Clinging to the Horns of the Alter

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Last week our class went on our first extended field trip to the Negev. The Negev is an area in the south of Israel which are the dry lands or the wilderness. This is where the Israelites wandered for forty years while waiting for the Promise Land. We left on Tuesday the 6th and came back on friday the 9th.
The Negev is composed of many different regions and cities- basically there is a eastern basin, central basin, and western basin which make up the Negev. The central basin is the main location of the Bibical Negev and that is where our first stop was.
The bibical city of Beersheba is in the central Basin of the Negev and this is where Abraham made an oath with Abilimech over a well- the name Beersheba means oath of the well. There are remains at Beersheba from a city which existed there. The coolest thing which was there was a reconstructed altar which was made from remains which were found on the site. The altar would have been used for pagan worship, which is known because it was commanded that no cities were to contain temples, altars or places of worship except for Jerusalem. The altar at Beersheba was destoyed by Hezekiah when he was commanded to destory multiple places of worship througout the land.
The story of the horns of the altar is interesting. In bibical times, the horns of the altar were considered a safe place. If one committed murder, they would flee to the horns of the altar and then be safe from revenge on their lives. There are multiple examples of this in scripture, like when the oldest son of David who was supposed to be crowned king was not, and he flees to the horns of the altar for safety from Solomon.
There are also remains at Beersheba of a temple which existed there at one time, and this temple was destroyed as well because of the commandment against it. In Amos, the prophet condemnes the worship which was taken place at Beersheba.

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Photos

Remains at Beersheba
this reminds me of Rox-a-boxen!!!

Abraham and Sarah At Beersheba
we did a little play of abraham and sarah at beersheba, when sarah sends Hagar away. it was pretty funny and corny.