1/13 Lecture

Today, we finally delved into the history of Jerusalem.
Canaanite Jerusalem represents pre-Israelite Jerusalem, from the early history to about 1000 BCE. What was most noteworthy about Jerusalem's early history was the fact that it had an early history. I have always perceived Jerusalem as the Holy City central to many religions, but did not even imagine that Jerusalem existed even prior to the emergence of those religions. The evidence from early settlement came from non-Biblical texts, such as ritual curse texts and the Amarna letter.


The early Biblical accounts of Jerusalem from Joshua tells the successful accounts of Israelites driving out all their enemies--Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites and Jebusites--and the Lord fulfilling His promise, but a big problem arises when the Israelites re-encounter the same peoples that they have supposedly driven out in the books following Joshua, such as Judges, Samuel, and Chronicles, and even in the book of Joshua. From this textual contradiction, three different theories arise on how the Israelites got to Jerusalem:
1. conquest/Non-conquest: they were suddenly there
2. immigration: they were slowly there
3. Canaanite city - mixed ethnic origins: they were always there


What's important at the end of it all is not the contradictions within Biblical texts but the idea that peoples of different religious and cultural origins were present before the Israelites settled and that somehow Israelites ended up in Jerusalem and started an entirely new history there--Davidian Jerusalem.


David, the hero in the timeless David&Goliath story, had been a mythical character only exiting in the Bible until the Tel Dan Inscription was excavated. It was the first extra-Biblical evidence that recognized the existence of "House of David." Although it does not prove that David actually exited, that there were a group of people that called themselves the "House of David" is still a worthy piece of evidence. 


Looking at religious texts and information with the eyes of a scientist, archaeologist, and scholar continues to bring engaging insights. What other interesting historical and archaeological facts Davidian Jerusalem has to unveil, next week's lectures await...