{"id":65977,"date":"2019-11-23T07:08:55","date_gmt":"2019-11-23T05:08:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=65977"},"modified":"2023-06-18T13:40:23","modified_gmt":"2023-06-18T10:40:23","slug":"shebna-and-the-wall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/shebna-and-the-wall\/","title":{"rendered":"Shebna And The Wall"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[555,444,635],"acf":{"old_id":"65977","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":36147,"related_cahpter":"356","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Where text and archaeology converge...","content":"

Our chapter provides two remarkable examples of where text and archaeology converge. Isaiah is not, of course, interested in giving us historical data for its own sake. Fortunately, there were two developments in the late eighth century that irked him, whose remnants are still visible to us today.<\/span><\/p>\n

First, by the late 8th century BCE, Jerusalem had expanded well beyond its original Jebusite and Davidic borders. This created a dangerous situation, in which much of the population lived in a neighborhood outside the defensive walls of the city. And this was particularly dangerous in the eighth century, with the Assyrians a massive military threat. King Hezekiah therefore had to build a new city wall to encompass the larger city. He couldn\u2019t, of course, encompass every house, and the path of the wall had to be determined by strategic considerations. Archaeologically, this is called the \u201cBroad Wall\u201d (because this is what Nehemiah apparently calls it; see Nehemiah 3:8), and it is easily visited in Jerusalem today. One can see rather easily that the construction of the wall cut through some homes, whose residents were presumably evicted on the grounds of eminent domain.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is what bothered Isaiah, who blasts Hezekiah (22:10): \u201cYou counted the houses of Jerusalem, and tore them down to fortify the wall!\u201d For Isaiah, this was blasphemous because \u2013 as we will continue to see in the coming chapters \u2013 Isaiah believed that no mundane defenses were needed if one relied on God. But we can certainly imagine Hezekiah responding patiently, \u201cYes, Isaiah, that is exactly what I did. It is what needed to be done.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The second example gets more personal. Isaiah blasts \u201cShebna, who is in charge of the house,\u201d with the following charge: \u201cWhat do you have here? Who are you here, that you hewed out for yourself a tomb? He hews in the heavens his tomb, carves a sanctuary for himself in the rock!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In the Palestinian village of Silwan, across the Kidron valley from the original city of Jerusalem, there are a number of Iron Age tombs that were dug into the face of the mountain. On the lintel of one was found an inscription, now in the British Museum (see image above):<\/span><\/p>\n

\u05d6\u05d0\u05ea [\u05e7\u05d1\u05d5\u05e8\u05ea …]\u05d9\u05d4\u05d5 \u05d0\u05e9\u05e8 \u05e2\u05dc \u05d4\u05d1\u05d9\u05ea. \u05d0\u05d9\u05df \u05e4\u05d4 \u05db\u05e1\u05e3 \u05d5\u05d6\u05d4\u05d1
\n<\/span>\u05db\u05d9] \u05d0\u05dd [\u05e2\u05e6\u05de\u05d5\u05ea\u05d9\u05d5] \u05d5\u05e2\u05e6\u05de\u05d5\u05ea \u05d0\u05de\u05ea\u05d5 \u05d0\u05b4\u05ea\u05d5. \u05d0\u05e8\u05d5\u05e8 \u05d4\u05d0\u05d3\u05dd \u05d0\u05e9\u05e8 \u05d9\u05e4\u05ea\u05d7 \u05d0\u05ea \u05d6\u05d0\u05ea]<\/span><\/p>\n

This is the [burial of _____]yahu who is in charge of the house. There is no silver or gold here
\n<\/span>[but] only [his bones] and the bones of his maid?\/wife? with him. Cursed be the person who opens this!<\/span><\/p>\n

Israeli archaeologist Nahman Avigad brilliantly suggested restoring this, <\/span>\u05d6\u05d0\u05ea \u05e7\u05d1\u05e8\u05ea \u05e9\u05d1\u05e0\u05d9\u05d4\u05d5 \u05d0\u05e9\u05e8 \u05e2\u05dc \u05d4\u05d1\u05d9\u05ea<\/span> \u201cThis is the tomb of Shebnayahu who is in charge of the house.\u201d Many other details of this short text are tantalizing, but for today, the consilience between text and archaeology is stunning enough.<\/span><\/p>\n

image: The Royal Steward Inscription, courtesy of the British Museum, WA 125205, discovered 1870 \/ wikipedia.<\/p>\n","image":{"ID":65978,"id":65978,"title":"is22-AKoller","filename":"is22-AKoller.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is22-AKoller.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/shebna-and-the-wall\/is22-akoller\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"is22-akoller","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":65977,"date":"2019-11-23 05:08:38","modified":"2019-11-23 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