Gezer: The Search for the City of Solomon; Steven M. Ortiz, PhD; September 21, 2011

Tel Gezer sits at an important crossroads, guarding the pass from the coast up to Jerusalem. Throughout history this has been a site of major battles from the second millennium B.C. until the modern period. Gezer has become infamous with the reference to Solomon rebuilding Gezer along with Hazor and Megiddo (1 Kings 9:15) and receiving this city as a dowry upon the marriage to Pharaoh\u27s daughter. Recent trends in biblical archaeology have questioned the historicity of the United Monarchy as reflected in the biblical text and a polemical debate has developed. A recent archaeological project headed by Steve Ortiz and Sam Wolff under the sponsorship of the Tandy Institute for Archaeology at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary is investigating the history of Gezer in light of these recent developments. Ortiz provides an overview of the results of the past five seasons of excavations. Steven Ortiz (PhD 2000, University of Arizona) is professor of Archaeology and Biblical Backgrounds and director of the Charles D. Tandy Archaeology Museum at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is currently the principal investigator and co-director of the excavations at Tel Gezer.https://knowledge.e.southern.edu/arch_museum_lectures/1015/thumbnail.jp