We started the lecture talking about Jerusalem before David. Dr. Cargill told us that the city had been undergoing a series of settlement for over 6000 years. The Bronze Age, namely the time before David, was characterized with several scriptures that make reference to this place before the time of David. Such scriptures are the Amarna letters and the excretion texts (which refer to Rusalimum, which means Jerusalem). These Amarna letters make reference to Jerusalem by way of Cuneiform tablets. These mainly were a form of Suzarein/Vassal treaties, which are when a strong country vows to protect a smaller one from another country for compensation.
We also went over some contradictions that are found in the bible, such as in Joshua, where he has to fight the Jebusites and kill them all because god told him to. Another portion of Joshua and also in Judges we see that there where they are not able to remove the people from Jerusalem and how somehow the people that were supposed to be dead had returned.
We then discussed how Israelites would have gotten there in the first place. Theories include: conquest/non-conquest, immigration, and a racial mixing over time. The ladder theory happens to be the most favored.
We then talked about David's Jerusalem, which is called the Iron age. We then went over the David and Goliath story how David kills Goliath by hitting him with a rock and then cutting his head off. The City of David is found in between two valleys, south of the Temple mount. He then explained the Millo and the House of Bullae. We ended by talking about how the existence of David is actually debated. Did he really exist?
No comments:
Post a Comment