Thursday 1-20-11:Lecture 5

As much as David wanted to he never got to build the Temple because God didn’t plan him to.  David accomplished a lot during his reign, however, including the capture of Jerusalem, transporting the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem, and building his palace.  God give’s David His reason for not letting him establish the Temple in 2 Samuel 7.  This is arguably the most important verse in the Hebrew Bible.  God tells David that he has never asked for a house since the time He had dwelt in the tent the Israelites carry with them.  God also says that he will appoint a place for Israel to find rest and that He will build a house for David that his offspring will make and his throne will last forever.  This verse is very important to Christians because it is believed that God is referring to Jesus in this passage.  Nathan the prophet is the man who tells all this to David.  A prophet is mainly someone who is a countermeasure to the king.  This is also an example of how temples are divinely appointed.  The destruction of the Temple in 586 BCE is crushing to the Israelites because they believe it destroys the Monarchy of David.  1 Chronicles 21-22 gives a different reason than 2 Samuel 7 for not letting David build the temple.  In this account it is because David shed too much blood to build God’s Temple.  In Psalm 110 David sings of the sacredness of Jerusalem.  David’s son Solomon is the one who gets to build the Temple.  1 Kings 8:12-21 is Solomon’s prayer of dedication of the Temple and it echo’s the promise to David about a dwelling place for the LORD forever.  It also shows how ancient civilizations focused on providing physical houses for God, a mindset that changes over time.  King Solomon was regarded as a wise king and tradition holds that he wrote the book of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs.  Little remains of Solomon’s Jerusalem, there are no Palaces and little archaeological evidence for his Temple.  While there is no evidence the absence of evidence does not mean evidence of absence, it means nothing.  Unfortunately, there are no megiddo.  A meggido is a mound that is created because ancient civilizations used to pack down any old buildings or ruins and build on top of them because they always wanted to be on high ground.  This allows archaeologists to dig down and discover what ruins are left.  There is no evidence for Solomon’s Temple because king Herod removed everything rather than packed it down.  There are some discrepancies as how to date the megiddo.  These discrepancies can either provide evidence that Solomon’s temple existed or that it didn’t.  So since there is little archaeological evidence for Solomon’s existence we only have literary references to go off of.  Looking at literary evidence for or against the existence of Solomon is also a great research paper topic.  One claim about Solomon’s Temple is that it was in fact made up and the writers of the books discussing the temple took their description from different temples, which had similar structures and things like the pillars, Boaz and Jachin, incorporate other god’s besides the Hebrew God.  The bronze sea is an element of creation and is similar to other temples in the Near East.  Evidence we have for the existence of Solomon’s Temple needs to be inferred.  One argument is that the Biblical descriptions are incredibly detailed.  Another is the comparative evidence of the layout of the temple, which is similar to counterpart temples in the Near East such as the Tel Ta’yinat temple and the ‘Ain Dara Temple.  These temples contain an inner shrine, main hall, and pillars similar to the description of Solomon’s temple.  The temples are also similar to city gates and suggest a similar are common architectural influence in the Near East.

Some of my thoughts are that whatever the reason God had for David not building the temple it doesn’t lessen His promise to David.  It is also interesting to see how thoughts of religion have changed so much from ancient times.  Now many people think they can communicate with God anywhere and not just in a temple.  Also I personally think the literary evidence for Solomon’s existence is very compelling and the lack of archaeological evidence is not all that important because we lack tons of archaeological evidence for many things we regard as true.  It is only when we get to the subject of religion do we need to have evidence of everything in order to believe it and this stems from seeing religion as a crutch that we constantly don’t want to lean on because we don’t believe we need it.

Tuesday 1-18-11:Lecture 4

Did King David exist?   Well there is actually no archaeological evidence that supports his existence.  The only archaeological mention of David is the Tel Dan inscriptions, which mention the “House of David”.  Now this isn’t direct support for David’s existence.  At the most we can inferred that there was at least a group of people that considered themselves the “House of David”.  This could be the decedents of King David or just of group of people that referred to themselves as such.  Nevertheless, the Bible says that David conquered Jerusalem and established the City of David.  He built access to the Gihon Spring, which might have been accessible through Warren’s Shaft, but this is debated by scholars.  The Biblical evidence is found in 2 Chronicles 11, which tells of Joab using the shaft to enter into Jerusalem and conquer it for David.  We also looked at the anointing of King Solomon.  This was in buildup to Jesus’ triumphal entry in Matthew 21.  In 1 Kings 1 Solomon rides his mule down to the Gihon and is anointed the King of Israel there.  Zechariah 9 prophesies a “king come to you, righteous and victorious, gentle an riding on a donkey, on a colt,  the foal of a donkey.”  This is regarded as a prophesy about Jesus that is fulfilled in Matthew 21:1-9 but the righteous and victorious part is left out.  We also talked about the construction of Hezekiah’s Tunnel and the inscription confirming this engineering feat.  John 9:1-11 references the pool of Siloam, which archaeologists have found.  We also discussed whether the Ark of the Covenant is historical and came to the conclusion that it is, and that discussing whether it is an idol would be a good paper topic.  Next we looked at what Cherubim are.  They are usually depicted as having winged bull’s or lion’s with a human head.  These were depicted in the temple and on the Ark.  The Ark is so holy that Uzzah dies when he tries to catch it the first time David attempts to move it.  Everywhere the Ark is that place prospers, so naturally David would want to place it in Jerusalem.

Just a few thoughts on this lecture.  Although there isn’t any archaeological evidence to directly support the existence of King David I don’t think it is a long shot to claim he did exist.  While there are some discrepancies in the Biblical text much of it is very accurate.  Not to mention the oral tradition of the Jews.  It was pretty much an occupation to tale of Jewish history.  Not to mention that the scribes were pretty much accountants more than authors.  The precision and sacredness of Biblical writings is astounding.  As for the fulfillment of the prophesy by Jesus and Matthew leaving out “righteous and victorious” is not that big of a matter.  I believe those words were left out because Matthew’s audience were the Jews.  The Jews have been waiting for a messiah from David’s line to come a bring an earthly kingdom.  They wanted someone who would rise up and lead a revolt against the Roman empire, the Jew’s oppressors.  Matthew’s purpose in writing the gospel and using more Old Testament references than any other gospel writing was to show Jesus as a messiah that contrasted the traditional Jewish picture of a messiah.  He wanted to emphasis that he was not here to establish an earthly kingdom, but rather a heavenly one.  Jesus ended up being crucified on a cross, this is definitely not “righteous and victorious” in view of the traditional Jewish messiah.  It is however victorious to the Messiah Christians believe in because Jesus rose from the dead on the third day, which confirmed the ushering in of the heavenly kingdom.

Thursday 1-13-11: Lecture 3

So today we talked about the early history of Jerusalem.  The earliest settlement we know about dates back to 4000 BCE.  This is considered the beginning of the Bronze Age and is when Egypt was beginning to come to prominence.  Agriculture was the livelihood of the day and was spreading across Eurasia.  The earliest non-Biblical texts we have supporting the founding of Jerusalem are the Execration Texts.  These texts were used to call curses upon Egypt’s enemies.  There is mention of “Rusalimum”, which may be Jerusalem.  The archaeologist, Kenyon, discovered a well and tower near the Gihon, which gives evidence that Jerusalem was settled.  These date back to 18th Century BCE.  Also thanks to Luke, the writing of the gospel of Luke and Acts, we have mention of the “tower of Siloam” that Jesus mentions falling on the Galileans.  Luke used many historical references to give the circumstances surrounding his writings and to give validity to his audience, mainly gentiles.  The Armana Letters are another non-Biblical text that gives evidence of the settlement of Jerusalem.  They date back to 1350 BCE and record Abdi-Kheba, who may be the king of Jerusalem of the time, making a plea to Egypt for troops to help him in war.  The earliest mention of Jerusalem in the Bible is considered to be when Abraham returns from rescuing Lot and the priest king Melchizedek of “Salem” comes out to meet him.  Salem is regarded as a reference to Jerusalem.  The early political history of Jerusalem is told in Joshua.  Joshua 10 mentions King Adoni-zedek of Jerusalem as an enemy of Joshua who unites with five kings to try and take back Gibeon, a city which made peace with Joshua.  There are, however, some textual problems with the accounts given in Joshua.  Joshua 10:40-42, 21:44, and 24:11 tell of Joshua conquering all of Canaan and not sparing anyone, even the Jebusites.  Joshua 15:63, Judges 1:1, 8, 21 say that Joshua in fact couldn’t completely drive out the Jebusites (the people living in Jerusalem at the time) and eventually lived with them, and that not all of the Canaanites were defeated.  This has lead to three different theories about the Israelites getting to Canaan.  The first theory sets aside the textual contradictions and concludes that somehow the Israelites conquered or at least partly conquered Canaan as the Bible says.  The second theory is the instead of conquering Canaan as the Bible says the Israelites more or less immigrated there over a period of time.  The third theory is that the Israelites were always there.  How can that be?  Well the idea would be that in Canaan there were two groups of people the Hittite’s and the Amorite’s that lived in Canaan but eventually became outcasts.  These outcasts eventually assimilated this group of people that escaped from Egypt and to build unity and a cohesive nation they fabricated and embellished the stories of the Exodus and the Patriarchs.  Nevertheless, somehow the Israelites ended up in Jerusalem.  Next we looked at David’s Jerusalem.  2 Samuel 5:6-9 and 2 Chronicles 11:4-8 tell of how David conquered Jerusalem from the Jebusites using Warren’s Shaft.  These texts mention the Millo, which is probably the step structure on the east hill of the Temple.  It appears to be some kind of support, maybe for the Temple, a fortress, or David’s palace.  It is the Largest Iron Age structure in Israel.  Archaeologists found what they call “Area G”, which may be the “House of Ahiel”.  David’s Jerusalem starts around 1000 BCE.  We also got started talking about the historicity of David.

Some thoughts on this lecture.  I think it is really interesting that Jerusalem was founded so long ago and has been inhabited since 4000 BCE.  It makes important US cities look extremely young and the long term prospects of the US bleak, considering many nations rise and fall within a millennium.  The contradictions in Joshua and Judges are perplexing.  Adding to the confusion is the lack of evidence we have on that time period.  In discussing the third theory we noted that the pottery for the Israelites and the Canaanites are exactly the same.  This is interesting evidence but using it as evidence that the Israelites were always in Canaan is a bit of a stretch.  We already established that the Egyptians dealt with the Canaanites, they may have also traded with them.  Also while the Israelites were in the wilderness they fought with the Amalekites, Amorites, and other Canaanic people.  A nomadic tribe like the Israelites would have gathered plunder from these people and cities once they defeated them, possibly even their pottery.

Tuesday 1-11-11: Lecture 2

Where did the concept of a temple come from?  Well according to the Babylonian Creation Story the temple was “lowered from Heaven at Creation.”  The temple is the epitomy of axis mundi, or the center of the world.  The temples in most religions are built according to the custom specifications of the gods.  It is where the closest connection between humans and the gods is, hence the need to have the construction be ordained by the gods themselves.  One example we looked at was the Ziggurat at Ur, which looks much like a pyramid but is used for worship rather than burial, just a slight difference.  According to Revelation 21:1-5  the Hebrew god (God also referred to as LORD in English, signifying his holy name that Jews never pronounce) is going to build “a new heaven and a new earth” and a the “new Jerusalem”.  Eliade determined that sacred space must be founded, as in the Tower of Babel (Gen 11:1-9) and Beth-el (Gen 28:10-19).  Sacred space must also be consecrated because it is man’s act of recreating creation.  How is sacred space consecrated?  How is Jerusalem made sacred?  Well some believe that Genesis 2 (the second creation account in the Hebrew bible) indicates that creation happened at Jerusalem, not somewhere in Bahgdad.  How can this be?  Some belive that the stories in the Hebrew bible are borrowed from different religions.  Nowadays the site where Abraham bound Isaac (Genesis 22) is said to be where the Dome of the Rock now stands, previously the Jewish temple, not Mount Moriah.  This would make Jerusalem a sacred space because it is now where the angel of God stayed Abraham’s hand from sacrificing Isaac.  This story is found in 2 Chronicles 3:1 and it is claimed that Jerusalem assimilated the story of Mount Moriah.  Then we looked at how not only are places holy but so it time, as seen in the consecration of the Sabbath (Exod 20:8; Deut 5:12-15).  An interesting side not is the the reason given for the sacredness of the Sabbath is different in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5.  In Exodus it is because the LORD rested on the seventh day of creation.  In Deuteronomy it is because the LORD delivered the Hebrews out of Egypt.  We also looked at how caves are regarded as gates to the underworld and how different actions get used as symbolism in the Bible.  An example of this is when the Hinnom valley was used as a trash bin and periodically burned to destroy the trash.  It was referred to as Gai-Hinnom.  Gehenna is very similar to this word and is usedd as the term from “hell” in the New Testament.  We also looked at how sacred space is treated with the example of the Burning Bush where God spoke to Moses and told him to take off his sandals because the place he was standing was holy ground.  Altars also become a connection with heaven.  In 1 Chronicles 21:18-28 the LORD answered David with fire from heaven.  Some of the sacred placed in Jerusalem include the Temple Mount, the Western Wall, the Holy Sepulcher, the Dome of the Rock, and the Al Aqsa Mosque.  Some important dates we need to know about the Dome of the Rock: 691 CE completed in 72nd year of the Moslem era, 1099 CE Crusaders conquer Jerusalem and covert Dome of the Rock into a church, 1187 CE Saladin re-conquers Jerusalem and the Dome of the Rock.  We looked at the Holy Sepulcher and discussed the different denominations that use it and how they won’t attend at different times because they do not like each other.  Another example of Jerusalem absorbing stories and becoming an axis mundi is the myth that the Tomb of Adam is beneath the Holy Sepulcher.  Other patriarch stories begin being centered around Jerusalem, such as Mount Moriah being the site of the Temple.

I find the concept of axis mundi interesting.  I can see how ancient people might establish cities and temples where they believed they could communicate with the god’s.  It is also funny how we think that this concept only applies to ancient people and somehow we are so much more advanced that we no longer adhere to this concept.  Sure we don’t plan cities about where we think there is a divine connection and look more to the economic value of any place.  But somehow we have lost an important part of our society.  The marginalization of religion, mainly due to scientific progress and disdain for conflicts like the different Christians that can’t get along well enough to worship better in the Holy Sepulcher, is not necessarily a good thing.  Many people just fill religion with unhealthy things that end up failing them in the end.  Sure there are disputes between religions, but there are also disputes in politics.  In an ideal world there wouldn’t be these disputes but running from things that contain them doesn’t help the situation.  I will continue with politics as my example.  If the people who don’t argue vehemently all leave who do you have left, the people that drove you away from politics in the first place.  The only way to change that is to know that hostility doesn’t get anyone anywhere and participate in debates without that.  Set the bar for how we should conduct ourselves and persuade people to do the same.  It will be well worth it in the long run.

Day 1 of Discovering Jerusalem

So I’d like to start with a brief introduction.  My name is Kevin Sciarillo and I’m a second year Business Economics major.  My extracurricular activities are pretty simple.  I work at the John Wooden Center, I’m part of a Christian Fraternity, Alpha Gamma Omega, and a Christian ministry, Campus Crusade for Christ.  That is what I do, who I am would take much longer to write and it would be best to discover that in person and judge for yourself.  This post is for the second class of Jerusalem: Holy City on Thursday January, 6 2011.  I will do my best to take an objective position on everything we learn and not let my views as a Christian come through in anything we learn about Jerusalem.  Having said that I will now move on to a brief summary of Thursday’s lecture.

We discussed what make Jerusalem a sacred space.  In this discussion we looked the geography of the Near East and the major trade routes.  We learned about the breakdown of the four different quarters of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount, along with the different sacred places in  Jerusalem.  Then we moved into looking at the most important aspect of any city, the water source.  We learned mainly about the Gihon Spring and the tunnel that Hezekiah built for easy access to it, aptly named Hezekiah’s tunnel.  Then we looked at water being sacred, referencing the Hebrew Bible.  This included the second creation account and prophesies included water and the Temple.  Next we discussed sacred space in light of “The Sacred and the Profane: The Nature of Religion” by Mircea Eliade.  In this discussion we looked at examples from the Hebrew Bible that recored stories of sacred spaces.  Afterward we looked at the timeline of the Jewish Temple.

What makes a space sacred?  We came up with two major events that cause a place to be sacred.  The first is an important persons birthplace.  The birthplaces of Jesus, Moses, and Mohammed are all sacred placed in Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.  The second is a supernatural occurrence such as, a vision from God, a divine intervention, or even an unfamiliar natural phenomenon.  Once we established a few ways a place becomes sacred we looked at the geography around Jerusalem what makes Jerusalem a sacred space.  Jerusalem is situated slightly inland from the coast of the Mediterranean Sea with a vast expanse of desert to the west.  It is part of the Fertile Crescent, which spans from Jerusalem up the Jordan and then follows the Euphrates and the Tigris Rivers down to the Persian Gulf.  Unfortunately for Jerusalem, aside from being in the Fertile Crescent, there isn’t too much that makes it special.  It is situated in the middle of two major trade routes in the Near East, the Via Maris and the King’s Highway.  It is off the beaten path for traders and it isn’t even located near a large body of water.  The only major water source is the Gihon Spring, which is located on the east side of the City of David.  Jerusalem is on a hill surrounded by valleys on every side except the North, one point for Jerusalem.  The Eastern valley is the Kidron Valley, to the West is the Hinnom Valley, and straight up the middle is the Tyropean Valley.  Some of the sacred places include the Dome of the Rock, the Western Wall of the Temple Mount, Herod’s wall in the North, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, and the Zion Gate.  Jerusalem is occupied by four different groups.  You have the Islamics in the North East quarter, Christians in the Northwest quarter, Armenians in the Southwest quarter, and Jewish in the southeast quarter.  Jerusalem is also surrounded by two different mountains, Mount Zion and The Mount of Olives.  The Hebrew Bible predicts that God will establish Jerusalem as the highest mountain.  This is not quite understood because the hill Jerusalem is on is far from being as high as Mount Hermon to the North.  We talked earlier about the Gihon Spring as one of the major sources of water for the city.  Currently, it is barely enough water to support the present population.  Recent digs explored the stumbled upon Siloam Pool under some Palestinian houses.  They want to keep digging even though they would destroy some homes.  This led us into our discussion about water being sacred.  We looked at the mention of Gihon as a river in the second account of creation and Ezekiel’s prophecy of a river flowing under the new Temple.  The mention of Gihon as a river in the creation account is very significant because it shows how Jerusalem started becoming a center of civilization because you have the Garden of Eden moving from around Baghdad in the first creation story to Jerusalem in the second creation story.  Then we discussed how Eliade writes about sacred space.  We looked at a few sacred places in the Hebrew Bible, namely the Tower of Babel and Beth-el, which is the location of Jacob’s Ladder.  We also looked at the timeline of Solomon’s Temple.  It was built around 950 BCE, destroyed in 586 BCE, rebuilt in 515 BCE, and expanded in 20 BCE by King Herod.  After the temple was destroyed the last time in 691 CE  the Dome of the Rock was eventually built in 691 CE.  This was the end the class.  One interesting thing I found that related to the issue of archeology being used improperly can be found here.  Israeli bulldozers demolished part of the Shepherd Hotel to continue a Jewish housing project that has been in the works since the 1980′s.  The Shepherd Hotel is a landmark for the predominately Arab neighborhood.  It was built in the 1930′s by Haj Amin al-Husseini, who aligned himself with Hitler.