This was a fairly short lecture as Professor Cargill let us off early (as we had slaved away the night before writing our papers). Thank you Professor Cargill !!
Water Constructions
1. Warren's Shaft
- Was it really used to fetch water, or was it simply a natural cave?
- Interesting that the rock level is higher at the bottom. --> Must have lowered buckets into the pool.
- Theory: maybe Joab became David's commander by going through the shaft and conquering the Jebusite city.
--> The existence of this shaft gives the Hebrew Bible text credibility
2. Gihon Spring
- "Gihon" means "gushing." The Gihon Spring had gushes that lasted 40 mins, had 6-8 hrs between gushes, pumped 314 gallons/day, and was enough water for 2500 people. Perfect for Jerusalem's survival.
3. Hezekaih Tunnel Inscription
- There's a tunneling account carved onto the wall of the tunnel.
--> Evidence for the authenticity of expanding the waterworks.
- Dead ends prove that people were digging through this tunnel trying to find water.
4. Siloam Pool
- Problematic for scholars that this pool is underneath Palestinean homes
--> A lot of time and effort was put into capturing water
- Reference to Siloam in John 9:1-11
The Annointing of Kings
- Note: if a name ends in -iah, it means they've incorporated God into their name
- It was ancient Israelite tradition for the King to ride a royal donkey to the Gihon and become annointed there as part of the coronation ceremony.
- Interesting that we see this same tradition in the Hebrew Bible as Jesus performs this act.
--> Jesus was not being humble. He was making a bold claim to the throne of Isarel
- Note: It's interesting that Matthew left out the words "righteous and vicarious" in his version of the tradition.
The Ark of the Covenant
- The Ark was the structure that carried the tablet of 10 Commandments given to Moses. It was a portable shrine of gold overlayed with chrubims for these nomadic people, and signifies where God would meet His people
- You weren't even allowed to touch it (Uzzah's death), which is why people carried it on poles
- Ironic because God disapproved of idols, yet they carried around this shrine with them to worship
- Cherubims were protecting beasts! Not fluffy angels.
- The ark was built, lost, replaced, and finally put in a tent in Jerusalem
The tradition of annointing kings was the most interesting part of lecture for me. When I learned about Jesus' procession on a donkey in Sunday schoool, I had a completely different impression of the story than what I learned in this class. I was told that Jesus was very humble because he rode up in a simple donkey (not a valiant horse). He didn't expect much, but the people revered him so much that they covered the road with their own cloaks and palm branches.
This story takes on a wholly different tone when you take into account the tradition of annointing kings. A humble story suddenly becomes phrophetic and bold. This would be an interesting topic for my research paper.
Professor Cargill keeps telling us how Jerusalem incorporated ancient stories (such as The Creation story in Genesis) in order to build up its reputation and consescrate its sacred space, but I can't help thinking, "What if it was all a coincidence?" What if Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac really did happen at Mt. Moriah and Jerusalem was also built on Mt. Moriah? I doubt that the early leaders of Jerusalem pondered, "Hmm.. what should we name this mountain in order to make it seem like it is holy?" I will have to figure out the time difference between when these traditional stories were created, and when Jerusalem came about. Maybe this is what I will write about in my research paper.
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