Session 8|In the Shadows of the Eastern Super-Powers (II):
The Southern Judaean Kingdom
#30-34

#30. Introduction

Central to this lecture will be the nature of the interaction between the kingdom of Judah and two Mesopotamian (modern-day Iraq) states: Assyria and Babylonia. We will see that Judah was able to survive for approximately 150 years longer than its northern neighbor, Israel. Its survival in the face of an Assyrian besiegement of Jerusalem will be of particular interest in the readings included below.

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#31. Jerusalem Map

The staples of life, such as food and water, are necessary for a city to endure besiegement. Jerusalem, unfortunately, only possessed one natural water source, the Gihon Spring, within close distance to the City of David; that is, the most ancient neighborhood in Jerusalem. Locate this spring, the Siloam Pool, and Hezekiah’s Tunnel on the map below. Based upon this map, what were the builders of the tunnel seeking to accomplish?

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#32. Siloam Inscription

One of the longest Hebrew inscriptions of the First Temple period is the Siloam Inscription. This text provides insights into the construction of Hezekiah’s tunnel. It is translated and studied in the following piece from the Anchor Bible Dictionary written by R. Coote, a biblical scholar and historian. Be sure to note any information about the inscription which sheds light onto the history of Judah.

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#33. 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles

The books of 1 and 2 Kings share a common ideology that may be expressed in two points: (1) the exile of Israel and Judah from Israel/Palestine to the lands of Assyria and Babylonia was the result of breaking a religious pact with YHWH; (2) returning to YHWH and his ways will lead to the return of the exiles to their home land. This perspective is often called “Deuteronomistic” since it coincides with the worldview found within the book of Deuteronomy, the fifth book of the Bible. 1 and 2 Chronicles (two historical works found in the English Bible just after 1 and 2 Kings) also seek to explain the history of Israel from a religious perspective but present information in divergent ways than the books of 1 and 2 Kings do. For this reading, pay attention to the differences between Kings and Chronicles on the issue of Hezekiah and his rebellion against Sennacherib.

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#34. William Hallo

William Hallo brings multiple disciplines together in the following reading in order to interpret the Bible in light of the available data concerning the late 8th century in Judah, be it from the study of Akkadian, which was the official language of the Assyrian empire, geology, or epigraphy. The latter is the analysis of written scripts and is based upon the supposition that writing styles changed over time.

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