The Gezer Calendar is a tenth century BC/BCE (possibly 925
BC/BCE) fragment of an inscribed limestone plate. It was
found in the ruins of the Canaanite city of Gezer (Tell el-Jazari). The inscription is one of the earliest
known examples of a text written in ancient Hebrew script. It consists of seven lines of text and
was discovered in 1908 by R.A.S. Macalister (see the bibliography below). The Hebrew name, Abijah, appears in the
text.
The calendar describes the crops planted, tended, and
harvested in various months. The
purpose of the calendar is unknown, but some have suggested that it may have
been used for taxation purposes.
The limestone tablet is housed in the Museum of the Ancient Orient in Istanbul, Turkey. The Jewish Virtual Library gives these bibliographical
listings for the Gezer Calendar:
R.A.S. Macalister, Excavation of Gezer, 2 (1912), 24–28; Albright, in: BASOR, 92 (1943), 16–26; L. Finkelstein, ibid., 94 (1944), 28–29; Wright, in: BA, 18 (1955), 50–56; Segal, in: JSS, 7 (1962), 212–21; Talmon, in: JAOS, 83 (1963), 177–87; Wirgin, in: Eretz Israel, 6 (1960), 9–12 (Eng. section); Rathjen, in: PWQ, 93 (1961), 70–72; Honeyman, in: JRAS (1953), 53–58; Pritchard, Texts, 320; Pritchard, Pictures, 272; EM, 2 (1965), 471–4 (incl. bibl.). S. Ahituv, Handbook of Ancient Hebrew Inscriptions (1992), 149–52.Biblical mentions of Gezer: Joshua 10:1-34, 12:12, 16:3-10, 21:21; 1 Chronicles 6:67, 7:28, 14:6, 20:4; Judges 1:29; 2 Samuel 5:25; 1 Kings 9:15-17. Gezer is not mentioned in the New Testament. During that period it was known as Gazara.
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