Many biblical scholars have been allured by these texts to sketch a map of the city based on the descriptions therein - see for instance https://medium.com/@chrisvonada/the-courage-and-calling-of-nehemiah-1b64df490373. The work took some four years, between 1537 and 1541. Nehemiah is a man of perseverance & he prays & plans for four months waiting for the right opportunity to ask the king to give him the authority, responsibility, & opportunity to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the walls. I have been to Jerusalem but did not walk the walls. There were lots of people who tried to stop them. Courtesy Nathan Steinmeyer. It seems obvious that Nehemiah wanted to restore the walls to make the city habitable again. An international recognition that this was the Land of the Jews, even if the people of the land thought otherwise, would have been emphatically achieved. With prayer, common sense, fervent speeches & brilliant planning, this godly leader motivated the Israelites to complete the reconstruction of the walls of Jerusalem despite severe opposition. 2 Chronicles 32:5: He set to work resolutely and built up all the wall that was broken down and raised towers upon it, and outside it he built another wall, and he strengthened the Millo in the city of David. Nehemiah has a very difficult task to accomplish: rebuilding a ruined city with opposition all around & a frightened, discouraged population, fortunately Nehemiah knows how to lead in a crisis. The Persian pottery underneath the tower only gives a terminus post quem, a date after which something could have happened. J.E. However, God sovereignly moved in the heart of Artaxerxes, king of Persia, to allow Nehemiah to rebuild the walls. talked to God and prayed for it What are the 4 Reasons why the Israelites were discouraged to rebuild the walls? At our church, we face a similar task but on a smaller scale than the one Nehemiah faced. He said, The risk of doing nothing is the greatest risk of all. Thats why were doing what were doing because the risk of doing nothing is the greatest risk of all. God was with David and allowed him to capture Jerusalem from the Jebusites. cit. Then they said, Let us start building! So they committed themselves to the common good.. My interpretation (and that of others) was that there had been a building on top of the hill in those periods, of which the remains, together with the pottery, had been swept down the slope when a fortification was built on that spot. Many Arabic inscriptions found throughout the Old City record the dates that various gates and sections of the wall were rebuilt. The rebuilding and repair of the wall was a miracle. It is home to nearly 40,000 people and hosts dozens of Christian, Muslim, and Jewish holy sites. So I went up by way of the valley by night & inspected the wall. 3 They replied, 'The survivors there in the province who escaped captivity are in great . Though the temple has been rebuilt, the city walls were as they had been for the last 130 years, with the result that the inhabitants of Jerusalem had no way of defending themselves against their enemies (see Nehemiah 4:11). H. Lernau, `Fish Bones, in E. Mazar (ed. A book about Judah in the Babylonian era is aptly subtitled The Archaeology of Desolation (Faust 2012). Unfortunately, the Bible texts remain vague on the exact location of these structures. Who first built the walls of Jerusalem? Nehemiah Inspects the Walls 16 The officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing, for I had not yet told the Jews or priests or nobles or officials or any other workers. He stands before the depressed, fearful, skeptical citizens of Jerusalem & says look at what God has done already, through the heathen king of Persia no less. ALSO, I LIKE THE WRITE-UPS ABOUT THE HISTORY OF THE HOLY LAND. He can see that rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem is a restoration job on several levels. Jerusalem in the Time of Nehemiah Map Rebuilding of the Walls around Jerusalem in the Second Temple period by Nehemiah The entire city of Jerusalem, including the Temple, was destroyed in c. 586 B.C. 2:3). He stands before them, knowing what the problems are, but ready to begin the hard work of rebuilding & this encourages & gives hope to the people. Hes not afraid to use words like trouble, ruins, disgrace. No good comes from minimizing the difficulties of a task or situation that lies before us whether it is physical, relational, spiritual, financial, emotional, political or something else. Stepping out in faith means looking squarely at the problems, knowing the facts, & understanding what has taken place previously, then we look to God & use our God given gifts to come up with solutions & we work for success. Nehemiah 1:3, "They said to me, 'Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. Nehemiah, a servant of King Artaxerxes, was an Israelite who lived in the Persian city of Shushan. The wall had been broken down, community had broken down and with everyone thinking about themselves, people worked on their own places but no one was working for the common good. You're . Ironically, rather than raising peoples feelings of fear & anxiety; facing the brutal facts can have a remarkable impact on peoples confidence & motivation. Its walls were destroyed, houses had collapsed, the famous temple was robbed and set on fire, and a large part of the administrative elite and craftsmen were taken into exile. 4:1-14). In 701 BC, the Assyrians, headed by Sennacherib invaded Judah, the Southern Kingdom of Israel, because of their disobedience to God. (Courtesy Ancient Jerusalem Project). Your email address will not be published. The Bible's grand narrative about Israel's Exodus from Egypt is central to Biblical religion, Jewish, Christian, and Muslim identity and the formation of the academic disciplines studying the ancient Near East. Although I came to the conclusion that Kenyon was wrong and that the wall and the tower did not date to the Persian period, it is quite possible that a Persian wall was once built there, now hidden under the later Maccabean constructions. The book of Nehemiah in the Old Testament of the Bible is more than an account of rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem. This was some 47 years after the temple was finished. Its about restoring a wall, rebuilding a sense of community, & constructing a sense of identity for the people. He places this project in the context of strengthening the interests of the Persian empire vis a vis the growing threat from Greece and Egypt. At the beginning, he also told no one the vision God had given him for building Jerusalems walls. In 1981, the Jerusalem walls were added, along with the Old City of Jerusalem, to the UNESCO World Heritage Site List. This made it necessary to reinforce western Palestine, especially the provinces of Yehud and Samaria and the coastal areas (Carter 1999, 293). Many people thought this was impossible. But when Nehemiah arrives to Jerusalem, he faces opposition from the people who had already been living in Jerusalem because Nehemiah had made clear that all those living outside Jerusalem had no part in the new city. Yet in 1219, the Ayyubids, fearing the Crusaders would regain the city, demolished the walls of Jerusalem to keep such a fortified position from falling into Crusader hands. The Jerusalem Wall That Shouldnt Be There, Jerusalem Down Under: Tunneling Along Herods Temple Mount Wall, Old, New Banquet Hall by the Temple Mount. In 1033, most of the walls constructed by Eudocia were destroyed by an earthquake. Supporting his case, every non-biblical mention of Jerusalem found in the ancient Near East refers to the city as 'Jerusalem'. H. Lernau, `Fish Bones, in E. Mazar (ed. Around 130 C.E., the city of Jerusalem was rebuilt by Emperor Hadrian as a Roman settlement and renamed Aelia Capitolina. It's an invitation to all who read it to be inspired by one person's faith and passion to rebuild a community of people. ), Judah and Judeans in the Persian Period, Winona Lake 2006, 147166. The walls contain 34 watchtowers and seven main gates . Reading an ancient text like this one which reflects the tension, division, and hostility over Jerusalem 2,500 years ago should humble anyone who thinks peace is easily made in the Middle East. 1 The first exiled people, who came back seventy years later with Zerubbabel on the first order of return (Cyrus' 2 ), found only ruins and rubbles. What a wealth of information on the lay-out of Jerusalem in Persian times! How far does - or can - archaeology render this plausible? Chapter 2<br> <br>Translation: Institute for Bible Translation named after M.P. Nehemiah knows there will be opposition so he waits to share what God has put on his heart to do. It would be this city layout that would exist during the time of Christ. 3 And they said to me, "The remnant . Early September, after just 52 days, the wall was completed. 16 Nehemiah son of Azbuk ruled half of the district of Beth-Zur, and he rebuilt the next section of the wall. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, so that we will no longer be a disgrace . And Jerusalem is a symbol of the city of God, God's dwelling place and the center of life for the world. After the return from exile, the small Jewish populationunder Nehemiah's leadershiprebuilt the walls of Jerusalem with dimensions similar to Solomon's day. The General got off his horse and entered through the gate on foot, to show respect for the city. Hezekiah also built a water tunnel in order to keep the water from the Gihon Spring inside the city walls so the Assyrians couldnt cut off the water supply (2 Chron. 5I said, O LORD God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments; 6let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before you day and night for your servants, the people of Israel, confessing the sins of the people of Israel, which we have sinned against you. It was built to dimensions similar to King Hezekiahs time. General Allenby famously entered the city through this gate when the British captured Jerusalem during the First World War in 1917. Take a video tour atop the walls of the Old City. Whether Jerusalem was a birah, a Persian fortress, or a provincial capital possibly fortified by or with the permission of the Persian authorities to safeguard their interests cannot be determined on the basis of current evidence. This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions. Ltd. Facebook Twitter Linkedin Instagram. The Jewish Quarter (Hebrew: , HaRova HaYehudi; Arabic: , Harat al-Yehud) is one of the four traditional quarters of the Old City of Jerusalem (part of Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem).The 116,000 square meter area lies in the southwestern sector of the walled city, and stretches from the Zion Gate in the south, along the Armenian Quarter on the west . Then I turned back & entered by the Valley Gate, & so returned. The conclusion must be that no Persian city walls have actually been found. No other biblical text is as explicit about the walls of Jerusalem as Nehemiah 3. A portion of the wall was discovered in the 1970s by Israeli archaeologist Nahman Avigad and dated to the reign of King Hezekiah (716687 BC). A History of Excavations in the Holy Land Inspired by the Photographs and Accounts of Leo Boer. The length of the walls is 4,018 meters (2.497 miles), their average height is 12 meters (39 feet) and the average thickness is 2.5 meters (8.2 feet). Why did Nebuchadnezzar destroy Jerusalem? Today, they are revealed in their full height and splendor, after rubble accumulated over centuries was cleared away. Doug Scalise, Brewster Baptist Church, Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 25:00 22.9MB), 4When I heard these words I sat down and wept, and mourned for days, fasting and praying before the God of heaven. Nehemiah is commissioned to return to Jerusalem to oversee the rebuilding of the wall of Jerusalem that still laid in ruin. Solomon, David's son, built the First Temple on the hilltop rising right above the city he had inherited, the Temple Mount, and then extended the city walls in order to protect the temple. May the joy of the Lord be your strength. An example of these records are the Amarna letters which are dated to the 14th century BCE, several of which were written by the chieftain of Jerusalem Abdi-Heba and call Jerusalem either Urusalim (URU -ru-sa-lim) or Urualim (URU -ru-a10-lim) (1330s BCE). In an individual life, then, the rebuilding of the walls would be a picture of re-establishing the strength of that life. DepartmentBldg Tucson, AZ 85721 TEL 520-621-6897 FAX 520-626-9014. Although the Temple had been rebuilt, the unwalled city of Jerusalem was not safe because of the hostility of Israel's neighbors. Today, this water tunnel is known as Hezekiahs Tunnel. Jerusalems walls were largely neglected by the Crusader kingdom, although moderate rebuilding activities attempted to close breaches in the walls. In April of 445 B.C., after a prayer period of four months, Nehemiah speaks with the king. Nehemiahs speech to the citizens of Jerusalem is masterful in its simplicity & directness. `The Borders and de Facto Size of Jerusalem in the Persian Period, in O. Lipschits and M. Oeming (eds. Blessing: Now may you go from this time of worship to serve the God who is ready to forgive, gracious & merciful, slow to anger & abounding in steadfast love. Nehemiahs life was marked by availability as a servant to an earthly ruler but in a deeper way as a servant of God. And I asked them concerning the Jews who escaped, who had survived the exile, and concerning Jerusalem. And I asked them concerning the Jews who escaped, who had survived the exile, and concerning Jerusalem. Families and professional groups take on the responsibility for repairing stretches of the wall, while gates are provided with attics, doors, bolts and bars, and towers are rebuilt. Ancient foundations of the walls of Jerusalem. There was no animal with Above the Gichon spring she dug a long trench from top to bottom in order to analyse all layers of habitation of the ancient city. Jerusalem was desolate after the destruction. The church faces a similar challenge. I. Finkelstein, `Jerusalem in the Persian (and Early Hellenistic) Period and the Wall of Nehemiah. Excavations at the Summit of the City of David. The walls were still in ruin 140 years later when Nehemiah came to Jerusalem. You must have JavaScript enabled to use this form. Nisan] See note on Nehemiah 1:1.This name only occurs elsewhere in the O.T. M. L. Steiner, `The Palace of David Reconsidered in the Light of Earlier Excavations, op http://www.bibleinterp.com/articles/palace_2468.shtml (2009). Just like their builder, however, the modern walls can only be described as magnificent. How desolate Jerusalem really was, is a matter of interpretation. Dormition Abbey, built on the foundations of a fifth-century basilica. Hold up one of the paper bricks and explain the following: The wall of Jerusalem is about 40 feet high and 2.5 miles long! xi. O. Lipschits, Y. Gadot et al., `Palace and Village, Paradise and Oblivion: Unraveling the Riddles of Ramat Rael, Near Eastern Archaeology 74 (2011), 1-49. E. Mazar, The Palace of King David. . The whole Babylonian army, under the commander of the imperial guard, broke down the walls around Jerusalem. ), Biblical Narratives, Archaeology and Historicity: Essays In Honour of Thomas L. Thompson, London 2019, 3-10. However, the debris only contained pottery from the Babylonian and Early Persian periods. The only animal I took was the animal I rode. Learn how and when to remove these template messages, Learn how and when to remove this template message, "WH Committee: 1st Extraordinary Session, Paris 1981", Selections from the Tell El-Amarna letters, "Building inscription commemorating the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Ottoman period, 1535-1538, Stone, Israel Antiquities Authority, IAA: 1942-265, Archaeology/Islamic Art & Archaeology", Tancred's Tower / Qasr Jalud (Goliath's Castle), Institute for International Urban Development, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Walls_of_Jerusalem&oldid=1142505729. She carried out excavations in Jerusalem from 1960 - 1967. This town was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BC, and many of its inhabitants were sent into exile. That could be two years later, a hundred years later or a thousand years later. Recent ones include Finkelstein 2008, Lipschits 2009, Ristau 2016, and Ussishkin 2006. Who first built the walls of Jerusalem? The conquest brought some destruction followed by reconstruction, as did the reconquest by Saladin in 1187. In 70 CE, as a result of the Roman siege during the First JewishRoman War, the walls were almost completely destroyed. Next, we learn about Ezra's trip back to Jerusalem to beautify the temple. While the ancient city was mostly limited to the City of David, the walls were greatly expanded under King Hezekiah during preparations for the Assyrian invasion (c. 701 B.C.E.). According to Jewish tradition, as expressed in the Tanakh, Jerusalem remained a Jebusite city until the rise of David, who conquered Jebus, renamed it City of David and started expanding it. The narrow cobbled streets, majestic walls, Roman columns, and ancient buildings hold memories of the numerous legendary events. It was a massive undertaking and measured around 2.5 miles (4 km.) Rebuilding the Wall of Jerusalem -These are the people who helped rebuild the wall and gates of Jerusalem:The high priest Eliashib and the other priests rebuilt Sheep Gate and hung its doors. At the top of the slope there was a large tower and a stretch of city wall from the Late Hellenistic period, built by the Maccabees in the 2nd century BC. 1538-1541 - Suleiman the Magnificent Rebuilds the Walls of Jerusalem British Mandate (1917-1948) 1917 - British Capture Jerusalem in World War I Divided City (1948-1967) 1948 - State of Israel Established; Jerusalem Divided By Armistice Lines Between Israel & Jordan Reunification (1967-Present) He is a true leader who leads, not one who issues commands from a safe distance. Around the city several tombs carved into the rock have been found that show a continuity from the Late Iron Age onwards. King Solomon might have added to the defensive fortifications, OnSite: Bethlehems Church of the Nativity. He returns to Jerusalem with a group of exiles and begins rebuilding the wall, meeting opposition along the way. This hill is now commonly referred to as the City of David, but that is a fairly recent name (Steiner 2019). Nebuzaradan the commander of the guard carried into exile the people who remained in the city, along with the r Continue Reading More answers below David Johnston K. A. Ristau, Reconstructing Jerusalem: Persian Period Prophetic Perspectives, University Park, Pa, 2016. Another problem: if this list includes only the walls around the southeastern hill and the Temple Mount, then nine city gates seem to be an extravaganza for such a small area. So I came to Jerusalem & was there for three days. Then, Artaxerxes I or possibly Darius II allowed Ezra and Nehemiah to return and rebuild the city's walls and to govern Judea, which was ruled as Yehud province under the Persians.