Bethlehem was occupied by the Crusades, on the columns of nativity church we see on the columns and Coat of Arms, it was found about a hundred year ago, The Crusaders gave a new look to the Town, they took all Bethlehem Governorate, they changed much of the architecture of the nativity church.
Near the Attryum of Saint Jerome many Crusader Marks and there is also a Crusader Convent, 25th December 110 Baldwin 1st was crowned at the Church of the Nativity as the first king of Jerusalem, relating to Bethlehem, the Birth, the Joy and the Birth of New King Baldwin the 1st.
Bethlehem became a patriarch and then becoming an Episcopal seat and Diocesan center.
Crusaders Built Two Watch Towers for the Nativity Church, And all the walls are painted and decorated with Mosaic with very high detail and quality and gold canvas.
On the 4th of July 1187, Bethlehem became under the Ayyubid conquer, The Mamluks 1260-1516, The Fall of Acre in 1291.
During the Mamluk Area it was not so good times for the Nativity Church it was much neglected, Franciscans 1209 the Custody of the Holy land, they originate from Saint Francis.
The Franciscans in Bethlehem
The Franciscans started in 1209, their wear symbolizes humbleness, They consist of Three Orders, the Franciscans are the largest religious order of the Catholic Denomination.
St. Francis of Assisi, he came from saint Francis the Assisi, he was much talking about evangelical poverty, and to focus on charity and devolution to human Jesus and follow Jesus example, he and Saint Catherine of Siena are the patron saints of Italy.
To Follow the teachers of our Lord Jesus Christ and to walk in his footsteps, in 1207 that Francis felt that call to a life of preaching, penance and total poverty, and later in 1219, they established the order.
The Famous Event in 1219: The Historical Meeting between Sultan melee el Kamel and Saint Francis in Egypt, and they entered a dialogue with the person who was generally viewed as the enemy of the western world, although he did not convert the sultan was impressed and let Francis continue on his way to the holy land.
Custodia of the Holy land, The Name Custody of the holy land, its main purpose to protect the Holy Places in the holy land in the name of all Christianity.
in 1333 through the meditation of Franciscans, they bought the Area the Upper Room ( Mount Zion ) from the Sultan of Egypt, as well as the right to hold religious services at the holy sepulcher, they decided that the Franciscans should exercise these rights on behalf of the Christian World.
The Cenacle was the first place that was acquired by the Franciscan Custdoy between 1333 and 1337, and this was done by efforts of King Report and Queen of Naples (Sinica), after difficult negotiations.
in 1342 Pope Clement VI approved the decision of the royal family of Naples with a bill, thereby officially establishing the custody of the holy land.
1847 First Latin Patriarch was established and the seminar in Beit Jala City was Established as well.
The Franciscans in Bethlehem in 1347 in a monastery for Augustinian canons, From the Ayybid Period, it was the Franciscans who were responsible for the Religious Latin Rites in Bethlehem, after 1950 they started arabizing the Church.
Renovation of the Nativity Church in Bethlehem City
Fra Giovanni Tomacelli in 1479 , I was possible to rebuild the roof structure of the Byzantine Church, the Work cost was provided by Duke Philip the Good of Burgundy, and the lead was donated by King Edward IV of England, and the Wood from Larch, in about 1440-1470, and It was 40-60 meter long, and they transported from Europe to Bethlehem, from Venice it was shipped to the port of Jaffa then overland to Bethlehem.
HandiCrafts in Bethlehem
Among the most important economic activities are local handicraft products made from olive wood and mother of pearl, The Art of intaglio and working with mother of pearl and encouraged the opening of many workshops, and the teaching of these techniques can be traced back to the establishment of a school 1347, in 1586 Belgian pilgrim dates to the 16th century, they make crowns and small crosses from olive, cedar, and other woods.
The Teaching of these techniques can be traced back to the establishment of a school in 1347 that combined both theoretical and practical establishments.
The Old Stone Age in Palestine was first Explored by Dorthy Garrard, we can start with the Homo erectus when they traveled from Africa c. 1,400,000 BC: Homo Erectus immigrated from Africa and settled in Tel Ubeidiya cave (oldest site discovered in Palestine, located 3 km south the sea of galilee ). The Archeological Remains found goes back to even more than 1.7 million years were discovered in the excavations with more than 60 years of soil, this includes some of the oldest remains outside of Africa and with thousands of ancient stone tools, and also found large horns from a species of extinct bovid that is located in Israel Museum at the moment, Al – Ubaydiyya was Palestinian Arab Village and have been depopulated in 1948 and its remains are still visible on the Tell.
c. 1,400,000 BC: Homo Erectus immigrated from Africa and settled in Tel Ubeidiya cave (oldest site discovered in Palestine, located 3 km south the sea of galilee ).
The Natufian Culture is a Late Epipaleolithic culture that existed Between 13,000 BC till 7550 BC, according to other sources 10500-8500 Natufian hunter-gatherer groups form a permanent settlement that would come to be known as Jericho. Natufian was the first to experiment with Agriculture.
Natufians are the ones who founded Jericho Today The Tel of Jericho, and very close by in Jordan about 14,000 Years old site where is the oldest evidence of Bread-Making and about 13,000 Before Present where they found Beer in Mount Carmel near Haifa in Israel.
8th millennium (c. 8000 BC): introduction of Agriculture, Sedentism: where they started to settle in one location for a long time and develop civilization, and oldest defense system in the world (Jericho).
6th millennium (5500 BC) using of pottery (Hence, Pre Pottery Neolithic 8000-5500 BC and Pottery Neolithic 5500-4500 BC), we can see that there have been lots of Domesticated animals in this Era and new architectural Styles used in Pottery.
We can Categorize Stone Age in Israel and Palestine as follows:
Lower paleolithic 400,000-250,000 BP
Middle paleolithic. 250,000–45,000 BP
Upper paleolithic 45,000 BCE and 20,500 BCE
Epipaleolithic period 18,000–12,500 BCE
Neolithic period 4300–3300 BCE
Chalcolithic period 4,800 BCE
These Times when new discoveries are found they have redefined again all the time, Oldest one as we said earlier outside of Africa is Tell-Ubeidiya in the Jordan rift valley, also another site at this time of Age around Daughters of Jacob Bridge, both these could go to the Acheulean Culture and many elephant bones have been found as well as tools made of Basalt and Flint.
Both of the Neanderthals and homo-sapiens from those periods discovered in Israel we are not sure if they co-existed together or one replaced the other, we can’t tell much since no writing existed at that time we can only tell from the remaining and the Dating technologies we have such as the Carbon Dating, these groups mostly focused on hunting and gathering plants, their hunts were mostly the Gazelle, the Aurochs and the Persian Fallow deer.
The Catholic Action Club in Bethlehem Belong to the patriarchal Latin catholic church
A very important institution in Bethlehem, now it is very interesting story, once upon a time it was summer resort to Hanna Mansour, in summer he used to go to that place and have it as summer resort as it reminds us of Ramallah that we like to go there during summer times, but the Franciscans they buy the property, later on, it is cultural, entertainment and sport center for youth people in Bethlehem it also contain cinema and is nearly the only remaining Cinema in Bethlehem.
Some of them Bethlehem Cinema Where Al Sa’adeh Mall now and Al Amal Cinema it was called, and this was the romantic street of Bethlehem where people buy ice cream, specially lama family played a huge role in Cinema.
Ibrahim and Bader al Alama, and Also Augustin Lama he made national anthem for Jordan, From the catholic action club you can see the Bethlehem beautiful Action Club.
As you enter the Catholic Club the fences in the middle you see the mosaic.
The Star Street
The Star street which I would like to call the Star street, most likely they took this way and seen the star, Joseph and Mary over going 170 Kilo meters over three days they reached Bethlehem at night, Bethlehem was based all its development all its stories on this Street that have lots of memories for the Bethlehemites and their ancestors, many parts of this street today we don’t know about it, the same street we have the ORthodox Christmas, Catholic Christmas, and even the Armenian Christmas, when you get married you go through this road if your Bethlehemites, if you die also same street you will take, so this street associates with all festivals and events, happiness and sadness and even political problems such as first intifada all the memories from this street, and even the 1860 the Bethlehem Bread place, and the only place there where you learn how to paint icons is there as well, also from this street we remember jabra Ibrahim jabra and abdala komarji he was well known for medicine and he was famous till you reach Damascus.
in Terms of Archeteigure 1700 the Ottoman Era, from the Arches inside it was before tanzimat , after tanzimat the ottoman reformation it was from the Arch and outside, the Arch of Bethlehem if you were in the 19th century in Bethlehem you will be Shami, which mean Syrian from the south of Syria, so much influenced us and we were very close to there culture and very similar to heritage as well, we also had chieftains, clan Chietfans that want to make everything peaceful and also have connection with authorities, if you look at the Star street they all belong to 7 Christian clans of Bethlehem and one Muslim clan of Bethlehem.
Techniques of Building most of them had Cross Arched Buildings, Bethlehem is the only city that has merged Between the Arabic and Western Cultures all of those because of the ottoman reformations, nearly all institutions we see today after tanzimat, a Wide range of shapes and details are apparent on numerous buildings if you see the Cross on the top it represent the Holy Trinity, Father-son and holy spirit, Bethlehem is well known for Olive Wood and mother of Pearl. that al Taramjeh clan was very famous with it, so they did olive wood carving and mother of pearl carvings, also Bethlehem was well known for The Stone and Limestone is wonderful carvings and can easily amaze you, the Stone was mix of White limestone and Red Limestone and the inscriptions would amaze you while walking these streets.
Bethlehem Had Master stone cutters over 500 craftsmen from the town were engaged in constructing mansions, governmental buildings and more. in 1908 more than 1000 Stonecutters were working in Jerusalem.
Saleh Jacob Morcos and Ibrahim Mariya where they worked in the restoration of Nativity Church also Khalil Musa Hazboun worked in the Patriarch convent in Jerusalem, Abdala Khalil Zablah worked in Al Ja’ar Palace, Ibrahim Mosa Nassar renovated Solomon’s Pool, so the Inhabitants of Star Street the local community we have to think about them, who were they and what they did?
We Speak about Two Kinds of Inhabitants are two of them Tarajmeh Clan and Herezat Clan, who were skilled in carvings Beads, possibly they were from European ancestors and they used to translate for the foreigners tarajmeh, so each one, the family have meaning.
The Carvings of Beads, Crucifixes, Models of the Church of the Nativity and of the Holy Sepulcher in Olivewood, when we think about it ” Hosh ” ” Hara” these are local Architecture words.
Concept: Al Hosh: is a disorganized housing unit that is inhabited by a certain family. Host Dieck, Hosh Mikel, Hosh Dabdoub, Hosh Abu Jarour, Hosh Nassar.
Hosh is Disorganised social unit appeared as continuous growth to match the needs of the family and particularly the extended family, Hosh is considered to be the main component of the 7 Clans of Bethlehem that forms the urban fabric of Bethlehem Old City.
The Hosh when you enter it there is always an Arch – Arch it means entering a host or private area, so always the Arch is a private Area, the Doors and windows at that time were very close and Bethlehem was very small nonetheless these quarters they are part of big extended family, more than one hosh’s make “HARA” , where group of families brings together,
Al Najajreh one of the Oldest Quarter of Bethlehem and Oldest people of Bethlehem many people believe they are ghassanid clans that came from najjran in Yemen in around 635 AD, it extends from behind omar’s mosque., Al Farahiyet about 600 AD which means joy people.
Anatreh means the Brave – Such as Canawati, freij , Bandak, most famous is Elias Freij is the first minister of Toursim and Antiquities.
Only Muslim clan originally from Bethlehem is Fawaghreh.
Hosh Al Siryan that had settled in Bethlehem during the 19th and 20th century, and they came here before and during World War I because of the massacres, Hosh Al Siryan have oldest scripture place there 1739 AD.
Samuel First Was the first mention of David Wells, Bethlehem Enters history with the Figure of David, He was born there as mentioned in (1 Samuel 16) to an Ephrathie Family who had lived there for many generations ( descendant of Ruth ) ( Ruth 1-4 )
There he has been chosen to be the King of Israel, he was beloved there, Daoud = David means he is the loved one, but the jealousy of Saul made him run away from place to place, and he faced another problem called the philistines, now there is a place called in Kila, people asked David please liberate us from the Philistines, so what he did and his warriors they destroyed all the place and got rid of the Philistines, as consequence the philistines put siege on Bethlehem the home of David the town of David.
Now in Adullam was built upon a hilltop overlooking the valley of Elah, south of Bet Shemesh , now when Bethlehem was occupied he was in the Cave of Adullam, that was his stronghold, David was always beloved all his people were there, David gathered later 400 men with a grievance against Saul, Now David Had 400 and then he had the 30 and then the three, not only three but THE three.
Story of the Well
Now as the story say the Three had names Josheb Basshebeth , was chief of the three, he raised his spear against eight hundred and he managed to kill them, Eleazar son of Dodai he was strong and stood against the philistines, and Son of the Agee the Hararite the third one.
According to Samuel 23 it says that David was missing Bethlehem, and they went the Three to him to that cave and he was craving for some water from Bethlehem, so what these three did they went they sacrificed their lives and they decided to go to Bethlehem, and actually they escaped all the garrisons by the Philistines and they took small amount of water and gave it to David and then he refused to drink it and poured it on the ground.
David Refuses to drink the water, instead, he poured it out before Yahweh Arguing that it was the blood of the men who had risked their lives.
The Bible Verse and Tombs About King David
During the Harvest Time, so David Actually Felt thirsty when his childhood with his father Jesse he was remembering when he used to get the water and he started to miss his childhood and the past, at the cave of Adullam at his stronghold, David longed for water and said ” oh that someone would get me a drink of water from the well near the gate of Bethlehem, So the three mighty warriors broke through the Philistine lines, drew water from the Well near the Gate of Bethlehem, and Carried it Back to David, but he refused to drink it, instead, he poured it out before the Lord, far be it from me the lord to do this, He said, is it not the blood of men who went at the risk of their lives? and David would not drink it.
The Wells we have in Bethlehem goes back to the Roman Era, The East of these sisters was discovered in 1895 a mosaic pavement of a church of the 5th or 6th century with Greek inscription, and it had Psalm 118:20, open me to the gates of justice, also Arcosolium Tombs was found there, and it can have 6-8 people there, same as we see in Saint Jerome Cave.
Catacombs are a subterranean cemetery of galleries with recesses for tombs but on David Wells only some Arcosolium, The Cemetry was Christian
1 Kings 2:10 – Then David rested with his ancestors and was buried in the City of David, some translations say it is Town and some others it is City, City most likely Jerusalem but Town it could be Bethlehem but we don’t have any archeological proofs about that.
1962 the Last Custody Excavations of David Wells where they found more Catacombs in that area.
Kathisma Well has been closed in the ’70s because of the Establishment of Gilo and other Settlements in the Area, the Well of Kathisma has been there for a while, and according to another reference it is also mentioned that it was on the way between Jerusalem and Bethlehem.
Front of Har Homa there is Valley that is very fertile, everything was grown there even in antiquity – Wadi Al Shami, People would go there and plant Apricots and Apples and other fruits and vegetables, and even different kinds of apricots, and was one of the Best Apricots in the Area, even Figs that have been collected on Two Seasons, Later on, after 1948, it became part of Israeli Controlled Areas.
The Tantur
The Tantur Ecumenical Institue, the First Talk after 1054 that happened the Excommunication till 1964, it was the first place where have been first Christian dialogue between the East and West Churches, it became as the visit of Pope Paul Paul VI, and they met in the Mount of Olives and we met him he told him it has been 500 years since we first talked, and there hasn’t been any communication Between Catholics and Orthodox.
Tantur meaning let us start with abshalom tomb, Tantur mean it is the high ground on the High hill you can see all the area from there, so it was a pretty strategic location, and since then every new people meet there.
Tantur is part of the Notre-Dame Unversity and they bought it from Malta as we know, Today if we visit the Tantur they have lots of Activities and Educational Programs and lectures to learn the history of the land and theology and field trips for weeks and even communication between different Christian denominations and other religions also such as Muslims and jews, there goal and Mission encourage social rights and exploring human rights and also Guest House and also Hostel of Maltese.
Before the Tantur it was belonging to Austro-Hungarian and Emperor at that time Francis Joseph and while also you see Marble column have a name on it of Emperor Francis and he also opened Street number 6, and the one who have been supervised the purchasing of the land is Count Bernard Caboga.
Also Tower of Jacob also the Tantur was named, and also Ephrata they believed this was the Area also.
The First time the place was opened as Hospice in the Order of Malta , and later on, they opened a Clinic, it was very common for the knight of Malta they are military government and their mission is medical military so it was very common for them to open such thing, and this tradition remained the same from the 12th Century and they have more than tens of thousands of medical staff all over the world.
at one Time the Salesians they used this place and later on it has been used as Internment Camp and later there have been lots of conflict in that Area and later on in 1957 the Order of Malta needed the place for its own work and later on in 1964 The Pople Paul IV visited the holy land and was interested in dialogue and it have been delayed the opening because the conflict that was going on there at that time.
The Old way from Bethlehem the British first people to open the roads we see today in the 1920’s , when people want to go to Jerusalem to Bethlehem they went through route there pass by the Tantur, and Also local Arabs called it Tantur Firaoun, it looks like Pharaoh’s Hat and it looks like that and that is why they called it Pharaoh’s Hat.
in Summary, the Ecunmical council and also the place is great to view and strategic location and also Pope Paul 6th who visited this place and made first communication and also it started melting the tension in 1964, and they greeted each other there, and because of that the Tantur was open for Ecumenical Dialogue, and they are well known and part of Notre Dam Unversity and before that it was Emperor Joseph who bought the land and also was named at one time Tower of Jacob and it started as hospice then as medical Clinic.
Rachel Tomb
When you think about Rachel you think about motherhood many people especially jews they think about Rachel and pray for Rachel for easy pregnancy, from the 4th Century we know about Rachel Tomb from Eusebius and Bordeaux pilgrim and mention the tomb as being located 4 miles from Jerusalem, Later on there have been Tomb approximately 6 KM from Jerusalem and in the 7th Century, it has become Stone Pyramid.
Anonymous Pilgrim of Bordeaux he made pilgrimage and wrote many things and it is the first guiding Book to visit the holy land, both of them told us there is a tomb 6 KM and which match with current tomb here, Muqaddasi came from Jerusalem Best Knowledge in knowing the region but he didn’t mention anything about Rachel tomb during the Tenth Century maybe not important to him or the site was neglected so before the crusades it was neglected most likely, later at the times of the Crusades we start to hear about it, the Madissi we know from him that Omar Al Khattab prayed inside the Nativity southern place and not only for Christians but also for Muslims.
During the Crusader period it was a Dome with Wall and was confirmed by Muhammad Al Idrisi and also Benjamin of Tudela, according to the description of the travelers of the first Jewish to describe the Tomb till late 18th century there have been a tomb and stones and he placed a stone at her gravesite and Jacob covered them with one large stone.
Muhammad Al Idrisi says the mother of Joseph and benjamin that the site is covered by Twelve Stones and above it is a dome vaulted.
Sarcophagus Shape was changed in the 14th Century and it was known that women used to gather stones from Rachel Tomb as a charm for an easy Delivery.
Fr. Amico around 1596 has left us a drawing where we see the empty tomb in the middle of a chapel in the four side walls there were archways.
It was later Reinnovated by the Ottomans and also Muhammad Pasha gave Jews the right to its exclusive use, the Current Shape of that place at the time of Muhammad Pasha and he changed the Structure and made it what used to be and later on it was closed because the shepherds and sheep to get inside this holy place.
in 1841 Rachel Tomb has been renovated and made two places for Sephardi and other for Askenazi, Sephardi is the eastern jew and Ashkenazi Western Jew, and because of that, the Ottomans gave firman recognizing Jewish rights at Rachel Tomb.
Also, it is belief that the closer you’re the holy place the more rewards you will get to heaven which is the Ta’amreh Tribe began burying their dead’s near Rachel Tomb in the 18th Century.
October and November the traditional Anniversary of Rachel Death.
in 2010 the Israeli Government Decided to include Rachel’s Tomb and the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron on Israel’s Offical List of National Heritage Sites.
UNESCO switched the name Bilal Ben Rabah – Bilal Ben Rabah the first person to call for prayer at time of prophet Mohammad and prophet told him why don’t you go and start the prayer and he was one of the companions of the prophets and when the prophet felt so so sad, it would be the first time he would call for prayer after the death of Muhammad till the time the Muslims conquest of Jerusalem, on his way out of Bethlehem to Jerusalem the prayer time has been called, and most likely he asked caliphate, Omar, can I pray here? so it has been a Maqam – Maqam is passing by of someone or important event, and the area has been called Mosque of Bilal Ben Rabah, also there is Bilal Maqam in Jordan and also Bilal Tomb in Damascus.
Jacir Palace
After Tanzimat Bethlehem became more to European Style and Bethlehem started to have lots of New Buildings and New Councils all at that time, and Bethlehem started to expand after the Gatehouse of Bethlehem, and also they started to do the imports and exports, and the Bethlehemites got very high statues and rankings comparing to the local communities at that time, Hermas Palace, Jacir Palace, and Handal Palace are just examples of the Castles in Bethlehem.
We started to have new Buildings like Lutheran Church in Bethlehem, and we had new monasteries like Al Carmelites and Al Delasal, and at that time the Education was very good and also lots of western influence to the Bethlemites, Now about Jacir Palace, Yousif Jacir was a Chieftain at that time and supported by the Ottoman Government and he was very reputed person and was well known for mother of pearl carvings and for collecting taxes for the Ottoman Empire and register all newborns in Bethlehem and he had five sons all of them were in merchants but most important of his sons Soliman Yousif Jacir.
Soliman opened a Business in France and even the Ottmon Council was always happening with Soliman Jacir and even Sultan Abdul Hamid II gave him special golden embroidery, and also Pope Pius 10th gave him a medal, Jacir people were very hospitable and the Jacir Palace and family were very generous people even Jabra Ibrahim Jabra mentioned in one of his book the generosity of Jacir and they were very wealthy landowners in Bethlehem, and he was Mayor of Bethlehem for 8 years, the Construction of Jacir palace was built on about 5000 M2, every floor about 800 M2
the Construction was built in France and some say Morcos Nassar the architect, and the one who built it Issa Hazbon and JEries Anastas and at about 1910 in Bethlehem alone there were about 500 builders and stonemasons in Bethlehem.
Najeeb Al Hawawini the first Writer of his time and he wrote at the entrance and also he got a European painter named Marco and he painted the french countryside inside the Jacir Palace, also you can see the first two letters in metal SJ which means Soliman Jacir.
the Palace shows the Eastern and Western mix and also the Jacir Palace talks a lot about the People of that time and you will see a Star with Helal which means he was a mayor or governor at that time (Soliman Jacir )
The Design is amazing the courtyard and many people who get married these days they go to jacir Palace to have their wedding photos there, and also it have some biblical scenes the paintings there, but the story of the Jacir palace was sad ending, the palace has been used as palace was an Army HQ and a prison at time of British mandate.
Elphaz – Talks About God’s Justice and Embrace it and the teaches that people bring the troubles on themselves they deserve it
Bildad talks about an individual who goes after sin and wickedness and should only expect this punishment and also Bildad consider himself a defender of the orthodox doctrine
Zophar – explain about job punishment it was just reasonable and zophar himself is a reasonable person and this was something expected for job to get from him
Job Response – God’s Judgment Matches with Job Sin so he accepts what he is getting from God and the blame
How does Elihu characterize Job’s problem? To
what does he attribute God’s silence? What does
he see
as the key to alleviating Job’s suffering?
Elihu first start with telling how young he is and he is sorry about that but as he says Wisdom is god granted and doesn’t come with Age and he wants them to pay attention for what he will say, and then he says that Job Problem is just didn’t come yet and it is a calling or a prayer that god didn’t answer yet, and it is normal for us as humans to suffer and god sees it as a way of correction and the prayer is calling for god and submitting to god and we acknowledge our sins and we want god to make it right for us, and also God have different understanding than human beings understanding as we can see from the third speech he informs job that he is not effected by events on earth and also in the second speech he talks how god is just and this is something can’t be denied and if he did this is being a Rebel against god and this is of course a sin, and as we can see from the context elihu speak on god’s behalf and tell job and his three friends that god see all people equal, slave and king and most important is to repent back to God for salvation.
How does
the Lord rebuke job in 38:1-42:6? what is job’s response?
We can
see by reading job that there is series of questions addressed from God to Job
till job 41 and he criticized him for his ignorance , then on Job 42 , job
replied back to God “You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak;
I will question you,
and you shall answer me.’
My ears had heard of you
but now my eyes have seen you.
Therefore
I despise myself
and repent in dust and ashes.”
Job admit that he is didn’t have the ability to deal with life and he is inadequate and he acknowledged his mistake and want to repent.
Name
the major contributors to the book of
Psalms.
What makes the book so unique in God’s
Scripture?
Many
writers contributed to the book of Psalms: David, Asaph, the sons of Korah,
Moses, Solomon, and a number of anonymous writers.
The Jewish Problem in European Societies, The Hatred of Jews and Its solutions:
Integration Haskalah Movement ( Jewish Enlightenment Movement ) it is promoted the idea that Judaism is only a divine religion and that jews are like the rest of their brothers in nationality, this movement collapsed at the end of the nineteenth century with the pogroms ( Blood Baths ), but this solution didn’t work at all, so this first movement suggested that the Jews should belong to the countries they live in and many jews wanted full integration and they thought they will get full equality as other citizens in their countries.
Immigration is the Solution it is leaving Eastern Europe such as western Europe to Amerca’s and South Africa, we notice big leaps in the numbers of immigrants after the bloody events of Russia in 1880-1880 , Total about 230,000 Persons from Europe Western and Eastern, when we compare those numbers to jews coming to Palestine it was much insignificant, 1900-1914 2 million jews immigrated and from 1881 till 1899 1 million jews immigrated
3rd Solution was for the Jews is Zionism, we have three kinds of Zionism, we have Political Zionism and practical Zionism and we have Cultural Zionism
Political Zionism: Mass Movement from Eastern Europe to another place to Establish A Jewish National Home State.
Practical Zionism: mass movement from Eastern Europe to Palestine to Establish A Jewish National Home State
Cultural Zionism: unlike political and practical Zionism they don’t want to rush things they think it need time, it need to develop many of the cultural aspects of the State such as unified language and customs and many aspects together to build a state and when they have developed that many common cultural phenomenon aspects together it will be time to set up Jewish State and they were very critical to political Zionism and practical Zionism and there leader Asher Genzberg they criticize political and practical how they treated the Palestinian peasants.
1882 is the First Agricultural Jewish Zionist Settlement in Palestine that belongs to Practical Zionism, the First two Organisation are the Lovers of Zion and a second one that and the second one is Bilu who set up the First agricultural settlement rishon Etzion in 1882 – Rishon Lesion.
The Jerusalem District During the Ottoman Era in the 19th Century was in direct connection with Istanbul, it was very important District for the Ottomans, Jerusalem District, Nablus District and Ackre District both of these districts related to Beirut expect Jerusalem one direct with Istanbul, Jerusalem one was very important because the importance of the pilgrimage Route and all top powers countries at that time want to get foothold in Jerusalem District especially in Jerusalem and Bethlehem.
The Inhabitants of Palestine / Southern Syria through the Ottoman Rule Considered themselves as citizens of the Ottman Empire which were multinational but without denying their Arabism they always felt they are belonging to the empire and their allegiance to it and the sultan.
The Drastic change in this situation occurred in the last nine years of the Ottoman rule, that is from 1909 till 1918 and not before that, and the situation between the Ottomans and the Arabs started from 1909 till the assassination, Damascus protocol that the Arabs nationalist and this is the first document for the first time the Arabs put forth their total independence from the Ottoman Empire without Egypt it was with Britain, it was about security relations with the British and independence of the Arab State, so it was the First organization that called independent from the Ottoman State
and Later as result of Jamal basha and his policy they called for complete independence from the Ottoman State.
Great Britain became the main center for promoting the idea of the Jewish state and for promoting the famous dictum ( a land without a people to a people without land the roots of the movement go to the reformation especially the puritan movement in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries,
Dr. Peter walker is widely acknowledged as one of the Best experts and he wrote many books one of them In the Steps of Jesus, he has been doing Tours and also Bethlehem Tours for the Past 30 Years to the Holy land.
Bethlehem The House of Bread, You will have a Meal, from Bread to Meat, It is all about Food, in Bethlehem we do Live in Wonderful Place, many people from All over the World want to come to this Town, The Home Town of David, and want to hear the story of Bethlehem, we as tour Guides we will be their Teachers, we will be their guides, and we will remember Bethlehem from what we Say mostly, they will also remember the Place where Jesus have been born, they will also Remember who guided them, if you smile they will love us, if not they won’t, as simple as that, The Smile and the Character and making them interested in the people who live in Bethlehem will make us Great Tour guides in Bethlehem.
We might not remember every Fact correctly but they will listen to us and they will go back home happy, to be efficient Bethlehem Tour guide is not only about being a teacher but to be the Inspiration and to Inspire our Visitors.
We often think that a good teacher that is someone who teaches, we think a good teacher is a good teacher who teaches facts to people minds, a good teacher also inform, giving information, at end of the day it is very important to INSPIRE not only just teach or inform.
Love the people you’re talking to and communicate something inspiring that will get them excited, a good person does not only touch the mind but also touch the heart, most important “ touch the imagination “
And also try to affect the Individual the person, they may also willing to change their WILL, try to motivate people will, if the people listen to us they feel we value them as people, interested in their life, I’m going to listen to them and value them, fill their imagination, touch their hearts.
Facts very important but on their own are very boring, tell a story, when the days of David …imagine what it was like. Being down there in beit sahour, he was young boy age 9..and he saw a lion, and he throws a stone at it and killed the lion…five years later he throws a stone and he killed goliath
While in beit sahour think of david as young boy, he had lots of older brothers, and he Samuel he wanted to pour the oil on the head of a man that would be the next king,..went to 2nd one, no, and he went to all of them, and he told Jessi bring him here…he was with the sheep …
As Dr. Peter Said ” I was here last week guiding in Bethlehem with ughandan man, in his forties, and he always felt that he is the one out, and he still looks like lost boy, suddenly I came out and the picture of jessi and little David on the right, immediately I told him…your not the least important person of your family, your important and I said a prayer to encourage him….”
“It was very special moment for him …he will go from Bethlehem and will remember, my older brothers are more important to me….i made a story and I made link and or connection when they visited Bethlehem, and this is the kind of thing will be you telling stories …or story about what is like to be in Bethlehem in Muslim festival or Christmas festival …”
Indeed They will love our Family Traditions, they will be amazed how we celebrate all uncles and aunts, he spends all his money to keep his wife happy, 200,000 Shakels just to Get Married, and have to invite more than five hundred people..our family traditions ..our culture
Tell people stories, tell them stories about your culture and life here, but of course, many people come here and all that they want to hear about Jesus…if all your explanations about Bethlehem don’t tell them about Jesus it won’t be good enough, some of the visitors will know the bible stories, so what we try to find something, a point of connection and then build on that
So when you guiding in any place, it is very useful to have bible with you, the best you can do any place is to read the biblical passages, and some might remember or some might hear it from you, it is language they understand, you will read it out, and everybody can just sit and hear the story
And they were their shepherds out at night and suddenly there were angels coming to them, and when they heard that, you can say few things are you with me, when we are guiding speak very quickly, if English is not your first language ..Go slow,
And they will take them a day or two to pick up your English, it is fine but that is not what they are used to, when you go slow they think carefully, and sometimes fewer words are better,
Better to say one true sentence, it is the place where Christians remember where Jesus has been born, just say it slowly and they will focus and be important for them,
And remember silence after a sentence helps people to process what they heard, you will find the best part of the lecture is ten minutes after it is finished, because your brain takes time to hear and process what you heard,
So always give space to your speakers to ask questions or repeat, because it gives them a chance to think what you say, If there is old lady and can’t get off the bus, go help her, and sometimes there will be real challenge’s, and please tell them to bring others and buy our olive wood, challenge your visitors ..open there imagination’s to whole new world
Tell the story and how much Rachel loved Jacob, he loved Rachel, and when later joseph brothers take him down to Egypt, joseph demand they bring Benjamin back as security, and Jacob don’t want to give the last one..Imagine what is it like, they know what is it like to lose someone special or lose a wife, David and then Solomon and then comes rehobom fortified by him, Bethlehem is important place and it need fortification, and it is where kingdom is built up.
You can’t talk about Bethlehem or guide Bethlehem without talking about Ruth, the story is amazing, this is just sound like a true story, from Bethlehem around 1100 BC , people in there fields harvesting and then ruth picking up the extra wheat, it feel like it is just normal story in Bethlehem, but a true story, it will be told as it is,
He took the sandal off as like contact, to pass tradition of the rights, the kinsman redeemer, take off your sandals, I remember seeing him to take the sandals, it was very smelly and bad sandal, did he ever do that, yes he did , we saw that sandal, we remember the smell of that sandal that day , do you remember it?
Ruth and boaz is beautiful story and I think of it as whole new level , Jesus birth and love story and story of young little David in the fields, and I turned from sorrow to joy , Mary and joseph also arrive in Bethlehem and not married but she have a baby, but I bring you tidings of great joy and david struggling he is not very important but he is a king, or you can tell about a place very small it will be most important small , Bethlehem , out of you Bethlehem will come out ruler who will be the ruler of Israel, you little Bethlehem anything good can come out of Bethlehem, you can tell a story about god, I will take it small and make it great,
Tell a story about David small littlie boy who will be great, a boy who is born and left in a manger, but will become king of the world, all in Bethlehem , you can tell a story how god love the weak and shame the strong,
People will connect with this , you encourage them that lord is with them, develop a bit of spiritual point, god loves the weak and protect weak, as jesus said those For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted. Mathew 23:12
Herod the great dies in march 4 B.C , and we know jesus born before 4 B.C , massacre of the inoccents, we know herod , kill your wife and build her a tower, he was very paranoid , he gave order that when he die, other local jewish leaders should be put to Death, so when he dies, people would cry, because he felt that people wouldn’t cry otherwise, actually he dies in Jericho.
So we have the magi’s came from the east, where he have been king of the jews, tell me where he have been born…tell me come on tell me so I can go and worship him also??
150 AD gospel of James , it is mentioned as it is true, you have to tell story how jesus was born in a cave, it is issue that we need to discuss, it is a Palestinian jewish hope where there is cave in the back, where there is a place where no room in the guests room,
Queen Helena, used to serve drinks in a bar in northern London, learn the facts but also tell a story, let people imagine, if you had group from Britain queen Helena was one of you my friends ,
Jerome he actually said your near in God in Britannia than in Bethlehem, he was trying to make the point to be as Christian pilgrim, you came in a great pilgrimage and it was a great Idea… or we can Imagine that He is having too many piligrims visiting his cave and he want to have some peace while translating the Bible.
Persians lovely head gear as the magies they like the Persians , it is our church we won’t destroy it, Persian invasion was most savage time of the land.
Muslim arrival was peaceful arrival, the Persian was bloody one, 614 AD , the church survives in the Muslim times, the church of the holy scepluchure didn’t, tell story, and whenever you talk about some events from the past , use your imagination, so link to stories.
We live in vibrant community here..actually people in beit sahour are very different than people in Bethlehem, we had big problems in Bethlehem, imagine having big wall between you and your garden or between you and your neighbor.
Don’t start your Bethlehem Trip with politics or even do any one sided politics just stay neutral and tell people facts , show them how Great our culture , history and hospitality, Vibrant community, we got some great stories from the past, eatin out of your hats, what is it like to live here, it is great but we have some problems, my wife can’t go to Jerusalem, she doesn’t have id, but don’t do politics first, they didn’t come here for politics.
Jerusalem was a Temple, it was the main thing and big thing, Jerusalem was why it was popular, the City of David, it seems to be strongly the case, where David founded the City of Jerusalem, 1003 BC , Bethlehem is Town of David, Jerusalem is the City of David, City of King David, he took over the jebusites City of Jerusalem, at the moment we can see that the city of David is very thing city and very narrow, 50 yards wide , it had valley system on three sides, kidron valley and the cheese makers valley, and gehinnom valley, the Dung Gate, the sewerage of Jerusalem out of the valley, until lately .
The time of Jesus they didn’t have underground sewerage Jerusalem , the wind come of the west, to the east to the mount of olives, no body live there, they live in the upper city, poor people lived down there but no one live there, tell a story about smell , people love it, Then you take them to shop and sell them perfumes,
The city of David here is because of the water , the gehon spring and access to water, so Jerusalem is safe to three sides but always vulnerable to attack from the north,And eventually it expanded in this direction on the upper hill, and they built wall at the top also,
So it was the problem with the north wall, they were trying
to figure out where the north wall , all the archeologist, church of the holy
sepluchre , somebody might say it was inside the city wall, the first century
tombs you can still see ten yards away from the traditional time of jesus,
Catacomb (Coceen ) – archeological evidence the church of
the resurrection was outside , much jesus was did was in the upper city, the
last supper in the upper city,
The upper hill , was much much higher than the city of David down there, near the Zion gate you will look down, it is long way down, imagine people walking up from the lowest city of david to the upper city, the wealthy nation the high priest, and when pontius pilate, he also stayed in the upper city, the palace of herod the Great,
Suggestion that Jesus had his last supper here, and he goes down through the Golden gate and make his way to getsemane, and he is brought back to the temple to kaifa’s house and then to pointious pilate and they are all close to each other, why we say pointious stay at that house, she is called caludia poklia, she doesn’t like going to Jerusalem and she have to go there, they are celebrating, libration moses, Passover time, everybody says it is going to be the moment, Claudia ….. ponty ponty do we have to go to the Passover, I like to stay at herod place, I don’t want to stay at army barracks, where Antonia palace, where all these men got there machine guns, I want to stay at the palace of herod the great, we got lots of soldiers there not 300 but we got enough and we have swimming pools, it was called herod high regency it was lovely hotel 5 star and extra food for you, and we can get there into side gate, we sneak in through outside gate and we will be in the palace without anybody knowing , that is how you solve the problem where ponty stay,
that time things weren’t so good between romans and herod..they are fighting for power, so it could be he wanted to make sure he have is authority and stay at the Antonia ..he wanted to prove a point …he wanted to put his authority so most likely both Antonia and the Herod Palace
Herod son archalaius was bad, he wanted to rule Judea
directly …all the armies are romans,
Golgotha, is aramic, which means calvary, it could be a place of execution or it could be that rock had the shape of a skull, it could have had couple of eye sockets in it, this look like skull and the name stuck as skull,
The Palace of King Herod the Great, the Idea of littlie hill made out of rock and the caves which got tombs in them, and the rectangle mark the site of the present church of the holy scepluchure , the Quarry and here there is bit of rock, and all this area is quarry, and Golgotha is the name for the whole area not just the rock, so it could be 50 yards * 50 yards, and somebody says where can we remember jesus place so they said here, so that become the place, but it could have happened twenty yards that way and twenty yards that way, but a tomb is a narrow thing but the place of crucifxtion could be any place,
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Story: there is bishop maccaruis he go often to famous counsel , near Constantinople near there nicenea july AD year 25, and they are lovely drink of orange juice when they go nervously to the emperor, your majesty we have a very important project in the land of Jerusalem, one of your latest monto eza , emperor hadran , pagan shrine over the tomb jesus, give us some shakels, dollars we need to do excavation to find the tomb of jesus, the emperor say I give you the money the shakels it make me very important. And they make the digging and they discover a tomb, they rejoice, the tradition is true and they are pleased to find it, but when they are there, when jesus died on a cross, where is the wood, and someone find some wood around and start saying this is the wood of the cross, and eusebius, he think it is stupid there is no way the wood would have survived 300 years, we know the site used by pagans all kind of stuff,
But some of the Christians get excited he found the cross, he try it play it down, but he say the tomb is the correct site and he is very convinced , and the emperor start selling it to people…take it back to Italy take it back to Rome..or just give it, and somehow you see the wood of the cross is to promote Jerusalem , queen Helena, does come to the holy land does indeed visit Bethlehem but no one at the time link queen Helena with the wood of the cross, that idea only took 70 years later , it was a story of queen Helena finding a cross and a jewish person and try to identiy , and then it touches the person and he come back from the dead and I belive it is a legend and it is not true, but some people belive it is true and they tell you it is magical healing miracle , when somebody else come along they say it is stupid, and then the whole church look stupid, so we have to separate fact from fantasy, so the tomb is very likely to be authentic, and the cross is zero just legend.
Spoke about mount zion, where the early church first met to worship , lastsupper, meeting with the risen Christ at the upper room, and the story of pentacles, also shows the gate of zion and the steep hill where Jerusalemites used to throw rubbish, sacrifices and also prior to that maybe performing child sacrifices.
Thousand years later we can see it in jesus day, could try to keep the enemy out , it could be much bigger at the time of jesus, just few years after the time of crucifixtion, there it is added, bring Golgotha inside the city, but the big date, is 139 AD , they renamed the city, they called ELIA capatolina, named after Hadrian and the gods of capital hill, and secondly the buildings are destroyed and they put an army camp out there, which is put north south, and you can see it is further north than the city of jesus day, it is no longer in the city it moved, we need to make sure jews won’t know, and they not allowed to see Jerusalem and Bethlehem as well because it is very close to Jerusalem, city expanded .
What is the
old testament what is the Hebrew bible, and the Jewish one, difference between
the jewish old testament other than Christian old testament, Jewish to three
parts, the Chrsistian Categorization of the old testament it divde into five
parts, the five books of moses the historical books, the pottery and wisdom
books and the major prophets and minor prophets, 66 the whole bible, but the
whole old testament is 39, as we are done of five books of moses we come now to
pottery literature and wisdom literature , but most of scholars agree on having
them unified as one literature , it is called pottery and wisdom literature,
the second part is the prophets which is divided into major prophets and minor
prophets , the minor prophets include twelve prophets and twelve books.
You will see
that some how the jewish old testament is different than the way we study in
the Christian old testament but we will mix them up but mostly we will focus on
the Christian divisions of the old testament.
it is about
the base how god talk to his people through deterunomoy if you obey god you
will receive the blessings if you obey god you will receive them but if you
worship another god you will be curses, and this is we see all through the
historical books.
We talked
about Joshua entering the land and Joshua didn’t occupy the whole land, and
later we talked about how the book of judges about the twelve ones all over
Israel, about four hundred years of time, and about how twelve judges lived in
cycle, the cycle starting from sin then oppression then crying out for god then
redemption.
And if we
remember how this cycle reflect the way how people think in history, history
repeat it self and that is what we see later like in Saul and king david and
later on in Solomon.
After the
twelve judges they went to Samuel and asked him for King like all other
kingdoms around them they had kings, so they asked for king, god didn’t like
the request but he eventually approved it and gave them Saul.
Saul was a
good in the first years of his kingship and later he sinned and later god
Chosen David from the House of Jesse in Bethlehem to become King.
And we
talked about the struggle and fighting between Saul and David, and the jealousy
between Saul and then Saul went after David and he ran away.
Later Saul
was killed and David Became the Official King , and David is man after God
Heart, doesn’t mean he was perfect in fact when he asked god to build temple ,
god refused because he had bloody hands, later David with beethsheba he ran way
and god cursed him with his son raping his sister and his son tried to take the
throne from him, but later on god put him back on the throne and Solomon was
chosen and later passed away.
Solomon
comes a very powerful king and very strong economy for Israel and extends its
borders to ephrates and Egypt, and we talked about the alliances with Kingdom
of Israel and others, he made alliances with local neighbor’s kingdom.
Later
Jerboham asked him to lower the taxes he asked from the Son of Solomon, later
the two kingdoms was divided, ten tribes, kingdom of Israel and later on the
Southern Kingdom, Kingdom of Judea, the first exile was 722 by the Assyrians.
The First
one was 605 was first Babylon Exile of kings and Royals and the young
professionals, the second one was the minor one 597 it was a response to
revolution and not really that important and the third one the most important
one when the temple was destroyed 586.
Most kings
of northern kingdom were bad , but most of the southern kings of south kingdom
were bad but very few were godly and good.
It is very
important because all the future subjects that we going to talk about is
written in this Era, the pslams all talk about David and Judah , how Judah is
promenant city and how Mount of Zion is place where everybody should come here
and worship God, and the Book of proverbs most of them made actually said by
Solomon.
The Historical
Conditions which scholars give them, major themes and Crisis, The First are
Crisis of urbanization تحضر but when we are talking about crisis that
happened in urbanization, because of the political system there were
corruption, now if people have king they will have to give tax to the king
which craze the potential of corruption then second kings need army where the
army will come from the poor people, and third one he will take more ladies for
himself, so it is mostly in an ethical issue to having a king, is the
corruption ethical and financial that we see when it comes to urbanization,
during the kingship of Solomon. But at the time of Solomon the sky rocketing
with corruption began at that time and after his son everything was divided,
but urbanization mostly start with David there is a kingdom we start seeing
Jerusalem becoming an Urban center till the Destruction of Jerusalem, so it is
mostly 450 years when David was around the first millennium.
Always the Israelites when they talked about the Sea always it was about
Chaos and God the one who bring order to the Sea the chaos subdue Water, so
they kept away from the Sea, while in the minor prophets jona is the first one
who go the Sea, always we can see from the context they were terrified, even jona
when he talked about the Sea as it is his dystanity to his death, tarshish in
the Ancient word is the far end of the world, because at that time they thought
the world is flat, it is like he will die, this is the end of the world this is
the understanding of the sea, so most probably they stayed in the center and
the ridge mountains only Elijah went to the Carmel mount that went to place
near the Sea, but the sea never mentioned it always reflect chaos and sea is
also before the creation .
So that is the Issue of urbanization the Corruption of Solomon and his
dynasty but when it comes to the rest of the books, when we talk about major
and minor prophets when we see respond from political issues like one of the
prophets respond to king of Israel , other one to Kingdom of Judah, like jona
was in Israel but somehow he prophecies about Judah, the Crisis of colonization
, Syria is colonizing our land and taking us away form our God.
According to our Studies of the Hebrews we understand that God is
territorial Land he is limited to the Temple Mount and to Jerusalem but here
the question of the Crisis, if the assyrians and Babylonians were able to
destroy Jerusalem and take us away then our God is weak, where Is god, what
happens on the ground , happens in heaven.
But we see the ancient nature , the king was taken away to the Exile and
people began to question the sovereignty of god so how can they trust a god,
that lost control over the situation, and how could he allow this evil to
happen to them , the Deuteronomy was
written after the Exile as it was the basic rule if we worship god and obey god
and we live in that land and we shall prosper if we don’t , the land will be
taken away from us .
At some time they edited there books the Israelites during many different
era’s in the Old testament, book of jona is particular to the north kingdom so
most likely 750 B.C , the book is most probably edited in 250 BC , which most
likey have not been in 750 BC , so those books were edited because not the
content was edited, the language and/or clarifications for the contemporary
reader will understand, but when you edit the book it reflect the crises you
are in.
Colonization is crisis , when people were exiled out of the country they
lived In those crisis, where is our god, we have been defeated , because
according to ancient Israelites he was the most powerful and they thought of
God as political King and they were after god for the benefit of worshipping
God for example, you will see that most of the time they focus on Jerusalem
because it si the center of God presents but they didn’t commit to the law so
they thought of God as magical charm they thought of God that way, if Jerusalem
and god is not there that means an end for our Kingdom , god wanted to show
them yes it is actually true but it is my way not your way.
David talks about when he run away and the psalms all about his
experience and what he express in the book of psalms and then almost disappear
like almost a legend in the past and we wish his days will come back, david was
the perfect king if we look in the past but it couldn’t be really true, like
the prophets also if god give him a promise he will rise up with David in the
future he want to go back in history and be like David, the Israelites always
backward to the future and look into the Past, for us in the eastern church
traditions for example the world will be renewed and restored, if we embarrass
all our heritage we will understand more how it is like in the old testament
till these days same concept is how it is like in the old testament in our
middle eastern community.
When we come to the New Testament it is always about Jesus as the son of
David, the book of Kings we see many of the events that happened in the rest of
the Old Testament happened in Kings and Chronicles which is known as the
third kingdom book.
Samuel 1+2 then we have kings ending David and starting with Solomon, so
total 3 kings and mostly less focus on Solomon but we also read about Solomon
In proverbs and Ecclesiastes and psalms are mostly related or connected to
Solomon, and most probably that Solomon wrote significant part of the psalms,
and psalms we read about most likely inspired onward and dictated later by
Solomon.
The auther evaluate of each king based on there monarchies, Jerusalem is
the standard that is why we see many people criticize Israel and its kings
because the capital supposed to be Israel.
Post Exile very few things mentioned at that time but most likely things
were written at that time like jona book most likely after post exile, he is
very critical of his nation but some of the books we will notice that half of
it written before and later on written after like Isaiah , for example let us
talk about pslams, we can notice that some of the books in the river of
ephraites we sat and wept, so pslams written at time of David we sat and wept
so it is defiantly written after .
Although at Solomon time it was the only time in history god filifilled
his promise in Israel and he controlled all over the land.
The Divided Kingdom about the major and minor prophets mostly talking
about this Era, the northern kingdom include ten tribes all of them were evil
the capital were schekem and later samaria.
The Southern kingdom and Certain part of Benjamin , twenty kings , 8 of
them were good and twelve were evil, and the capital was Jerusalem.
Northern Kingdom with political divisions Jerbohom, when prophet went to
him and cut it into ten parts and prophecies the divided kingdom, he introduced
the religious revelations about yahwesim.
The Southern kingdom saw the worship system as economy by itself, he
introduced different religion so for him to have political independence for
Israel from the rest of the kingdom he have to economic independence as well.
Bethel they started giving the offerings there, and attempts to provide
alternative to Jerusalem temple, then we talking about Omri that try to give
power in Israel, where it was extended to the territory of Moab, Misha Stella
that talk about Omri and talk about the Northern Kingdom.
House of OMri used to refer to Israel as micha the king of Moab, in the
Micha inscription he make Samaria his new Capital omri.
Akhab son of Omri was very bad king, he sized power in the northern
kingdom and the story of Akhab he married Jezabail, after his father omri he
married the princess of sydon, he introduced the worship of Baal in the
Israelites History it was the biggest enemy of God.
If there is God for the Israelites that was the worst is Baal, Elijah
also confront of the 450 prophets of Baal and challenge them, in the Kishon
River.
Later on Ikhab and Jezabel tried to take over the vineyard of naboth ,
so jezebel wrote to people who swear that naboth cursed on god and the king, so
they stoned him and killed him, so Akhab took his vaneyard and later wee see
that Elijah confronted Akhab and jezebel was killed.
Northern kingdom the history of the northern kingdom , two kings hezkaih
and Josaiah , because of the high regards the information they implemented in
Jerusalem and in Judah, after period of peace between Israel and Judah, johash
invaded Jerusalem , plundered the temple and took many hostages from the
Samarians, it is part of the hate and bitternes between the people of Judah and
Samartia, later on Israel enjoy some stability.
The Southern kingdom we can go forward and talk about the Good kings and
bad kings and particular Hezekiah that was most important figure in the divided
kingdom history specially the religious one, they were terrified from the Assyrians
and he was like reformer and like Hezekiah tunnel when the Assyrians sieged
Jerusalem.
The Theology of Exile , when we talked about Eden and the land, how the
ancient people saw the univerise as the universe is god’s temple and it is
reflecting in God creating the world, and then we have canaan as the second
eden and then how they think of Jerusalem as the temple as manifestation of
Eden again, so the univerise is always surrounded by the temple and also which
equals eden, so whenever they are taking away from land they are taken away
from Eden, but the sin is illustrated like Death , so leaving eden is Death, so
the Exile for the Israelites is Death, so this is always in the back of their
minds when writing the books and vision of the Future.
In the Chronicles we remember is the first commentary in the Bible
because it summarize the kings , somehow certain parts it repeat the history ,
people from the exile exaggerate they talk about David the good king, they
don’t mention bethseba, like david didn’t do anything like he was a perfect
king , always elvate the nationalstic
spirit, talking about Eza and nehemaihah, when people coming back from the
exile, Zerbabel first later Ezra then join Ezra nehemaiah.
They weren’t as glorious as the times of Solomon but they had some break
from the Cirius.
The Question about colonization Is where is god, can god be defeated, so
now in all the books god is defeated, where is god, now we read eza is
returning to the land, now god is restoring his people, when people have been
in the exile, we talked about Esther, according to the name Hadasah, Esther
doesn’t mention god as he is absent he is not there , but he is working in
history, miraculously esther becomes the queen and advice for her people to
fast and pray for three days before she stand before the king and deliver the
truth and later on the Israelites were saved and thousands of Persians become
commited to the worship of Yahweh.
Explains
The Crisis of Urbanization and Colonization in the light of what you have
learned Today 200/words minimum outline
Urbanization: When the civilization became urban
there will be Commercial kingdom and trade routes and caravans and merchants
with other local kingdoms and they will be exposed to other religions and pagan
god’s practices.
We Can Start
talking about Urbanization Crisis starting with the Corruption that will happen
with the monarchy System, supposedly if people have king they will have to pay
taxes to the king which craze the potential of corruption and secondly kings do
need army where army will come obviously from the peasants or the poor people
and the third one he will take more ladies and more women for himself and in
eyes of god and the Israelite’s community and traditions this is sin and bad,
so we can see the Ethical and Financial corruption that comes with urbanization
during the kingship of Solomon for example, and also at times of Solomon it was
sky rocketing with corruption and after his time everything was divided
Colonization is Crisis also to the Israelite’s, when people were exiled out of the Country they lived in those Crisis, and they were asking and wondering and looking for god, where is our God??! , we have been defeated, because according to ancient Israelites he was the most powerful and they thought of God as political king and they were after god for the benefit of worshipping God , for Example you will see that most of the time they focus on Jerusalem because it is the Center of God presence , but they didn’t commit to the law so they thought of God as magical charm and also they always thought Jerusalem is not there it also means god is not there which means the end of our Kingdom, god wanted to show them yes it is actually true but it is going to be done my way not your way.
1.What
are some of the Common Characteristic of Hebrew Poetry? How does Biblical
Poetry Differ from much of our Modern Poetry?
Parallelism,
Synonymous Parallelism, Antithetic Parallelism, Synthetic Parallelism, meter
and rhyme , Hebrew Poetry relies much more on meter than on rhyme, through
rhyme sometimes does occur, and biblical poetry and Hebrew poetry use a variety
of different metric styles while modern poetry both meter and rhyme play
important roles, each line follows a certain meter or accent pattern and the
last word of lines often rhyme.
2. How
would you explain Parallelism to someone who never heard of it?
It is a structure of thought (rather than external form
like meter or rhyme) in which the writer balances a series of words so that
patterns of deliberate contrast or intentional repetition appear.
