Jerusalem, Solomon's kilometer
Jerusalem
Solomon's kilometer
Solomon's Jerusalem was just a kilometer long, north to south. It extended from the Temple hilltop to the Hinnom Valley, which lay below the City of David at the southern bottom of the ridge. A kilometer is just three-quarters of mile. But in Solomon's day, Jerusalem, with it's first Jewish Temple and a new palace, became quite the attraction. Perhaps Solomon's most famous guest was the Queen of Sheba, wherever Sheba was. Scholars can only guess.Jerusalem Temple on bedrock
Solomon built his Temple on bedrock at the top of the ridge. Some people today call that hill the Temple Mount. King David lived down the hill in the City of David. It was a smaller, walled city below the top of the ridge.Solomon's pagan shrine
"Solomon built a hilltop shrine for worshiping Chemosh, god of Moab. And on the Mount of Olives, the ridge of hills east of Jerusalem, he built a shrine to worship Molech, another repulsive god of Ammon. He built similar places of worship for all his foreign wives, so they could continue worshiping their own gods by burning incense and offering sacrifices" (1 Kings 11:7-8, Casual English Bible).Jerusalem, uphill, upgraded, upended
Solomon's Temple lasted 400 years, a tad beyond expectations of "builder's grade." Babylonian invaders from what is now southern Iraq destroyed it and the entire city in 586 BC.Jews deported
Babylonians exiled the surviving Jews to what are now Iraq and Iran. Persians of Iran conquered the Babylonians 50 years later and freed the Jews to go home. They rebuilt an apparently more modest Temple in 516 BC. That means from 586-516 BC, Jews had lived without a Jerusalem worship center for 70 years. Then, 70 years after they built the second Temple, Nehemiah, a Jewish winetaster for the Persian king, got permission to go to Jerusalem and repair the walls. He served there as governor for about 13 years.For Bible features
Stephen M. Miller's website and The Casual English BibleTemple Mount in Jerusalem
Temple Mount in Jerusalem
Temple Mount in Jerusalem
The Temple Mount is at the rocky top of the ridge on which Jews built their Jerusalem Temple. King David lived down the hill in the City of David, a walled city below the top of the ridge. His son and successor, Solomon, expanded the city north, to the Temple Mount, where he built the first Jewish Temple. Babylonian invaders destroyed it and the entire city about 400 years later, in 586 BC. They exiled the surviving Jews. Persians conquered the Babylonians 50 years later and freed the Jews to go home. They rebuilt the Temple in 516 BC. So, they had lived without a Jerusalem worship center for 70 years. Then, 70 years after they built the second Temple, Nehemiah, a Jewish winetaster for the Persian king, got permission to go to Jerusalem and repair the walls. He served there as governor for about 13 years.Nehemiah rebuilds walls of Jerusalem
Nehemiah rebuilds walls of Jerusalem
Nehemiah rebuilt walls, gates of Jerusalem
Nehemiah is one odd story. He’s a Jew serving wine to a Persian king in what is now Iran. Who saw that coming? The king, Artaxerxes, trusts this Jewish man with his life. How did Nehemiah get there? Likely he was the descendant of Jews taken captive to Babylon (Iraq) about 150 years earlier, when Babylon leveled Jerusalem and other cities and took the Jews captive. About 50 years later, Persia (Iran) defeated Babylon and freed the Jews and other captives to go home. But many Jews stayed because they grew up in exile. Iraq and Iran was the only homeland they knew. Yet, many returned to the land of their ancestors to rebuild Jerusalem and the other cities. Nehemiah gets word that Jerusalem’s walls are still broken down and the city gates are gone. It’s a city undefended. He can’t believe it. By this time, Jews have had about 90 years to fix those walls.Winetaster becomes city builder
So, Nehemiah talks the king into giving him a 12-year leave of absence so he can repair the walls. It certainly seems odd that the king would grant his winetaster’s Big Ask. Yet the king also agrees to give him the wood for the job, sends him with a detachment of soldiers as an escort, and then appoints him governor over the Jewish province of Judah. That’s what the southern Jewish nation of Judah had become, a Persian province ruled by a Persian king who even chose the songs Jews could sing at the Temple (Nehemiah 11:23). Earlier, when Babylon exiled Jews from their homeland, settlers moved in. They hated the idea of Jews returning to power because it meant the Jews would try to take back the land and get rid of everyone else. Nehemiah had 12 years to fix the walls. It took him 52 days. Nehemiah rallied Jerusalem-area Jews to join the work. They felt the clock sands slipping away while their neighbors plotted to stop the work. Murdering Nehemiah seems to have been one plan on the table. Attacking the work crew was another. Jewish construction workers carried their weapons on the job in daylight, guarded the walls all night, and didn’t get much sleep during those 52 days and nights. Nehemiah spent the rest of his 12-year leave reminding the people what it meant to be Jewish. They studied the Laws of Moses that we read today as the first five books in the Bible.JERUSALEM’S WALL BUILDERS: ROLL CREDITS
NEHEMIAH’S MOTLEY CONSTRUCTION CREW
Nehemiah 3 1Teams of people worked together repairing different parts of Jerusalem’s damaged wall and destroyed gates. SHEEP GATE. Elisheba the high priest worked alongside other priests to rebuild the Sheep Gate. Then they built the doors, set them in place, and dedicated the entire area to God. They did this all the way from the Tower of the Hundred to the Tower of the Hananel. 2WALL. Jericho men worked on the wall beside the gate. Zaccur son of Imri worked just beyond them. 3FISH GATE. Hassenaah’s sons built the Fish Gate. They set in the door and placed the beams, bolts, and bars. 4WALL. Meremoth worked beside them on wall repairs. He was the son of Uriah and grandson of Hakkoz. 5WALL. People from the village of Tekoa made repairs. But their noble leaders wouldn’t stoop to manual labor—even for the Lord. It was beneath them.More
Jerusalem walls, gates in time of Nehemiah
