During the eras of both the First and Second Temples, Jewish sovereignty at times extended east of the Jordan River, although archaeological evidence about the details has always been scant. A new study of artifacts found near what experts think are the places the Bible calls Mahanayim and Penuel—mentioned in next week’s Torah reading and the one after, respectively—suggests the active presence of the Israelite kingdom. Ariel David reports:

Stone blocks decorated with scenes of lions and banquets, found strewn upon a hilltop archaeological site in Jordan, may have once been part of an ancient Israelite palace built some 2,800 years ago.

The incised ashlar blocks unearthed at the biblical site of Mahanaim, just east of modern Dayr Allah in Jordan, are likely remains from the time when the kingdom of Israel ruled over part of this region, the researchers say. The study . . . identifies the artifacts by comparing their iconography to drawings found at another well-known Israelite site in Sinai.

Based on the style of the decorations, the scholars date the remains to the first half of the 8th century BCE. This was the time of maximum expansion of the kingdom of Israel, which stretched from Sinai to modern-day Lebanon in the reigns of Joash and his son Jeroboam II.

Yesterday, the Iranian foreign minister flew to Geneva to meet with European diplomats. President Trump, meanwhile, indicated that cease-fire negotiations might soon begin with Iran, which would presumably involve Tehran agreeing to make concessions regarding its nuclear program, while Washington pressures Israel to halt its military activities. According to Israeli media, Iran already began putting out feelers to the U.S. earlier this week. Aviram Bellaishe considers the purpose of these overtures:

The regime’s request to return to negotiations stems from the principle of deception and delay that has guided it for decades. Iran wants to extricate itself from a situation of total destruction of its nuclear facilities. It understands that to save the nuclear program, it must stop at a point that would allow it to return to it in the shortest possible time. So long as the negotiation process leads to halting strikes on its military capabilities and preventing the destruction of the nuclear program, and enables the transfer of enriched uranium to a safe location, it can simultaneously create the two tracks in which it specializes—a false facade of negotiations alongside a hidden nuclear race.