Late spring in the central highlands brought the annual sheep shearing festivals. Flocks moving up the slopes of Mount Baal Hazor marked the end of the winter rains. The air carried the heavy smell of raw wool and slaughtered meat. Agrarian communities across the Levant gathered to harvest fleece and feast before the summer drought baked the highland soil.
The mountain stands as the highest peak in the central hill country and reaches an elevation of 3,333 feet. The summit sits exactly 15 miles north of the walled enclosures of Jerusalem. From this vantage point the terrain drops abruptly toward the Jordan River valley in the east. Shepherds utilized these high elevations to construct temporary pens for their flocks during the 10th century b.c.
These seasonal enclosures served as the physical staging ground for brutal dynastic purges. When royal heirs left the fortified capital to oversee the shearing they entered exposed territory. The tents and slaughtering tables at Baal Hazor provided an isolated environment far from the royal guard. Absalom orchestrated the assassination of his half-brother Amnon among the loud celebrations of the wool harvest in this very landscape.
An isolated feast offers a lethal advantage against an undefended rival.
Taking that lethal advantage among the hills, the killer abandoned the festival and fled north. He crossed the Jordan River and sought refuge in the Aramean kingdom of Geshur. This territory covered the volcanic plateaus east of the Sea of Galilee. The fugitive remained in that foreign kingdom for three years while political fallout paralyzed the ruling family back in Jerusalem.