Commentary for Maps 1-10 and 1-11,

the Shephelah of Judah.

The Shephelah of Judah is a buffer region between the Hill Country of Judah and the Coastal Plain.

This is the Shephelah. The Shephelah is the main point of conflict between the Philistines and the Israelites

The word Shephelah means foothills or lowlands The foothills are bisected by wide valleys

The foothills protect the western side of the Hill Country of Judah.

Here is an aerial photograph of the Elah Valley in the Shephelah

For security reasons, cities and towns were built on the hills

The ruins of the Biblical town called Azekah are on this hill

The routes ran in the wide valleys bisecting the hills.

The Shephelah has rich agricultural, especially from trees -- like grape vines...

Sycamore and olive trees...

Grains and vegetables grow in the rich soil of the Valleys.

Note the elevation of the Shephelah, tucked between the Coastal Plain and the Hill Country

At around 1300 feet above sea level, the Shephelah is approximately half the height of the Hill

Country.

Find the Shephelah on Map 12-3 Here is the relatively flat Coastal plain

To the east, the higher, rugged Hill Country Situated between them, about 40 miles long

and eight miles wide, is the Shephelah Note the routes in the wide valleys

that divide the foothills

On Map 1-10 take a look at the Coastal Plain The Philistines settled as a nation here in about 1200 BC

The main cities of the Philistines were situated

along the two branches of the International Coastal Highway

Along the Coastal branch are Gaza, Ashkelon, and Ashdod

Along the inland branch of the highway were Gath and Ekron

Note again the Hill Country of Judah to the East, and the buffer zone Shephelah

Now let's examine the Shephelah Valleys and routes.

Map 1-11 is a close up of the Shephelah of Judah region

On the map shaded in darker green are five wide valleys that run predominantly east to west,

connecting the Hill Country to the Coastal Plain

An earlier video examinied how the wide Aijalon Valley, the northernmost Shephelah Valley,

functions as the main route from the Coast to Jerusalem

The route was guarded by the city of Gezer in the Shephelah Hills.

The next valley, running parallel but south of the Aijalon, is the Sorek Valley

Note the towns of Zorah and Eshtaol on the north side of the Sorek Valley, where the

Spirit of the Lord first moved upon Samson Across the Valley to the south is the important town of Beth-shemesh

To the west is Timnah

And near where the Sorek opens into the Coastal Plain is the Philistine town, Ekron

Like the Aijalon, the Sorek Valley is an east-west route, connecting Coastal Plain to the Hill Country

From near Beth-shemesh and Eshtaol , routes

into the rugged hill country travel on ridges.

Let's take a look at the Sorek Valley from the ruins of ancient Beth-shemesh.

We're standing here at Betshemesh overlooking the Sorek valley.

It was along the Sorek that the ark of the covenant returned from the Philistines to Judea. Also behind me you can see the town of Zorah.

This is where the spirit of the Lord first moved upon Sampson. It was Sampson, if you recall, who later was able to kill 1000 philistines with the jawbone of a donkey.

Map 4-8 shows that many of the events in the life of Samson occurred in the Sorek Valley

The spirit of the Lord came upon Samson between Zorah and Eshtaol

He killed a lion on a journey to Timnah The lion had probably come out of the thickets

of the Sorek River which runs through the valley.

Note the proximity of Zorah to Timnah, where Samson saw a Philistine gal

We're at the biblical town of Timnah where Sampson saw the Philistine girl that he wanted to marry.

The Sorek Valley is the setting for the return of the Ark of the Covenant to Judah

The Philistines had captured the Ark in a Battle at Aphek and brought it to their city, Ashdod

The Philistines, like so many others through

the ages, believed they had subdued the God of Israel

But they were wrong The Ark was sent to Gath and Ekron, from where

two cows pulled it on a cart straight up the Sorek Valley to Beth-shemesh

From Beth-shemesh it was brought up to Kiriat-Jearim in the hill Country, where it stayed 20 years

until Samuel led Israel in a national repentance

South of the Sorek Valley is the Elah Valley Note the cities of Azekah Socoh, and Adullam

To the west where the Elah Valley spills into the Coast is Gath, home of the giant Goliath

Between Azekah and Socoh on the north side of the Elah Valley is a ruin called Hirbet Qieyafa

where recent excavations have exposed ruins of an ancient Israelite town,

perhaps dating to either King Saul or David.

Let's take a look at the Elah Valley, looking east from Azekah.

We're at the ancient site of Azekah looking out over the Elah Valley- this is where the Philistines were encamped

when David fought Goliath - between Azekah and Socoh

And now from Socoh looking back west.

We are at Socoh in Judah. Behind me on the hill is Azekah the Philistines encamped between Socoh and Azekah

this side of the Elah Valley when David fought Goliath

This is the brook in Elah Valley where David would have come down to collect his 5 stones before going to fight Goliath

As Map 5-3 shows, David fought Goliath in the Elah Valley

Again, the Shephelah proved to be the buffer zone where Philistines battled Israelites

We suggest the battle occurred just below Socoh

The victory confirmed that David was chosen by God to be king in Israel, and that the

God of Israel saves neither by the sword nor spear

When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled on the Road of Shaarayim

to Gath and Ekron.

The next Valley in the Shephelah is today called the Guvrin Valley

Note the towns of Mareshet-gath and Maresha The prophet Micah lived in this region

The cities in the southern Shephelah are important for confronting enemies from Egypt

King Asa of Judah learned that the Lord could be trusted when a huge attacking army was

routed, turned and fled at Maresha

Because of the wickedness of King Ahaz of Judah, the prophet Micah witnessed Philistine incursions

into the Shephelah But Micah said this was just the beginning of difficulties

Israel and Judah's real trouble would come

from mighty Assyria

On Map 1-10 note one more valley in the Shephelah, last but not least

Here is one of Judah's most important cities, Lachish.

Ancient Lachish covered over 30 acres.

As seen on Map 3-6, Canaanite Lachish was conquered by the Israelites under Joshua.

Map 7-7 shows how Lachish played a role in one of the most dramatic interventions of the Lord

on behalf of Jerusalem The event is described in three books of the Bible:

Kings, Chronicles and Isaiah.

This is Lachish, tel Lachish, the city where Sennacherib of Assyria conquered in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah.

The mighty empire of Assyria under King Sennacharib around 700 BC controlled the entire ancient

Near East to the border of Egypt Tiny Judah under King Hezekiah decided to

revolt from Assyrian rule.

Sennacharib came to subdue Hezekiah The Assyrians first secured the Coast, then

began sieging the buffer zone Shephelah , especially Lachish

He boasted of making Hezekiah a prisoner in Jerusalem like a bird in a cage.

Sennacharib was particularly proud of his conquest of Lachish

He decorated a large room in his palace in Nineveh depicting the siege and conquest of

the city.

Here Sennecharib is depicted with an inscription that reads: "Sennacharib, King of Assyria,

King of the Universe, seated on his thrown as the booty of Lachish comes before him"

But then the Lord dramatically intervened in the affairs of men

In response to the faith of Isaiah and Hezekiah, and as evidence that the God of Israel is

Lord of all , the angel of the Lord decimated 185,000 Assyria troops in one night.

Sennacharib retreated to his capital in Nineveh where later his own sons killed him.

110 years after the Assyrian attempt to conquer Judah, the Babylonian Empire tried do the same

This time there was no divine protection for Judah

Like Assyria, Babylon had to conquer the buffer zone Shephelah

to reach Jerusalem The cities of Azekah and Lachish appear in

both the biblical and archaeological record.

We're standing here in the gate room of Lachish where some potsherds were found mentioning the two cities, Azekah and Lachish

Now, these are the same two cities mentioned by the prophet Jeremiah and they were the only two ones left standing when the Babylonians sieged Judah.

With the cities of the buffer Zone Shephelah conquered, Babylon stepped up into the Hill Country

and destroyed Jerusalem.

To review, note on Map 1-11 a route that runs north-south through the Shephelah

It is called the diagonal route It runs from the city of Aijalon, to Eshtaol

and Beth-shemesh in the Sorek Valley, then to Azekah in the Eilah Valley, through Bet-guvrin

to Lachish.

Take a look at Map 6-1, which shows the fortifications of Solomon's son Rehoboam

Many of these towns will sound familiar now You can understand better now why Rehoboam

fortified the towns in the Shephelah Aijalon, Zorah, Gath, Azekah, Soccoh, Adullam,

Mareshet-gath, Mareshah and Lachish The writer of Chronicles records that these

fortresses did Rehoboam no good when he forsook the word of the LORD.

We're at Socoh where the giant goliath probably taunted the Israelites who were standing over there

Behind us is the hill that has the ruins of Gath, the hometown of Goliath the Philistines.

We're at the caves of Adullam where David hid from saul

This video was written by Professor William Schlegel and translated by Dr. Simon Liu, Ms Anny Zhang and Dr. Joseph Kim.

Please visit www.logos101.org for more information

Again, Please visit Dr. Joseph Kim's website www.logos101.org for more information. Thank you!