STUDY QUESTIONS

Moshe Weinfeld, "Jerusalem: A Political and Spiritual Capital" in Joan Goodnick Westenholz, ed., Capital Cities: Urban Planning and Spiritual Dimensions (Jerusalem,1997)

Scripture bears testimony to the fact that Jerusalem was the princess among the nations (Lamentations 1:1) and that:

Kings and all the inhabitants of the world did not believe that an enemy could penetrate the gates of Jerusalem. (Lamentations 4:12)

It has been found that the city in question [i.e. Jerusalem] is a rebellious city, harmful to kings and states. Sedition has been rife in it from early times; on that account this city was destroyed. (Ezra 4:19)

Jerusalem's powerful status did not begin with David.  The city is well-known to us from second millennium B.C.E. sources and emerges exceptionally vividly from the letters of Abdi-Hepa, King of Jerusalem, to the King of Egypt (14th century B.C.E.).  Here we find that "the King of Egypt has established his name in the land of Jerusalem forever," an expression that recalls the city's designation in Deuteronomy and in the literature influenced by it:

...the place where God will choose to establish His name.

...in Jerusalem, which I chose out of all the tribes of Israel, I will establish My name forever. (2 Kings 21:7)

About the hegemony of Jerusalem in the period before the Israelite occupation we also learn from another letter from the El Amarna archive (no. 290), which tells that the town of Beth-Horon , the city of the land of Jerusalem, had broken off its alliance with Jerusalem.  This development endangered Jerusalem's control over the area.  In the King of Jerusalem's own words, "Should the King of Egypt not send a regular army, the Habiru will gain control of the land."  This state of affairs recalls the anxiety caused the King of Jerusalem by Gibeon joining the Israelites, described in Josh. 10.  The King of Jerusalem assembled a coalition of kings under his leadership to attack Gibeon but failed to subdue it.  As Hayim Tadmor and Zecharia Kallai argue, the two events -- Beth-Horon's secession and Gibeon joining the Israelites -- were connected, both historically and chronologically.  It is well known that Beth-Horon occupied a strategically important location on the route from the Shephelah to the Judean Hills, so that its rejection of Jerusalem's authority would make it easier for the Gibeonites to do likewise.

Jerusalem's control over a region stretching from the Se`ir Hills in the south and Gezer in the southwest to Shechem in the north gave it great power and influence.  In support of this, the Amarna letters designate it "the Land of Jerusalem," quite an exceptional designation.  It is not by chance that it is the only city of the hill country to have survived to David's time.  Its political sway is also anecdotally attested by the story of the seventy kings picking the scraps from under the table of Adoni-bezek, King of Jerusalem (Judges 1:7).  The archetypal number "seventy" either reflects historical reality or is merely symbolic.

Moreover, David was fully aware of the traditional greatness of the city and for this reason desired to connect himself to the highly regarded ruling dynasty that preceded him in Jerusalem.  The purpose of the story of Melchizedek, King of Salem, in Genesis 14, is to show that the patriarch of the Israelite people, Abram, not only respected Melchizedek who was both king and priest of the God Most High (el elyon) in Salem, but also paid him a tithe.  Readers are intended to receive the impression that Melchizedek revered the God Most High, identified by the author with the God of the Israelites, and that he was a priest and thus entitled to a tithe.  David's wish to derive legitimacy from his predecessor as ruler of Jerusalem is given full expression in one of the ancient psalms:

You are a priest forever, after the manner of Melchizedek. (Psalms 110:4)

Jerusalem was called "Jebus" in the Bible.  The Jebusites conquered by David were apparently, with the Hittites and the Hivites, one of the peoples that migrated southward on the collapse of the Hittite state under the influx of the Sea Peoples, towards the close of the thirteenth century B.C.E., as suggested by the late B. Mazar.  Ezekiel's saying, "... your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite" (Ezekiel 16:3, 45) is evidence for the Hittite population in Jerusalem, and indeed numerous were the Hittite rituals and customs that were absorbed into the rites at Jerusalem, and which are reflected in the Jerusalem priestly code.  For example, Hittite purification ceremonies include a ritual consisting of binding cedar, tamarisk and olive woods with red wool like in Leviticus 14:6-7, 49-51.  After giving birth, a woman is cleansed by sacrificing a lamb and a dove, as in Leviticus 12:4-5.  The instructions for bringing sacrifice on the various holy days, as given in Numbers 28-29, closely resemble the instructions for bringing sacrifice among the Hittites.  Both the Hittite texts and the calendar of the festival sacrifices in Numbers 28-29 call for:  one bull of the herd, seven lambs, one goat, flour, and a libation of wine.

The priestly rankings also display parallels between Hittite and Israelite practice.  Hittite priests belonged to one of two categories -- those who served the inner chambers of the Temple and their inferiors who officiated in the temple courtyard and kept charge there.  The dichotomy between the priests and the Levites in the priestly sections of the Pentateuch is very similar, as J. Milgrom has demonstrated.  The display of shewbread and the lighting of lamps in the temple are also common to Hittites and Israelites.  Exceptionally instructive is the narration of David's entry into the Jebusite city (2 Samuel 5:8-9), which entailed removing the blind and the lame from the House of God.  Hittite records attest that they were most strict in not allowing the blind and the lame in the proximity of their temple, and this is reflected in their demand, "You shall not come in here unless you remove even the blind and the lame" (2 Samuel 5 8).  Given the numerous parallels between Hittite and Israelite ritual, it is very likely that David's removal of the blind and the lame from the temple area was a gesture to Hittite sensibilities.  The Temple Scroll from the Qumran caves shows that certain Israelite circles preserved the custom.  There we find:

No blind man shall come into the city of the Temple.

Furthermore, laws and customs unattested in the Bible but found in the Mishna also appear in the Hittite literature, from which we infer that these customs are not Hellenistic-period innovations but represent an old heritage from the second millennium B.C.E.  Thus, for example, in the Mishna, Bikkurim 3:3, we find that the procession of the first fruits brought to the Temple in Jerusalem was preceded by an ox (for sacrifice) "whose horns were overlaid with gold."  Since this had been a prevalent custom in the Hellenistic period, it has been interpreted as of Greek origin.  However, the custom has now been found attested in Hittite texts, as well as in contemporaneous Mesopotamian literature, which shows that it had existed in the ancient Near East a thousand years before the Hellenistic period.

A similar phenomenon is to be found in the way animals were treated before slaughter.  In the Mishna, Ma`aser Sheni 5:15, we are told that John Hyrcanus abolished the "knockers," who used to knock/smite sacrificial animals between the horns before slaughter.  This was not only Greek practice, it was common Hittite practice too, and the above-mentioned Mishna shows us that in the Jerusalem Temple also, before John Hyrcanus' reign, it was customary to stun the animal before slaughtering it.

Another custom of Second Temple period, not attested in the Bible but found in the Mishna (Yoma 4:2; 6:6), is the colored ribbon tied to the horns of the scapegoat on the Day of Atonement.  According to the Hittite source the ribbon tied to the scapegoat (or rather scaperam) is made into a wreath and the animal is crowned with it.  Although this practice is not mentioned in the Mishna it is attested in the Epistle of Barnabas who tells us about finding the scarlet wool around the head of the scapegoat.

Another detail mentioned in the Mishna and confirmed by the Epistle of Barnabas is that the people used to pull hair from the passing scapegoat saying:  "take (the sins) and go" (Yoma 6:4). This is reflected in the Hittite purification ritual:  "As the goat goes by you and you pull off it some hair...in the same way pull off the offerer's evil and impurity.  By the same token the spitting on the scapegoat mentioned in the Epistle of Barnabas:  "And do you all spit on it" is attested in the Hittite purification rituals: "The offerer spits out the impurities: the curses, false oath and calumnies."  Hittite influence is also reflected in the legal sphere, e.g. the Israelite covenantal texts.  Thus, the promise to establish a permanent royal line, contained in the covenant that forms part of the vision of Nathan in 2 Samuel 7, is constructed on the Hittite model of the covenant-of-grant; the Hittite king promises his vassal eternal kingship and then adds that, even if the latter should sin so far as to rebel against him, he will not be rescinded.  Similarly, God in the covenant with David promises him eternal kingship:

should he sin, he will be chastised with a rod but the lord's mercy will never be removed from him. (2 Samuel 7:14-15)

As A. Malamat has shown, the Jerusalem of David and Solomon's time was capital to an empire that stretched from the River of Egypt to the River Euphrates, a fact recalling the promise of the Covenant of Abraham in Genesis 15.  Verses 19-21 enumerate ten peoples, including some from across the Jordan, the Kadmonites, the Perizzites, and the Rephaim.  This is an era of a great king and a great people.  David, as "the son of God," receives his ancestor's inheritance:

God said to me: "You are my son, I begot you today, Ask of me and I shall give you the nations as an inheritance." (Psalms 2:7-8)

God promised by His holiness I will ascend Luz (Beth-el),
will divide up Shechem, Moab is my washbasin,
on Edom I will cast my shoe; acclaim me, O Philistia
Who can bring me to the fortified city (Tyre)?
Who will bring me to Aram? (Psalms 60:8-14)

Salem became His abode; Zion, His den. There he broke the fiery arrows of the bow, the shield and the sword of war... The fiercest of men shall acknowledge You... all who are around Him shall bring tribute to the Awesome One... He inspires awe in the kings of the earth. (Psalms 76)

David reigned over all Israel, and David maintained justice and righteousness for all his people. (2 Samuel 8:15)

...a time is coming ... when I will raise up a true branch of David's line. He shall reign as a king and shall prosper, and he shall establish justice and righteousness in the land.

It is this period, too, that is alluded to in Psalm 47 when it talks of the princes of the nations gathered together in Jerusalem and constituting "...the retinue of Abraham's God," whose name alludes to the expression "father of numerous peoples" which is embodied in the name of Abraham (Genesis 17:5). This great heritage passes to the crown prince, Solomon, the subject of Psalm 72, in which David prays for the son about to succeed him. The psalm opens with these words:

To Solomon. O God, endow the king with justice, the king's son with righteousness.

Let him rule from sea to sea, from the river to the ends of the earth....  Let kings of Tarshish and the islands pay tribute, kings of Sheba and Seba offer gifts.  Let all kings bow to Him, and all nations serve Him.

After David's death, Solomon expanded the city, constructing a palace within the royal city and the Temple on a hill to the north of it. He also built the Hall of Judgement and the Lebanon Forest House (arsenal), and a palace for the daughter of Pharaoh whom he had married. In addition to these works, it is related that he built the Millo and repaired the breach in the city walls. The identification of the Millo is uncertain but excavations on the eastern slope of David's city have uncovered a monumental, stepped structure, which is identified as a supporting wall of the tenth century B.C.E., dating apparently to the reign of Solomon. Song of Songs 4:4 alludes to this structure: "Your neck is like David's tower which is built with winding courses." Heb. talpyot is perhaps related to Arab. lafa, which denotes "layer." The renown that Solomon's enterprises won is conveyed in the description of the kings who came to see Jerusalem:

Fair and lofty, the joy of the whole earth...the hill of the great king's city. Through its citadels, God has made Himself known as a haven. See the kings all gather round her... they are struck with amazement...The likes of what we heard we have now witnessed... The praise of You, God, like Your name, reaches to the ends of the earth; ...walk around Zion, circle it, count its towers, take note of its ramparts, go through its citadels... vv. 4-14)

The transformation of Jerusalem into a royal city and royal sanctuary was a revolutionary event in the history of Israel. The innovations were two: a) the establishment of a fixed royal dynasty, and b) the creation of a fixed religious center, and both overturned ancient traditions that had been thought sacrosanct. The "House of God" (the Temple) and the "House of David," concepts that began to take shape in the days of the United Kingdom, stood in direct opposition to Israelite traditions that had held good from the Exodus from Egypt until the end of the period of the Judges. Early Israelite belief had deemed the establishment of a royal house sinful, as the stories about Gideon demonstrate. The body called "the men of Israel" calls on Gideon to "Rule over us -- you, your son, and your grandson as well," that is, they are proposing a dynasty that shall rule for generations to come. Gideon responds, "I will not rule over you myself, nor shall my son rule over you; the Lord alone shall rule over you." According to this source, in rejecting the men of Israel's request, Gideon rejects the very idea of setting up a royal dynasty in Israel, and indeed, in the following chapter we read that the attempt of Abimelech, Gideon's son, to rule over Israel ends in total failure.

Samuel voices the most extreme anti-monarchical sentiments in relation to the proposal to crown Saul:

...then you will take thought and realize what a wicked thing you did in the sight of the Lord when you asked for a king.

No, we must have a king reigning over us though the Lord your God is your King. (I Samuel 12:12)

Monarchy in Israel was thus a radical innovation requiring religious legitimization. This is found in 2 Samuel 7 in the prophecy of Nathan to David, in which God promises David the kingship for his line forever. Thus, the charismatic principles on which the leadership of Israel had hitherto been based were left behind.

A similar turning point occurred with respect to the dwelling place of the Lord in Israel, but this event, the fixing of a permanent Temple of the Lord in Jerusalem, had to wait until the reign of Solomon for its legitimization, as though it were too hard for one generation to assimilate two such radical changes.

In the years of wandering in the desert and throughout the period of the Judges, there had been no permanent dwelling place for the Lord. The Tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant that symbolized God's presence, we hear of now in one place, now in another -- at Gilgal, then at Bethel, and Shechem and finally at Shilo. Admittedly, these passages belong to different compositional layers, to different traditions and periods of time, but jointly they voice the tradition that during the period of the Judges there was no permanent resting place for the Tabernacle and the Ark. This state of affairs is aptly represented in the words of God to Nathan in response to David's wish to build a House of Cedar for the Ark:

From the day I brought the people of Israel out of Egypt to this day I have not dwelt in a house, but have moved about in Tent and Tabernacle. As I moved about wherever the Israelites went, did I ever reproach any of the tribal leaders whom I appointed to care for My people Israel: Why have you not built me a house of cedar?

During the period of the United Kingdom, then, Israel became a monarchy "like other nations" and, like other great monarchies, the Israelite court developed an ideology of expansion. These expansionist ambitions, however, were metamorphosed in the prophetic books into utopian form and in this form became the foundation of Hebrew and Christian eschatology: from the strong came forth sweetness. The choice of a king like all the other nations gave rise to the idea of a Messiah from the Davidic line, the savior and redeemer of all mankind (Isaiah 11: 1-9), while the king's Temple, construction of which had caused such severe internal religious contention, was transformed in prophecy into "a house of prayer for all peoples" and into the center of universal peace.

Jerusalem -- Center of Regional Hegemony

Ezekiel, as mentioned earlier, terms Jerusalem the "gateway of the peoples" (26:2). Tyre gloats over the fall of Jerusalem: "The gateway of the peoples is broken, it has become mine," that is to say, the gateway of the peoples, or the gate by which people had hitherto entered Jerusalem, will pass into her hands. What is the basis for this image?

We have seen that many works speak of the greatness of Jerusalem and of the king there established. But we require more concrete examples and the outstanding one comes from Isaiah, from the reign of Hezekiah. It is also Isaiah who appears to portray the city as spiritual center of the world. The period is one of expansion for Jerusalem. It triples its former area and also its population, according to archaeological surveys. The source of this expansion, in the opinion of M. Kochavi, is immigration into Judah and Jerusalem from the Northern Kingdom, recently conquered by the Assyrians. The invitation in Chronicles 2:30 to the northern tribes to come and celebrate the Passover in Jerusalem is further evidence of this population movement.

The expansion of the city boundaries was confirmed by archaeological discoveries made after the Six-Day War in excavations led by Prof. N. Avigad. On the western slope of the city, where the Jewish Quarter now stands, Avigad's team unearthed a 65-meter length of 7 meter wide wall from the time of Hezekiah. This wall encircled not only the eastern hill and the Temple Mount, which had comprised the city until that time, but also the western hill, taking in the Mishneh and Machtesh quarters (mentioned in 2 Kings 24:14 and Zephaniah 1:11) as well as the Siloam Pool. At one point, the wall around the western hill is built over a row of houses, thus clarifying the words of Isaiah:

And you counted the houses of Jerusalem and pulled down houses to fortify the wall; and you constructed a basin between the two walls for the water of the old pool. (22:10-1 1)

Another statement of Isaiah in Chapter 22 has found archaeological support. The reference in verse 15 to "Shebna, in charge of the palace" is now thought to refer to a man of that name who had had carved for himself a magnificent tomb, one now standing in the row of First Temple period tombs cut into the rock of the eastern slope of the Kidron Valley, close to the modern-day Silwan village. On the face of one of these tombs is inscribed in Hebrew, "This is the tomb of ...yahu which contains no silver or gold, only his bones and the bones of his maid. Cursed be the man who opens it." The accepted opinion is that the owner's full name is Shebnyahu (these are taken to be the missing letters) and that Shebna is merely a short form of Shebnyahu. Shebna, called "the steward,"  by Isaiah, is a familiar epithet from Phoenician inscriptions but occurs nowhere else in the Bible. It seems fairly clear from this that he was of foreign extraction and that this explains the expostulation:

What have you here, and who have you here, that you have hewn out a tomb for yourself here? (Isaiah 22:16)

He overran Philistia as far as Gaza and its border areas, from watchtower to fortified town. (2 Kings 18:8)

Jerusalem's regional hegemony can still be felt even in the days of its political decline in the reign of Zedekiah. In 594 B.C.E., eight years before the destruction of the Temple, there gathered in the city the representatives of five regional states -- Ammon, Moab, and Edom from across the Jordan and Tyre and Sidon from the coast -- to formulate an anti-Babylonian strategy (Jeremiah 27:4) that Jeremiah opposed.

It is remarkable that even after Jehoiachin's exile in 597 along with the officers and the notables of the land (2 Kings 24:15), which left behind a humble kingdom (Ezekiel 17:14) and only the poorest of the population, Jerusalem was still sufficiently respected as a political center for the representatives of the kings of the region to gather there. In the light of all this we can understand why the kings approaching Jerusalem in Psalm 48 (quoted above) were stunned, panicked, and seized with trembling.

Jerusalem as Spiritual Center

"Messianic" visions are found for the first time in the prophecies of Isaiah and Micah, who were both active during the reigns of Ahaz and Hezekiah (743-698 B.C.E.), when the power of the Assyrian Empire was at its peak.

These visions include:

1) Isaiah 2:2-5 and its parallel in Micah 4:1-4, the so-called Temple Mount visions. This vision may be defined as the vision of the nation.

2) Isaiah 9:1 -6 that hallows the birth of the King/redeemer who will found his kingdom in justice and righteousness, and which is to be compared with Micah 5:1-5 and Isaiah 7:4.

3) Isaiah 11:1-10, the vision of the ideal king and the universal-cosmic empire of peace.

The visions of universal peace -- Isaiah 2:2-5 and 11:1-10 -- differ in that, in the first, the Lord's Temple as the high court is the center of interest. The earthly king does not figure in it at all. In the second vision, by contrast, the earthly king stands at the center and the Temple plays no role. It is commonly supposed that these two visions present two outlooks on future. In the first, God is king; the second presumes the presence of a king of flesh and blood. In fact, these pericopes simply represent two types of literary composition concerning the subject of the ideal capital city. As I have shown elsewhere, there existed in the ancient Near East two types of hymnic-literary composition: the one in which the temple motif predominates, the other in which the royal court motif is predominant. Isaiah's first vision-composition draws on the tradition of the temple city, while the second deploys motifs traditionally associated with the royal court.

There is no reason to deny the authenticity of either of Isaiah's oracles, since the phraseology and ideology of these passages overlap those of his other prophecies. Furthermore, the oracles fit in perfectly with his pacific ideology, as Kaufman has demonstrated. The fact that the vision of the pilgrims is found in both Isaiah and his contemporary, Micah, indicates that their views grew from a common background. I shall show presently that they were adjusted to the Israelite monotheistic belief.

I shall first outline the historical circumstances of the visions. Both Isaiah and Micah speak about the birth of the redeemer, a scion of David, who will establish peace amongst the nations of the world. The difference between these two prophets is that Isaiah envisages peace achieved by spiritual means -- "by the rod of his mouth and the breath of his lips," whereas Micah envisages peace achieved by a sword:

And you from Bethlehem of Efrath... from you shall come forth  the ruler of Israel for me...he will leave them until the time when his mother gives birth... He shall stand and shepherd by the might of YHWH, by the power of the name of YHWH his God. They shall dwell secure and wax great to the ends of the earth. And such will be the peace   When Assyria comes to our land and tramples our cattle we will raise against him seven shepherds, eight princes of men who will shepherd Assyria's land with swords, the Land of Nimrod with drawn blades... (5:1-5)

It seems that during the reign of Hezekiah the hatred between Israel and Judah vanished and some kind of symbiosis between the sister nations was established. This is reflected in Isaiah's oracle of consolation from that time:

Ephraim's jealousy shall vanish and Judah's enmity shall end, Ephraim shall not envy Judah and Judah shall not harass Ephraim. (11:13)

• The three territorial units related to Egypt: "Egypt, Pathros and Cush" mentioned in Isaiah 11:11 appear in the same order in the Esarhaddon inscriptions and this topographical combination does not occur elsewhere.
• The jealousy of Ephraim vis-a-vis Judah in Isaiah 11:13 is also mentioned in Isaiah 9:20.
• It is during the period of Hezekiah that "the remnant of Israel ...and the house of Jacob" return to YHWH, to "mighty God"   As H. Cazelles perceived, the "remnant which returns"   represents the Israelites from the north who join Judah and accept the authority of Hezekiah, who bore the title (among others) "el gibbor" (cf. Isaiah 9:5). The same imagery is found in Micah 5:1. Micah speaks of the youngest of the clans of Judah, who will rule Israel. After that, the rest of his brethren will return to the Children of Israel (5:1-2).
• Hezekiah's reign was also a time of religious renaissance. Hezekiah turned back to the God of Israel. As expressed by his demolishing the high places and crushing the copper snake, to which people had burned incense (2 Kings 18:4). For this reason he was lauded as the king who trusted in God and who did not turn away from him (2 Kings 18:5-6).

There is no messiah for Israel since he was consumed in the days of Hezekiah (Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 99a).

Indeed, such ideal depictions are also found in Mesopotamian literature, but there they refer to the ideal situation that existed in the "paradise" at the origin of history. I quote:
 

In Dilmun [ = Sumerian Garden of Eden] lion will not kill wolf will not snatch lamb (Enki and Ninhursag)
A time when there was no serpent, when there was no scorpion.
A time when there was no hyena, when there was no lion...
A time when there was neither fear nor terror. (Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta)

A king will arise in Uruk who will provide justice in the land... he will renew Uruk. The gates of Uruk he will build of lapis lazuli. . . After him his son will arise as king in Uruk and become master over the world.. his dynasty will be established forever. The kings of Uruk will exercise rulership like gods.

For all the-all-bearing earth will give the most excellent unlimited fruit to mortals... sweet honey from heaven... the earth will break forth sweet fountains of white milk... there will be no sword on earth to din for battle... but there will be great peace throughout the earth. King will be friend to king to the end of the age... a common law for men throughout the whole earth... from every land they will bring incense and gifts to the house of the great God. Rejoice, maiden, and be glad for the one who created heaven and earth has given the joy of the age. He will dwell in you. You will have immortal light. Wolves and lambs will eat grass together in the mountains. Leopards will feed together with kids... The flesh-eating lion will eat husks at the manger like an ox and mere infant children will lead them with ropes... serpents and asps will sleep with babies and will not harm them, for the hand of God will be upon them. (III 741-795)

Now, is come the last age of the song of Cumae, the great line of the centuries begins anew. Now the virgin returns, the reign of Saturn returns; now, a new generation is descending from heaven on high. Only do thou, pure Lucina, smile on the birth of the child under whom the iron brood shall first cease and a golden race spring up throughout the world. Thine own Apollo now is king! In shine consulship, Pollio, yea in shine, shall this glorious age begin and the mighty months commence their march under thy sway, any lingering traces of our guilt shall become void and release the earth from its continual dread. He shall have the gift of divine life, shall see heroes mingled with gods, and shall himself be seen of them and shall govern a world to which his father's virtues have brought peace.

But for thee child shall earth untilled put forth, as her first pretty gifts, straggling ivy with foxglove everywhere and the Egyptian bean blended with the smiling acanthus. Uncalled, the goats shall carry home their udders swollen with milk and the herds shall not fear huge lions. Unasked, thy cradle shall pour forth flowers for thy delight. The serpent too shall perish and the false poison plant shall perish... Assyrian spice shall spring up on every soil.

But soon as thou canst read of the glories of heroes and thy father's deeds, and canst know what velour is, slowly shall the plain yellow with the waving corn, on wild brambles shall hang the purple grape and the stubborn oak shall distill dews of honey. Yet shall some few traces of olden sin lurk behind to cull men to essay the sea in ships, to gird towns with walls and to cleave the earth with furrows.

A second Tiphys shall then arise and a second Argo to carry chosen heroes: a second warfare too shall there be and again shall a great Achilles be sent to Troy...

'Ages such as these glide on!' cried to their spindles the Fates, voicing in unison the fixed will of destiny.

Enter on thy high honours-the hour will soon be here -- thou dear offspring of the gods, mighty seed of Jupiter to be. Behold the world bowing with its massive dome earth and expanse of sea and heaven's depth!

The joy of the heaven, the sea and the earth at the coronation of the redeemer-king is as their joy when the God of Israel ascends the throne to save the universe (Psalm 96:10-13; 98:6-9). The same phrases also appear in connection with the coronation proclamations of liberation issued by Egyptian kings (see below).

Of course, Isaiah's vision lacks the mythological background of the Eclogue, as Y. Kaufman has stressed. Virgil's vision is rooted in a cyclical conception of time that changes in accord with fate: the race of iron comes to an end; the race of gold begins (11:4-10); the fates, parcae, determine the progression of the generations (11:46-47). By contrast, Isaiah speaks not of fate but of man's return to God, when the earth is filled with the knowledge of YHWH. Nonetheless, the ultimate aim of "justice and righteousness," equality and universal peace, is common to Isaiah, to the Akkadian prophecies, to the Sybilline oracles, and to the vision expressed in Virgil's fourth Eclogue.

The "root" coming out of the stem of Jesse with which Isaiah 11: 1-9 opens -- "A rod shall grow out from the stump of Jesse, a branch shall sprout from his roots" -- this too is characteristic of the dynastic line of Assyrian kings, e.g. "precious branch of Baltil" is applied to Tiglath-Pileser III. The branch, appears in the book of Isaiah once only, in 10:33, the context of the destruction of the Assyrian Empire preceding the vision of the eternal peace in Isaiah 11:1-10. This may indicate that Isaiah knew the term pir'u as a royal Assyrian epithet but twisted it. Whereas in the Assyrian inscriptions this term has a highly positive connotation (i.e., it is associated with the apogee of the empire) in Isaiah 10:33 the term stands for the cruel Assyrian empire before its fall.

Similar epithets are attested in the Annals of King Sargon and his successors:

precious branch of Assur, of royal lineage, of ancient stock

precious branch of Assur, of royal lineage, of ancient stock

offspring of Enmeduranki, king of Sippar, a branch of Nippur of ancient stock

That the prophecy in Isaiah 9: 1-6 of the birth of a king and the titles conferred on him on that occasion corresponds to a coronation and has mythological overtones was perceived by A. Alt. The kingly birth of divine nature also occurs in Psalms 2:6-7:

But I have enthroned my king on Zion my holy mountain I will gather him in my lap   I will say to him: you are my son, this day I became your father.

This image of God, as it were, giving birth to the king occurs also in 2 Samuel 7:14 and in Psalms 89:27-28, as well as being widely attested in ancient Near Eastern literature. Thus, we read in an Egyptian birth legend of the birth of the new king:
 

The God says to the child: "you are king that will appear on the throne of Horus...will be put in the lap."The idea was also prevalent in Mesopotamian hymns.

We read of the Sumerian king, Sulgi (c. 2094-2047 B.C.E.):

Your father, who begot you, holy Lugalbanda, called your name: Hero whom An knows among the gods.

Enlil thought up a great thing... the hidden secrets of his holy thought he brought out from the temple... the son of the "faithful man" will long hold the scepter, their throne will never be overthrown...

The en-priestess gave birth to a "faithful man" from (the semen) which has been placed in her womb.

Enlil, the powerful shepherd, caused the young man to emerge. A child most suitable for kingship and throne-dais; it was king Sulgi. A lion's seed, who makes the kur prosper, the beloved of Ninlil, he was granted authority in the Ekur, the king of Ur, he of the radiant heart, the shepherd, the protective genius of the land gave him (Enlil) as a good name.

The divine titles in Isaiah 9:5-6, as I indicated before, recall the five titles conferred on the Egyptian king on his coronation. Thus, for example, Horemheb (1335-1315 B.C.E.) receives the following honorifics: 1) Successful planner, 2) Great in wonders, 3) Full with truth, 4) Elected by Re, 5) Beloved by Amon. These titles are not so far from those in Isaiah 9:5-6:  1) Wonderful in planning, 2) Mighty God , 3) Eternal father, 4) Prince of peace.  The fifth title is missing, but traces of it may be found in the lm at the beginning of verse 6.

The titles granted to Julius Caesar by the Senate are similar: Holy, Protected, Father of fathers, Graceful, (Outstanding) leader. According to Dio Cassius the titles were: Father, High Priest, Protected, Hero, God. As has been suggested, the whole coronation procedure in Rome was taken over from the eastern monarchies.

Isaiah's vision of the Temple Mount in Isaiah 2:2-5 (Micah 4:1 -4), namely the pilgrimage of nations to Zion, also stems from the well-known ancient convention of a royal temple located at the navel of the cosmos. This convention, thoroughly investigated by Wensinck, comprises five elements:

1. A temple on the highest mountain in the world;

2. The earthly temple is oriented on a heavenly temple (the gates of heaven);

3. The temple is located at the center of the world;

4. The temple is the source of life and fertility for the cosmos;

5. The temple is the point of origin for the creation of the world.

The first motif occurs in Isaiah 2 and Micah 4, as well as in the Temple vision of Ezekiel 40:2 where he sees the Temple "on a very high mountain," whence the notion that Mt. Zion is located at the summit of Zaphon, that is Mount Zaphon, the highest mountain in Northern Syria (Jebel Akra -- 2,280 m.).

The second motif of an earthly temple oriented on a heavenly temple is vividly pictured in Isaiah 6. Isaiah sees the Lord, enthroned high and lofty and surrounded by his angels, so that the reader wonders if he is seeing the real temple or the heavenly one (cf. I Kings 22:19).

The third motif, the temple at the center of the world, finds expression in the words of Ezekiel (5:5): " I set this Jerusalem in the midst of nations, with countries round about her." The same idea recurs in his reference to Jerusalem as the navel of the Earth (38:12).99

The fourth motif, the temple as the source of life and fertility for the whole universe, occurs in Ezekiel 47:1-12: "...water was issuing from below the threshold of the house fertilizing the Earth." (cf. Joel 4:18; Zechariah 14:8; Psalms 46:8).

The fifth motif, the temple as the point of origin of the creation, can be found in a tradition from the Second Temple period of the [Hebrew letters], the foundation Stone.

It is clear that the vision of the Temple City in both Isaiah and Micah has its roots in Near Eastern tradition.

As early as the end of the third millennium and the beginning of the second millennium B.C.E., Mesopotamian texts mention a universal center to which nations stream from all ends of the earth, bringing with them offerings and gifts, prostrating themselves and rendering prayers to the great god in the sanctuary. The temple city is portrayed as brimming with splendor and glory, a
place where the oppressor and the wicked do not dwell, but which houses perpetual righteousness and justice. We read in the hymn to Enlil:

The city (Nippur) is filled with awe and splendor
oppression, slander the city does not tolerate
The city ornamented with truth. Righteousness and justice dwell in her:
The kiur, the mountain, the consecrated (pure) place whose waters are sweet.
You founded Duranki [the bond of heaven and earth; see below]
In the center of the four corners [of earth] ... its brickwork of red metal, its foundations
of lapis lazuli
Its awe and splendor reach unto the heaven
Its shade is spread across all the lands
All the lords and princes bring there their pure gifts
Offerings and prayers they array for you
Their offerings and heavy tribute they brought into the storehouse
Into Ekur they brought them in homage.

Its [the shrine's] splendor and refulgence reach to the heavens;
The awe of the temple lies over all foreign lands;
To its name gather strangers from all the ends of the heavens;
(The men of) Magan and Meluhha come there from their distant land...
From Magan and Meluhha they bring trees for the construction of a temple of
Ningirsu...

a) The peoples acknowledge the sovereignty of the god in the sanctuary of the capital. In the Hymn to Enlil at Nippur: "The most distant lands you subdue..." and in the Hymn to Ningirsu at Lagash: "The awe of the temple lies over all foreign lands; to its name gather strangers from all the ends of the heavens." Compare: Psalms 47; 48; 76; Isaiah 2:1-4; Micah 4:1-4; Joel 4:1ff.; Zephaniah 3:15ff.; Haggai 2:7.

b) The peoples bring tribute to the god in the capital. In the hymn to the god at Nippur: "All the lords and princes bring there their pure gifts; their offerings and heavy tribute they brought into the storehouse..." compare: Isaiah 18:7; 60:5ff.; Zephaniah 3:10; Haggai 2:7; Psalms 68:32-33; 76:12; 96:8.

c) Nations come to worship the god in the capital sanctuary. In the hymn to the god at Nippur: "All the lands bow down to it... All the lords and princes... offerings and prayers they array for you..." And in the Hymn to Ningirsu at Lagash: "to its name gather strangers from all the ends of the heavens." Compare: Psalms 47; 66:1-8; 67; 68:33-36; 86:9; 98:4; 102:23; 138:4-5; Isaiah 56:7; 66:23; Zephaniah 2:11; 3:9; Zechariah 8:21; 14:16ff.; cf. Psalms 22:28; Jeremiah 3:17; 16:19).

d) From the temple city go forth the judgments that bring redemption and salvation to the peoples. In the Hymn- of Gudea, prince of Lagash: "in order to set the righteous upright and to subjugate the wicked will the temple be established, the seat of judgement erected." Compare: Psalms 96:11-13; 98:9; Isaiah 2:1-4; Micah 4:1-4; and see also Psalms 9:8-9; 47:9; 67:4-9.

Isaiah imbued these Mesopotamian concepts with a particular spiritual dimension. Peace will not be attained by force but by the spirit. The peoples will stream to the mountain of the Lord's Temple to seek to learn from the ways of the Lord and from his paths. "For Torah (instruction) shall come forth from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem" (Isaiah 2:2-4). Having acknowledged the sovereignty of the God of Israel, "they will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks... and they will learn war no more" (Isaiah 2:4).

In this vision Isaiah describes the ascent of the peoples to Jerusalem in the terms of an ascent to the house of the Lord, where judgement is rendered with finality. The nations will go up to Jerusalem to receive "the word" and "instruction" (Torah): "For Torah shall come forth from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." To fully capture the significance of "Torah" and "word" we may profitably turn to the description in Deuteronomy 17 of the court set in the place chosen by the Lord. There we read that a judge who does not know how to adjudicate a particular case in his town shall go up and take himself to the high court in the place which the Lord will have chosen, namely Jerusalem, and there he shall act in accordance with the instruction given him and the word handed down to him (verse 11). In Isaiah 2:2 also, nations will go up to Jerusalem to the house of the God of Jacob, so that He may instruct them in the "Torah" and "the word." In other words, they will receive binding and final adjudication of international disputes. We may legitimately assume, therefore, that Isaiah was making use of the conventional image of the high court of justice to depict the visionary court at Jerusalem, to which all the world would ascend to receive judgement, to have international disputes settled, and thus wars among peoples eliminated.

The question that needs to be answered is, why was it in this time of Isaiah that these eschatological utopian beliefs came to be put into literary form? What was it about the reign of Hezekiah that gave rise to messianic visions?

The point of departure is the year 727, a year that saw the death both of Tiglath-Pileser III, the great ruler of Assyria, and of Ahaz, King of Judah. The death of these two kings was perceived as a good omen for Israel and Judah. Tiglath-Pileser had torn the Galilee and the Gilead lands from Israel, and had conquered the Way of the Sea. This was a moment of great darkness, as Isaiah expresses it in 8:23. The death of Ahaz, who had pledged allegiance to Assyria and the succession of Hezekiah was thus a most meaningful turning point. The prophecy (Isaiah 9: 1-6) begins with a description of darkness (9:1) and immediately afterwards comes a burst of great light for the people of Israel.

The people that walked in darkness have seen a brilliant light... (9:1)

For a child has been born to us,
a son has been given to us.

Micah, Isaiah's contemporary, also speaks of a woman giving birth to the redeemer (5:1ff.) in Bethlehem where David was born. He states explicitly that the (northern) brethren will return to Israel.

These rosy hopes engendered the other eschatological visions of Isaiah, the Temple Mount vision (2:2-5) and the vision of cosmic, universal peace (11:1-10). These visions apparently took shape in the years 720-710, a time of great national expansion before the onset of the gloomy Sennacherib period, yet even the crisis could not impair the visions of Jerusalem and Sennacherib's failure to capture the city reinforced Jerusalem's spiritual status.

Summary

The visions of the birth of a redeemer, of the pilgrimage of nations to the Temple Mount, and of the ideal king establishing eternal peace had been existent in the Near East since early in the second millennium B.C.E. They burst out in Israel during the reign of Hezekiah because of particular circumstances -- the deaths of the tyrant Tiglath-Pileser III and of Ahaz, the impious king who had concluded a treaty with the Assyrian king.

That Isaiah drew not only on Israelite tradition but also on non-Israelite sources is evident from the following points:

1) The name [Hebrew letters] (Speed-Spoil-Haste-Plunder) in Isaiah 8:3 is an Egyptian loanword, as most commentators have argued.

2) Isaiah 10:5-6: "Ah Assyria, rod of my anger I send him against a godless nation to take spoil and seize booty." Both the idea and its formulation are found in the Esarhaddon inscriptions.

The great god Assur gave in my hand a rod of anger (sibirru ezzu)...he commanded me to spoil and pillage (ana habati salali) the nation that sinned against me.

Just as Virgil showed his adoration of Augustus Caesar by composing a vision of eternal peace in his honor, so Isaiah wrought visions of eternal peace in honor of Hezekiah's coronation. Later, Hezekiah's reliance on horses and chariots from Egypt caused the prophet grievous disappointment (Isaiah 30:1-2, 31:1). The attitude of Jeremiah to king Zedekiah suffered a similar reverse. On the latter's accession to the throne, Jeremiah heralded him as "a branch of righteousness" of David's line who will save Israel and Judah (23:5-6), but, suffering subsequent disappointment, he predicted evil for the king.