A few minutes ago, we crossed the Arnon, or Wadi El Mujib as named by the locals. We are in the biblical site of Aroer, about 5 km south-east of Dibon which was one of the stops on the way of the Israelites after their exodus from Egypt towards their entry into the Land of Israel. In the Book of Joshua chapter 13, it is written as follows: “8… the Reubenites and the Gadites received their inheritance, which Moses gave them, beyond the Jordan eastward, …; 9 from Aroer, that is on the edge of the valley of Arnon, and the city that is in the middle of the valley, and all the table-land from Medeba unto Dibon;”. Aroer marks the southern end of the settlement boundary of the tribes of Israel on the eastern side of the Jordan river.
According to the Hebrew Bible, two and a half tribes settled here: Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh. Let’s continue reading in the Book of Joshua, chapter 13: “15 And Moses gave unto the tribe of the children of Reuben according to their families. 16 And their border was from Aroer, that is on the edge of the valley of Arnon, and the city that is in the middle of the valley, and all the table-land by Medeba”. But in the Book of Numbers chapter 23 it is written: “And the children of Gad built Dibon, and Ataroth, 9and Aroer.” A moment ago, we read that the tribe of Reuben was given that territory, what is going on here? It is not clear. Perhaps chapter 33 of the book of Deuteronomy will help us, which begins with the sentence: “1 And this is the blessing wherewith Moses the man of God blessed the children of Israel before his death.” And now verse 20, “And of Gad he said: Blessed be He that enlargeth Gad; he dwelleth as a lioness,…”. Perhaps we can conclude from verse 20 that the tribe of Reuben was in a period of decline, while at the same time Gad was expanding its borders and taking for itself nearby cities from the inheritance of his brother and neighbor to the south. According to the Hebrew Bible, Reuben had a long border with Moab. It is possible that the people of Reuben were exhausted by border disputes with Moab, and Gad seized part of Reuben’s original inheritance so it is not lost to Moab.
Aroer is located at the top of the mound we are on. Our location is 3 km north of the Arnon River, next to the King’s Highway that ran above the river. The border line apparently ran south of Aroer within the riverbed, as written in the 2nd Book of Samuel Chapter 24: “And they crossed the Jordan; and they camped in Aroer, on the right side of the city that is in the middle of the river, and toward Jazer.” That is, to the south of the city. I will only explain that in ancient times straight ahead meant east in the direction of the rising sun, so right to the east is south. It seems that by the river there was a kind of suburb that was considered part of the upper city on the peak, and thus we can understand the meaning: “which is in the middle of the river.”
The mound rises to a height of 750 meters, and on it are the remains of a fortress. Numerous potsherds were found here from various periods from the 3rd millennium BCE, from the kingdoms period through the period of the Israelites settlement, from the period of the kings of Judah and Israel and from the Nabatean period. In other words: a settlement existed here from the 3rd millennium BCE to the Arab period, with some breaks along the periods.
Aroer was probably a small but important settlement for several reasons: first, it was a border city, a strategic settlement by an international road, the King’s Highway, and an observation post by the Arnon River. In addition, it was probably a city of warriors, based on the list of King David’s heroes in the 1st book of Chronicles chapter 11: “44 …. Shama and Jeiel the sons of Hotham the Aroerite”. If two of King David’s heroes came from this small settlement, this indicates a settlement with a warrior orientation. The Israelites continued to reside here, apparently throughout the period of the Judges and the United Kingdom. After the military campaigns of Mesha, king of Moab, around 850 BCE, Aroer was annexed to the kingdom of Moab. The Mesha stela tells how the king paved a road across the Arnon River and “built Aroer.” It seems that Aroer returned to the kings of Israel during the reign of Jehu (814-842 BCE), but not for long. At the end of the 9th century BCE, Hazael king of Aram, arrives to the region, and as written in the 2nd book of Kings, chapter 10 he conquers significant part of the region east of the Jordan river, including the settlement of Aroer. Aroer remained under the control of Aram until the fall of Damascus to Assyria in 732 BCE. According to Josephus Flavious the historian who wrote his book in the 1st century, Aroer was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar II, during his campaign against Moab in 582 BCE.
Remains of the fort built by Mesha king of Moab, can be seen on the ruins of the Israeli fort, which extends for about 50 meters. The fortifications of the fort are quite massive and include three parallel walls that surround it: an outer wall that is 2 meters thick, an inner wall that serves as a retaining wall for the inner area of the fort, and an intermediate wall that is 1.5 meters thick. The two spaces between these walls were filled with the ruins of previous structures, and thus the three-wall complex formed an extremely strong defensive system. The southeastern and southwestern flanks of the fort were built on the steep cliff of the Arnon River.
In the 7th to 3rd centuries BCE, Aroer was abandoned. A large amount of pottery from the Hellenistic period indicates that it was repopulated in the 2nd-3rd centuries BCE. During the Nabataean period from the 1st century BCE to the 1st century CE, there was an increase in the population of Aroer. Four buildings were excavated from this layer, and most of the water cisterns around the fort are also from that period, some of which are still in use today. Despite this, the lack of impressive buildings from this period indicates that Aroer lost its strategic importance during the Nabataean period. After the Romans conquered the Nabataean kingdom in the year 106, Aroer was repopulated in the 2nd and 3rd centuries.
Hope this video provided interesting information about this unique site. To conclude, as usual I have a question for you. Aroer was in the territory of the tribe of Reuben. Who was Reuben’s mother, and what was his uniqueness compared to the rest of his brothers? The answer will appear at the end of the video.
