Geshur

Geshur is identified with the area stretching along the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee and reaching south to the Yarmuk River, in what is now called the Golan Heights.{{cite book |last1=George Ernest Wright and Floyd Vivian Filson |title=The Westminster Historical Atlas to the Bible |date=1946 |publisher=The Westminster Press |page=51}}{{cite journal |display-authors=etal|last1=Moshe Kochavi |title=Rediscovered! The Land of Geshur |journal=Biblical Archaeology Review |date=Jul 1992 |url=https://www.baslibrary.org/biblical-archaeology-review/18/4/2}} This location places it on one of the routes connecting the region of Bashan with the Phoenician coast. Tel Dover, located southeast of the Sea of Galilee on the Jarmuk (Yarmuk) River, may have been the kingdom's southern border. Surveys conducted within the Golan Heights have not discovered many settlements within the territory of Geshur.

The name "Geshur" is found primarily in biblical sources and has been taken to mean "stronghold or fortress".{{Cite book |title=A Political History of the Arameans: From Their Origins to the End of Their Polities |last=Younger |first=K. Lawson |publisher=SBL Press |year=2016 |isbn=9781628370843 |page=204 }} The Bible describes it as being near Bashan, adjoining the province of Argob ({{bibleverse||Deuteronomy|3:14|NIV}}) and the kingdom of Aram or Syria ({{bibleverse|2|Samuel|15:8|NIV}}; {{bibleverse|1|Chronicles|2:23|NIV}}). According to the Bible, it was allotted to the half-tribe of Manasseh which settled east of the Jordan River, but its inhabitants, the Geshurites, could not be expelled ({{bibleverse||Joshua|13:13|NIV}}).

{{bibleverse|1|Samuel|27:8|NKJV}} reports that David undertook raids against the Geshurites while stationed in Ziklag in the kingdom of Gath. In the time of David's rule over Israel, Geshur was an independent Aramean kingdom, and David married Maachah, a daughter of Talmai, king of Geshur ({{bibleverse|2|Samuel|3:3|NIV}}, {{bibleverse|1|Chronicles|3:2|NIV}}). Her son Absalom fled to his mother's native country after the murder of his half-brother and David's eldest son, Amnon. Absalom stayed there for three years before being rehabilitated by David (ib. {{bibleverse-nb|2|Samuel|13:37|NIV}}, {{bibleverse-nb|2|Samuel|15:8|NIV}}). By the 9th century BCE the kingdom of Geshur had disappeared from history.{{cite book |title= Archaeological Encyclopedia of the Holy Land |chapter= Geshur |author= Avraham Negev and Shimon Gibson |year=2001 |location= New York and London |publisher= Continuum |page=196 |isbn=978-0-8264-1316-1 }}

Two of the Late Bronze Age Amarna letters (EA 256 and EA 364) identify 'the land of Garu', as a disputed territory in the Golan between the city states of Hazor and Ashtaroth. Some scholars believe that this 'Garu' is identical with the biblical Geshur,{{Cite journal |last= Mazar |first=B. |date=1961 |title= Geshur and Maacah |journal= Journal of Biblical Literature |volume=80 |issue=1 |pages=16–28 |doi=10.2307/3264563 |jstor=3264563 }} although this is contested by others who contend that it is based on a "hypothetical and disputed assumption".

Some scholars believe the inscription on the broken statue of Shalmaneser III that describes cities captured by him may include the phrase "the Geshurite seized my feet. I received his tribute", although this is by no means certain.

Archaeologists tend to agree that the capital of the kingdom was situated at et-Tell, a place also inhabited on a lesser scale during the first centuries BCE and CE and sometimes identified with the town of Bethsaida of New Testament fame.{{cite news |author=Philippe Bohstrom |title=Mighty Fortifications Found by Archaeologists Show Kingdom of Geshur More Powerful Than Thought |newspaper=Haaretz |date=20 July 2016 |url= http://www.haaretz.com/jewish/archaeology/1.732284 |access-date=20 July 2016 }} Most imposing archaeological finds, mainly the Stratum V city gate, date to the 8th century BCE. As of 2024, archaeologists have also found the northwestern chamber wall of the Geshurite city gate of Stratum VI, dating to the 11th-10th centuries BCE.{{Cite journal |title=Bethsaida's Stratum VI City Gate, High Place, and Iconic Stele |journal=Eretz-Israel: Archaeological, Historical and Geographical Studies |url=https://www.academia.edu/127191054 |last1=Haverkost |first1=Ann |volume=35 |pages=73*–80* |last2=Arav |first2=Rami |year=2024 |issn=0071-108X }} The et-Tell site would have been easily the largest and strongest city to the east of the Jordan Valley during Iron II era.{{Cite journal |last= Na'aman |first= Nadav |date=2012 |title=The Kingdom of Geshur in History and Memory |journal=Scandinavian Journal of the Old Testament |volume=26 |issue=1 |page=92 |doi= 10.1080/09018328.2012.704198 |s2cid= 73603495 }}

Tell Hadar is a small site located on the northeastern shore of the Sea of Galilee which archaeological surveys have revealed as containing architectural features distinct from those of ancient Israel. Some archaeologists have suggested the site may have been under the control of Geshur.{{Cite journal|last=Kochavi|first=Moshe|date=Jul–Aug 1992|title=Rediscovered! The Land of Geshur|url=http://cojs.org/rediscovered-_the_land_of_geshur-_moshe_kochavi-_timothy_renner-_ira_spar_and_esther_yadin-_bar_18-04-_jul-aug_1992/|journal=BAR|pages=84–85|via=Center for Online Judaic Studies}}

This small Iron I-IIa settlement located southeast of Galilee near the Yarmuk River may have marked the southern border of the kingdom.{{Cite journal |last= Rapuano |first= Yehudah |date=2001 |title= Tel Dover |journal= Hadashot Arkheologyot: Excavations and Surveys |volume=113 |pages=19–21 }}

In 2020, a dig supervised by the Israel Antiquities Authority uncovered a massive fortress dating to Iron Age I in the vicinity of Haspin. Artefacts from the site, believed to depict some sort of lunar deity, were found to greatly resemble similar objects found during excavation at et-Tell, which lead the head archeologists to conclude that the two sites were connected in some way. Others remain skeptical, as a concrete connection between the two sites has not been exhibited by any other evidence found during the excavation, at the time.[https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-massive-3-000-year-old-fort-of-biblical-geshur-found-in-israeli-golan-1.9303547 Massive 3,000-year-old Fortified Complex Found in Israeli Golan Heights], Haaretz

According to Sugimoto (2015), the Iron Age IB (mid-eleventh century BC) cities in this northeastern region of the Sea of Galilee likely reflect the activities of the Kingdom of Geshur.{{cite journal |title=History and Nature of Iron Age Cities in the Northeastern Sea of Galilee Region: A Preliminary Overview |journal=Orient |last=Sugimoto |first=David T. |url=https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/orient/50/0/50_91/_article |volume=50 |pages=91–108 |year=2015 |doi=10.5356/orient.50.91 |issn=1884-1392}}

Also, the later Iron Age IIA (tenth to mid-ninth centuries BC), and Iron Age IIB cities here are linked with the southern expansion of Aram Damascus. Sugimoto presented the results of the archaeological excavations at five key sites in this region: Tel Dover, Tel ‘En Gev, Tel Hadar, Tel Bethsaida, and Tel Kinrot. According to him, “The material culture of these cities, particularly the architecture, is ... more similar to that of the Aramaean and Neo-Hittite cities in northern Syria than to Canaanite cities in the southern Levant during both periods.”

File:IMJ view 20130115 202912.jpg (et-Tell) depicting the Geshurite lunar deity, possibly Kašku. On display at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.]]

Excavations of et-Tell have revealed evidence of the Geshurite religious practices including high places, decorated stelae, offering vessels, sacrificial animals and dedicatory inscriptions.{{cite journal |title=Demons and Deities in Geshurite Bethsaida |journal=Strata: Journal of the Anglo-Israel Archaeological Society |url=https://www.academia.edu/127190923 |last1=Haverkost |first1=Ann |volume=40|pages=13–38 |last2=Arav |first2=Rami |year=2022 |issn=2042-7867 }} This material culture reveals strong influences from neighbouring countries. Their religious worship appears to have centered around worship of the moon-god in the form of a bull which was common in southern Syria, whilst an Egyptian influence can be seen in their art and amulets. The bull stele from the city gate has alternatively been interpreted as either a symbol of the chief god Hadad, in charge of rainfall; the moon god, who brought about the swelling of the rivers; or a combination of the two.[https://www.imj.org.il/en/collections/371435 Cultic stele, Bethsaida, Iron Age II, 9th-8th century BCE.] From The Israel Museum, Publisher: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 2005 The influence of the Israelite religion to the south may be seen in dietary practices and the selection of sacrificial animals.{{Cite book |title= Bethsaida: A City by the North Shore of the Sea of Galilee, Vol 3 |publisher= Truman State University |year=2004 |isbn=978-1-931112-39-0 |editor-last= Arav |editor-first= Rami |pages=17–39}}

• Geshurites
• Talmai
• Absalom

{{reflist}}

• {{Cite journal |title=The Kingdom of Geshur and the Expansion of Aram-Damascus into the Northern Jordan Valley: Archaeological and Historical Perspectives |journal=Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/324179630 |last1=Sergi |first1=Omer |issue=1 |volume=379 |pages=1–18 |last2=Kleiman |first2=Assaf |doi=10.5615/bullamerschoorie.379.0001 |year=2018|s2cid=165795960 }}
• Pakkala, Juha (2010). 'What do we know about Geshur?'. Scandinavian Journal of the Old Testament 24 (2): 155-173.
• {{JewishEncyclopedia|url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?letter=G&artid=197|article=Geshur, Geshurites}}

• [https://biblehub.com/topical/g/geshurites.htm Geshurites] - in the Bible -- biblehub.com

{{Ancient states and regions of the Levant}}

Category:Hebrew Bible regions

Category:Historical regions

Category:Bethsaida

Category:Golan Heights