Tuesday: Week 4

How do you make a golden age? The steps are to die because people get memorialized after their death, and to build a palace, kingdom, or temple. However, the golden age ended when David and Soloman died and Soloman son's took over, a person who was oppressive towards his people. Due to Soloman son's actions, the northern tribes rebelled and divided the kingdom into two parts, "Tudah", and "Israel".

The new shrines of worship in Bethel and Danwas built by the northern tribes were criticized in the Bible. The purpose of these alternative shrines was to serve as an alternative to Jerusalem after the division.  However, there were also two new shrines in the south as well at the Beer-Sheva and Arad Temples. The original sites of worship in Israel was Samaria and Jerusalem in Judah.

The 8th century saw the rise of the Assyrian empire. In 721 BCE the capital of the northern 10 tribes fall and people from the 10 tribes fled to Jerusalem. During this period the population of Jerusalem rose from 8,000 to 40,000 because people who lived in the north were under a policy of forced deportation. Urbanization of Jerusalem caused the economy of Jerusalem to grow and an wine and olive industry emerged in Jerusalem during this period. One problem that immigration to Jerusalem is that tension increased because of the cultural differences between the north and south. The north was cosmopolitan and the south was traditional/rural.

One interesting fact about the Assyrian is that the adopted the use of Aramaic from one of the people they conquered. It was much easier to use Aramaic because there were fewer characters.

Hezekiah was one of the more important rulers of Jerusalem during this period. He fortified the city's northern end and build the Hezekiah tunnel to bring water into the city. He also used the seal BMLK, or belonging to the king" for administrative purposes. Hezekiah also build 3 more administrative centers to collect grain for the growing population of Jerusalem.