The First Temple Period - Essay Example

The Temple built by Solomon in Jerusalem earmarks the First Temple Period (1000BCE- 586) although this had actually commenced with his father, King David, displacing the native inhabitant of Jerusalem, the Jebusites, and renaming the place as the city of David. For a long time after this the Israelites enjoyed peaceful time in Jerusalem until the rise of the Assyrian empire in the 9th century BCE. The rise of the Assyrian empire and its invasions of the Israelites' states led to significant changes in the social structure of Jerusalem and helped spread the new Canaanite religion to Jerusalem, thus introducing foreign elements into the ancient Israelite religion for the very first time. Later, the rise and the invasions of the Babylonian empire, which eventually led to the destruction of the First Temple in the 6th century BCE, had brought about even more social changes and climaxed into a complete crisis of faith for the Israelites' religion, which was unprecedented. At the start of the First Temple Period, when Jerusalem was ruled by King David and Solomon, people tended to be faithful to one and only one God, the God who had blessed Abraham and his descendents. Alongside Jerusalem was also an independent regional power. However, invasions from foreign empires completely demolished Jerusalem's importance in the area and deeply affected almost all aspect of the people's lifestyles, especially social structures and their religious outlook. To understand the effects of foreign invasions on Jerusalem and on the ancient Israelites living there, one needs to go through the history of the Israelites in Jerusalem. The Israelites were associated with Jerusalem ever since the historical conquest of this place in 1000 BCE by King David as described in the second book of Samuel (NRSV, 2 Samuel 5:6-10). It is mentioned in the book that King David acquired control of the city of Zion. In addition, the accounts in the first book of Chronicles tell us that it was Joab, a kinsman of David, who led the war against Jerusalem (1 Chronicles 2: 4-8). Thus the conquest of Jerusalem helped unite the northern Israelite tribe with the southern Israelite tribe because Jerusalem, which was inhabited by the alien Jebusites, was the only physical barrier separating the two tribes (Kenyon 1967: 54). The unification of the two tribes strengthened the power of the Israelites and allowed for their expansions. Known for his ability to wage war, King David defeated a lot of neighboring cities and extended his control far beyond the limits of Jerusalem, and made thus conquered neighboring cities to pay tribute to him (Burke 2007: 1/12). He sent his forces east across Jordan as far as Damascus and Zobah, and subdued the Ammonites, Moabites, Edomites, and Amalekites. During King David's reign, the Israelites were in control of territories running from Kadesh in Syria to Ezion-geber at the head of the Gulf of Aqabah (Orlinsky 1964: 61). Even the Phoenicians agreed to provide the Israelites with skilled engineers and craftsmen in return for their protection (Orlinsky 1964: 63). King David 's son Solomon, who is famed for his wisdom, kept up the diplomatic relationship with the other cities that were begun by his father. Thus under Solomon's reign, Jerusalem returned to more peace and had strong trading links with its neighbors. Solomon even perfected and extended the administrative organization installed by his father (1 Kings 4), and was, thus, able to collect more taxes and recruit more labor (Orlinsky 1964: 72). Solomon also built the Temple on the Temple Mount, which later became the center of faith and acted as the axis mundi, connecting the heaven, the earth, and the underworld. The periods ruled by King David and King Solomon are still considered as the golden ages of Jerusalem. It was a great achievement that in mere fifty years, David and Solomon had built the kingdom of Israel from out of a loose tribe, creating an administrative organization, although this kingdom did not last very long (Kenyon 1967: 58). It was during the later period of Solomon's regime that the decline of the kingdom began. Immediately after Solomon's reign ended, this ancient Israelite kingdom was split up into two separate and antagonistic kingdoms between the two sons of Solomon. The northern kingdom, in close contact with other Canaanite cities, was ruled by Jeroboam and was known as Israel or Samaria while the southern kingdom, which contained Jerusalem, was known as Judah, and was ruled by Rehoboam. Even though both the Judean Kingdoms remained faithful to their religion, the people in Israel had built other temples and had started worshipping Canaanite deities in addition to the ancient Israelite deity, Yahweh. However, it is important to note that even though the people in the northern kingdom worshipped Yahweh and other Canaanite deities in their temples, the Temple in Jerusalem continued to be the most holy place of worship for most people in Israel. The king of Israel, Jeroboam, even had to go to the extent of stationing border guards to discourage his subjects to cross the border and worship in the Temple (Klein 1986: 59). Although the ancient Israelite kingdom had divided into two smaller kingdoms, and sporadic fighting often occurred between the kingdoms, they largely managed to coexist (Comay 1975: 63). Nor were any major wars were waged against these kingdoms by any foreign power. Thus the people living in these two kingdoms continued to live peacefully for almost another century until the rise of the Assyrian empire in the 9th century BCE. In 853 BCE, the Assyrian empire began expanding westward from Mesopotamia and attacked the northern kingdom. Wars were waged against Israel later in 845 BCE, 841 BCE, and 838 BCE, and the capital of Israel, Samaria, finally fell at 722BCE to Assyrians which led to a series of changes in the southern kingdom, Judean. After the fall of Samaria, refugees from the Northern kingdom fled to the south and to Jerusalem. In this period the demographics of Jerusalem altered completely. It is estimated that before the fall of Samaria, there were about 8,000 people living in Jerusalem, and within a few years after the fall of Samaria, the population of Jerusalem increased to around 40,000 (Burke 2007: 1/23). This increase in population caused significant impact on the social fabric of Jerusalem. For one, fearing Assyrians, most of the people moved to the inner parts of the city, where walls were built for increased security. This resulted in disappearance of small villages outside such walls. During this period, and as natural reaction to more people living within its confines, the city itself grew rapidly and expanded westward with new walls being built. Archeological evidence shows that there are remains of repaired walls dated to the period of Hezekiah (Kenyon 1967: 69). It was also during this period that a massive water tunnel, the Siloam tunnel, was built, probably to guarantee the flow of water from the spring to the city at times of siege (Kenyon 1967). The increase in the number of people living in the city also led to urbanization and industrialization of the city. This, in turn, led to growth in the olive industry. Records indicate that in these periods Jerusalem produced about 1,000 tons of olives annually. Industrialization also led to the rise of different social class structure in Jerusalem, which included the appearance of the class of craftsmen (Burke 2007: 1/25). However, the influx of the refugees from the north in Jerusalem also caused problems in Jerusalem's social structure. For instance, most people who had fled to Jerusalem either had their family members killed or exiled by the Assyrians, and Jerusalem now had these refugees living in nuclear families. Thus the concept of extended and joint families was greatly undermined in Jerusalem. Even though the Israelites and the Judeans spoke the same language and shared the same ancestors, they could not live together for more than a century. Some factors caused this rupture. For instance, the people of the northern kingdom tended to lead a more urban and cosmopolitan city life when compared to the original inhabitants of Jerusalem. This was because of the fact that Jerusalem was not connected to any other cities and bypassed all major routes whereas the cities of Israel were in close contact with other Canaanite cities. So when the people of such different exposures and backgrounds ,though descendants from the same ancestors, came to coexist, some found themselves alienated, while others suffered identity crisis (Burke 2007: 1/25). The population increase in Jerusalem also left deep imprints on the ancient Israelite religion in Jerusalem. The people who had arrived from the northern kingdom to Jerusalem brought the Canaanite religion with them. While on one hand, this influenced some people living in Jerusalem to practice Canaanite religion; on the other hand, it created serious conflicts with believers of the ancient Israelite religion in which Yahweh is the only God to be worshipped. Therefore the theological justification on the fall of Israel emerged which stated that the fall was the judgment of God because the people living in Israel were worshipping foreign Canaanite deities. The inhabitants of Jerusalem were pulled by two opposite influences; on the one had they had to appease Assyrians and embrace some elements of the Canaanite religious elements, and, on the other they had to devise ways to purify the ancient Israelite religion and to strengthen the people's faith in Yahweh. This led to emergence of some religious movements .One of the religious movements was lead by King Hezekiah, who ruled from 715-689 BCE, and another more vigorous movement was lead by his great grandson, Josiah, who ruled from 640-609 BCE. At the time of Hezekiah, there were already many shrines and temples dedicated to the various deities built in Jerusalem. Thus, King Hezekiah "removed the high places, broke down the pillars, and cut down the sacred pole." He even took actions against ancient relics like Moses' bronze serpent, which had become one of the focal points for idolatry (2 Kings 18:1-4). The period ruled by Hezekiah was known as the 2nd golden age, and Hezekiah was referred to as 2nd David by some people. He was indeed the last king of Judah as Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, was evidently a tribute-paying vassal of the Assyria. Manasseh's name was found in Assyrian inscriptions along with the kings of Moab and Edom as supervisors, or perhaps as hostage (Gray 1969: 97). After the reign of Hezekiah, people once again began worshipping other Canaanite deities under the rule of Manasseh. Manasseh "rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had destroyed; he erected altars for Baal," and even built altars for other Gods in "the house of the Lord" (2 Kings 21: 2-5). Perhaps making amends for what Manasseh had done to the ancient religion, Josiah carried out more vigorous religious reforms when he ascended the throne. He asked the people to repair the Temple, and after he found the book of "law" in the Temple, he gathered all the inhabitants of Jerusalem and read the book to them. Josiah succeeded much more than his great-grandfather in abolishing cultic activities. Not only did he abolish cultic activities within Jerusalem, but he also restricted these activities outside Jerusalem (Goldhill 2005: 24). He ordered for removal of everything that was found in the Temple that did not belong to Yahweh and burnt them in the fields of Kidron valley (2 Kings 23: 1-4), and limited all religions' service to God in one place- the First Temple built by Solomon (Goldhill 2005: 24). His efforts of bringing back the glorious days of David and Solomon to the united kingdom of Israel and Judah failed when he was killed in a battle against the Egyptians in 609 BCE (Gary 1969: 97). His efforts of directing the people back to the laws and teachings from the ancient Israelites initially succeeded, but failed with his death. The Canaanite religions made their return after Josiah. The invasions of the Assyrians and the capture of the capital of Israel changed the way people lived in Jerusalem, and introduced the Canaanite religions into Jerusalem. This, in turn, gave rise to a series of religious movements in this period. These changes persisted and became a pattern after the fall of Assyrian empire, when the Babylonians entered the picture and took over the Assyrian empire in the 6th century BCE. Babylonians were under the control of the Assyrian empire till the late 6th century BCE. They successfully drove out the Assyrians from their capital, Babylon, and captured the capital of the Assyrian empire, Nineveh, in 612 BCE. After the Assyrian empire collapsed, the Egyptians tried to fill in the power vacuum in the Levant. However, in 605 BCE, Pharaoh Necho was defeated by Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, at Carchemish (Kenyon 1967: 104). Thus the Babylonians succeeded the Assyrian empire and continued to assert control over the area of Philistine and Syria. Nebuchadnezzar (605-562 BCE) waged a few wars against Judah during his reign. In response to a revolt in 597 BCE, Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem, deported the king of Judah, Jehoiachin, along with elites of the city, to Babylon, and set Zedekiah on the throne. The number of people captured and sent to Babylon is about 10,000 (2 Kings 24: 16). Nebuchadnezzar's intention was clearly to disarm Judah rather than to destroy the place as there is no hint of mass execution (Asali 1989: 64). However, when Judah revolted again later in 586 BCE, Nebuchadnezzar sent his army to Jerusalem and completely destroyed the city together with the symbol of faith, the First Temple. In the biblical account, described in the second book of Kings, King Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem with all his army, cutting the people away from food sources, burning down all great houses, and exiling almost all of the people from the city ,and leaving behind only the poorest (2 Kings 25: 8-12). The magnitude of impact on Jerusalem inflicted by the Babylonians was much greater than the impact that the Assyrians had caused centuries ago. First of all, the Assyrians had never actually captured Jerusalem as the Babylonians had done; they had only annihilated the northern kingdom. The destruction of the northern kingdom led to the increase of population in Jerusalem, but the destruction of the southern kingdom by the Babylonians, greatly reduced the population in Jerusalem. This decrease in Jerusalem's population was probably because of the armed attack on the city and tactics of attackers in setting to fire the whole of city. Mass deportations of the people left out in the city also, perhaps, reduced the number of inhabitants of the city. The complete destruction of the city, together with the depopulation of the city, resulted in grave economic devastation. Although the city was not completely abandoned, only the poorest were left to live there. However, the impact of this capture on the ancient Israelite religion was greater. It was the first time in history that the city and the Temple were completely destroyed. The Jewish people had the belief that they were protected by God, as God had promised to their ancestor Abraham. They also thought that God had given the land of Jerusalem to them (2 Samuel 7:10). The complete destruction of the city and the exile of the people from the city had shaken their faith. What happened to God's promises Why did God abandon them The people must have thought about these questions. The destruction of the Temple was even harder to accept. The Temple is the dwelling place of God. So even if God abandoned his people, God should not allow his dwelling place to be destroyed, unless he did not have the power to stop that from happening. These thoughts, perhaps, shook faith. Thus the destruction of the Temple by the Babylonians marked the end of the First Temple Period, leaving behind a destroyed city and people who had lost faith in their religion. Within a matter of a few centuries, the ancient Israelites who lived in Jerusalem had gone through golden ages, ruled by King David and King Solomon, to a period of darkness ruled by foreign empires. The invasion of these foreign empires and the eventual destruction of the Jerusalem and the Temple not only caused significant changes to the social structure of Jerusalem, but also changed the way how the Israelites view their own religion. The entire history of Jerusalem in the First Temple period until the destruction of the temple can be summarized as a struggle between the monotheistic ancient Israelite religion and the polytheistic Canaanite religion. The destruction of the temple put a stop to the conflicts of the religions though it shook the fundamental beliefs of the ancient Israelite religion. Read More