Benches in City Gate

View of one of the excavated, and reconstructed rooms of the four chambered city gate at Beersheba.  Note especially the plastered benches that line the three walls of the gate chamber.  Here the “elders,” and others would sit.  Business, legal, and religious transactions would take place in the city gate—Abraham’s purchase of the Cave of Machpelah (Genesis 23), Boaz (Ruth 4:1), etc.

For a map and brief introductory comments about Beersheba Click Here.