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.