STUDY QUESTIONS

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

1) What is the purpose, according to the author, of the story of Melchizedek?

2) Why does the author delineate evidence of the infiltration of Hittite practices and rituals into those of the Israelites?

3) What evidence does the author provide that Jerusalem was the "capital of an empire" during the reigns of David and Solomon?

4) Why does Weinfeld describe Jerusalem's transformation into a royal city and sanctuary as a "revolution"?

5) What point is Weinfeld trying to make by emphasizing the similarity of "king-redeemer" prophecies in sources as diverse as Sibylline oracles, Virgil's Fourth Eclogue as well as Akkadian, Babylonian, and Israelite literature?

6) What does Weinfeld mean when he states that Isaiah "spiritualized Mesopotamian concepts"?

7) Why was there great expectation, according to the author, that Hezekiah's reign would bring universal redemption?

8) In what way(s) did Hezekiah in the end disappoint Isaiah?

9) Was Jerusalem in effect "spiritualized" during the reigns of David and Solomon or did Judaism simply become more "secular"?