Fraternity-Testvériség, 1964 (42. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1964-12-01 / 12. szám
6 FRATERNITY times its walls were leveled. In this respect it is without a parallel in any city, ancient or modern. Walls of Hezekiah and Nehemiah In 701 B. C. Jerusalem was besieged by Senacherib, the Assyrian, who had already destroyed forty-two cities and towns; but Hezekiah the King greatly strengthened the walls and insured a water supply for the city by cutting a tunnel through the hills between the Tyropean and Kidron valleys, bringing the water from the Gihon spring to the Pool of Siloam inside the city walls. So the siege failed. After the time of Hezekiah there was a century long period of degeneration, culminating in the overthrow of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar in 586 B. C. After a siege of eighteen months, the Temple was burned to the ground, and the walls, as well as most of the city, were completely destroyed. Most of the people were slain or carried away captives to Babylon. In 539 B. C. Cyrus the Persian overthrew the Babylonians, and soon after sent Zerubbabel and a host of Jewish volunteers to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple; but it was not until 445 B. C. that the walls were rebuilt under the leadership of Nehemiah. (Neh. 3 and 4.) He found discouraging conditions, the old walls in complete ruin, the people poor and disheartened, and a host of enemies, especially those from Samariah to the north, determined to prevent the rebuilding of the walls. First Nehemiah made a midnight tour of the dilapidated walls, taking a small group with him. Then he exhorted the people to “rise up and build”, and apportioned the work so that everyone had a part, building over against his own house and having weapons ready for defense if they were attacked. “Everyone with one of his hands wrought in the work, and with the other held his weapon.” Other Walls Destroyed and Rebuilt In 332 Jerusalem was captured by Alexander the Great, but he was not resisted, and the city and walls were spared. When Antiochus Epiphanes attacked the city in 168 B. C., it was a different story. Admitted into the city by treachery, he overthrew the walls and destroyed the houses, leaving the city in a condition almost as deporable as the Babylonians had done four centuries earlier. Restoration was brought about by the Maccabees about 135 B. C., and Jerusalem once again became independent and retained its position until its capture by the Romans under Pompey in 63 B. C. John Hyrcanus ruled as high priest for 30 years and erected the strong tower called Baris at the northwest corner of the Temple area, where, a few years later, Herod the Great erected the fortress of Antonia. When Julius Caesar marched through Syria on his way to Egypt, he appointed Antipater the Idumean as Procurator of Judea. He rebuilt the broken walls and built a new one to the north of the ancient
