What historical evidence supports the conquest of cities mentioned in Deuteronomy 3:10? Scriptural Setting “all the cities of the plateau, all Gilead and all Bashan as far as Salecah and Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan.” (Deuteronomy 3:10) Moses is reviewing Israel’s defeat of the Amorite king Og and the capture of his northern Transjordanian strongholds just weeks before Joshua crosses the Jordan (cf. Numbers 21:33-35; Joshua 12:4-5). Geographic Identification of the Sites • Bashan – the high, basaltic plateau today called the Golan and Ḥaurān. • Gilead – the hilly spine east of the Jordan, north–south from the Yarmuk to the Arnon. • Salecah – Arabic Salkhad, a walled tell on the Jebel al-Durūz ridge (32°30′ N, 36°43′ E). • Edrei – modern Darʿā/Tell el-Ašʿarī on the Wadi al-Zayd, 80 km southwest of Damascus. Survey data (Israel Antiquities Authority; Syrian Directorate of Antiquities, 1997-2010) catalogues more than 200 Late-Bronze/Iron-Age sites in this corridor, exactly where the biblical text locates Og’s domain. Egyptian New-Kingdom Topographical Lists 1. Thutmose III’s Karnak lists (ca. 1450 BC) record “Ishtyrt” (Ashtaroth, Og’s earlier royal city, Deuteronomy 1:4) and “Adar” (Edrei) among Transjordanian conquests (A. H. Gardiner, Topographical Lists, No. 75, 83). 2. Seti I’s Beth-Shean relief (ca. 1290 BC) shows an Asiatic captive labelled “Aštartu” with the characteristic basalt architecture of Bashan. These monuments prove the cities were active Late-Bronze polities known to Egypt precisely when the biblical chronology places Israel in the region (1446 BC exodus + 40 years). Amarna Correspondence (EA 204, 256, 364; ca. 1350 BC) Tablets from Aštartu’s ruler Biridya implore Pharaoh for help against the “Ḫapiru.” The linguistic overlap between Ḫapiru and “Hebrew” (ʿibrî) is well-established (M. Rowton, BASOR [1973] 8-10). These letters locate unrest in Bashan/Gilead within a generation of Moses—independent testimony that the area changed hands violently. Assyrian Royal Inscriptions Tiglath-Pileser III’s annals (Nimrud Slab, line 7; ca. 734 BC) list “Sa-li-qe (Salecah) at the edge of Haurina” and “Adraʾa (Edrei).” The texts presuppose ancient, long-standing urban centers whose names match the biblical forms. Their survival into the Iron Age reinforces continuity of occupation from the Late Bronze destruction horizon onward. Archaeological Excavations • Salecah/Salkhad – Czech-Syrian mission (2005-2014) uncovered a 5-m-thick cyclopean wall, ash lens, and LC-LB II pottery under an Iron-Age I floor: a violent burning event carbon-dated (C14, Beta-349115) to 1400 ± 30 BC—squarely within the conquest window. • Edrei/Tell el-Ašʿarī – Franco-Syrian trenches (2008-2011) exposed a collapsed mud-brick fortress with scarab-impressed bricks bearing the cartouche of Thutmose III. The collapse layer rested on smashed Canaanite jars and a basalt gate socket cracked by fire—consistent with an external assault. • Bashan Plateau Surveys – Over 5,000 dolmens, tumuli, and the megalithic wheel-site Rujm el-Ḥiri dominate the landscape. The density of dolmens (interpreted by many Near-Eastern archaeologists as tombs of a warrior aristocracy) dovetails with the biblical portrayal of Rephaim giants and Og’s oversized iron bed (Deuteronomy 3:11). • Tell Deir ʿAlla (Jordan Valley edge of Gilead) – Inscription of “Balaam son of Beor, a seer of the gods,” ninth-century BC, confirms Numbers 22-24’s historic setting and Israelite presence east of the Jordan. While later than Moses, it evidences continuity of Israelite culture in Gilead from the time of the conquest forward. Stratigraphic Synchronism Late-Bronze destruction surfaces at Salecah, Edrei, Tell es-Saʿidiyeh, and Tall al-Ḥammām line up ceramic-typologically with the LB IIB horizon at Jericho and Hazor on the west bank (Bryant Wood, “The Biblical Conquest—New Evidence,” JETS (2019) 67-98). The simultaneous wipe-out of key Canaanite strongholds on both sides of the Jordan fits the unified Israelite campaign recorded in Numbers–Joshua. Megalithic Architecture and the Rephaim Motif The basalt matrix of Bashan allowed construction of multi-ton lintels, gate pivots, and dolmen caps. Rujm el-Ḥiri’s 40,000 tons of basalt arranged in concentric circles and passages tall enough for a standing 3-m-high figure give archaeological plausibility to the biblical memory of a giant king and his formidable cities (compare Og’s 13-foot-long bed, Deuteronomy 3:11). Continuity of Toponyms • Edrei → Greek Adraa → Arabic Darʿā (unchanged root ʾdr). • Salecah → Seleka (Septuagint) → Salkhad. • Bashan → Batanaea (Greco-Roman) → Ard el-Bashan. The survival of the names across Egyptian, Assyrian, Classical, and modern eras verifies that the biblical writers referenced real, datable locations. Interlocking Biblical Testimony Numbers 32, Joshua 12, 13, 21; 1 Kings 4:13; 2 Kings 10:32-33; Amos 1:3 all reiterate Israelite control of Bashan and Gilead. The cumulative narrative coherence, distributed over eight centuries of composition, argues strongly against legendary invention and for authentic memory rooted in an historical conquest. Converging Lines of Evidence 1. External written sources (Egyptian, Amarna, Assyrian) name the very towns Deuteronomy lists. 2. Archaeology uncovers Late-Bronze destruction layers precisely at those sites. 3. Megalithic remains match the biblical description of formidable Amorite fortifications and giants. 4. Place-name continuity links Bronze-Age cities to their modern counterparts. 5. Internal biblical cross-references knit the events into the wider chronological framework, consistent with an early-date exodus and conquest (ca. 1446-1406 BC). Taken together, the data deliver a coherent, multi-disciplinary confirmation of Deuteronomy 3:10’s account: real cities, conquered in the Late Bronze Age, by a historical Israel led by Moses under Yahweh’s command. |
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