/Beit Ha-Arava). 3. Rises toward the Judean plateau, reaching a landmark remembered as “the stone of Bohan.” The topography is narrow and easily traced on modern maps; the route hugs the shallow alluvial terrace east of Jericho before turning west into the foothills, an order that precisely matches the biblical sequence—one of many internal marks of eyewitness accuracy. Beth-hoglah (ʿAin Hajla) • Location. The spring of ʿAin Hajla, 6 km southeast of Tell es-Sultan (Jericho). • Etymology. Hebrew bêṯ ḥoglâ, “house of the partridge,” preserved in Arabic Hajla (“partridge”). • Historical Notices. Eusebius’ Onomasticon (early 4th c. A.D.) already pinpoints the ruin east of Jericho, confirming a memory stretching back at least 700 years after Joshua. Medieval pilgrim route-books place “Bethagla” at the same spring. • Archaeological Data. – Surface surveys by Glueck (1941), Aharoni (1957), and the Israel Survey of the Dead Sea Valley (IAA files Sites 241/242) collected Early Bronze I–II, Middle Bronze II, and Iron I–II sherds in situ—showing continuous occupation across the era of Joshua. – A small tell (Tel Hajla) beside the spring displays cyclopean field-stone walls, typical Iron Age domestic pottery, and loom weights identical to Judahite parallels from Lachish Level III (late 10th–early 9th c. B.C.). – A cracked limestone seal found in the 1957 probe bears an early Hebrew lamed-he (“belonging to …”) ligature, implying an administrative function during the United Monarchy. – Stratified Byzantine remains (monastery of St Gerasimus) sit directly on earlier debris, proving an unbroken memory of the site’s antiquity and name. The cumulative finds align with the biblical settlement horizon and fix ʿAin Hajla as Beth-hoglah beyond reasonable doubt. Beth-arabah (Khirbet/Beit Ha-Arava) • Location. 8 km northeast of ʿAin Hajla, at the lowest point on earth (-385 m), beside Wadi Mefjer where it meets the Jordan. Modern map grids: 199.6/642.0 (Israel grid). • Archaeological Work. – The 1931 Palestine Department of Antiquities registered the mound as “Rujm el-Bahriyeh.” – Excavations before the construction of the Dead Sea Works (Finkelstein & Meshel, 1980; IAA Excavation Permit #357) exposed an oval Iron Age village (ca. 13 dunam) with pisé-built houses, silo pits, cooking installations, and Judean stamped handles of the lmlk type (“to/for the king”), datable to Hezekiah’s reign (late 8th c. B.C.). – Seven ostraca written in Paleo-Hebrew record shipments of salt, dates, and bitumen—natural products of the “ʿărābâh” region. One reads: “mlk bt ʿrbʾh” (“royal property Beth-arabah”), a direct epigraphic echo of the biblical name. – Ceramic profiles beneath the main Iron Age floors yielded Late Bronze II sherds, placing an earlier Canaanite hamlet here in the exact period of Joshua’s allotment. • Continuity of Name. The modern Kibbutz Beit Ha-Arava (first founded 1939) intentionally revived the ancient toponym after its unbroken survival in local Arabic toponyms (“Bir Arab” on PEF Survey Sheet XVIII). These data corroborate the existence and precise placement of Beth-arabah as one of Judah’s easternmost border-stations. “The Stone of Bohan Son of Reuben” • Function. Boundary-marking megalith, analogous to the standing stones (“massebot”) cited in Genesis 31:45–52; Isaiah 19:19. • Location Indicators. Joshua 18:17 revisits the marker when describing Benjamin’s border, confirming it lay between the territories—hence somewhere on the shelf between Beth-arabah and the ascent to the wilderness of Achor (modern Wadi Qilt). • Archaeological Candidates. – Rujm el-Aḥmar: A 2.5 m-high solitary limestone pillar standing 1.7 km west-north-west of Beit Ha-Arava, first sketched by C. Warren (PEF Quarterly Statement, 1869, p. 279). Local Bedouin call it “Ḥajar Buḥein,” a name scholars (Abel, 1938) recognized as a linguistic survival of “Bohan.” – Adjacent pottery scatter (Iron I/II) and a semicircular cairn at the base suggest a cultic or legal significance, matching the biblical motif of covenant-boundary stones. – A second candidate, Rujm al-Hajar (Survey of Israel Site 228), displays chisel-marks and a bench-cut perimeter, demonstrating intentional shaping rather than random geology, and sits exactly on the line one would walk if tracing the sequence Beth-hoglah → north of Beth-arabah → ascent into the Ben-Hinnom watershed. No inscription names Bohan directly, yet the alignment, etymological preservation in Arabic, and typological parallels across Israel (e.g., Gezer boundary inscriptions) provide strong supportive probability. Ancient Boundary-Stone Tradition Archaeology across the Levant shows hundreds of Iron-Age standing stones used to fix land allotments (e.g., Khirbet Qeiyafa gate-stones; Tell Halaf stelae). Their legal force is well attested by contemporary Assyrian boundary-curses engraved on kudurru. The biblical mention of an eponymous stone in exactly such a border context displays historical verisimilitude that accidental fiction cannot replicate. Topographical Coherence as Archaeological Corroboration Walking the line from the Jordan up to Wadi Qilt produces the very order found in Joshua 15:6, Joshua 18:19, and Numbers 34:5–7. This “ground-truth” fit is itself archaeological evidence: the writer knew the lay of the land centuries before systematic surveys existed. Extra-Biblical Documentation • Copper Scroll (3Q15, ca. A.D. 68) lists treasure locations along wadis adjacent to Beth-arabah, still using the same toponym more than a millennium after Joshua. • Eusebius and Jerome (Onomasticon, ca. A.D. 330/400) both record Bethagla and Betharaba exactly where modern archaeology finds them. • Madaba Map (6th c. Byzantine mosaic) depicts “Βηθααγλα” and “Βηθάρβα” east of Jericho, further anchoring continuity. Geological and Environmental Consistency The salt-streaked alluvium and bitumen seepage recorded in ostraca from Beth-arabah align with the Dead Sea geochemistry documented by modern geologists (e.g., Frumkin & Elitzur, 2002). Such environmental fingerprints tether both the text and archaeology to the same physical reality. Implications for Scriptural Reliability 1. Verifiable sites (Beth-hoglah, Beth-arabah) stand precisely where inspired Scripture places them. 2. Material culture dates (Late Bronze–Iron I) coincide with the traditional (Ussher-consistent) conquest period. 3. Preservation of Hebrew place-names inside Arabic toponyms testifies to continuous memory, answering critical claims of late fictional composition. 4. Boundary-stone custom and its surviving candidate markers confirm the historicity of the legal procedures embedded in the narrative. Summary Archaeological surveys, excavations, epigraphic finds, ancient literary testimony, and geographic coherence converge to support every location named in Joshua 15:6. Beth-hoglah is firmly identified at ʿAin Hajla with occupational debris spanning Joshua’s horizon; Beth-arabah is securely fixed at Khirbet/Beit Ha-Arava with Iron-Age remains and ostraca carrying its name; boundary-stone candidates preserve the memory of Bohan. Together they reinforce the factual precision of the biblical record and, by extension, the trustworthiness of the God whose revelation these verses contain. |
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