Lecture 4: David's Jerusalem

We started off with a revisiting of David with the well-known story of David and Goliath. Then, we went into a brief discussion over the relatively few pieces of archaeologically significant evidence that is available to those studying the existence of David's Jerusalem. However, one of the key pieces of observable evidence is "The Millo" (stepped stone structure) which appears to have been a support above Gihon Spring that could have acted as a buttress to David's Palace.

Further archaeological parallels with the Bible include Warren's Shaft which provided an access to the Gihon Spring (though now scholars doubt that this was actually used to get water). This could be the tunnel that Joab climbs up in 2 Chronicles 11.

After David's reign, ruled his son, Solomon, who was believed--based on 1 Kings 1--to have been anointed by Gihon Spring, as the passage states "ride my (Lord's) own mule...bring him (Solomon) down to Gihon...anoint him king over Israel." Recurring themes of coronation ceremonies as riding on a donkey to Gihon Spring appear again in Zechariah 9 and Matthew 21.

After a brief overview of Solomon's anointment, we moved on to study archaeological evidence of King Hezekiah's existence and expansion of Jerusalem's waterworks (ex. tunnel inscription that empties out to the Siloam Pool)

We moved on to discuss how David moves the Ark of the Covenant (the portable representation of God) to Jerusalem, signaling a change from a nomadic God to a sendentary one. The movement of the Ark is captured in 2 Samuel 6 and in 1 Chronicles 21. It is important to note, however, that while David moves the Ark into Jerusalem, and builds a palace for himself (2 Samuel 5), the Ark still lays in the tabernacle (tent).

However, David does not build a temple for God because he is given a promise from the Lord that his son will build Him a temple and that the Lord will "establish the throne of [David] forever" (2 Samuel 7). However, when the Babylonians destroy the temple, along with David's line in 586 BCE, some people lose their faith, while others reinterpret the passage as a promise that there will be a returning Davidic king (not necessarily that the Davidic line is unbreakable). Jesus, in the New Testament, is sometimes referred to as the "Son of David" in order to justify the promise made in 2 Samuel 7.

We closed lecture with a final look on how tradition is built in Jerusalem (stories and legends are attracted to Jerusalem as a setting) by examining briefly, a few biblical texts (Deutoronomy 12, Exodus 12, Genesis 1-2, 22, Psalm 110 and 76).