Biblical Archaeology Review

For a similar inscription see André Lemaire, “Probable Head of Priestly Scepter from Solomon’s Temple Surfaces in Jerusalem,” BAR 10:01.

A wadi is a dry river bed or small river common in Israel and the surrounding regions. The American equivalent would be “arroyo.”

As Ahab king of Israel had done over a century earlier.

Stratum VIII at Arad was destroyed at the same time as stratum III at Lachish. The Lachish destruction was commemorated in the famous Assyrian reliefs in Sennacherib’s palace depicting the siege and conquest of Lachish (see “Destruction of Judean Fortress Portrayed in Dramatic Eighth-Century B.C. Pictures,” BAR 10:02).

An alternate date would be around 813 B.C. in the reign of Jehoash (Joash), when Judah was hard hit by Hazael, king of Damascus (2 Kings 12:17ff; 2 Chronicles 24:23–26). Judah’s southern enemies might have taken advantage of this situation, perhaps in consort with Hazael. But it is strange that the Bible is silent about any invasion of the south at this time. Miriam Aharoni dates the destruction of stratum X to the first quarter of the eighth century B.C.

We use the Biblical spelling of Negeb (rather than Negev). Negeb refers to the Valley of Beer-Sheba (also the Biblical spelling; see map) where ancient Arad is located. Today the name Negev is used to designate the entire southern part of Israel.

Commonly referred to as deacons.

The definitive treatment of miqva’ot with double entrances is Ronny Reich, “Mishnah, Sheqalim 8:2 and the Archaeological Evidence,” in Jerusalem in the Second Temple Period, ed. A. Oppenheimer, V. Rappaport and M. Stern (Jerusalem, 1980) (in Hebrew). Reich also identified many other Jerusalem miqva’ot, especially in the City of David, that were uncovered in pre-World War II excavations but were not recognized as such by their excavators.

See Hershel Shanks, “Excavating in the Shadow of the Temple Mount,” BAR 12:06, and Benjamin Mazar, “Excavations Near Temple Mount Reveal Splendors of Herodian Jerusalem,” BAR 06:04.

See Suzanne F. Singer, “The Winter Palaces of Jericho,” BAR 03:02. A miqveh has also been excavated at Chorazin, but it dates two or three centuries after the destruction of the Temple in 70 A.D.