Tel Rehov is a large archaeological mound in the Jordan Valley, south of Beit She’an, one of the most important Iron Age sites in Israel. Covering approximately 100 dunams, it was a major city in the period of the Israelite monarchy, and its excavations have produced finds that illuminate daily life, administration, and religion in biblical Israel.
Rehov Inscription
Near Tel Rehov, a Byzantine-era synagogue (3rd-7th century CE) was discovered containing one of the most important inscriptions in the study of Jewish law. The Rehov Inscription is a mosaic floor inscription, written in late Mishnaic Hebrew, dealing with agricultural laws: which areas are subject to the obligations of shemitah (sabbatical year), tithes, and priestly offerings, and how the boundaries of the Land of Israel define these obligations. It lists specific towns in the Beth Shean Valley and distinguishes between those subject to agricultural tithes and those that are not.
The inscription is remarkable because it closely parallels discussions found in the Jerusalem Talmud (Tractate Demai), providing physical evidence of rabbinic halakhah being practiced and displayed publicly in a synagogue setting during the Byzantine period.
The City
Tel Rehov was a large and prosperous city in the Iron Age, identified by some scholars with the biblical Abel-meholah, the hometown of the prophet Elisha: “Elijah went from there and found Elisha son of Shaphat. He was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen” (1 Kings 19:19). The tel covers approximately 100 dunams, making it one of the largest ancient sites in the Jordan Valley.
Beehives
The beehives are cylindrical clay containers, each about 80 centimeters long and 40 centimeters in diameter, stacked in rows within a dedicated building. The installation could have housed over a million bees and produced half a ton of honey per year. Analysis of the beeswax confirmed that the hives were used for honey production, and remarkably, the bees were not the local species but an imported Anatolian subspecies known to be gentler and more productive. The discovery confirmed that the biblical description of Israel as “a land flowing with milk and honey” (Exodus 3:8) was not just a metaphor: honey was produced on an industrial scale.
Visit with Hoshen Tours
Tel Rehov is where “a land of milk and honey” becomes archaeology. Hoshen Tours tells the beehive story as part of Jordan Valley itineraries.