The quest for Solomon’s mines

Last night, pbs aired a Nova special titled “Quest for Solomon’s Mines.” (You can stream the video here.) The program revolved around the recent excavations at Khirbat en-Nahas, a site on the eastern side of the Rift Valley in Jordan. Led by a team from the University of California–San Diego, archaeologists have uncovered a vast copper smelting facility smack-dab in the middle of biblical Edom.

Up until this point, archaeologists believed that the Edomite kingdom did not exist until the seventh century b.c., around 300 years after the demise of the united monarchy of Israel. But now, thanks to a series of radiocarbon samples taken from this excavation, there is a dramatic shift in Edomite chronology, pushing its rise back into the 11th and 10th centuries b.c.

Here is why this is important: First, the Bible recounts King David’s clash with the Edomites by the hand of Joab in 1 Kings 11. Since David ruled during the 10th century b.c., scholars have rejected this biblical confrontation on the basis that Edom didn’t even exist when David was king over Israel. Khirbat en-Nahas proves the scholars wrong.

Secondly, and shockingly, the archaeological evidence at Khirbat en-Nahas highlights a disruption of work at the smelting facility in the middle of the 10th century. This correlates to the precise time that Pharaoh Shishak entered the land of Canaan and conquered King Rehoboam of Judah (1 Kings 14:25-26), and in turn corroborates the biblical text as well. Apparently, Shishak’s incursion extended to the border of Edom as well.

Finally, the radical re-dating of the Edomite kingdom and specifically of the mine shows that the copper trade existed and flourished in the region at the time of the construction of Solomon’s temple. 1 Kings 7:13-47 chronicle the vast amount of brass (an alloy composed mostly of copper) used in the temple construction. So much brass was used that verse 47 explains, “Solomon left all the vessels unweighed, because they were exceeding many: neither was the weight of the brass found out.”

Where did they get brass? Archaeologist Amihai Mazar answers: “I believe that if one day we shall find the copper objects of the temple in Jerusalem, it will prove to come from this area.”

The program concluded with this: “One thing is certain. The finds at Khirbat en-Nahas and Qeiyafa have transformed our image of the mysterious 10th century b.c.—Solomon’s century. It was a time of walled cities and scribes—of rising kingdoms that could command a flourishing copper industry. At last, King Solomon’s Israel and the mysterious kingdom of Edom are emerging from the shadows.”