In Thursday’s lecture we finished the slides on David’s Jerusalem and started on Solomon’s Jerusalem. In wrapping up David, we looked at God’s promise to David in 2 Samuel 7. Basically God promises David a house and a throne that will last forever. This is however proven false in 586 BCE when the Babylonians take over Jerusalem and destroys the temple. We also looked at five ways Jerusalem derives its Sacredness:
1. God chooses Jerusalem (Deuteronomy 12; 2 Samuel 24)
2. The Ark of the Covenant in Jerusalem (Exodus 24:12- 31:18)
3. Creation of the Sabbath (Genesis 1-2)
4. Jerusalem & Mt. Moriah (Genesis 22; 2 Chronicles 3)
5. Melchizedek’s Salem & Jerusalem (Psalm 110; 76:2) **
These biblical references and the tradition Jerusalem has built make it the sacred, holy city that it is.
Solomon is credited in the Bible for constructing the first temple in Jerusalem. This was where the Ark of the Covenant was placed and it gave God a physical place to dwell. Today, scholars question whether Solomon actually existed and whether or not he really built a temple. The biggest problem is that there is no archeological evidence of Solomon’s temple anywhere in Jerusalem. This is because when Herod constructed his temple instead of building on top of what was there he cleared everything out. We know that nothing is there but does the absence of evidence for Solomon’s temple constitute evidence of absence? There have been other temples discovered in the Near East that are constructed in a similar fashion to the way Solomon’s was described in the Bible. Whether this is evidence for or against the existence of Solomon’s Temple is debatable.
**This list is straight from the lecture slides for David's Jerusalem
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