Lecture 5: David's Jerusalem cont'd and Solomon's Jerusalem

One of the important passages we discussed was 2 Samuel 7 which referred to as "the promise to David". In it, Nathan, the court prophet, tells David that God as promised to make him a "house". God promised that the Davidic line would not pass away. Some people viewed this vision literally and lost faith when the temple was destroyed during the Babylonian invasion. People later reinterpreted the promise in the New Testament to validate Jesus' claim of being the Son of David, the Messiah. Another passage we examined was 1 Chronicles 21. This passage gave the reason why David did not build a temple for God but rather his son Solomon was the one to complete the task. David had killed many men and was thus stained by their blood while his son, Solomon, was to be considered a man of peace. The final thing we examined was the book of Psalms which was believed to have been written of/for David.

Next we moved to talking about Solomon's Jerusalem. In 1 Kings 6-8, we learn about the construction and consecration of the Temple of Solomon. The temple was to serve as a physical house for the Ark to rest and thus would become a dwelling for the LORD. He ruled from 970-930 BCE and was called "Wise King Solomon". It is believed that Solomon wrote the wisdom books: Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs. The last two are considered as things that would "soil the hands" because of their sexually provocative text and deviation from the rest of the bible. There is no archeological evidence to show that Solomon did exist. This absence of evidence raises the question if it is evidence of absence.There are no Tels that contain records of his rule. The Tel Meggido was the place where many battles took place and give some evidence about the events of the past because older structures were covered by newer ones.

Regarding the Solomon's temple, there is no physical evidence to show that it once existed, no Tels that contain pieces from the era of the 1st Temple. However, from literary evidence we get details about what and how the Temple was constructed. The structure of the temple had some parallels with temples from other regions and faiths. There was also a shift from a tradition that God had a wife to a monotheist belief. This is seen by the presence of objects like the bronze basin in front of the temple. They were common things found in temples of other deities.