Lecture 6; Hezekiah's Jerusalem

We began our discussion with the requirements for a Golden Age. They include: 1. someone had to have died and is being remembered for their contributions, 2. There needed to be a record of them building things. 3. They had to do things for the people like a temple. One of the best ways was to get a divine promise, memorialize it, and chronicle the promise. The era of David and Solomon is considered a Golden Era for early Jerusalem. After Solomon's death, the Kingdom breaks into two factions. The 10 Northern tribes formed Israel under Jeroboam. The last 2 Southern tribes followed Rehoboam, son of Solomon. The division began with the northern tribes asking the King to ease the "yolk" on them. After consulting his father's advisers, Rehoboam disregarded their advise to accommodate the people and threatened that he would be stricter than Solomon in a show of power and dominance. What we know about the incidence is somewhat skewed in favor of the South because it is written from the standpoint of the South.

The Southern Kingdom had Jerusalem and thus had credibility as a holy place. As a result, when people made pilgrimages to the city, the Southern Kingdom could make money. To counter this, the Northern Kingdom established alternate worship centers at Bethel and Dan. The South created shrines in other places as well. Next we looked at a summary of three periods for Jerusalem. The first was the Rise of the United Monarchy around 1000 BCE during the rule of David and Solomon. The Second was during the Era of the Two States in 925 BCE with Israel(north) and Judah(south). The third period is Jerusalem during the 8th century BCE that had the Rise of the Assyrian Empire, growth of urbanization and the reign of Hezekiah.

In the time of the two states, foreign powers were called upon to aid one side or the other in their conflict. Two of these powers was Egypt and Assyria. The two factions would pay off these foreign countries to aid them when they were in trouble or had conflict with another foreign country. As a result, the two states would often play off the foreign empires with each other. They paid the countries with gold from the temples and this often left the country in a form of debt which prompted them to seek another power to get rid of the current owner. Although Assyrian war tactics were brutal: cutting peoples head and putting them on poles, as well as deporting people, the empire had a great effect of society in Jerusalem. They adopted the use of Aramaic and got the nation to use it thus increased literacy and trade specialization in Jerusalem. The city expands and industrializes. There is even the growth of suburbs. As a result of this expansion, we see that the population of Jerusalem growing 400%. People started to migrate to the city and this led to tensions between groups. Families became more nuclear and there was social dislocation.

With the increased population, the demand for water increased. The Gihon Spring alone was not enough to supply the city. Hezekiah later solve this problem by making a tunnel that brought more water into the city. He also helped fortify the northern border as the city prepared to rebel against its Assyrian rulers.