Ono, Benjamin

Ono (Template:Langx) was a biblical town of Benjamin in the "plain of Ono" (1 Chr. 8:12; Ezra 2:33). The modern Kiryat Ono is not to be confused with the biblical Ono.

History

The biblical town of Ono (1 Chronicles 8:12; Nehemiah 6:2) has been identified by most scholars with the Palestinian village, Kafr 'Ana, whereon is now built Or Yehuda,<ref>Khalidi, W., All that Remains, Washington, D.C. 1992, pp. 247-248; Carta's Official Guide to Israel, Jerusalem 1983, p. 358; Conder and Kitchener, SWP II, London 1881 p. 251; Ishtori Haparchi, Kaphtor u'ferach (ed. Avraham Yosef Havatzelet), vol. II (third edition), chapter 11, s.v. מלוד לאונו, Jerusalem 2007, p. 75 (note 265), who cites Mishna Arakhin 9:6 as proof of antiquity (Hebrew).</ref><ref>Samuel Klein, Judaea: from the Return of the Babylonian Exiles to the Redaction of the Talmud ( ארץ יהודה: מימי העליה מבבל עד חתימת התלמוד), Devir: Tel-Aviv 1939, s.v. אונו (Hebrew)</ref> or, more specifically, with the nearby ruin of Kafr Juna, as Kafr 'Ana actually represents a Byzantine-period expansion of a nearby and much older site –– Kafr Juna, believed to be the ancient Ono.<ref>See p. 175 in: Template:Cite journal</ref> The territory of Benjamin was known to stretch from a place around Jerusalem to the plains on the west.<ref>Ishtori Haparchi, Kaphtor u'ferach (ed. Avraham Yosef Havatzelet), vol. II (third edition), chapter 11, s.v. מלוד לאונו, Jerusalem 2007, p. 75 (note 265)(Hebrew). Kafr 'Ana actually represents a Byzantine-period expansion of a nearby and much older site –– Kafr Juna, believed to be the ancient Ono.</ref><ref>Page 19 in: Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Babylonian Talmud, Megillah 4a</ref> According to the Mishnah, the town of Ono was encompassed by a wall before the Israelite conquest of Canaan under Joshua.<ref>The Mishnah, (ed.) Herbert Danby, Arakhin 9:6 (p. 553 - note 14)</ref>

Not succeeding in their attempts to deter Nehemiah from rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, Sanballat and Tobiah resorted to stratagem, and pretending to wish a conference with him, they invited him to meet them at Ono. Four times they made the request, and every time Nehemiah refused to come. Their objective was to take him prisoner.

Archaeology

In 2009, two separate archaeological excavations were conducted in Ono, one by Nissim Golding-Meir on behalf of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Jerusalem,<ref>Israel Antiquities Authority, Excavators and Excavations Permit for Year 2009, Survey Permit # B-342</ref> and the other by Jenny Marcus on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA).<ref>Israel Antiquities Authority, Excavators and Excavations Permit for Year 2009, Survey Permit # A-5710</ref>

Further reading

• Ram Gophna, Itamar Taxel & Amir Feldstein (2005). A New Identification of ancient Ono, Bulletin of the Anglo-Israel Archaeological Society, Volume 23, pp. 167–176