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A Study on ‘the Destruction and Restoration of the Walls of Jerusalem’ in the Proclamations of Nehemiah and Other Post-Exilic Prophets

Lee Hee Hak 1

1목원대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

After the Babylonian captivity ended, returning prophets proclaimed Israel’s restoration in the way to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem based on the important faith that Jerusalem temple had. The purpose of this article is to explore the messages of Nehemiah and other post-exilic prophets about the destruction and restoration of the walls of Jerusalem in the view point of tradition criticism, pointing out that the process of rebuilding the walls implied the faithful symbol of Israel’s restoration. Nehemiah 1:3; 2:13; 4:3, 7; 6:1 explain the destruction of the walls of Jerusalem and city itself, utilizing Hebrew verb ‘fall’(#rp) in all these five verses. The topic of the destruction of the walls of Jerusalem and it’s restoration appears in the trito-Isaiah texts(Isa. 58:12; 60:10-11, 18; 61:4; 62:6-12; 64:9-11) which are evaluated as one of the post-exilic prophetic texts. By using various terms, they proclaim that the ruin of Jerusalem is the symbol of the old age, and the restoration of the walls is the new symbol of the new age. Furthermore, this topic is found in the eschatological texts(Amos 9:11-15; Micah 7:11) which were generally evaluated as the work of the final redactor of the post-exilic period. It is Isaiah 58:12 and 61:4 to show textual similarities related to the rebuilding process of Jerusalem in the book of Nehemiah. These two verses point a deep intertextual relationship as they look like the same. They equally use the form of the proclamation of restoration, convince that the old ruin will be restored for the mourner, and promise that the broken cities will be renewed. Here, we find the connecting point in relation to the motive of ‘the destruction(#rp) and rebuilding(hnb) of the walls’ mentioned in Nehemiah and Isaiah texts. Prophecies concerning judgment and restoration of Jerusalem appear on the eschatological texts(Amos 9:11-15; Micah 7:11) which are viewed as an addition during the post-exilic period. One common point between Amos 9:11 and Isaiah 58:12 is that only in these verses, the verb ‘wall up’(rdg) is used with the object ‘breach’(#r,P,) in the Bible. Moreover, the thematic words, such as set up(~wq), build(hnb), and old(~l'A[) mentioned in Amos 9:11 suggest very similar commonality to Isaiah 58:12 and 61:4. In the traditional view point, Isaiah 58:12, 61:4, and Amos 9:11, 14 stand at the same tradition in that Micah 7:11 strongly expects the restoration of Jerusalem(Judah). In conclusion, this article argues that Nehemiah and other prophetic texts edited in the post-exilic period utilize very diverse terms and motives to point the destruction of Jerusalem and restoration of the fallen walls. In some cases, without any special relations, they use other words to depict the events. However, overall they share common words in order to suggest that the desolated Jerusalem will be renewed and the walls will be restored, and finally the destructed cities will be rebuilt. To restore the walls of Jerusalem and especially the ‘breaches’ of the fallen walls were proclaimed as the sign of entering the new restoration period. This article proves that the trito-Isaiah and some eschatological texts of Amos and Micah, attributed to the post-exilic final editor, have deep intertextual relations to Nehemiah text in the research based on the tradition criticism.

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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* References for papers published after 2023 are currently being built.

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