Backgrounds to English Literature Lecture 21: Hebraism 2 History

Continue from Lecture 20 PPT   -Origin of the monarchy: Saul, David, Solomon (1000–900 B.C., United Monarchy) 1. Saul as the first king of Israel 1.1. Necessity of and demand for a king: The leadership provided by the judges ultimately proves unable to cope with the growing military threat of a people known as Philistines. So, the people cry out to Samuel, a priest and a prophet as well as the last major judge, to appoint a king so that they would be like the other nations and have a standing army to withstand the assaults of Philistines and others. 1.2. Samuel’s opposition: Samuel insists that only the God should be ruler and that a human king would mean the burden of taxes and the conscription of Israelites to be soldiers and laborers for the crown 1.3. Eventually, Saul is installed as king.

2. King David 2.1. David and Goliath (1 Samuel 17.32-58) 2.2. David and King Saul 2.3. David is anointed as king of Israel (2 Samuel 5.1-5) 2.4. David conquered Jerusalem and made it the capital of Israel 2.5. David and Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11) 2.6. David and Absalom (2 Samuel 13) 3. King Solomon 3.1. Under his leadership, Israel reached the height of its power. 3.2. He built a great temple in Jerusalem, and the remains of this temple, now known as the Western Wall or Wailing Wall are still a focal point of the Jewish faith. 3.3. He beautified the city of Jerusalem, and built a great royal palace. 3.4. He built a trading empire with the help of friend king Hiram of Tyre.

=The Divided Kingdom -Division of the Kingdom after the death of Solomon, Israel and Judah: Solomon’s building projects were costly and he had to raise taxes to pay for them. After his death, stressed from the high tax burdens of the past, the Hebrews in the North revolted and the kingdom was divided into two smaller kingdoms- Israel in the North and Judah in the South. -Israel (North): the ten northern tribes with the capital city of Samaria. Israel was overrun by the Assyrian Empire late in the 8th century BC, which destroyed Israel and scattered the people. These are known as the lost tribes of Israel. -Judah (South): the two tribes with the capital of Jerusalem. =The Babylonian Captivity (Babylonian Exile): the first Diaspora -Judah was conquered by the Babylonians, King Nebuchadnezzar, early in the 6th century BC.

-Taken into the Babylonian Captivity where they record the Torah. -The exile ended in 538 BC, when the Persian conqueror king, Cyrus the Great, conquered Babylonia and gave the Jews permission to return to Palestine. -The first Diaspora 1. Some Jews chose to remain in Babylonia, constituting the first of numerous Jewish communities living permanently in the Diaspora. 2. Diaspora: the dispersion of Jews among the Gentiles after the Babylonian Exile   =Roman occupation and the Second Diaspora -In 63 BC, Judaea became a protectorate of Rome, and in AD 6 was organized as a Roman province. -Under the administration of a governor, Judaea was allowed a king -With a Jewish king, the Judaeans revolted in AD 70, but the Romans suppressed this revolt and destroyed and plundered Jerusalem -The Second Diaspora after the destruction of Jerusalem

Group Discussion -It seems that equal distribution of power and wealth and love is impossible in human society and family. Is the sense of injustice a built-in element in our human society?