Timna Copper Mines

The Timna copper mines are located in the Arabah Valley, part of the Dead Sea rift in southern Israel, 26 kilometers from the southern port city of Eilat, and about 19 miles north of the city of Eilat in the Gulf of Aqaba. This mine is extremely rich in copper and has been exploited since as early as the 5th millennium BC. At that time, the land of Canaan had iron mines, the Jordan Valley had copper mines, Asia Minor had silver mines, and the southern Arabian Peninsula and Cush had gold mines. The underground mining techniques developed in the Middle East around 2000 BC represented the pinnacle of human technological achievement: vertical shafts were first dug, followed by the excavation of horizontal layers; or horizontal adits were directly carved into hillsides and cliffs. Iron ore could be surface-mined, but copper ore required the excavation of mine shafts.

However, while humans can extract gold, silver, copper, iron, and precious stones, achieving more than all other animals, they cannot find wisdom. Nor can they exchange the gold, silver, and precious stones they find for wisdom, which makes humanity all the more pitiable. Wisdom does not come from human scientific technology or economic trade. Even with the development of cutting-edge theoretical physics, humans only know that things are, not why they are. They only know the universe’s parameters but not why these parameters were set as they are. God understands the path to wisdom and knows its dwelling place. He sees it, declares it, establishes it, and searches it out. He reveals it in the universe and makes it clear in human hearts (Romans 1:19), showing us that since the creation of the world, God’s eternal power and divine nature have been clearly perceived, though invisible, through what has been made, so that people are without excuse (Romans 1:20).