Image Details

Like stone sentinels, ten enigmatic monoliths—the tallest more than 10 feet high—stand in a north-south line at Tel Gezer’s high place. Dated to the time of the Canaanites (about 1600 B.C.), the pillars call to mind Exodus 24:3–8, in which Moses built “an altar at the foot of the mountain and erected 12 pillars, one for each of the 12 tribes of Israel.” Rarely visited because the site is unmarked and neglected, the unprotected stones nevertheless have been painted recently with graffiti.