The walls of the Old City encompass an area of roughly 250 acres and extend for more than 2.5 miles. Whoever wandered around the old city walls had to climb over a mass of stone and sometimes could not continue at all; large piles of rubble blocked the way. At the top of that hill and on its eastern and western slopes the remains of biblical Jerusalem have been found. These walls were built by Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent in the sixteenth century, roughly following the course of the walls built by the Romans to encircle Jerusalem in the second century. How far does - or can - archaeology render this plausible? Under his leadership and with a small Jewish population, the walls of Jerusalem were rebuilt to dimensions similar to Solomons day. The walls contain 34 watchtowers and seven main gates . The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are destroyed by fire.". 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). No other biblical text is as explicit about the walls of Jerusalem as Nehemiah 3. God instructed Nehemiah to build a wall around Jerusalem to protect its citizens from enemy attack. ), Ancient Jerusalem Revealed, Jerusalem 1994, 85-106. When Nehemiah took this responsibility, by God's help and through his effective leadership, the walls of Jerusalem were rebuilt only in 52 days. His city was still located on the low southeastern hill, outside today's Old City area. INTRODUCTION: Nehemiah means "The Lord Comforts". Jerusalems walls were largely neglected by the Crusader kingdom, although moderate rebuilding activities attempted to close breaches in the walls. Although the walls size varies at different points, on average, it stands 40 feet tall and measures 8 feet thick. Returning Exiles Rebuild the Walls444 BC - 442 BC. 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. And I told no one what my God had put into my heart to do for Jerusalem. O. Lipschits, `Persian Period Finds from Jerusalem: Facts and Interpretations. The Journal of Hebrew Scriptures 9 (2009), 2-30. Despite the detailed description of walls and gates, scholars debate the actual size of the settlement in Persian times and even question whether the walls were really reconstructed. Do you know the difference between Noahs Ark & the Titanic? The call to action is the third element of Nehemiahs speech & in it Nehemiahs confidence is contagious. When Nehemiah heard that the walls of Jerusalem were broken down, he asked the king's permission to rebuild the temple of Jerusalem. A highly motivated amateur built Noahs Ark. 4th March Saturday <br>Nehemiah. In preparation for the expected Crusader siege of 1099, the walls were strengthened yet again but to little avail. Dormition Abbey, built on the foundations of a fifth-century basilica. In the 19th century, many building updates were made to the Old City, including the construction of New Gate and the filling in of the moat that surrounds the Tower of David. It seems obvious that Nehemiah wanted to restore the walls to make the city habitable again. He also made weapons and shields in abundance. xi. Such tombs belonged to wealthy families, who buried their dead there for centuries. In 1202 to 1212 Saladin's nephew, Al-Malik al-Mu'azzam 'Isa, ordered the reconstruction of the city walls, but later on, in 1219, he reconsidered the situation after most of the watchtowers had been built and had the walls torn down, mainly because he feared that the Crusaders would benefit of the fortifications if they managed to reconquer the city. 32:34). It contains three elements: identification with the people, an acknowledgement of the seriousness of the situation, & a call to action. He undertook the rebuilding of the temple and the Temple Mount on a massive scale. The narrow cobbled streets, majestic walls, Roman columns, and ancient buildings hold memories of the numerous legendary events. [1][2] The walls are visible on most old maps of Jerusalem over the last 1,500 years. Nehemiah 2:1-11. BY THE WAY, THE l in my e-mail for linda is a small L, but, it looks like it is capital l. Just letting you know. The Jerusalem Wall That Shouldnt Be There, Jerusalem Down Under: Tunneling Along Herods Temple Mount Wall, Old, New Banquet Hall by the Temple Mount. He doesnt play the visiting political official saying, You people are in a mess, & Ive come to help you. Rather he says, You see the trouble we are in, how Jerusalem lies in ruins with its gates burned. Upon hearing that the wall of Jerusalem was down and destroyed, along with the gates being burned down, Nehemiah cried. The whole Babylonian army, under the commander of the imperial guard, broke down the walls around Jerusalem. I am aware that this is only indirect evidence. Although the Temple had been rebuilt, the unwalled city of Jerusalem was not safe because of the hostility of Israel's neighbors. The answer was given during the July 20th the television program 60 Minutes which included a fascinating segment on the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. Having faith doesnt mean we ignore problems, that were blind to the facts, or that we are ignorant of what has taken place over time. 3. The Walls that Nehemiah Built: The Town of Jerusalem in the Persian Period, 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 walls were still in ruin 140 years later when Nehemiah came to Jerusalem. Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned down. When the Babylonians conquered and destroyed Jerusalem in 586 BC, they also destroyed the walls and burned the gates with fire. In some places it is impossible to continue because of the amount of debris on the slope. R. Reich, `The Ancient Burial Ground in the Mamilla Neighborhood, Jerusalem, in H. Geva (ed. This paper investigates the facts `on the ground. That the order of the buildings in the text is the same as the order `on the ground' is likely but not certain. ), Ancient Jerusalem Revealed, Jerusalem 1994, 111-118. Indeed, the walls that surround the Old City of Jerusalem today are only around 500 years old, having been constructed by Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent in the mid-16th century. 7We have offended you deeply, failing to keep the commandments, the statutes, and the ordinances that you commanded your servant Moses. R. Reich, `The Ancient Burial Ground in the Mamilla Neighborhood, Jerusalem, in H. Geva (ed. 10 And David became greater and greater, for the Lord, the God of hosts, was with him. 2006. 3They replied, The survivors there in the province who escaped captivity are in great trouble and shame; the wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been destroyed by fire., August 3, 2014 Nehemiah 6:1516: So the wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty-two days. Ironically, rather than raising peoples feelings of fear & anxiety; facing the brutal facts can have a remarkable impact on peoples confidence & motivation. This suggests that the rubble was swept down before the Late Persian period began, and that a city wall may have been built there at that time. I. Finkelstein, `Jerusalem in the Persian (and Early Hellenistic) Period and the Wall of Nehemiah, Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 32 (2008), 501-520. Who first built the walls of Jerusalem? So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of distress. It was a massive undertaking and measured around 2.5 miles (4 km.) During this time, observant Jews refrain from certain joyful activities and commemorate the destruction of the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem, as well as other historical tragedies. 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. You're . supra. The first one to announce that she had found part of the Persian city wall was the English archaeologist Kathleen Kenyon. The tower may thus have been built in the Persian period or (much) later. Even today, numerous sections of Hezekiahs wall remain visible. The identification of Jebus with Jerusalem has been disputed, principally by Niels Peter Lemche. In the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year, while I was in Susa the capital, 2 one of my brothers, Hanani, came with certain men from Judah; and I asked them about the Jews that survived, those who had escaped the captivity, and about Jerusalem. who destroyed the walls of jerusalem When Titus conquered and destroyed Jerusalem, he was putting an end to many decades of rebellion that had erupted long before his time. Or was it a small undefended settlement in which only the local temple had any significance? What good is it if you rebuild your own home but there are no city walls and no gate to prevent enemies from coming right in? According to an Assyrian stele found in the ruins of the royal palace of Nineveh, Sennacherib conquered 46 cities in Judea prior to attempting to conquer Jerusalem. ), The Summit of the City Of David Excavations 20052008; Final Reports Volume I, Area G, Jerusalem 2015, 525-538. Diana Edelman, who made an in-depth study of Jerusalem in Persian times based on biblical texts, archaeological finds and information on the Persian empire, sees Jerusalem as a birah, a small fortress used by the Persians (Edelman 2005). ), A. M. L. Steiner, `The City of David as a Palimpsest, in L. Niesioowski-Span and E. Pfoh (eds.). 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. Why take the risk and expense of hiring new people? The walls contain 34 watchtowers and seven main gates open for traffic, with two minor gates reopened by archaeologists. cit. (Courtesy Ancient Jerusalem Project). `The Borders and de Facto Size of Jerusalem in the Persian Period, in O. Lipschits and M. Oeming (eds. Why did Nebuchadnezzar destroy Jerusalem? He was born in exile and grew to become the Cupbearer of King Artaxerses of the Medo-Persian empire. Hezekiah's new wall measured about 22 feet wide (7 m.) by 25 feet high (8 m.). ), Jerusalem was not fortified until the Middle Bronze Age (c. 20001550 B.C.E.). Upon regaining the city from the Crusaders, Saladin began refortifying the walls in 1192. Archaeologist have not been silent either. He was motivated. Nehemiah 2. 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. The entire city was destroyed in 587/86 BCE during the siege led by Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. Hes a leader who leads by example & calls people to follow him. The destruction of Jerusalem's walls left its people exposed to great trouble and shame. Supporting his case, every non-biblical mention of Jerusalem found in the ancient Near East refers to the city as 'Jerusalem'. E. Mazar, The Palace of King David. on The Man Who Rebuilt Jerusalem Nehemiah 2:11-20, https://brewsterbaptistchurch.org/audio/08032014.mp3. He also made weapons and shields in abundance. Further north on the hill Kenyon found a smaller tower with part of a wall that according to her originated from the Persian era. Others conclude from the archaeological finds (or rather, the dearth thereof) that Jerusalem in Persian times was a very small settlement, not including the western hill, impoverished, unwalled, insignificant. Courtesy Nathan Steinmeyer. Then they said, Let us start building! So they committed themselves to the common good.. Independent Archaeologist What he encounters is terrifying. The city walls and gates that the Babylonians destroyed have never been rebuilt.' Nehemiah was upset. Who destroyed the walls of Jerusalem that Nehemiah rebuilt? God allowed most of Judah to be conquered but protected Jerusalem because of Hezekiahs obedience to Him. God was with David and allowed him to capture Jerusalem from the Jebusites. However, it is not easy to find out what exactly has been excavated and how biblical texts and archaeological finds relate to each other. After this destruction the wider area was largely, but not entirely, abandoned. In the second element of his speech, Nehemiah acknowledges the seriousness of the situation. Hes smart enough to know that one must have a true & accurate grasp of the facts in order to come up with a successful plan. We will soon discover that Nehemiah has a position of authority in the empire, being the 'cupbearer . In the foreground the wall that she dated to the Persian period with behind it the small tower. the southern kingdom was conquered by the Babylonians, and Solomon's Temple was destroyed. What this means is the careers of Ezra the scribe and Nehemiah the governor clearly ov. Although the Persian town walls have not been found, there are indications that they may be hidden under the later Maccabean fortifications. (between 1000 BC and 901 BC), possibly built by King Solomon, has been revealed in archaeological excavations. The job is bigger than he first suspected. They were completed in 1538 and are the walls that exist today. Under the rule of the Hasmonean dynasty, the citys walls expanded once again, to form what the Jewish historian Josephus called the First Wall. The Persian pottery underneath the tower only gives a terminus post quem, a date after which something could have happened. Next, we learn about Ezra's trip back to Jerusalem to beautify the temple. Agrippa I (r. 4144 CE) later began the construction of the Third Wall, which was completed just at the beginning of the First JewishRoman War. During its long history, Jerusalem has been destroyed twice, besieged 23 times, attacked 52 times, and captured and recaptured 44 times. Both I and my family have sinned. 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. 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) G. Barkay, Excavations at Ketef Hinnom in Jerusalem, in: In: H. Geva, (ed. A rare inscription bearing the name of the Persian King Darius the Great, a powerful monarch who ruled over much of the Near East from 522 to 486 BC, was found at Tel Lachish in central Israel this week. It was chiseled from both ends to the middle at the same time. Nehemiah, a servant of King Artaxerxes, was an Israelite who lived in the Persian city of Shushan. King David's son, Solomon, enlarged the city northward to include the area of the Temple Mount. Jennie Ebeling --Department of Archaeology and Art History, University of Evansville, Copyright 2000-2023 The Bible and Interpretation| All Rights Reserved |The University of Arizona | Developed bySBS Tech 3 And they said to me, "The remnant . The work took some four years, between 1537 and 1541. It also included the reconstruction of the temple and the restoration of the walls. Nehemiah Report from Jerusalem. The pottery she found there originated in the Persian period, which, according to her, proved that the tower itself was Persian in date and therefore part of the fortifications mentioned in Nehemiah 3. When the work does become public, the opposition begins immediately & steadily grows, escalating in intensity to the point of his enemies unsuccessfully plotting his assassination. Looking out over the walls of Jerusalem. Did archaeologists actually find the Persian city walls? ), Judah and Judeans in the Persian Period, Winona Lake 2006, 147166. But did he do it? He took the expansion of the Hasmonean Temple Mount and extended it on three sides, to the north, west, and south. Nehemiah then requested and obtained permission from Artaxerxes to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the city (Neh 2:5). In the Late Hellenistic period that construction then was rebuilt or restored and the older wall was not visible anymore. There was no animal with During the Second Temple period, especially during the Hasmonean period, the city walls were expanded and renovated, constituting what Josephus calls the First Wall. Since their walls were still broken, their enemies can easily come and destroy them. 17 Then I said to them, "You see the trouble we are in. Upon hearing that the wall of Jerusalem was down and destroyed, along with the gates being burned down, Nehemiah cried. between its two ends. Effective leadership in a time of adversity requires the wisdom & courage that result from dependence upon God, identifying with others, acknowledging the seriousness of a situation, & committing ourselves to the common good. So I went up by way of the valley by night & inspected the wall. Were seeking to build our community and to impact many more lives as we add two new full-time pastors. 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. The Jebusites had built a massive wall on the vulnerable north side of the city. Today, they are revealed in their full height and splendor, after rubble accumulated over centuries was cleared away. God has provided what is needed to get the job done. The fortification wall was constructed in the late 8th century or early 7th BCE, Israel Antiquities Authority excavation co-director Dr. Joe Uziel, who is also the head of the IAA's Dead Sea. That provided an opportunity to look underneath and behind the tower. The archaeology of the Temple Mount today confirms this enlargement. 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. The story can speak to each of us today as we desire to rebuild communities of faith and hope in the wake of the . The Old City is home to three major shrines of the world\\'s religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. That could be two years later, a hundred years later or a thousand years later. When the moment comes, Nehemiah offers one last brief prayer & shares his desire with the king & its granted. [7], At the northwest corner of the Ottoman wall, archaeologists have discovered the meager remains of a large tower, c. 35x35 metres, probably first built in the 11th century during the Fatimid period, that fell to the Franks at the end of the First Crusade in 1099, and was apparently expanded by the Ayyubids after Saladin's reconquest of the city in 1187. It took the water from the Gihon Spring under the mountain to the Pool of Siloam below the city. Happy Purim! New migrants were sent from the Persian Empire to Yehud to expand the agricultural production necessary for the army, and a governor was appointed with ancestral ties to the area (Nehemiah). Ready to walk around Jerusalems incredible walls yourself? Dig into the illuminating world of the Bible with a BAS All-Access membership. In 1981, the Jerusalem walls were added, along with the Old City of Jerusalem, to the UNESCO World Heritage Site List. Many of us dont lack the information we need to make positive changes in our lives or to live more like Jesus, what we need is the proper motivation. that Jerusalem was the seat of a Persian governor then we also know that it wasnt a complete desolation or the sort of place for which Donald Trump would have had a pungent name. After some two centuries without walls, a new set was erected around the city, probably during the reign of Emperor Diocletian, sometime between 289 and the turn of the century. 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. 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. Hezekiahs new wall measured about 22 feet wide (7 m.) by 25 feet high (8 m.). According to the Book of Nehemiah, the walls of Jerusalem lay in ruins until the fifth century B.C.E., when Nehemiah returned to Jerusalem as the provincial governor and completed the repairs of the walls that had begun under Ezra. 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. By Margreet L. Steiner Was it a walled town with a central temple, the seat of the governor, the centre of government, religion and economy? Nehemiah, also spelled Nehemias, (flourished 5th century bc), Jewish leader who supervised the rebuilding of Jerusalem in the mid-5th century bc after his release from captivity by the Persian king Artaxerxes I.Cyrus II, founder of the Achaemenian dynasty of Persia and conqueror of Babylonia, in 538 bce issued an order allowing exiled Jews to Israel Finkelstein (2008), for example, sees Jerusalem of Persian and Early Hellenistic times as a small village without walls, with at most a few hundred inhabitants. Jerusalem was, certainly in the later Persian period, more than a sparsely inhabited settlement or just a temple city without any economic or administrative significance. At our church, we face a similar task but on a smaller scale than the one Nehemiah faced. The work took some four years, between 1537 and 1541. The city walls and gates that the Babylonians destroyed have never been rebuilt.' Nehemiah was upset. How desolate Jerusalem really was, is a matter of interpretation. I. Finkelstein, `Jerusalem in the Persian (and Early Hellenistic) Period and the Wall of Nehemiah. , in I. Finkelstein, I and N. Na`aman (eds. During the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent (r. 15201566), the city of Jerusalem regained its splendor and recovered from centuries of neglect. An accurate analysis of the finds I made shows, however, that the tower and the wall date from the Late Hellenistic period and are part of the fortifications described above (for an extensive analysis see Steiner 2011). Answer (1 of 3): We know that there is a period of some thirteen years between the closing scene of Ezra and the prayer of Nehemiah in the first chapter of his book ( compare Ezra 7:8 with Nehemiah 1:1 ; 2:1 ). The Persian Empire rose to power, and they overthrew the Babylonians as the world superpower. (Courtesy Ancient Jerusalem Project). The walls were extensively renewed by the Empress Aelia Eudocia during her banishment to Jerusalem (443460). The biblical books Nehemiah 2 and 3 relay the story of Nehemiahs trip around the destroyed town of Jerusalem and of the rebuilding of its fortifications. Courtesy Nathan Steinmeyer. Did the Ancient Israelites Think Children Were People. Because Nehemiah cared so much for God's people, notice how he reacted to the news . So I went to Jerusalem and was there three days. 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. And so Nehemiah travels west to Jerusalem. Kulakov in Zaoksky<br><br>1 In the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when the wine was brought, I took the cup to the king and gave it to him. when it was destroyed by the Babylonians who conquered Jerusalem and took much of the population into exile (2 Kings 25:10). These new settlers would consist of descendants of the original exiles, but also of non-Judeans, such as retired Persian soldiers. The Broad Wall constructed by King Hezekiah (late eighth-century B.C.E.). If the original wall would have been built in the Late Hellenistic period, one would expect pottery from the Babylonian, Early and Late Persian and Early Hellenistic periods in that rubble. Nehemiah's brother came from Judah with bad news: 'The people who returned to Jerusalem are not safe. 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. The walls surrounding the Old City encompass an area of barely a third of a square mile (1 sq. night | 74 views, 3 likes, 0 loves, 3 comments, 1 shares, Facebook Watch Videos from Historic Baptist Church: Sunday Night 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. JUST WONDERING. 16 Nehemiah son of Azbuk ruled half of the district of Beth-Zur, and he rebuilt the next section of the wall. Combine a one-year tablet and print subscription to BAR with membership in the BAS Library to start your journey into the ancient past today! Since then, the walls of Jerusalem have been destroyed and rebuilt multiple times. Courtesy Nathan Steinmeyer. Then, 13 years after Ezra's trip, Nehemiah helped to rebuild Jerusalem's broken-down walls. K. A. Ristau, Reconstructing Jerusalem: Persian Period Prophetic Perspectives, University Park, Pa, 2016. Another burial ground was located in the Mamilla area, west of the current Jaffa Gate (Reich 1994). The stories as recorded in Nehemiah 3 can therefore not be correct and must date from a later period. The conquest brought some destruction followed by reconstruction, as did the reconquest by Saladin in 1187. 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. How many times was the Temple in Jerusalem destroyed and rebuilt? . If we are sure (are we, absolutely?) Its not enough to know what needs to be done; we also need the motivation to make it happen. There were lots of people who tried to stop them. And I asked them concerning the Jews who escaped, who had survived the exile, and concerning Jerusalem. This is not the last time that happened on a construction job. But is it plausible that these were repaired too by the small group of people who lived in the city after the Exile? The walls are demolished, the gates reduced to ashes. Judah and her capital were mostly in ruins, its population decimated, the economy destroyed. the walls in 586. Not every section was completed, however, and many towers were left unfinished. The oldest settlement of Jerusalem was not located in what is now called the Old City, but on the hill southeast of it. A portion of this "broad wall" still stands in today's Jewish Quarter. Many paint a dark situation, with only some 'people of the land' living in the collapsed houses and making sacrifices in the ruins of the temple. The walls were expanded again under Herod the Great (r. 374 B.C.E. Nehemiah 2:11-20, The Man Who Rebuilt Jerusalem General Allenby famously entered the city through this gate when the British captured Jerusalem during the First World War in 1917. The remnants of a wall from the time of the prophet Nehemiah have been uncovered in an archeological excavation in Jerusalem's ancient City of David, strengthening recent claims that King. the area where today's Jewish and Armenian Quarter (Jerusalem) Quarters are located. Nehemiah is commissioned to return to Jerusalem to oversee the rebuilding of the wall of Jerusalem that still laid in ruin. At the bottom of the slope she found the city walls from the Middle Bronze Age (18th century BC) and the Late Iron Age (around 700 BC).