Posted by: Joe Yudin | February 12, 2010

I had a day off coming up so I thought I would head off the beaten path in search of little known places to which I had never been. My former teacher , Naphtali from the tour guide course at the University of Haifa showed me on the map some gems hidden away from your average tourists and Israelis alike, and I quickly enlisted the help of a fellow tour guide, Jonathan. Early in the morning the next day we set off from the Taanach village (named for the biblical ruins of the nearby city) where I live, in a 4x4, in search of these ancient Jewish villages from between the 1st and 6th centuries C.E. (A.D) on the Golan Heights.
The day was unseasonably warm. The rains had stopped several days before, and the sun was shining brightly without a cloud in the sky. The Jezreel Valley is beautiful this time of year and as we passed the Megiddo Airport (just a tiny domestic airstrip), acres of multi-colored anemones (Crowfoot wildflower) were surrounded by a vast expanse of green fields of wheat and sunflowers. The airport is named for the famed ancient city of Megiddo whose ruins guard the southeastern mountain pass of the Iron Valley, known as Armageddon in the New Testament. The Kishon stream cuts through the valley and it is filled to the brim with flowing water due to the recent rains. We cross the bridge over it and hovering over the valley to the northeast is Mt. Tabor and we made a beeline straight for it, behind us the mountains of Samaria. This reminded us of a Biblical story that happened right here.

About 3,100 years ago the ancient Israelites were under siege in this same valley. The remnants of displaced tribes we call “the Sea Peoples” from the geographical area we now call ancient Greece. These Sea Peoples, included both the Philistines who probably originated in Cyprus and their cousins the Sherdan maybe the Shardana who were from Sardinia. The Bibile relates in the book of Judges that :

The general … Sisera, who dwelt in Haroshet-goiim…had nine hundred iron chariots, and oppressed the children of Israel for twenty years (Judges 4:2-3).

So what do we know about Sisera and Haroshet-goiim? Sisera is an ancient Shardana name and Haroshet-goiim which means “Woods of the Gentiles” is thought to be by some archaeologists on top of the Samarian Mountains overlooking the Jezreel Valley between what is now the Jewish village of Katzir and the Arab city of Um el Fahm. Indeed Israeli archaeologist Adam Zertal has found some igloo shaped stone dwellings and curved stone walls that he dates back to the Late Bronze -Early Iron Age in what he says is Haroshet-goiim. The only other abodes that resemble these buildings from the same time period are in Sardinia. That’s pretty strong evidence in my book.

Deborah was a prophetess…she judged Israel at that time. She sent and summoned Barak…and said to him, “Behold, the Lord, the God of Israel, has commanded, ‘Go and convince [the people to go] toward Mount Tabor, and take with you ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and from the children of Zebulun! I will draw toward you – the Kishon Brook – Sisera, the general of Jabin’s army, with his chariot and his multitude; and I shall deliver him unto your hand’” Barak said to her, If you go with me, I will go; but if you do not go with me, I will not go.” (Judges 4:6-8).

So off they went the Israelite army led by a woman, up this looming mountain, which was then right in front of us. We recalled Deborah’s strategy: As Sisera came through the Mountain pass and into the valley and over the Kishon she did not give the order to attack. Barak was puzzled why she was waiting, but Deborah was apparently waiting for an advantage. Now as we have read Sisira had chariots of iron, the Israelites did not. For this reason it is surmised that the this is the reason that the Israelites settled in the hills and the Philistines and the other Sea peoples settled in the foothills, plains and valleys. What good is an iron chariot in the mountains? Is this why Deborah waits and does not attack Sisiera’s army right here in the flatlands of the valley? The answer is in the text:

Sisera mustered all his chariots – nine hundred iron chariots – and all the people who were with him, from Haroshet-goiim to the Kishon Brook…Deborah said to Barak, “Arise! For this is the day when the Lord has delivered Sisera into your hand – behold, the Lord has gone forth before you! So Barak descended from Mount Tabor with the ten thousand men behind him. The Lord panicked Sisera and all the chariots and the entire camp by the edge of the sword before Barak; Sisera dismounted from his chariot and fled on his feet. Barak chased after the chariots and after the camp until Haroshet-goiim and the entire camp of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword; not even one was left (Judges 4:13-16).

So what’s the clue? Why on earth did Sisera get off his chariot and flee on foot? How is it that a man running is faster than a chariot? Why couldn’t Sisera’s chariots get away from the Israelite army that was on foot? Of course the traditional answer is that it was God’s hand. You can’t argue with that but how did God “panic” Sisera and his army? There is another clue in the next chapter of the text in Deborah’s Song:

Kings came and fought – then the kings of Canaan fought, from Taanach to the waters of Megiddo…From heaven they fought, the very stars from their orbits did battle with Sisera. Kishon Brook swept them away – the ancient brook, Kishon Brook, - but I myself trod it vigorously…(Judges 5:19-21).

Water plays a big part here, and Deborah waits to give the order to attack, not inside the narrow, rocky, mountain pass where Sisera’s iron chariots would have been vulnerable but out in the flat valley next to the “waters of Megiddo” and ‘Kishon Brook”. Why? The answer is she was waiting for the rain. “From heaven they fought” is probably referring to a rain storm. Anyone who lives in the Jezreel Valley knows that during the dry months the valley is rock solid but after a couple of rainy days the thick, rich, black soil turns to mud and sections become total swamps. Not even a jeep, let alone a chariot, can maneuver during a rainstorm where the Kaine Stream by Megiddo and the Kishon Brook through the valley would overflow and wash away all those in their  path. The only way through the muddy swamp would be on foot, hence Sisera’s abandoning of his chariot.

We pass through the Jezreel Valleys “capital” city of Afulah, which was home to the judge Gideon (ancient Ofrah) and we continue on our way to the north, into the Galilee, and an adventure that I’ll tell you about in the coming days. Until then.