Chezib, also known asAchzib of Judah (Hebrew:אכזיב; כזיב), is a biblical place-name associated with the birth ofJudah's son,Shelah(Genesis 38:5), corresponding to theAchzib of theBook of Joshua (15:44), a town located in the low-lying hills of the plain of Judah, known as theShefela. InI Chronicles 4:22, the town is rendered asChozeba. The town is now a ruin.
Historical geographers are divided as to the location of Chezib in Judea. While some identify the site asKhirbet a-Sheikh Ghazi,[1][2] others say that it is to be recognised in the nearby site ofKhirbet ʿĒn el-Kizbe (grid position 149/122PAL).[3][4][5][6] In both cases, the old namesake is preserved in the name of a nearby springʻAin el-Kezbeh (ʿĒn el-Kizbe),[7] a place in theElah Valley nearMoshav Aviezer, directly south ofBayt Nattif. According toIAA archaeologists, Zissu and Gass, the location ofKhirbet ʿĒn el-Kizbe near the ancient road and the water source by the same name "strongly support identifying this site with ancient Achzib/Chezib/Chozeba," both, on account of the preservation of the ancient name at the water source, and that at its site was found pottery fromIron Age II and the Persian period (including two Royallmlk jar handles).[3] According to Zissu, the ancient site stretches over an area of approximately eightdunams (nearly 2 acres).[8]
Formerly, the site had tentatively been identified withTell el-Beide, a site now known asTel Lavnin,[9] while others placed its location at one of the unidentified ruins nearKhirbet Qila andKhirbet Beit Nesib.[10] ArchaeologistBoaz Zissu rejects the notion that the site Chezib of Judah could have beenTel Lavnin, saying that "sinceKhirbet Tell el-Bēḍā /Tel Lavnīn was clearly occupied during theByzantine Period, it is questionable whether this site is the same asEusebius’ ruinedChasbi," since Eusebius puts Chezib as a "deserted place" in his days.[11][12] Like many of the ruins of ancient cities in Israel, the site nearKh. a-Sheikh Ghazi has no very well-defined characteristics, but appears to be spread over a considerable area.
One of the problems of identification is thatAchzib is grouped with a list of nine towns inJoshua 15:42–44 which are generally thought to be within relatively close proximity to each other in the low-lying hills (Shefelah) south of theElah Valley. For this reason, some have proposed thatAchzib of Judah be sought for somewhere betweenKeilah andMareshah.[13]
The nameChezib, etymologically, is derived from the word "disappointment," "delusion,"[14] "failing" or "lying." In theAramaic Targum ofPseudo-Yonathan ben Uzziel on Gen. 38:5, as well as inGenesis Rabba (§85), Chezib is rendered asPaskath, said to be the Aramaic equivalent of Chezib ("failing"). Others say that its name is allegedly derived from Shelah's son, Cozeba, who is mentioned inI Chronicles (4:22).[15]
TheLachish Letters makes mention of a certain "Beit Achzi[b]" in the Shefelah, the lower stratum of the Judean range, believed to be the Chezib of Judah.[16]Eusebius, in hisOnomasticon, notes of the place that "there the sons of Judah were born; now a desolate place, shown in the territory ofEleutheropolis nearAdullam."[2][17]
In classical Hebrew literature, the town is mentioned as being confederate withPekah the son of Remaliah, the king of the northern tribes of Israel, for which it incurs the divine wrath of the prophetMicah, who uses a play on words to denounce the towns ofMaresha, Achzib, andAdullam.[18] Israelite potters are said to have occupied the site during the pre-exilic, late First Temple period.[19] "Sh[eikh] Ghazy" and "ʾAin el Kezbeh" are both shown in the 1880 map published byConder &Kitchener'sSurvey of Western Palestine. Today, the sites have mostly been planted over with pine trees by theJewish National Fund (Keren Kayemet).
The site atKhirbet a-Sheikh Ghazi is strewn with the remains of razed buildings, and thick walls that are partially standing and which were constructed offieldstones. Within the environs of the site is a burial chamber built in the face of a cliff, containing sixkokîm (niches) and which, according toC.R. Conder, signifies a Jewish burial place,[20] dating back to a period before the nation became subject to the Western powers of Greece and Rome.[21] The site has revealed archaeological relics dating back to theIron Age, until as late as theByzantine period.
^Thomsen, P. (1966), p. 115; Palmer, E.H. (1881), p.280;Press, I. (1951), p. 18. Archaeologist Boaz Zissu who surveyed the site in 2005 writes that, "nowadays, the ancient water source is dry. Its location is disclosed only by some stone troughs and a well blocked with stones and alluvium." SeeZissu, B. & Gass, E. (2011), p. 384
^Negev, A. & Gibson, S. (2001), p. 16 (s.v.Achzib [a]); Rainey, A. F. (1983), p. 5; Ne'eman, P. (ed.) (1963–1966), s.v. כזיב;F. M. Abel,Géogr. II, p. 237;ZDPV 1934, p. 124.
^Encyclopedia of the Bible (1956), p. 278 (s.v. אכזיב, כזיב);Saarisalo, A. (1930), pp. 98-104; Elliger, K. (1934), pp. 121-124;Press (1951), p. 18.
^Yeivin, S. (1940), p. III. Yeivin's reference here is to Klein's recognition of potters having been associated with Chozeba, and it may simply be due to the fact that broken pottery with Hebrew insignia was found inTell Beit Mirsim, a ruin near the ancient biblical site ofKeilah and in whose surroundings Klein thought that the Chezib of Judah was to be located. Achzib (Chezib), after all, is grouped with the towns of Nesib, Keilah and Maresha - all further south of theElah Valley (Josh. 15:43–44).
Chapmann III, R.L.;Taylor, J.E., eds. (2003).Palestine in the Fourth Century A.D.: The Onomasticon by Eusebius of Caesarea. Translated by G.S.P. Freeman-Grenville. Jerusalem: Carta.ISBN965-220-500-1.OCLC937002750.
Demsky, A. (1966). "The Houses of Achzib".Israel Exploration Journal.16 (3):211–215.JSTOR27925064.
Elitzur, Yoel (2004).Ancient Place Names in the Holy Land - Preservation and History. Winona Lake:Bialik Institute.ISBN1-57506-071-X.
Elliger, Karl (1934). "Studien aus dem Deutschen Evang. Institut für Altertumswissenschaft des Heiligen Landes. 44. Die Heimat des Propheten Micha".Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins.57 (2):81–152.JSTORi27930060.
Encyclopedia of the Bible : A Treasure of Information related to the Bible and its period - Additions and Emendations, vol. 1, Jerusalem:Bialik Institute, 1956 (Hebrew)
Lemaire, André (1977).Inscriptions Hébraïques (in French). Vol. 1. Paris: Les Ostraca.
Ne'eman, Pinhas, ed. (1963–1966), "כזיב",Encyclopedia of Biblical Geography, Tel Aviv: Yehoshua Tchechik
Negev, Avraham; Gibson, Shimon (2001).Archaeological Encyclopedia of the Holy Land. New York.ISBN0-8264-1316-1.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
Notley, R. Steven;Safrai, Z. (2005).Eusebius, Onomasticon - The Place Names of Divine Scripture. Leiden: Brill.ISBN0-391-04217-3.
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