Tel Hazor and the Bible | North of Israel

Tel Hazor and its biblical associations

Hazor was the largest and most influential city in Israel during Canaanite times. It is now the largest tel in Israel and has been extensively excavated. The ruins are clearly explained by signs and provide a backdrop to this historic period. There were at least two major confrontations between the Israelites and the Canaanites of Hazor - at the time of Joshua and during the period of the Judges.

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TEK HAZOR NATIONAL PARK:

Time: You will need a few hours to look around the site

Directions: Enter “Tel Hazor” into Waze and click on “Tel Hazor National Park.” This will bring you to the lower parking by the park entrance and ticket office. After paying, you can either drive up to the upper parking lot, or leave your car in the lower parking lot and walk up to the ruins on this same road.

Admission: This is a site of the Israel Nature and Parks Authority. Summer hours are Sunday to Thursday and Saturday 8.00 am to 5.00 pm and Friday and holiday eves 8.00 am to 4.00 pm. In the winter the park closes 1 hour earlier. There is an admission charge. Behind the ticket office is a path that goes up to a picnic area with a few picnic benches. Their telephone number is 04 693-7290. This is their website.

Public transport: There is a frequent bus service between Safed and Kiryat Shmona that stops at the Ayelet HaShachar Junction. From here it is a 11-minute/900 meter walk to the park.

For the overview "How archeology links up with the Bible at Tel Hazor" — see my book "The North of Israel for Everyone: The Best Family Activities, Hikes and Historic Sites."

TOURING THE SITE:

It is advised to follow the route advised in the brochure, except consider going from point #1 directly to points #8 and # 9 (i.e., from the lower to the upper city), since the stairway will provide you with a perspective on the relationship between the two. With this perspective, you can now go to point #2 (the Solomonic Gate, the wall of which links up with #8) and then to #3, the Palace of the Canaanite kings of Hazor.

Solomonic Gate (#2): The Book of Kings tells us: “And this is the matter of the tax levy which King Solomon raised; to build the Temple of the Lord, and his own house and the Milo [in Jerusalem], and the wall of Jerusalem and Hazor and Megiddo and Gezer” (I Kings 9:15). This was the entrance gate to the upper city at the time of King Solomon. It had three chambers on each side. Similar gates have been found at Megiddo and Gezer.

The Canaanite palace (#3) functioned during the 14th and 13th centuries BCE. It likely had more of a ceremonial than administrative use. In the center of the complex was the throne room. It had a wooden floor and the upper part of the walls were covered with wood paneling. At the top of the staircase are two large column bases. A bamah or high place is situated outside the palace (to the right in this picture).

Water system (#4): By the 9th century BCE, during the reign of King Ahab, Hazor was the largest city in Israel. To protect its spring from invaders, he built a water system inside the city consisting of a vertical shaft with rock-cut steps to a depth of 45 meters and at its base a 25-meter sloping tunnel reching to the water level. Similar systems have been found elsewhere in Israel, such as at Gezer and Megiddo.

Israelite tower (#6): This was the last Israelite fortification built before the capture of the city by the Assyrians in 732 BCE. These exiles would become part of the Ten Lost Tribes.

Cultic structure (#5): This bamah or high place is from the 11th century Israelite period and was located at a lower level than the citadel. A figurine of a deity was also found here, suggesting that the bamah may have been used for pagan practices.

Private Israelite dwelling (#7): This is a four-room Israelite house as were built throughout Israel at this time. It had a courtyard at one end and three adjoining wings at right angles to the courtyard. The family would have slept in an upper floor, and household activities, including cooking, would have been in the courtyard. An olive press is seen in the courtyard just as it was found. This entire building was originally located above the Canaanite palace and was moved intact to allow for excavations of the palace.

There is an Antiquities Museum at the entrance to Kibbutz Ayelet Hashahar that displays archeological findings from Hazor. Admission is for groups only and needs to be prearranged.