Biblical Archaeology Review - January-February 2018

Digs 2018

BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY REVIEW 29

have begotten children among you. They shall be to

you as citizens of Israel; with you they shall be allotted

an inheritance among the tribes of Israel.”

This also explains why Jesus constantly sought

to minister to the “other” and to make “foreigners”

the heroes of his parables, as he does with the Good

Samaritan (Luke 10:30–37) and the Sheep and the

Goats (Matthew 25:31–46), where Jesus specifically

welcomes into his kingdom those who welcomed a

stranger (Greek: xenos).

The issue of migration and immigration has

become a popular research question for many exca-

vations, especially those sitting on the ancient (per-

petually shifting) borders between Israel, Judah,

and neighboring peoples. The Elah Valley, about 30

PERCHED HIGH ABOVE the Jezreel Valley on the Naza-

reth Ridge, Tel Shimron witnessed the rise of ancient

Israel, Jewish Galilee, rabbinic Judaism, Christianity, and

Islam. University of Reading Ph.D. candidate Jessie Feito

operates a total station to measure spatial coordinates in

a residential area occupied during the Roman and later

Byzantine/Umayyad periods (above). Noemi Palomares

from Boston College carefully defines with her trowel a

Late Hellenistic/Early Roman lamp (right).

© TEL SHIMRON EXCAVATIONS/PHOTO BY TAL GLUCK

© TEL SHIMRON EXCAVATIONS/PHOTO BY MELISSA AJA