Week 6!

Tuesday: Persian Jerusalem           

            In lecture we talked about Persian Jerusalem, the time period from 539-333BCE. The important aspect of this time period had to do with the Prophet Ezekiel and his vision. After the destruction of the 1^st Temple and the exile by the Babylonians, many Jew experienced cognitive dissonance. Ezekiel saw the return of a mobile God, one that did not require a permanent earthly residence; this helped the Jew accept the destruction of the Temple. Ezekiel prophesized that there would be a new Temple, that a divine presence would return, and water would once again be flowing from the Temple. This then led into discussion of what happened to the Ark of the Covenant. There are multiple theories but what seems the most plausible was the idea that the Ark was already gone from the Temple before the destruction by the Babylonians due to Hezekiah or Josiah’s reforms. This is also believed because there is no mention of the Ark in the Temple lists made by the Babylonians.

            Next we discussed King Cyrus of Persia. King Cyrus was fostered as the “liberator” because he was responsible for exiling the Jew back to Jerusalem. His reasoning for why he did this is under interpretation, but either way this led to the creation of a 2^nd Temple.  Whether a new temple was needed or not was under much debate as seen in Haggai 1-2, Isaiah 66: 1-2, Ezekiel 40-48, Elephantine Letter 30, Dead Sea Scrolls, Ezra 3, and Zechariah 6:9-15. In the end a new temple was build.

Thursday:  Hellenistic and Hasmonean Jerusalem

In 336 BCE, Alexander the Great began his conquest of the Mediterranean. In 332 BCE he conquered Palestine with the defeat of the Persian King Darius at the Battle of Issus. But when Alexander dies in 323 BCE, we see the division of the Kingdom into the Ptolemies (Egyptians) and the Seleucids (Syrians). The Ptolemies control Palestine from 300 BCE-201 BCE and Jerusalem was given autonomy. They were allowed to do as they pleased and could choose their own High Priest as long as they paid taxes and did not revolt. In 198 BCE, Antiochus II defeats Ptolemy V at Paneas and the Seleucids begin to rule in Jerusalem. This began the aggressive Hellenization of the Jews. The Seleucids wanted to turn Jerusalem into a polis, a center of Greek life. Every aspect of Jewish life was effected and even the Jewish tombs and homes began to have Greek influence. When Antiochus IV came to power in 175 BCE, he did much to suppress Jewish resistance including looting the Temple Treasury, outlawing Jewish religious practices, sacrificing a pig on the Temple Altar, and converting the temple into a temple of Zeus. Jewish reaction varied greatly and some welcomed this new Greek influence, other did not. Jewish infighting became intense and we soon saw revolt.

The revolt of the Jews was known as the Maccabean Revolt after its most famous leader, Judas Maccabaeus. They killed and attacked the Greeks and any Jews that collaborated with the Greeks. The revolt was amazing successful and the Jews regained control of Jerusalem and the Temple in 165 BCE. The Jewish holiday Hanukkah was established to commemorate this victory. This was the first time there was Jewish self-rule since the exile to Babylon. The period that followed became known as the Hasmonean Dynasty, where the leaders were said to be descendants of “Hasmon”, and was said to be the restoration of the “Golden Age”. This self-rule lasts about a century. During the Hasmonean Dynasty, Hasmonean rules became increasingly Hellenized, secular, and corrupt. The leaders assumed the office of High Priest as well as King, they were insensitive to Jewish Religious tradition, executed political and religious opponent, and forcibly “Judiazed” surrounding gentile regions. Eventually there was second division, and the battle between the Sadducees and the Pharisees began. In the end the political unrest within Jerusalem allowed it to be conquered by Pompey and the Romans in 63 BCE.

Week 5! Half way there :)

 Much of this week lecture focused on the rise of literacy in Jerusalem and its effect. We also talked about the destruction of the Temple in 586 BCE and how religious believers dealt with the fall of the City of David.

Firs,t we began with talking about the Lanchish Letters, which showed that literacy was spreading and more and more people were learning how to read and write. Next we talked about the Ostracon and how the writing on the pottery can be tied to scriptures such as Exodus and Amos. These texts referred to the writing down of laws and about people taking advantage of others. We then talked about the 2 silver emulates that were found. The emulates are important because they showed that literacy was spreading so much that people were wearing it. And, further, how by writing stuff down it can now be analyzed and they last longer than human’s, literacy changes everything.

The second half of lecture dealt with the fall of Jerusalem. Jerusalem fell in 586 BCE to the Babylonians. The Babylonians took over the city and exiled all the nobles, leaving just the poor in the city. With the fall of the Temple and Jerusalem we saw what is called cognitive dissonance. For years the people of Jerusalem believed that God was protecting the city and because of God’s promise to David, the city would never fall. But when the city did fall, people had no idea what to do because their beliefs contradicted reality. Some chose to abandon religion all together and others reinterpreted the promise to David and transformed their beliefs, in a way, to match reality. We ended with the discussion of Psalms and Lamentations all which related to the fall of Jerusalem and the people’s way of dealing with cognitive dissonance.

I feel like the end of today’s lecture was really interesting and could even be applied to life and religion now. How do people who believe in God deal when something horrific happens to them? Do they abandon religion or do the reinterpret it to match what is occurring? As someone who is not very religious at all I find it fascinating how people never seems to blame God, they look at themselves and often claim that they did something to deserve this, that they were in the wrong.

Week 4!

Tuesday: Hezekiah’s Jerusalem

During the reign of David and Solomon, the kingdom was united as one. When Solomon dies, his son Rehoboam, takes the throne. Under Rehoboam, the 10 Northern tribes, unsure of Rehoboam’s as king, send Jeroboam to basically say: “lower our taxes and don’t make us work as hard and we will submit.” In response, Rehoboam, disregarding the advice given to him from his father’s advisors, tells the North he is going to be even tougher than his father was. The North rebels and as a result splits the kingdom in two, the North becomes Israel and the South becomes Judah. Along with the splitting of the kingdom we see the creation of alternate shrines in both the North (Tel Dan and Bethel) and the South (Beer Sheva and Arad Temple).

In the 8^th century BCE, we see the rise of the Assyrian Empire. Pharaoh Shoshenq invades Jerusalem in 925 BCE and carried off the treasures of the temple. Some scholars argue that the South actually paid Shoshenq to invade because of the unrest between the North and the South. (Side-note: It was also noted by the Professor that much of the Bible is written from the southern perspective and is biased towards the south.) The North and the South team up with Egypt and Assyrian as they prepare for battle against each other. In the end, Assyria ends up on top and begins a series of massive deportations. As a result, many fled to Jerusalem and we see a HUGE expansion of Jerusalem. With the 400% increase in population we begin to see people starting to learn how to read and write, trade specialization, and the growth of new royal administration. There is vast urbanization in Jerusalem. Hezekiah, ruler in Jerusalem, begins to prepare Jerusalem to rebel against Assyria by fortifying the city, increasing water supply and creating a seal.

Thursday: Hezekiah’s Jerusalem Continued

In lecture we talked briefly reviewed Hezekiah’s preparations to revolt. Hezekiah is building up industry. Seal impressions were found, similar to receipts that could point to some type of hording. We learned a lot about the rise of literature and how reading and writing are becoming more prevalent. Literature allows people to communicate and the three religions of Jerusalem are all religions based upon books. We see lots of leaders from many states becoming involved in literature as well. The major event and point of the lecture revolved around the survival of Jerusalem when Assyria attacks. Assyria surrounded the city and taunted Hezekiah and his men. In the end, the city is spared and Assyria retreats. The Assyria’s claim they chose to retreat because they had the city surrounded and it wasn’t going anyway. Jerusalem and Hezekiah believe it was an act of God and God struck down, wiping out the army and protected the city. Either way both stories agree that Jerusalem survived the attack. This survival was the “single greatest catalyst for the snowballing legend of an inviolable Jerusalem”, as Professor stated. It really started the tradition that God would not let Jerusalem be destroyed and that he was protecting the city because of his promise to David. This led into a discussion on Zion Theology and the growing belief that God resides and protects Jerusalem because of his promise.

            Towards the end we began discussing the religious reforms of Hezekiah. Hezekiah set out on a religious reform that was about centralization in Jerusalem. He wanted to create one place of worship and one way to worship so he knocked down all other shrines and the Nehushtan. It was also mentioned that this might be an indicator that he was getting ready to rebel and this was a tactic to unify people.

Week 3!

Sorry I am so behind, its been a long two weeks of midterms, bruised ribs, and colds. :(

Tuesday: David’s Jerusalem

We continued the discussion of David’s Jerusalem and the City of David. Many scholars question the existence of David because of the lack of archeological evidence. It isn’t until the discovery of the Tel Dan Inscription that scholars begin to believe that maybe David did exist. We also spent time looking at Warren’s shaft. Everything in Jerusalem revolves around water. It was originally thought that Warren’s shaft was built to bring water into the city, but over time scholars have come to believe it was a natural cave. It is still unclear how they got water into the city exactly but we know it all comes from the Gihon. This then led into the discussion of the Gihon Spring and its importance in the anointing of Solomon. In multiple passages of the Bible, the Gihon Spring plays a crucial role in the anointing of Kings and the Ancient Israel coronation ceremony and we spent time discussing the passage with Jesus using the Gihon to make an explicit claim of royalty. Another role of water in the city was the Siloam Pool. The Siloam Pool causes many political problems today because the pool sits beneath modern homes, which makes the pool hard to excavate.

The second half of the lecture consisted of discussion of the Ark of the Covenant. The Temple was built to create a house for God and a permanent house for the Ark of the Covenant. During this time it was still believed that the Temple was the actual dwelling place of God. Later it was re-interpreted to believe that the temple was in God’s name, not his actually earthly home. With the discussion of the Ark of the Covenant and its new home in Jerusalem, we transitioned into Solomon and the building of the Temple.

I find it fascinating that a man's whose mere existence is questioned can play such a crucial role in the stories of the Bible and the religions that are based off of the Bible. I partially feel that if so many people put so much faith into the stories of David and God's promise to David, that the man must have existed. But the science nerd other half of me also can't help but question the whole idea of religion to begin with. How can people live their life by a book that has large portions that cannot be scientifically proven?...

Thursday: Solomon’s Jerusalem

As with David, there was much question of the existence of his son Solomon as well. But with the Tel Dan Inscription, which supported evidence to David and his line, Solomon existence was also in turn supported as well. There are no palace remains of Solomon’s Jerusalem and no significant archeological evidence because later when Herod the Great came along he destroyed all the remains and rebuilt everything from the ground up. From the stories, we are told that Solomon is given the task of building the Temple, because David, his father, has too much bloodshed on his hands according to God. Solomon was known as the wise king and the Professor told the story of the 2 mothers fighting over the baby and how Solomon was able to figure out who the true mother was. Again water is tied back into the discussion and its role in the anointing of Solomon.

The rest of lecture consisted of looking over pictures and comparisons of Solomon’s Temple to that of Boaz and Jachin and also the parallels of Solomon’s temple to Tel Ta’yinat and the ‘Ain Dara Temple. The end of lecture today marked the end of the “Golden Age” and the beginning of the divided Kingdom.