518 ANNUAL. REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1923 



monarchy, and there is Scriptural evidence that similar caves exist- 

 ed at an earlier date still (Judges, vi. 2) : " Because of Midian the 

 Children of Israel made tliem the dens which are in the mountains 

 and the caves and the strongholds'." This shows that such artificial 

 caves were made in the times of the Judges for refuges. Certain 

 chambers were prepared as cisterns, store chambers', etc. There 

 is no means of dating such chambers. Other chambers were used 

 for religious rites, filters, prisons, quarries, traps for wild beasts, 

 etc. 



We next reach Gezer. The site of this famous ancient city had 

 been forgotten in modern times until about 1870, when Professor 

 Clermont-Ganneau commenced his research. Biblical records of 

 the city commence with the time of Joshua. Its king, Horam, helped 

 Lachish against Joshua's attack, and he and his army were utterly 

 annihilated (Joshua x, 33). Gezer was allotted to Ephraim who, 

 however, failed to drive the Canaanites out (Judges', i, 29). Other 

 historical sources carry us back to the time of Thothmes III, who 

 captured it about 1500 B. C, though the excavations prove the 

 history of Geaer to go back a further 1,500 years, of which there 

 is no written history. 



Canaanites', Israelites, Arabs, all have successively inhabited the 

 mound through the centuries. We read in I Chronicles, xx, 4, of 

 Philistine giants whom David's men slew at Gezer. The Canaan- 

 ites lingered on in Gezer until the reign of Solomon. When Solo- 

 mon celebrated his marriage with the daughter of the King of 

 Egypt, the Pharaoh " went up and took Gezer and burnt it with 

 fire and slew the Canaanites that dwelt in the city, and gave it 

 for a portion unto his daughter, Solomon's' wife " (I Kings, ix, 16). 



Two tables which have lately been found give evidence of an 

 Assyrian occupation of Gezer. Gezer had varying fortunes during 

 the wars of the Jews and the Syrians. About 160 B. C. it was 

 captured by the Syrians and afterwards recaptured by Simon Mac- 

 cabaeus, the great high priest, who fortified it, and built himself a 

 dwelling place, which has lately been discovered. The history of 

 Gezer stretches on through Roman, Crusader, and Arab periods. 



From the excavations we get an idea of the primitive religious 

 customs which Israel met with on their entry into Palestine, the 

 idolatry and the moral abominations', and from the discoveries made 

 it is easy to see why the worship of the High Place was so fiercely 

 denounced. The evidence of the wholesale sacrifice of children, the 

 images found testifying to the licentiousness pervading the whole 

 worship, the evidences of bodies sawn asunder, and other savageries, 

 all throw a lurid light on the "iniquity of the Amorite." 



We next reach Jatfa, whence we embark on our way to England, 

 and thus our delightful tour is brought to an end. 



