Biblical Hebrew Blog by ClassicalHebrew.com

While in Israel the nation began to understand that Yahweh was the one true God with all the qualities and powers to heal and protect his people, the world at large did not hold to this viewpoint. In Mesopotamia (the area of Iraq and Iran today) lived great nations that had a plethora of deities to beseech and call upon, each with their own special talent.

Gula’s Cult

Gula was one such deity that took on the form of a woman; her ability was to heal those afflicted physically or magically. In fact her main temple in Isin would be the equivalent of our hospitals today. Within the temple precincts were trained physicians that held expertise in one of two fields. The first field dealt with the medical aspects of healing (the asutu), while the latter dealt with the magical realm (ashiputu). Thus it was a place of consultation where petitioners could be guided to a diagnosis.

There were many forms of treatment depending on the affliction. Oftentimes a liver of an animal was dissected for a diagnosis, an herbal remedy ingested or even a figurine constructed that would become a vessel to contain the sickness (these were buried afterwards).

Gula’s Cult Symbol

A good Mesopotamian deity was always accompanied with a symbol. Nabu the scribal god for example, was represented by a stylus (a pen). Interestingly it was the dog that came to represent the Healing cult, probably due to the fact that a dog would lick clean its wounds and recover but also because it was a guard. The dog symbol thus guarded against certain sicknesses and took on the role of protective magic within her cult.

However despite the contact the Israelites had with the Mesopotamian cultures they still spoke of their god, Yahweh, as the one who “heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” Psalm 147:3

Jerusalem’s Origins

We know that from the beginning when Abraham, Isaac and Jacob entered and dwelt in Canaan, Jerusalem did not feature on their religious map. It was other places such as Bethel that became important places where the presence of God was felt, be it in a dream with angels and a ladder, or in other ways (Genesis 18). Jerusalem instead was a small town fortunate to make its living off the trade routes that passed east and west, and north and south through the town. She was established and lived as a Canaanite city.

The bible mentions that for a brief time there was some healthy connection with this city and Abraham- through his meeting with Malchizedek the king of Salem (Jerusalem) (Genesis 14:18-20). Later however, in the period of Joshua and the Judges we see that Jerusalem was an inhospitable place, one that Israelites feared to lodge in at nights (Judges 19:10-12). This status of Jerusalem continued only until David attacked the stronghold and made it his own. The beginning of Jerusalem’s sanctification began with David.

Jerusalem As Capital

David a man of Judah ruled his growing kingdom from his tribal city of Hebron. In many regards this was a disadvantage to the king who increasingly wanted to unite the tribes that lay spread out between the Mediterranean and east across the Jordan river; the tribes of Israel. For this reason and others, he turned Jerusalem a city that did not belong to Judah, and had no historical connections with any of the tribes, into their new capital. So now when coming to visit the king one did not have to enter the heartland of Judah, but rather instead go up to Jerusalem a place that now represented all the tribes. David wanted everyone to know that his kingdom was not a kingdom for Judah, but one for Israel.

Jerusalem As a Holy Center

Making Jerusalem historically relevant to the people of Israel was relatively easy when he gave it the status of capital for his new kingdom- however making it religiously significant was a more difficult matter. To rectify this spiritual void that Jerusalem represented he decided to introduce to the city the symbol of the presence of God, the ark, that had almost been left forgotten at Kiriath-jearim (1 Sam 7:1-2). He organized a welcoming ceremony and procession to accept the ark into Jerusalem where he erected a tent to cover it and made plans to build a permanent structure to house the presence of Yahweh. It was this move that immediately put Jerusalem on the religious map for all the Israelites.

Even when the kingdom split in the time of David’s grandson we see that Jerusalem had become a site of great veneration. The northern kingdom thus decided to establish their own religious sites such as Bethel, to distance them from the power that the religious center of Jerusalem had over the hearts of all the Israelites.

However Jerusalem’s identity as the invincible stronghold of the Lord was truly forged many centuries later when she withstood and survived a terrible siege from the Assyrian king Sennacherib in 701 BCE (2 Kings 18). This event cannot be underestimated. Not only did it launch Jerusalem into the status of a safe haven, but she also became a symbol of God’s salvation and his protective presence in the city. The theological ramifications of this historical event and the people’s spiritual reaction and interpretation of it, only helped further to fix Jerusalem’s character as the religious center for the people of Israel, a process that David had began many centuries earlier.

The greatest Philistine was of course Goliath. We hear of his great height and strength when we read the story of his fatal confrontation with a fearless young Israelite boy by the name of David. However Goliath, also assumed to be a bit boorish and stupid, does not represent the regular Philistine. In fact the stories that involve the Philistines tend to be biased in their reflection of this great culture. This may have something to do with the fact that they represent the enemy in the Bible, those who contend for land, water and the lucrative trade routes that David’s son Solomon seems to have monopolized quite well. For the sake of the narrative, the Philistines have been portrayed as brutish and uncivilized, this makes it easier for us to identify against them. Interestingly however they seem to have become the victim in this story- for they are actually a nation with a fascinating story and deep heritage.

The Philistines Troubled Origins

First of all they are a people group descended from a rich and complex culture that perished at the end of the 13^th century, the Mycenaean Empire. Leaving mainland Greece, many groups, often referred to as the “Sea Peoples” roamed through the Mediterranean, stopping in Cyprus and other countries trying to find a new foothold they could call home. The Philistines first went to Egypt where Ramses III expelled them in a series of successful land and water battles, and finally they found their place, in the lands between Egypt and the growing yet small tribal state of Judah.

Finding a New Home

Their arrival in the south replaced essentially the older Canaanite society that was on the wane. Immediately they built wonderfully planned cities by the shore or along rivers, erecting temples and public buildings with their own style of architecture so different from their neighbours in the Hill Country where Jerusalem sits. As time progressed they assimilated the local Canaanite traditions into their own culture never losing their Philistine identity.

Final Thoughts

In remembering these people do not think only of their battles with the Israelites, but consider the fact that the Philistines brought a great deal of civilization to this country. Not only were they people of the Sea whose skills of navigation and seafaring ensured that the important trade routes stayed alive and open, but they also introduced to this side of the world the highly desirable skill of metallurgy (how to shape and process iron). Furthermore they are an example of survival in a time period of great upheaval and a success story of a migrating people’s desire to reestablish their lives in a new land.

The Festival of Passover
There exists a very strong and powerful Jewish tradition remembered and enacted every year, called the Festival of Passover. This Festival is bittersweet because by remembering it one recalls that as a nation they were enslaved, but also as a nation they were freed through the miracle of God!

The miracle of God is in fact the tenth plague sent against the Egyptians because Pharaoh would not release them from slavery (Exodus 12-13). This plague takes the form of God’s Destroyer, also referred to as the Angel of Death. At the prescribed time this judgment of the Lord swept through and destroyed all the first-born of man and animal in Egypt. Those who were spared were those who followed the orders of God to sacrifice a year-old sheep or goat and paint its blood on the doorposts and lintels of their homes.

These images have become powerful symbols for the Jewish nation today, which while not painting the blood on their doorposts do remember the event by coming together and eating a specially prepared meal. This meal commemorates God’s saving act.

You may ask yourself why is this miracle more important than other miracles- for example the splitting of the Reed Sea? The passing over of the angel of death taught the Hebrew slaves an important lesson that they had not yet learned- that their God was mighty to save, and was not restricted by geographical boundaries. In the heartland of Egypt with Pharaoh on his throne and a legion of powerful deities at his command- there was yet one more powerful than all, Yahweh.

So this April 19^th-26^th it is important to remember that Yahweh led his people out of captivity, but in addition, remember that he is all-powerful and can reach out to save, wherever his people dwell in slavery.