Category Archives: Old Testament

Robert J. Bull, in a 1960 article in Biblical Archaeologist, tells the story of the earlier discovery of the sacred standing stone that still stands in the courtyard of the temple of Baal-Berith at Shechem.

“Sellin records that the altar base, when uncovered in 1926, was 2.20 meters long and 1.65 meters wide. Today there remain only a few stones arranged in an irregular pattern roughly 1 by 1 1/2 meters in extent. A large hollowed-out stone base and a broken piece of hard white limestone were uncovered by Sellin just southeast of the altar. The hollow in the base was 40 centimeters deep, and measured 45 cms. in width and 1.65 meters in length, while the limestone slab was 1.45 meters by 40 cms., and stood 1.65 meters in height. Since the limestone slab would fit into the base neatly; Sellin concluded he had found the main standing-stone or maṣṣebah of the city. A story which I am not able to confirm relates that Dr. Aage Schmidt, visiting the tell during a temporary absence of Sellin, came upon one of the workmen breaking up the limestone slab with a maul and prevailed upon him to cease until Sellin could be summoned!

Thus it was that some portion of the maṣṣebah was saved. In 1956, the Drew-McCormick Expedition found the socket and slab cast down from the bank of altar fill into the palace area some 6 meters below. One end of the base had been broken off, so that only an open ended niche remained, four-fifths of the original length. Of the maṣṣebah, only 1.45 meters of its original height remained on one side and only 62 cms. on the other. With great effort, a team of workers tugged and hauled these massively heavy stones back up onto the forecourt of the temple, securing the standing stone in its original base with cement. Once again the maṣṣebah dominates the area from a point where it probably stood originally, at least from what we can learn from the drawings and photographs in the Sellin and Welter reports” (Robert J. Bull, Biblical Archaeologist : Vol. 23 1-4, electronic ed. (American Schools of Oriental Research, 2001, c1960).

The broken sacred standing stone (massebah) stands in the courtyard in front of the entrance to the Temple of Baal-Berith. The near-barren Mount Ebal, where the curses of the law were read (Deuteronomy 27); Joshua 8:30-33), is visible to the north.

The sacred standing stone at Shechem. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins.

Dr. Bryant Wood says,

Since the temple existed in Joshua’s day, it is possible this was the “large stone” he set up “under the oak that was by the sanctuary of the Lord” at Shechem (Josh. 24:26). The stela is undoubtedly the “pillar” where Abimelech was made king (v. 6)” (Bryant Wood. “From Ramesses to Shiloh.” Giving the Sense. Kregel, 2003).

Edward F. Campbell, in a report on the 1960 excavation at Shechem, tells about Sellin’s discovery more than three decades earlier.

“While this work was underway, he found time to study some stones in the court before the temple. On each side of the door there was a large stone block, one of them nearly 4M ft. long, the other nearly 6 ft. long. Both had long depressions cut into their tops, and Sellin had first thought that they were watering troughs—though how such small depressions could have served any such purpose in front of the temple is difficult to imagine. Directly in front of the door in the courtyard to the southeast was a much larger stone with a similar though much deeper and wider trough, which also had been interpreted as a receptacle for water. Now, however, Sellin took note of a large, flat stone with rounded sides lying nearby. Though broken and much of it gone the reminder is still over 5 ft. high, some 4M ft. wide and 1 m ft. thick. Experiment showed that the smooth flat stone had been made to stand up in the trough, so Sellin put the two together. Two more flat stones were found to fit together in the left (southwestern) stone base beside the temple door. Sellin concluded that these three could only be installations of sacred standing stones that once framed the temple entrance—stones that in Old Testament Hebrew are called massebot” (Biblical Archaeologist: Vol. 20 1-4, electronic ed. (American Schools of Oriental Research).

The stone bases on either side of the entrance to the temple are visible today, and marked here by the red arrows. The base on the left has the broken sacred standing stone in place.

Courtyard and entrance to temple of Baal-Berith. Photo by F. Jenkins.

Notice the courtyard in front of the temple entrance. In a future post we will report how the largest standing stone was almost destroyed.

The book of Judges describes the situation at Shechem after the death of Gideon.

After Gideon died, the Israelites again prostituted themselves to the Baals. They made Baal-Berith their god. (Judges 8:33 NET)

Abimelech, the son of Gideon was such a desperate politician that he took money from the Shechemites from the temple of Baal-Berith (Judges 9:4). Dr. Bryant Wood describes the temple of Baal-Berith.

References to the “house of Baal-berith” (v. 4), “Beth-millo” (v. 6,20), “house of their god” (v. 27), “tower of Shechem” (vv. 46,47,49), and “temple of El-berith” (v. 46), all appear to be the same structure at Shechem. Berit is the Hebrew word for covenant, so the temple was for “Baal of the covenant.”

A large fortress (or Migdal) temple discovered on the acropolis of Shechem has been identified as the temple of Judges 9. It was  constructed in the seventeenth century B.C. and lasted until the destruction of the city by Abimelech in the twelfth century B.C. The largest temple yet found in Canaan, it measures 21.2 x 26.3 m, and has foundations 5.1 m thick that supported a multistoried superstructure of mud bricks and timber. On the east, two towers containing stairwells to the upper stories flanked the entrance. Inside, two rows of columns, three in each row, divided the space into a nave and two side aisles (cf. vv. 46-49)” (Bryant Wood. “From Ramesses to Shiloh.” Giving the Sense. Kregel, 2003).

The photo shows the foundation of the Temple of Baal-Berith at Shechem. This structure was brought to light in the

Temple of Baal-Berith in center of photo. Gerizim (L) & Ebal (R). Photo by F. Jenkins.

G. Ernest Wright says, “Before 1903 biblical geographers all thought that Shechem was once located where the modern city of Nablus is.” They associated the Roman city of Neapolis with Nablus. The German scholar Herman Thiersch found the walls of “old Shechem” June 26, 1903. He said, “The place is somewhat under cultivation with vegetables and seed-crops.” (G. Ernest Wright, Biblical Archaeologist: Vol. 20 1-4, electronic ed. (Philadelphia: American Schools of Oriental Research, 2001, c1957). This site is identified with the mound of Tell Balata.

The first excavations at Shechem were conducted by Prof. Ernst Sellin in 1913 and 1914. More extensive excavations took place between 1926-1928.