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All in all, archaeological research has not found any actual Persian fortifications but at most indirect evidence for their construction. 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). According to Oded Lipschits (2009) Jerusalem was a temple city. Nehemiah was the cupbearer to the Persian emperor Artaxerxes I, the most powerful ruler of that time. 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. Were seeking to build our community and to impact many more lives as we add two new full-time pastors. Today, they are revealed in their full height and splendor, after rubble accumulated over centuries was cleared away. The walls were still in ruin 140 years later when Nehemiah came to Jerusalem. He was what we might call today a top security agent, like a member of the Secret Service. In the Old Testament, Nehemiah and the Israelites were asked to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem! 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. Nehemiahs life was marked by availability as a servant to an earthly ruler but in a deeper way as a servant of God. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. Many of the places mentioned cannot be identified. What is the Dung . This would imply the construction of supply and service buildings, a palace for the governor and houses for the inhabitants. 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. The Jews gained their independence from the Seleucid Empire in 164 BC, led by the Maccabees and Hasmoneans. Then I arose in the night, I and a few men with me. Courtesy Nathan Steinmeyer. 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. If HolyLandSite.com is helpful to you, and you would like to support our work, we would be deeply grateful. 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. 2 Samuel 5:610: And the king and his men went to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, who said to David, You will not come in here, but the blind and the lame will ward you offthinking, David cannot come in here. 7 Nevertheless, David took the stronghold of Zion, that is, the city of David. Nehemiah taught us how to battle discouragement (Neh. Not every section was completed, however, and many towers were left unfinished. One of Sultan Suleimans greatest projects was the restoration of the walls of Jerusalem. These texts have clearly been written for people who lived in Jerusalem and knew exactly where the constructions mentioned were located, not for later generations not acquainted with the town. 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. The rebuilding and repair of the wall was a miracle. In 1535, when Jerusalem was part of the Ottoman Empire, Sultan Suleiman I ordered the ruined city walls to be rebuilt. Nehemiah says that after his westward journey from Susa, he spent three days personally reviewing the walls so that he has firsthand knowledge & intelligence of the situation. Do you know the difference between Noahs Ark & the Titanic? 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. 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). And I told no one what my God had put into my heart to do for Jerusalem. He was motivated. The walls are demolished, the gates reduced to ashes. However, much of the southern part of the city walls were omitted in the new construction. Since then, the walls of Jerusalem have been destroyed and rebuilt multiple times. in Esther 3:7, 'in the first month, which is the month Nisan,' cf. Perhaps it rather encompasses all the destroyed city gates of Jerusalem, including those around the western hill. The walls surrounding the Old City encompass an area of barely a third of a square mile (1 sq. Why so long to rebuild the wall? Archaeological and radiocarbon dating suggests to some that this was carried out as early as the 18th century B.C.E. The pottery shows that several potteries provided the inhabitants not only with coarse utilitarian earthenware but also with vessels in Greek style and refined bowls. A book about Judah in the Babylonian era is aptly subtitled The Archaeology of Desolation (Faust 2012). 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. 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. Suffice to say there is hardly any archaeological evidence of a large population growth as a result of immigration. TWO DECREES OF ARTAXERXES King Hezekiah fortified the existing walls of the city and built a new wall in a rapid manner to protect those living outside the city walls. In some places it is impossible to continue because of the amount of debris on the slope. 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 Jerusalem Wall That Shouldnt Be There, Jerusalem Down Under: Tunneling Along Herods Temple Mount Wall, Old, New Banquet Hall by the Temple Mount. This is true in our lives as well as for Nehemiah. Nehemiah's brother came from Judah with bad news: 'The people who returned to Jerusalem are not safe. 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. And I asked them concerning the Jews who escaped, who had survived the exile, and concerning Jerusalem. D. Edelman, The Origins of the Second Temple: Persian Imperial Policy and the Rebuilding of Jerusalem, London 2005. Nehemiah 3 is even more specific. He became Governor of Judah somewhere after. Then I got up during the night, I & a few men with me; I told no one what my God had put into my heart to do for Jerusalem. 2:3). Whether the biblical stories faithfully represent this return is a problem we will pass over here. Nehemiah 2. The church faces a similar challenge. `The Borders and de Facto Size of Jerusalem in the Persian Period, in O. Lipschits and M. Oeming (eds. However, the debris only contained pottery from the Babylonian and Early Persian periods. In this respect, the description in Nehemiah 3 is correct. Like Churchill, Nehemiah begins by stating how bad the problem truly is, looking not only at the wall but at their vulnerability without it. A portion of this "broad wall" still stands in today's Jewish Quarter. Courtesy Nathan Steinmeyer. 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. Upon hearing that the wall of Jerusalem was down and destroyed, along with the gates being burned down, Nehemiah cried. You must have JavaScript enabled to use this form. One of the burial chambers contained, for instance, a silver Greek coin from the end of the 6th century BC, the Early Persian period. And David built the city all around from the Millo inward. 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. ), M. L. Steiner, `One Hundred and Fifty Years of Excavating Jerusalem, in B. Wagemakers (ed. Charles Carter (1999) also sees no problem for the Persian authorities in allowing Jerusalem to restore its fortifications. The walls were still in ruin 140 years later when Nehemiah came to Jerusalem. Hes a leader who leads by example & calls people to follow him. Whether as individuals, families, a church, a nation, or globally difficulties must be faced fully & directly. When the moment comes, Nehemiah offers one last brief prayer & shares his desire with the king & its granted. Info@splgroup.co.in Info@splgroup.co.in What this means is the careers of Ezra the scribe and Nehemiah the governor clearly ov. But he is a man of vision. But is it plausible that these were repaired too by the small group of people who lived in the city after the Exile? 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 Broad Wall constructed by King Hezekiah (late eighth-century B.C.E.). Only when Nehemiah knew all the facts did he make his final plans. When that happens, the result is often that people like Josephs brothers try to kill the visionary. 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. Just like their builder, however, the modern walls can only be described as magnificent. 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. The Old City of Jerusalem is currently divided into the Muslim, Christian, Armenian, and Jewish Quarters. Remains of its walls are located above the Siloam Tunnel. The king, who had not seen me sad before,<br><br>2 He asked, "Why is there sadness on your face? 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. So the wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty-two days. In the foreground the wall that she dated to the Persian period with behind it the small tower. This made it necessary to reinforce western Palestine, especially the provinces of Yehud and Samaria and the coastal areas (Carter 1999, 293). When the Babylonians conquered and destroyed Jerusalem in 586 BC, they also destroyed the walls and burned the gates with fire. Archaeologist have not been silent either. Arabic inscription inside Lions Gate. 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. M. L. Steiner, `The Palace of David Reconsidered in the Light of Earlier Excavations, op http://www.bibleinterp.com/articles/palace_2468.shtml (2009). when it was destroyed by the Babylonians who conquered Jerusalem and took much of the population into exile (2 Kings 25:10). But did he do it? One of the keys to rebuilding not only the wall but rebuilding community is a sense of the common good. When a church makes a positive influence in a community it is because the people who comprise it are committed to the common good & not just to their particular group or ministry. [3], The city of Jerusalem has been surrounded by defensive walls since ancient times. It was a massive undertaking and measured around 2.5 miles (4 km.) Excavations at the Summit of the City of David. 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. Nehemiah Report from Jerusalem. O. Lipschits, `Persian Period Finds from Jerusalem: Facts and Interpretations. The Journal of Hebrew Scriptures 9 (2009), 2-30. This page was last edited on 2 March 2023, at 19:52. Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned down. G. Barkay, Excavations at Ketef Hinnom in Jerusalem, in: In: H. Geva, (ed.). If Persian pottery was found underneath the tower, this means that the tower itself was built later. In an individual life, then, the rebuilding of the walls would be a picture of re-establishing the strength of that life. Since their walls were still broken, their enemies can easily come and destroy them. supra. Nehemiah's brother came from Judah with bad news: 'The people who returned to Jerusalem are not safe. DepartmentBldg Tucson, AZ 85721 TEL 520-621-6897 FAX 520-626-9014. the southern kingdom was conquered by the Babylonians, and Solomon's Temple was destroyed. The Jews were allowed to return to Jerusalem by the end of the 5th B.C. Was it a walled town with a central temple, the seat of the governor, the centre of government, religion and economy? Because Nehemiah cared so much for God's people, notice how he reacted to the news . 2011, 307-17. 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. Courtesy Nathan Steinmeyer. But when Sanballat the Horonite & Tobiah the Ammonite official, & Geshem the Arab heard of it, they mocked & ridiculed us, saying, What is this that you are doing? Upon hearing that the wall of Jerusalem was down and destroyed, along with the gates being burned down, Nehemiah cried. It also included the reconstruction of the temple and the restoration of the walls. 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. The work took some four years, between 1537 and 1541. Under Nehemiahs inspirational leadership the people completed the rebuilding project in only 52 days. The walls of Jerusalem were once again destroyed during the Crusader conquest of the city in 1099. 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. The walls contain 34 watchtowers and seven main gates . Who destroyed the walls of Jerusalem that Nehemiah rebuilt? He leaves the settlement through the Valley Gate and then rides on his donkey in the direction of the Jackal Well and Dung Gate. How long did it take Nehemiah to rebuild the wall? These walls were largely destroyed in 1033, however, when a major earthquake struck the city. (Photo Chamberi / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)). Because Nehemiah sees what others cannot, he issues a call to action. 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. Nehemiah then requested and obtained permission from Artaxerxes to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the city (Neh 2:5). Then they said, Let us start building! So they committed themselves to the common good. Herod Agrippa (r. 4144 C.E.) Nehemiah begins with a moonlit tour of the walls to assess the damage & the scope of the work to be done. Hezekiah's new wall measured about 22 feet wide (7 m.) by 25 feet high (8 m.). In April of 445 B.C., after a prayer period of four months, Nehemiah speaks with the king. Around the city several tombs carved into the rock have been found that show a continuity from the Late Iron Age onwards. The Byzantine walls mostly followed the lines and foundations of the earlier walls from the Second Temple period. [4] Also in the Amarna letters, it is called Beth-Shalem, the house of Shalem.[5]. 10 And David became greater and greater, for the Lord, the God of hosts, was with him. 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).