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. Inside the fosse moat of the Tower of David. Since their walls were still broken, their enemies can easily come and destroy them. ), Judah and Judeans in the Persian Period, Winona Lake 2006, 147166. Arabic inscription inside Lions Gate. Charles Carter (1999) also sees no problem for the Persian authorities in allowing Jerusalem to restore its fortifications. But is it plausible that these were repaired too by the small group of people who lived in the city after the Exile? TWO DECREES OF ARTAXERXES After Jerusalem fell to the Umayyads in 638 C.E., the citys Byzantine walls saw major repairs, and large parts of the Tower of David and the walls around the Temple Mount were constructed. Although eight gates can be seen along the walls, only seven are in use today. Nehemiah knows there will be opposition so he waits to share what God has put on his heart to do. Suffice to say there is hardly any archaeological evidence of a large population growth as a result of immigration. How desolate Jerusalem really was, is a matter of interpretation. , in I. Finkelstein, I and N. Na`aman (eds. A whole series of publications on Jerusalem in the Persian period has seen the light of day. Upon hearing that the wall of Jerusalem was down and destroyed, along with the gates being burned down, Nehemiah cried. The narrow cobbled streets, majestic walls, Roman columns, and ancient buildings hold memories of the numerous legendary events. It was called Hezekiahs Broad Wall by archaeologists because of its width. During the First Temple period the city walls were extended to include the northwest hill as well, i.e. 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. The Persian material included a bronze mirror, silver rings, an Egyptian jar made of faience and an Attic jug - all luxury items, probably imported. Sign up to receive our email newsletter and never miss an update. He leaves the settlement through the Valley Gate and then rides on his donkey in the direction of the Jackal Well and Dung Gate. This would be the largest area the city walls would encompass. October 2021. In 70 CE, as a result of the Roman siege during the First JewishRoman War, the walls were almost completely destroyed. Another point is the size and function of Jerusalem during the Persian period. Hezekiahs Broad Wall Expansion of the Western Hill. Recent ones include Finkelstein 2008, Lipschits 2009, Ristau 2016, and Ussishkin 2006. Nehemiah's brother came from Judah with bad news: 'The people who returned to Jerusalem are not safe. May the joy of the Lord be your strength. in Esther 3:7, 'in the first month, which is the month Nisan,' cf. 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. J.E. Villages still supplied grain and other products, governors were appointed, residing first in Mizpa and later in Jerusalem, and for many people life will have taken its traditional course. The job is bigger than he first suspected. The pagan Roman city, Aelia Capitolina, which was built after 130 by Emperor Hadrian, was at first left without protective walls. Why is a broken-down wall such a big deal? 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. Why did Nebuchadnezzar destroy Jerusalem? He was what we might call today a top security agent, like a member of the Secret Service. M. L. Steiner, `The City of David as a Palimpsest, in L. Niesioowski-Span and E. Pfoh (eds. Very little material has been unearthed from Persian times, and what has been found is difficult to date with precision. Another burial ground was located in the Mamilla area, west of the current Jaffa Gate (Reich 1994). 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 ). Then I said to them, You see the trouble we are in, how Jerusalem lies in ruins with its gates burned. O. Lipschits, Y. Gadot et al., `Palace and Village, Paradise and Oblivion: Unraveling the Riddles of Ramat Rael, Near Eastern Archaeology 74 (2011), 1-49. ), Ancient Jerusalem Revealed, Jerusalem 1994, 111-118. 32:34). 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. Unlike Joseph in Genesis, he didnt make the mistake of revealing Gods vision too soon. [3], The city of Jerusalem has been surrounded by defensive walls since ancient times. Several tombs have been found here with finds from the Iron Age unto the Hellenistic period. By submitting above, you agree to our privacy policy. For if I rebuild what I have once destroyed, I prove myself to be a transgressor. Hes a leader who leads by example & calls people to follow him. Nehemiah 2. ), The Summit of the City Of David Excavations 20052008; Final Reports Volume I, Area G, Jerusalem 2015, 525-538. 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. In the 16th century, Suleiman decided to rebuild the city walls on much of the remains of the ancient walls that already existed. The walls were still in ruin 140 years later when Nehemiah came to Jerusalem. Explore this wonder for yourself with this short video tour atop the walls of Jerusalem, led by Biblical Archaeology Review assistant editor Nathan Steinmeyer. 3 And they said to me, The remnant there in the province who had survived the exile is in great trouble and shame. Some attention, but how much? His city was still located on the low southeastern hill, outside today's Old City area. At the foot of the tower and wall was a thick layer of stony debris containing Babylonian and Persian pottery. 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. This fortress housed the governor of Yehud together with a garrison of soldiers and their families, as well as local service personnel and merchants. Why so long to rebuild the wall? What a wealth of information on the lay-out of Jerusalem in Persian times! The city walls and its fortress provided additional protection. 7We have offended you deeply, failing to keep the commandments, the statutes, and the ordinances that you commanded your servant Moses. By Margreet L. Steiner The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are destroyed by fire.". The Persian king even gives Nehemiah an armed escort and resources to fulfll the project of the walls. 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. Like Churchill, Nehemiah begins by stating how bad the problem truly is, looking not only at the wall but at their vulnerability without it. And I asked them concerning the Jews who escaped, who had survived the exile, and concerning Jerusalem. In the Middle Bronze Age, a period also known in biblical terms as the era of the Patriarchs, a city named Jebus was built on the southeastern hill of Jerusalem, relatively small (50,000 square meters) but well fortified. Courtesy Nathan Steinmeyer. Happy Purim! 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. Nehemiah 1:13: Now it happened in the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Susa the citadel, 2 that Hanani, one of my brothers, came with certain men from Judah. I have been to Jerusalem but did not walk the walls. In the darkest days of World War Two when Great Britain stood alone against the Nazis, Winston Churchill came into leadership as Prime Minister at arguably the lowest & most difficult time in his nations history. When Nehemiah took this responsibility, by God's help and through his effective leadership, the walls of Jerusalem were rebuilt only in 52 days. 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. This wall would remain in use until 586 B.C.E. Dig into the illuminating world of the Bible with a BAS All-Access membership. The archaeology of the Temple Mount today confirms this enlargement. In the Late Hellenistic period that construction then was rebuilt or restored and the older wall was not visible anymore. 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. King Darius is mentioned by name in the Bible in the books Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, Haggai and Zechariah. Was any town wall of the Persian period ever excavated? Nehemiah was a servant of God & a servant of Gods people. Tisha B'Av: The 9th of Av is observed as a fast day known as Tisha B'Av, which commemorates the destruction of the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem. He can see that rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem is a restoration job on several levels. Eventually he returns through the Valley Gate. Temple Of Jerusalem - Description, History, Of major importance was the rebuilding of the Second Temple begun by Herod the Great, king (37 bce -4 ce) of Judaea. Fortifying the town would certainly not have been tolerated by the Persian authorities, and the story as told in the biblical book of Nehemiah would be a much later construction. `The Borders and de Facto Size of Jerusalem in the Persian Period, in O. Lipschits and M. Oeming (eds. 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. This paper investigates the facts `on the ground. Nebuchadnezzar The walls of Jerusalem had been destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar in 586 BC. Because Nehemiah cared so much for God's people, notice how he reacted to the news . 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. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, so that we will no longer be a disgrace . Supported by: Under his leadership and with a small Jewish population, the walls of Jerusalem were rebuilt to dimensions similar to Solomons day. In the Old Testament, Nehemiah and the Israelites were asked to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem! During this time, known as the Hasmonean period (16463 BC), Jerusalem was rebuilt along with its walls. The tower may thus have been built in the Persian period or (much) later. We will soon discover that Nehemiah has a position of authority in the empire, being the 'cupbearer . Nehemiah 2:11-20, The Man Who Rebuilt Jerusalem God allowed most of Judah to be conquered but protected Jerusalem because of Hezekiahs obedience to Him. Who destroyed the wall that Nehemiah rebuilt? Even though he had an important job in the palace of the king, he has given that up to take on a dangerous job in a city that has been ruined by war. Unfortunately, the Bible texts remain vague on the exact location of these structures. Ancient foundations of the walls of Jerusalem. Because Nehemiah sees what others cannot, he issues a call to action. 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. Spoiler alert: there are as many opinions as there are scholars, and the archaeological evidence is meagre. This opposition doesn't stop the children of Israel, as they work with weapons in hand. PayPal does not require you to create a PayPal account to use your credit card. Nehemiah 6:1516: So the wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty-two days. Remains of its walls are located above the Siloam Tunnel. supra. The Jews were allowed to return to Jerusalem by the end of the 5th B.C. In 701 BC, the Assyrians, headed by Sennacherib invaded Judah, the Southern Kingdom of Israel, because of their disobedience to God. [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. In this map the walls surround the southeastern hill and the Temple Mount only; it is assumed that other parts of the Late Iron Age city were not reconstructed. In April of 445 B.C., after a prayer period of four months, Nehemiah speaks with the king. 3 And they said to me, "The remnant . 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.