Lecture entitled “Jerusalem in the Iron Age”

Al-Sharq Center for Research and Culture presents the fourth lecture of the Jerusalem History series, which is prepared and presented by Dr. Issam Adwan, President of the Center.

(Full video below the article)

Jerusalem in the Iron Age:

This era in Palestine witnessed climatic, military, political and social transformations, It experienced a severe drought in which the percentage of rainfall decreased, and temperatures rose, which led to food shortages, and the destruction of some Canaanite cities, This was accompanied by the seizure by the Palestinian tribes of the Canaanite coastal cities stretching from Gaza to Jaffa. The Hebrew tribes infiltrated the interior regions, especially the mountainous regions of Canaan.

Jerusalem during the reign of King David:

• After assuming the throne of the kingdom (1004-963 BC), David succeeded in expanding its borders at the expense of other states in Palestine. He also succeeded in capturing Jebusite Jerusalem, And make it the capital of his kingdom. Jerusalem was a Jebusite-Canaanite city populated by the Jebusites. And there was no Jew in it before David occupied it. This is confirmed by a dialogue between a Hebrew from Mount Hebron and his boy, The boy said to his master when he caught the sunset near Jerusalem: (Let’s lean to this Jebusite city, And his master said unto him: Don’t tend to a strange city, No one of the Israelites is here.)

• Nor did it become a purely Jewish city after David’s occupation of it. Its Jebusite people remained in it according to what is mentioned in several places in the Book of Judges, which mentions that its Canaanite people accepted to pay tribute in exchange for remaining in their land. This refutes their current claims that: It is the city of David and their eternal capital. (Bible, Travel of judges, Chapter One, AM: 281، 380، and chapter nineteen.

Continue in a lecture entitled “Jerusalem in the Iron Age”

Jerusalem during the reign of King Solomon:

• Solomon succeeded his father David on the throne of the kingdom, His reign extended about 30 years from (963-933 BC) and historical references indicate that he was famous for his commercial, industrial and urban achievements. So he extracted minerals, and their use in the manufacture of weapons and household items, And he built himself a palace, He built a temple in the city of Jerusalem, However, archaeological excavations have not proven any of this. His kingdom seems to have shrunk at the end of his reign, And that people are fed up with the system of forced labor that he imposed on them, This led to the division of the kingdom under his successor Rehoboam. whom ten of the Israeli tribes refused to recognize as their king, Because of his young age and recklessness, It formed the Kingdom of Israel with Shechem or Samaria as its capital.

• The two tribes that remained with him formed the Kingdom of Judah with Jerusalem as its capital.The dispute between the two kingdoms intensified, and several wars broke out between them, and their history was filled with revolutions, and this was punctuated by two waves of Assyrian and Chaldean invasion, the first of which resulted in the destruction of most of the countries of the Kingdom of Judah except for Jerusalem, which was satisfied with imposing tribute on its people, and the second led by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon resulted in the elimination of the Kingdom of Judah, the destruction of Jerusalem, and the taking of its people as captives to Babylon in Iraq in 586 BC.

• Jerusalem remained under Babylonian rule for nearly half a century. Until it fell to the Persians in 538 AD. King Cyrus had compassion on the Jews exiled in Babylon, He ordered them to be returned to Jerusalem.

• King Dara I also allowed the Jews to rebuild the Temple. But the Greek historian Herodotus did not mention anything about the Temple during his visit to Jerusalem in 515 BC, and then a wall was built for Jerusalem in 444 BC.

Source: Jerusalem History Course No. (0104) at Al-Quds Open University.

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