What Nehemiah Saw BY KEVIN HALL NEHEMIAH S ARRIVAL in Jerusalem marked a new era in the storied history of the ancient city. In concert with the covenant faithfulness of God, Nehemiah hoped to restore Jerusalem s security and prosperity and to overcome the lingering effects on the city of the Babylonian exile (Neh. 1:2-11). By his own account, Nehemiah intended to rebuild Jerusalem since its gates had been burned and it was desolate (2:3-5). What conditions motivated the report Nehemiah received from the men of Judah detailing the shameful state of Jerusalem? What would Nehemiah have seen as he arrived in Jerusalem? From Humble Beginnings... As with most ancient cities, the success of Jerusalem depended on a balance of geographical, topographical, and historical advantages and disadvantages. The two north-south ridges in the central hill country on which Jerusalem developed are surrounded on three sides by steep valleys. The rugged terrain makes the site easy to defend, a distinct military advantage that surely made Jerusalem an attractive capital for David. The Gihon Spring, located at the southeastern base of the eastern hill, provided ample water for the site and is the major factor behind the original settlement on the eastern ridge. The central hill country location, however, isolated Jerusalem from the commercial centers of the coastal plain. Thus, before David made Jerusalem his capital, a small population of no more than one thousand settled on about 12 acres of the eastern ridge. 1 David s capture of the city, however, changed everything. Jerusalem s fortunes rose and fell with the Davidic monarchy s triumphs and failures. As the political, religious, and administrative center of the United Kingdom of David and Solomon (1000-922 B.C.), Jerusalem grew from the 12-acre fortified site to a 32-acre walled city with an elaborate palace and temple. Several centuries later, the great reformer Hezekiah (715-687 B.C.) expanded the city to about 150 acres when he fortified the hill west of the original city and built an ingenious water supply system still channeling water to the famed Siloam Pool. The population may have reached as high as 25,000. Hezekiah s ingenuity LESSON REFERENCE FBSC: Nehemiah 1:1 2:18 At Pasargadae, capital of ancient Persia under Cyrus the Great, column with inscription in Old Persian script, ascribed to Cyrus, who encouraged captives to return to their homeland. ILLUSTRATOR PHOTO (23/1/1) 47
ILLUSTRATOR PHOTO/ JAMES MCLEMORE (13/27/12) 48 and faith, however, only forestalled the eventual destruction of Jerusalem at the hands of the Babylonians in 586 B.C. 2...To Babylonian Assault The Babylonian destruction and the subsequent years of neglect during the exile begin to explain the report that motivated Nehemiah s mission. According to the biblical and archaeological record, the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem, coming at the end of a decimating 18-month siege of the city, was total. 3 A major excavation of the city concluded in the 1980s found evidence of the military assault throughout the site. Thick layers of dark ash, a clear sign of the wholesale burning of the city, mark the destruction level. The scattered bronze and iron arrowheads and collapsed structures further attest the devastation. 4 The looting and plundering of the city s treasures and population demoralized any survivors and effectively put an end to any hopes for rebellion against Babylon. Mount Zion, the epitome of Jerusalem s fame and glory, became a desolate hill where jackals prowled (Lam. 5:18). Before Nehemiah s arrival, however, attempts to rebuild Jerusalem had met with some success. In 539 B.C., the Persian king Cyrus conquered Babylon and established a policy encouraging captive peoples to return to their homeland. Soon thereafter in 538, the first group of Jews returned to Judah from Babylon and established a foundation for a new temple in Jerusalem. By 520 B.C., a second group of returnees, led by Zerubbabel and inspired by the prophets Haggai and Zechariah, renewed the work on the temple, and their efforts led to the completion and dedication of the new temple in Jerusalem in 515 B.C. The former kingdom of Judah, however, remained a small province within the powerful Persian Empire; thus Jerusalem, even with the rebuilt temple, functioned as no more than a small provincial capital. Jerusalem s enemies, mere provincial powers themselves, nevertheless capitalized on the Persian political context in order to impede Jerusalem s recovery. Attempts to rebuild Jerusalem that coincided with the rebuilding of the temple met with stiff resistance (Ezra 4). Thus when Nehemiah arrived in Jerusalem in 445 B.C., some 70 years after Jerusalem s temple had been rebuilt, he encountered a city still in need of renewal, indeed even of rebuilding....to Destruction According to the archaeological record, Jerusalem in Nehemiah s day covered approximately 30 acres with a population of around 4,500. By comparison, Jerusalem during Jesus time covered approximately 230 acres with a population of around 40,000. 5 The small population concentrated mainly on the original eastern ridge south of the temple mount explains why the reports Nehemiah received described the city as desolate (Neh. 2:3, NASB). The western hill, Mount Zion, remained unsettled, and the sparse settlements on the eastern hill remained unfortified. As Nehemiah approached the city, the lamentable condition of Jerusalem must have been grievous to him. Did he
Left: The western wall of temple mount in Jerusalem is almost 1,600 feet in length. The western wall housed the foundations and four temple gates. Right: The Gihon Spring in the Kidron Valley. King Hezekiah built a tunnel from the spring to the Pool of Siloam, which he also built, to provide a water supply for Jerusalem. This water supply encouraged development on the east ridge of Jerusalem. Below: A piece of charred wood from the ruins of Jerusalem when Nehemiah arrived from Persia as the new governor of Judea in 445 B.C. ILLUSTRATOR PHOTO/ BOB SCHATZ (9/38/5) ILLUSTRATOR PHOTO/DAVID ROGERS/JOSEPH A. CALLAWAY ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM/THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, LOUISVILLE, KY (13/6/16) sigh, How lonely sits the city That was full of people (Lam. 1:1, NASB) or ponder the path he took and join in the mourning of the roads of Zion? (Lam. 1:5). We know of the broken walls and burned gates, but what else did he see? Were people milling about, conducting business? Did children play in the streets? Did well-constructed homes catch his eye or hovels and ramshackle buildings? Nehemiah s survey of the city confirmed what he already knew while still in Persia. Jerusalem was a wasteland ( desolate, Neh. 2:17, NASB; lies in ruins, NIV; compare 2:3). The word desolate (Hebrew: chareb) occurs frequently in the Old Testament and has a wide range of meanings. However, the term most commonly implies, as it does in Nehemiah s usage, not a pristine wilderness but a barren, forsaken area populated more by ruined relics of a previous prosperity than by any thriving human or animal life. Thus the picture painted by Nehemiah s choice of words comports well with the archaeological record and confirms that Nehemiah saw the skeleton of a city, dried up and devoid of viable community. But what of the homes the earlier groups of returnees had built (Hag. 1:4)? Is the statement of Nehemiah 7:4 that the houses were not built (NASB) a denial of any houses being in Nehemiah s Jerusalem? The fact that repairs were made in the vicinity of the workers homes removes that possibility (for example, Neh. 3:10,21). The phrase may imply that there were not enough houses built to support the larger population that Nehemiah deemed necessary for the city s security and general welfare. 6 Such issues 49
50 ILLUSTRATOR PHOTO/ DAVID ROGERS/ JOSEPH A. CALLAWAY ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM/ THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, LOUISVILLE, KY (13/7/18) Above: Overview of the ruins of the Samaritan temple on Mount Gerizim. The temple, which was destroyed in 128 B.C., was built by the family of Sanballat who opposed Nehemiah and his efforts to rebuild Jerusalem. Left: A Persian horse and rider from the time of Nehemiah. remained his chief concern. Studies of ancient cities in and around Judah reveal that the more economically and politically significant a city was, the more uniform and purposeful was its home building. Conversely, housing development in poorer, less important cities like Jerusalem had become during the exile tended to be more ad hoc and less efficient. 7 Furthermore, archaeologists have concluded that many of Jerusalem s homes from the preexilic period were lost due to the destruction of the southeastern retaining wall. Excavation evidence indicates the rubble from these collapsed homes prevented Nehemiah s passage during his nighttime inspection (2:14) and forced him to abandon the old line of the wall on the southeastern slope and to build higher up on the ridge, further restricting the size of the city. 8 Nehemiah, therefore, possibly discovered homes but no housing development. The disarray of the city s houses mirrored the dilapidation of its surrounding walls. Nehemiah s concern for Jerusalem s gates provides significant clues regarding the city s overall condition as well. Built into the city wall, city gates in ancient cities like ILLUSTRATOR PHOTO/ BOB SCHATZ (9/23/18) Jerusalem were at once vital centers of city life and the most vulnerable aspect of civil defense. Almost every aspect of city life commercial, administrative, social transpired in and around the gates of the city (compare Deut. 21:19; Josh. 20:4; Ruth 4:1; 1 Kings 22:10; Neh. 8:1-3; 13:15-22; Prov. 31:22). Even though present archaeological evidence does not permit precise identification of most of the gates mentioned in the Book of Nehemiah, the detailed attention to the gates in the biblical record demonstrates the level of concern. Damaged and neglected city gates signaled a city whose vital signs were flagging. Nehemiah could effectively take the pulse of the city by inspecting the city s gates....to Hope So what did Nehemiah see as he arrived in Jerusalem? He saw a city long on history and short on prospects. He witnessed a city whose populace seemed more like scavengers than citizens. In the final analysis, however, I believe he perceived in the wasteland of that war-torn and politically waylaid city, concrete, visible expressions of the justice and mercy of God. As the prophets before him, he found the courage not to despise the day of small things (Zech. 4:10; compare Hag. 2:3-4). Rather, Nehemiah believed God s purposes could not be waylaid; even in the rubble and ruin, faith could find the materials to rebuild for the future. i 1. Philip J. King, Jerusalem in Anchor Bible Dictionary (New York: Doubleday, 1992), 751-753. 2. Thomas Brisco, Holman Bible Atlas (Nashville: Holman & Broadman Publishers, 1998), 145-46; see also King, 756-757. 3. 2 Kings 25:1-21; 2 Chronicles 36:17-21; Brisco, 156. 4. King, 757. 5. Ibid. 6. Mervin Breneman, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, The New American Commentary, vol. 10 (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1993), 219. 7. Ze ev Herzog, Cities (Cities in the Levant) in Anchor Bible Dictionary, 1038. 8. King, 757. Kevin Hall is associate professor of religion, Oklahoma Baptist University, Shawnee, Oklahoma.
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