Quarries
“Carved or graven images”
Summary
The term 'quarries' in Judges 3:19, 26 likely refers not to stone excavation sites but to carved images or stone monuments near Gilgal, though extensive ancient quarries do exist beneath Jerusalem.
☩The Hebrew Term
The Hebrew word pesilim, translated 'quarries' in some English versions, is elsewhere consistently rendered 'graven images' or 'carved images.' This appears in the account of Ehud and Eglon, where Ehud turned back at the pesilim near Gilgal. The location may have been marked by sculptured stones or idol monuments rather than a site of stone extraction. The term derives from pacal, meaning 'to carve,' suggesting worked stone images rather than raw quarry material.
☩Stone Quarrying Methods
Palestinian quarries were typically not very deep because good stone was available near the surface. Quarrymen sought thick strata of firm limestone with favorable exposure. They used vertical joint-planes to divide the stratum into large blocks, dislodging them with crowbars. Stones were split by inserting wedges in a line of holes made by picks, then driving the wedges with heavy hammers. For exceptionally large stones, workers carved channels around them with picks, wide enough to admit the workman's body—a method visible in the limestone quarries of Baalbek and the granite quarries at the first cataract of the Nile.
☩Jerusalem's Quarries
Beneath Jerusalem lie extensive quarries from which much stone was taken in ancient times. These underground excavations, sometimes called 'Solomon's Quarries' or 'Zedekiah's Cave,' extend hundreds of feet beneath the Old City and provided building material for ancient construction projects.