Gilgal

 

… archeology in Israel has identified three interesting sites of … similar geographic selection … intentional design … and … consistent construction methodology … at … YAFIT … MASUA … and … ARGAMAN … each of these three locations are on the west side of the Jordan River valley … each is found to have originated from the late bronze age or the very early Iron Age … a little over 3,500 years ago … these and four other similar archeological sites are all found within Israel and are mentioned in multiple biblical references over a significant period of Old Testament history … in which they are termed a … GILGAL … at this time a total of seven Israeli Archeology sites have been identified with this same modeled construction  to which the term Gilgal is applicable … all are from the same period of time … they appeared just after the Hebrew ( Jewish ) people crossed the Jordan River under the leadership of Joshua to enter the Promised Land … these Gilgal sites can be viewed Google Earth … each Gilgal is in the shape of a footprint of a right foot … the toes of each Gilgal face the site of the city ADAM which is the location where the Jabbok river joins the Jordan river … each Gilgal is about the size of a football field in both length and width … each Gilgal is situated at the foot of a large hill or a raising cascade of hills that permitted tens of thousands of spectators to view the proceedings within the Gilgal site with good sound reception for everyone … essentially … each Gilgal site is a natural amphitheater … considering the ancient city … ADAM … the Jordan River backed up from JERICHO to ADAM when Joshua and the Hebrew ( Jewish ) people crossed over into the Promised Land … this is also the area of the city PENIEL ( PENUEL ) … where … 500 years before Joshua’s cross over event … Jacob’s name was changed … by God … to Israel … MASUA is directly across the Jordan River from ADAM … MASUA is in the hills that line the West bank of the Jordan river and ADAM on the East bank … at the time of Joshua’s crossing over … the Jordan river water backed up the Jordan river and vented into the Jabbok River gorge … each Gilgal was an open space with an entrance onto its footpath at the instep of the footprint … at each Gilgal there is a footpath that follows the perimeter of the footprint which has a low wall on the outside and inside of the path … the height of these walls is approximately eighteen inches above the ground … each of these walls has an equally deep foundation made of gathered stone and broken pottery … the pottery in each of the Gilgal foundations is late bronze age Hebrew ( Jewish ) pottery … the Hebrew pottery most often found at the Gilgal sites are fragments of cooking pots … this is because folks traveling at that time would use animal skins for water or wine and plant based sack and basket containers for equipment and dry goods because when traveling there is always a high probability of breakage for pottery … the only clay container needed was for cooking over an open fire … the clay cooking pots would break quite often due to routine use … at that time … more affluent folks would have metal cooking pots which would not be found discarded due to breakage … the Old Testament of the Holy Bible also records the presence of a GILGAL site near JERICHO by Joshua … however … urban expansion of JERICHO over hundreds of years has completely obliterated any physical record or remains of that site … in the Samarian hills there are two other GILGAL sites identified … one at Mount EBAL and the other a little North East of that site at .,, UL UNUCK … also … there is one other GIGLAL site that has been identified in what was once the tribal land Benjamin ... at … RIMONIM … so … six of these seven archeological sites are observable from the air and also on the ground … over the years many of the sites have been used for various ancient and modern uses therefore at this time there are only select remnants of their original construction …

 

… on Google Earth you can see ariel views at …

 

  GILGAL at YAFIT                    32° 03’16”N . 35° 28’04”E

 

GILGAL at MASUA                    32° 06’24”N . 35° 29’37”E

 

GILGAL at ARGAMAN               32° 09’40”N . 35° 30’45”E

 

… moving South to North along the rising ground of the west bank of the Jordan river at the time periods of and after Joshua … we would encounter the Gilgal sites of … JERICHO … YAFIT … MASUA … and … ARGAMAN … in that sequence … built by the Hebrew people … they are pretty much equally spaced along the sixteen miles of river bank between the cities of JERICHO and ADAM … though MASUA is almost directly across from ADAM where the Jabbok river enters the Jordan river and ARGAMAN is just a little bit north of MASUA … this presents an interesting consideration for the Jordan river crossing … at that time the Hebrew nation and the other folks with Joshua numbered somewhere between two and a half million to three and a half million people … even considering the women and children of the tribes of … RUBEN … GAD … and the half-tribe of MANASSAH who would be remaining on the East side of the Jordan river … the shelf on which the Hebrew nation crossed over the Red Sea was perhaps a mile to a mile and a half wide at its narrowest point and they saw the waters of the Red Sea heaped up as walls on each side as they crossed over … the river distance from JERICHO to ADAM is sixteen or seventeen miles depending on how you walk along the river bank … in our analysis … the Hebrew nation crossed over the Jordan river in four separated groups along the Jordan river and these four Gilgal sites were established to reorganize people and their belongings at four separate central points of communication for information and strategic instruction … essentially they built them at predetermined sites when they arrived at them … after that initial use they became centers for the renewal of their faith in God and were also used for other civic purposes … eventually … they degraded into centers for pagan worship … Gilgal sites are a wonderful reminder that YAHWEH is with His people and that their congregation is a meaningful and useful expression of their faith … an important aspect of their relationship with God … draw close to the LORD and He will draw close to you … their faith in YAHWEH was and is dynamic … our faith in Jesus Christ is dynamic … the existence of the Gilgal sites in Israel is very largely the work of many years by a single Archeologist from Israel named Adam Zertal … Israeli Professor of Archaeology at the University of Haifa … we recommend his book … The Footsteps God … ISBN-13:978-0-9996202-9-8 … ISBN-10:0-9996202-9-0 …

 

Zechariah chapter 1, vs 3                    God speaking

1:3 אסף אדם ובהמה אסף עוף-השמים ודגי הים והמכשלות את-הרשעים והכרתי את-האדם מעל פני האדמה נאם-יהוה

… return to Me … and … I will return to you … thus says the LORD …

 

Malachi chapter 3, vs 7                         God speaking

3:7 למימי אבתיכם סרתם מחקי ולא שמרתם שובו אלי ואשובה אליכם אמר יהוה צבאות ואמרתם במה נשוב

… return to Me … and … I will return to you … says the LORD of Hosts ... 

 

Galatians chapter 4, vs 9

4:9  וְעַתָּה אַחֲרֵי אֲשֶׁר־יְדַעְתֶּם אֶת־הָאֱלהִים וְיוֹתֵר שֶׁנּוֹדַעְתֶּם לֵאלׂהִים אֵיךְ תָּשׁוּבוּ אֶל־הַתִּיקּוּנִים הָרָפִים וְהַדַּלִּים הָהֵם אֲשֶׁר תִּרְצוּ לְהִכָּנֵעַ לָהֶם כְּבַתְּחִלָּה

… now that you have come to know God … or rather … to be known by God …

 

James chapter 4, vs 8

4:8  לָכֵן הִכָּנְעוּ לִפְנֵי הָאֱלׂהִים הִתְיַצְּבוּ נֶגֶד הַשָּׂטָן וְיִבְרַח מִפְּנֵיכֶם

… draw near to God … and … He will draw near to you …

 

Isaiah chapter 41, vs 10                        God speaking

41:10 אל-תירא כי עמך-אני אל-תשתע כי-אני אלהיך אמצתיך אף-עזרתיך אף-תמכתיך בימין צדקי

… do not fear … I AM … with you … do not be afraid … for … I AM your God … I will strengthen you … I will help you … I will uphold you with My victorious right hand …

 

Psalm 91

91:1 ישב בסתר עליון בצל שדי יתלונן

91:2 אמר ליהוה מחסי ומצודתי אלהי אבטח-בו

91:3 כי הוא יצילך מפח יקוש מדבר הוות

91:4 באברתו יסך לך ותחת-כנפיו תחסה צנה וסחרה אמתו

91:5 לא-תירא מפחד לילה מחץ יעוף יומם

91:6 מדבר באפל יהלך מקטב ישוד צהרים

91:7 יפל מצדך אלף ורבבה מימינך אליך לא יגש

91:8 רק בעיניך תביט ושלמת רשעים תראה

91:9 כי-אתה יהוה מחסי עליון שמת מעונך

91:10 לא-תאנה אליך רעה ונגע לא-יקרב באהלך

91:11 כי מלאכיו יצוה-לך לשמרך בכל-דרכיך

91:12 על-כפים ישאונך פן-תגף באבן רגלך

91:13 על-שחל ופתן תדרך תרמס כפיר ותנין

91:14 כי בי חשק ואפלטהו אשגבהו כי-ידע שמי

91:15 יקראני ואענהו עמו-אנכי בצרה אחלצהו ואכבדהו

91:16 ארך ימים אשביעהו ואראהו בישועתי

… everyone who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty … let us say to the LORD … You are our refuge and our fortress … You are our God in Whom we trust … for … You deliver us from the snare of those who would trap us and You deliver us from deadly pestilence … You cover us with Your pinions … under Your wings we seek refuge … Your faithfulness is a shield and a bulwark … and so … we will not be afraid of the terror by night … nor … of the arrow that flies by day … we will not be afraid of the pestilence that stalks in darkness … nor … of the destruction that lays waste at noon … though a thousand fall at our side … ten thousand at our right hand … evil will not come near us … we will look with our eyes to see the recompense of the wicked … for … the LORD is our refuge … the Most High is our dwelling place … no evil will befall us … no plague will come near our home … for … the LORD gives His angels charge concerning us … to guard us in all of our ways … they will bear us up in their hands so our feet will not strike a single stone … and … if we were to … tread upon the lion or the viper … the young lion or the serpent … we will trample them down … because … the LORD God Almighty loves us … He delivers us … we are held securely from on high … the LORD God Almighty knows each of our names … He will call to us and we will answer Him … He is with us in a time of trouble … He rescues us … He honors us … and … through Him we will see our salvation … He blesses us in everlasting life with Him forever …

                                                Note the aspect of proximity

Joshua chapter 4, vs 19

4:19  והעם עלו מן-הירדן בעשור לחדש הראשון ויחנו  בגלגל  בקצה מזרח יריחו  

… the Hebrew ( Jewish ) people … came up out of the Jordan river bed on the tenth day of the first month … they camped at GILGAL … on the West bank of the Jordan River … at the Eastern border of JERICHO …

 

… גלגל … GILGAL … Strong# Hebrew 1537 … the literal meaning is … a circle of stones … the root is Strong# Hebrew 1536 … also translated to English as GILGAL … the literal meaning is … a wheel … the construction similarities at all the Gilgal sites with a peripheral pathway indicates that part of the activity at a Gilgal included processions which originally were to honor and praise YAHWEH … the root of Strong# Hebrew 1536 is Strong# Hebrew 1534 … also spelled the same and translated as GILGAL … the best literal meaning is … a whirlwind … the root of Strong# Hebrew 1534 is Strong# Hebrew 1556 …  גָּלַל   … this is Hebrew verb … GALAL … the best literal meanings include … to roll … or … to roll away … in our analysis … the prefix BET for GILGAL in Joshua 4, vs 19 adds the emphasis … at this place … e.g. at the GILGAL … we note also that the numerical equivalent for Strong# Hebrew 1537 is … 66 … interesting for a future numerology study …

 

Genesis chapter 46, vs 26

46:26 כל-הנפש הבאה ליעקב מצרימה יצאי ירכו מלבד נשי בני-יעקב כל-נפש ששים ושש

… there were … sixty-six men of Jacob’s own offspring who went down into Egypt with him … this does not count the wives of his sons …

 

Judges chapter 3, vs 18 - 19

3:18 ויהי כאשר כלה להקריב את-המנחה וישלח את-העם נשאי המנחה

3:19 והוא שב מן-הפסילים אשר את-הגלגל ויאמר דבר-סתר לי אליך המלך ויאמר הס ויצאו מעליו כל-העמדים עליו

… Ehud finished presenting the tribute and he sent the men who had carried the tribute on their way … but … he himself turned back at the sculptured stones near the GILGAL and said to the king … I have a secret message for you … and so … the king said to his attendants … silence - go out from my presence …

 

… in Judges chapter 3, vs 19 … note the … ALEF-TAV … directly associated with the Hebrew word … GILGAL … very interesting considering the context of this action by Ehud … in our analysis of this verse … the prefix … HA … with the Hebrew word … GILGAL … adds the emphasis … this specific GILGAL … additionally … the phrase translated in English as … sculptured stone … is the Hebrew noun … PASIL …  פְּסִילִ֙  … Strong# Hebrew 6456 … the best literal meaning in this context is … a carved idol … the root of PASIL is Hebrew verb … PASAL … פְּסִל … Strong# Hebrew 6458 … best literal meaning … to hew into a shape …

 

1 Thessalonians chapter 5, vs 23

5:23  וֵאלהֵי הַשָּׁלוֹם הוּא יְקַדֵּשׁ אֶתְכֶם בִּקְדֻשָּׁה שְׁלֵמָה וְכָל־רוּחֲכֶם וְנַפְשְׁכֶם וְגוּפְכֶם יִשָּׁמֵר תָּמִים בְּבוֹא אֲדֵינוּ יֵשׁוּעַ הַמָּשִׁיחַ

… the God of peace … Himself … will fully sanctify us … so that … our … spirit … soul … and … body … is kept sound and blameless for the coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ … the One Who calls us is faithful and He will do this …

 

2 Samuel chapter 19, vs 39 - 40     

19:38 ישב-נא עבדך ואמת בעירי עם קבר אבי ואמי והנה עבדך כמהם יעבר עם-אדני המלך ועשה-לו את אשר-טוב בעיניך

19:39 ויאמר המלך אתי יעבר כמהם ואני אעשה-לו את-הטוב בעיניך וכל אשר-תבחר עלי אעשה-לך

19:40 ויעבר כל-העם את-הירדן והמלך עבר וישק המלך לברזלי ויברכהו וישב למקמו

19:41 ויעבר המלך הגלגלה וכמהן עבר עמו וכל-עם יהודה ויעברו את-המלך וגם חצי עם ישראל

 

                                Note the ALEF-TAV in vs 38

 

… King David answered … Chimham will cross over with me and I will do for him what is good in your sight … whatever you את  request of me I will do … King David kissed Barzillai and blessed him … then … the people crossed over the Jordan river with the king … and … Barzillai returned to his home … King David went to the GILGAL accompanied on his way by Chimham … people from Judah … and … people from Israel …

 

… so … it is not unusual for the verse numbering of Hebrew Old Testaments and the verse numbering of our English translations to vary in some chapters … this is a good example … the verse … 2 Samuel chapter 19, vs 40 … in our English translations … is actually vs 41 in the original Hebrew … in our analysis of 2 Samuel chapter 19,vs 18 – 41 … the HA as both a prefix and suffix adds the emphasis …  this specific GILGAL …

 

1 Samuel chapter 7, vs 15 - 17

7:15 וישפט שמואל את-ישראל כל ימי חייו

7:16 והלך מדי שנה בשנה וסבב בית-אל והגלגל והמצפה ושפט את-ישראל את כל-המקומות האלה

7:17 ותשבתו הרמתה כי-שם ביתו ושם שפט את-ישראל ויבן-שם מזבח ליהוה

                                Note the ALEF-TAV in vs 16

… Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life … he went on a circuit year by year to … BETHEL … the GILGAL at JERICHO … and … MIZPAH … Samuel judged the people of Israel  את  in all these places … then … he would return to his home at RAMAH … and there … he would also administer justice to the people of Israel … at RAMAH … Samuel also built and alter to the LORD ( YHVH ) …

 

… in verse 18 note there are two prefixes on the noun GILGAL … a VAV and a HA … an interesting combination of prefixes because the VAV indicates … many … and … the HA indicates … this specific one … so … in our analysis and interpretation of this verse the referenced GILGAL’s prefixes define for the reader  … this specific Gilgal of many … interesting …

 

1Samuel chapter 11, vs 14 - 15

11:14 ויאמר שמואל אל-העם לכו ונלכה הגלגל ונחדש שם המלוכה

11:15 וילכו כל-העם הגלגל וימלכו שם את-שאול לפני יהוה בגלגל ויזבחו-שם זבחים שלמים לפני יהוה וישמח שם שאול וכל-אנשי ישראל עד-מאד

 

… note the prefix HA for GILGAL in vs 14 indicating … this specific GILGAL … note for the first occasion of GILGAL in vs 15 the prefix HA repeats … however … for the second occasion of GILGAL in vs 15 the prefix BET in our analysis and interpretation indicates that the action of the statement … that is the renewal of the kingship … will be … in … that specific GILGAL …

 

… Samuel said to the people … come let us go to the GILGAL and renew the kingship … so … all the people went to the GILGAL and there made Saul king before the LORD ( YHVH ) … and … they sacrificed offerings of well being before the LORD ( YHVH ) … and … Saul and all the people of Israel rejoiced greatly …

 

2 Kings chapter 2, vs 1

2:1  ויהי בהעלות יהוה את-אליהו בסערה השמים וילך אליהו ואלישע מן-הגלגל

… when the LORD ( YHVH ) was about to take Elijah up to heaven by a whirlwind … Elijah and Elisha were on their way from GILGAL …

 

2 Kings chapter 4, vs 38

4:38  ואלישע שב הגלגלה והרעב בארץ ובני הנביאים ישבים לפניו ויאמר לנערו שפת הסיר הגדולה ובשל נזיד לבני הנביאים

… when Elisha returned to … GILGAL … there was a famine in the land … he said to his servant … put the large pot on and make some stew for the company of prophets … for … the company of prophets was sitting before him …

 

Micah chapter 6, vs 5                             God speaking

6:5  עמי זכר-נא מה-יעץ בלק מלך מואב ומה-ענה אתו בלעם בן-בעור מן-השטים עד-הגלגל למען דעת צדקות יהוה

…  My people know the saving acts of the LORD ( YHVH ) their God  … they remember what happened from … SHITTIM … to … GILGAL … they remember what Balak the king of Moab devised … they remember what Balaam the son of Beor answered …

 

… the reference here is to the GILGAL near JERICHO … SHITTIM is an area on the plains of Moab that is to the East directly across the Jordan River from JERICHO … this was the last camp of the Hebrew ( Jewish ) people before they crossed over the Jordan River into the Promised Land with Joshua … this is the camp that Balak and Balaam viewed from the three separate mountain point vantiges …

 

… interestingly … in the camp at SHITTIM … the Hebrew ( Jewish ) people are first enticed into BAAL worship … previously in this bible study we noted that … some years later … at the time of the Judges … EHUD crosses the Jordan River … East to West and then turns back to the City of Palms at the BAAL idol which was standing at the GILGAL near JERICHO … no one lived at the GILGALs … there is no archeological record of … house or building structures … there is no archeological record of … cattle or sheep/goat pens … no archeological record of established long term habitation at any type at any of the GILGAL sites … they were places of assembly … for communication … for the celebrate=ion of festivals … to worship the LORD ( YHVH ) their God … and … unfortunately also … other purposes when the Hebrew ( Jewish ) people forgot Whom the LORD ( YHVH ) their God is …

 

Amos chapter 4, vs 1 – 5                       select verse segments in sequence

4:1 שמעו הדבר הזה פרות הבשן אשר בהר שמרון העשקות דלים הרצצות אביונים האמרת לאדניהם הביאה ונשתה

4:2 נשבע אדני יהוה בקדשו כי הנה ימים באים עליכם ונשא אתכם בצנות ואחריתכן בסירות דוגה

4:3 ופרצים תצאנה אשה נגדה והשלכתנה ההרמונה נאם-יהוה

4:4 באו בית-אל ופשעו הגלגל הרבו לפשע והביאו לבקר זבחיכם לשלשת ימים מעשרתיכם

4:5 וקטר מחמץ תודה וקראו נדבות השמיעו כי כן אהבתם בני ישראל נאם אדני יהוה

… hear this word you cows of Bashan … you who live on mount Samaria … you who oppress the poor … you who crush the needy … the LORD ( YHVH ) God swears by His holiness … there is a time is coming upon you … your enemy will take you away with fish-hooks … you will leave through the breaches in your city walls … you will be flung out of your homes and each of you will walk straight ahead … thus says the LORD ( YHVH ) … so … continue to go to Bethel and transgress against the LORD ( YHVH ) your God … continue to go to the GILGAL and multiply your transgressions with idols … for you … the people of Israel … love to do so … says the LORD ( YHVH ) God …

… in these verses … Amos is speaking to the people of ten northern tribs of Israel at a time when they worshiped a golden calf at Bethel and Dan … there are BAAL stone idols in many places like the GILGALs … this prophesy looks forward to the time of their defeat and the deportation from Israel by Assyria …

 

Hosea chapter 4, vs 15         select verse segments

not necessarily in sequence

4:15  אם-זנה אתה ישראל אל-יאשם יהודה ואל-תבאו הגלגל ואל-תעלו בית און ואל-תשבעו חי-יהוה

… people of Judah do not become guilty as are the people of Israel …for … they play the whore … they swear to one another … as the LORD ( YHVH ) lives … do be like them … do not go up to BETH-AVEN … do not go up to and enter the GILGAL …

 … the prophet Hosea is referring to BETHEL where Jeroboam set up one of his two calf idols … the other was in the North of Israel at the city of DAN … Hosea uses the term BETH-AVEN as a derogatory reference as its literal meaning is … house of nothingness … the GILGALs at this time were centers of Baal worship …

 

Hosea chapter 9, vs 15         select verse segments

not necessarily in sequence

9:16  כל-רעתם בגלגל כי-שם שנאתים על רע מעלליהם מביתי אגרשם לא אוסף אהבתם כל-שריהם סררים

… I can love them no more … all their officials are rebels … I will drive them out of My house … because of the wickedness of their deeds … they embrace every evil at the GILGAL … there I came to abhor them …

 

Hosea chapter 12, vs 11 – 12            select verse segments

not necessarily in sequence

12: 11  ודברתי על-הנביאים ואנכי חזון הרביתי וביד הנביאים אדמה

12:12  אם-גלעד און אך-שוא היו בגלגל שורים זבחו גם מזבחותם כגלים על תלמי שדי

… in the GILGALs there is iniquity for there they sacrifice bulls … those alters will come to nothing and become stone heaps … because … there the people have embraced iniquity …

 

… in our analysis … there are multiple candidates for the GILGAL(s) noted in Hosea … as a good guess we could consider the GILGALs at MASUA or  ARGAMAN which are on the West bank of the Jordan river near ADAM … however … other good candidates include the GILGAL at Mount EBAL or a little North East of that site is .,, UL UNUCK … and … in the tribal land of Benjamin is a GILGAL at RIMONIM … regardless … we have reviewed the use of GILGAL sites as … initially … sites for gathering and strategic communications during the time of Joshua …  congregational sites for worship of the LORD ( YHVH ) … Samuel used these sites to provide judicial services for Israel … Saul’s coronation was at a GILGAL … and also … as the people of Israel and Judah intermittently turned away from the LORD ( YHVH ) to idol worship so unfortunately did the use of these GILGAL sites … we note in the time of the kingships of Josiah and Hezekiah the idols of the people of Israel were purged from the GILGALs and other sites only to reappear again after a period of time … what stays consistent is the image of the footstep or footprint of God … the walls of Jerusalem were gradually expanded over time … David originally rebuilt the walls of the city of David … North and adjacent to the city of David Solomon built the walls of what we now consider to be the old city of Jerusalem which includes the temple mount … Hezekiah at the time of the fall of Israel to Assyria extended the walls to include Mount Zion to the West of the cld city and the city of David in order to house and protect the refugees who came to him from Israel … when Solomon built the walls of the old city of Jerusalem the shape of the wall was the footprint of a right foot with an orientation of the foot to ADAM … essentially the city walls were built in the shape of a GILGAL which even at Solomon’s time were ancient … a lasting representation intentionally designed to remind the Hebrew ( Jewish ) people that YAHWEH their LORD and God is with them …

 

1 Kings chapter 3, vs 1

3:1 ויתחתן שלמה את-פרעה מלך מצרים ויקח את-בת-פרעה ויביאה אל-עיר דוד עד כלתו לבנות את-ביתו ואת-בית יהוה ואת-חומת ירושלם סביב

… Solomon married the daughter of Pharaoh king of Egypt as a marriage alliance … and … he brought her to live in the city of David until he finished building … his own house … the house of the LORD ( YHVH ) … and … the wall around Jerusalem …