Who Founded Jerusalem ?

 Nadene Goldfoot                                               

Jerusalem wasn't built by a single person; it was continuously constructed and reshaped by various civilizations over 5,000 years. Its earliest foundations were built by Canaanites and Jebusites. The city is first mentioned in Egyptian execration texts around 2000 BCE as "Rusalimum." By the 17th century BCE, Jerusalem had developed into a fortified city under Canaanite rule, with massive walls protecting its water system. . During the 14th century BCE, the city was an independent Canaanite stronghold ruled by Egyptian vassals, as documented in the Amarna Letters.During the Late Bronze Age  Jerusalem became a vassal of Ancient Egypt, as documented in the Amarna letters.                      

  The Amarna Letters are a cache of nearly 400 clay tablets discovered in 1887 at Tell el-Amarna, Egypt. Dating to the mid-14th century BC, this royal archive records diplomatic correspondence between the Egyptian pharaohs (mainly Amenhotep III and Akhenaten) and the rulers of neighboring kingdoms and vassal states.The Amarna letters are unusual in Egyptological research, because they are written not in the language of ancient Egypt, but in cuneiform, the writing system of ancient Mesopotamia. Most are in a variety of Akkadian sometimes characterised as a mixed language, Canaanite-Akkadian; one especially long letter—abbreviated EA 24—was written in a late dialect of Hurrian, and is the longest contiguous text known to survive in that language.

The city's importance grew during the Israelite period, which began around 1000 BCE when King David captured Jerusalem and made it the capital of the united Kingdom of Israel

Major builders include King David (ruled from 1010-970 BCE) and King Solomon (961-920 BCE) , and then King Herod I(37-4 BCE) son of an Idumean father and a Nabatean mother,  and the

Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent (ruled from 1520-1566) who was a Muslim  with Muslim Ottoman  rulers holding it for the last 400 years to WWI where they lost it.  

The Canaanites and Jebusites (ca. 3000–1000 BCE): The first settlements trace back to the Early Bronze Age. It was later fortified and inhabited by the Jebusites before its conquest.  They lived in he hill region around Jerusalem and called it Jebus.  Joshua, the leader that Moses had to take over the Exodus, defeated the Jebus coalition but Israelites only lived there during the reign of King David.  (II Sam. 24:15.).  Jebus people had a king, the last being Araunah.  His people remained in the city under David and became tributary under King Solomon, David's son.  They were assimilated into the Israelites.                                 

                      First Temple by Solomon

King David ruled for 40 years and King Solomon ruled for 41 years=81 years (ca. 1000–950 BCE): King David captured the city, making it the capital of the ancient kingdom of Israel. His son, King Solomon, significantly expanded the city and built the First Temple. 

Herod the Great ruled  as King of Judaea from 37 BCE to 4 BCE;  for 33 years . He was appointed "King of the Jews" by the Roman Senate in 40 BCE , but his actual reign began in 37 BCE after he successfully captured Jerusalem and ousted his rivals.  Under Roman rule, King Herod the Great heavily developed Jerusalem, expanding the Temple Mount and rebuilding the Second Temple. King Herod I ("Herod the Great") was a practicing adherent to Judaism. However, he was not ethnically Jewish by birth; his ancestral background was Idumean (Edomite) and Nabatean Arab. His relationship with Judaism was complex and widely debated by his contemporaries: Herod the Great   was the ruler who ordered the "Massacre of the Innocents" (the killing of young boys in Bethlehem ) in an attempt to eliminate the prophesied infant king. This is when Moses was placed in the bullrushes, a hidden area.  

• Ancestral Conversion: The Idumeans were an ancient neighboring people who had been forcibly converted to Judaism a generation prior under the Hasmonean dynasty. Because he followed Jewish law, he was legally considered a Jew and observed Jewish customs, which allowed him to rule over Judea.

Jewish Revolt Against occupation of Romans-66-70 CE, Romans took Jerusalem, starved the Jews, took them as slaves, killed them, some got away- were threatened to never come back to Jerusalem-now a Roman fortress or face death.  

The Romans (135 CE): Following the Jewish revolt, the Roman Emperor Hadrian entirely rebuilt the city as a Roman colony named Aelia Capitolina. 

Suleiman the Magnificent (ca. 1537 CE): The iconic walls surrounding Jerusalem's Old City today were commissioned by the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent.

 Ottoman forces defeated the Mamluks and gained control of Jerusalem in 1516 -1917= 401 years. 

Brief Interruption: The empire lost the city for nine years between 1831 and 1840, when Muhammad Ali of Egypt occupied it before Ottoman authority was restored .

End of Rule: British forces, led by General Edmund Allenby, captured the city in December 1917 during World War I, permanently ending Ottoman control.

Resource:

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Herod-king-of-Judaea

The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia

Continue of Core of Jewish People Part II

 Nadene Goldfoot                                            

      Judah then included Benjamin and Simeon from north and south

I left off with the separation of the tribe of Judah's land from the other 10 northern tribes due to King Solomon's taxation that his son didn't want to follow which included an enforced labor program in order to build the Temple, which was his main goal left over from his father, David, who had to continue being a fighter and not a builder.  

                                                       Israel 

Jeroboam had led the separation and now was king from 933-912 BCE of Israel.  18 more kings followed him until King Hoshea who ruled from 730 or 732 -724 or 721 BCE when captured by Assyria.    

 Hoshea had conspired against King Pekah (735-730 BCE), had assassinated him and seized the throne.  Assyrian sources relate that Hoshea ascended the throne with Assyrian help, his kingdom being confined to the surroundings of Mt. Ephraim.  Eventually he rebelled against Assyria and was imprisoned by Shalmaneser who then besieged and captured Samaria (11 Kings 12:1-6)

In 721 BCE, Assyria's Sargon annexed the country and deported 27,290 Israelites to Assyria and Media and replaced them with Syrian and Babylonian prisoners.                                              

Judah was led by King Rehoboam, son of Solomon from 933-917 BCE.  11more kings followed until King Ahaz who ruled from 735-720 BCE., son of Jotham (740-735 BCE);  his kingdom was attacked by Israel and Syria, while the Edomites and Philistines harried his southern territory. 

 The prophet, Isaiah was in opposition to him seeking the aid of Tiglath-Pileser of Assyria who of course invaded Syria and Israel in 733 BCE.  Judah became an Assyrian vassal and was subjected by Ahaz to Assyrian idolatry.  

It was in 721 BCE that Assyria's King Sargon, son of Tiglath-Pileser, attacked the 10 northern tribes, now states and took away 27,290 Israelites to Assyria and Media and replaced them with Syrian and Babylonian prisoners.                

King Hezekiah ruled from 720-692 BCE.  He had supported the revolt of Ashdod in 715 , but on the accession of Sennacherib in 705, when Sargon died,  an uprising broke out throughout the Assyrian Empire, and Hezekiah reasserted his independence. Judah was soon ravaged, Hezekiah held out, bartered and was able to pay tribute and cede some territory.  He freed religious worship from Assyrian influence, purged the palace and Temple of images and pagan altars, and renewed the pure monotheistic religion.  Prophets supported him, especially Isaiah who wielded great influence in affairs of state.  

Manasseh was then king from 697-638 BCE.  He was exiled to Assyria in 652 as a result of complicity in a plot against Ashurbanipal (669-26).  After this time, Assyria declined rapidly and was succeeded by BABYLON.  

                         Nebuchadnezzar admonishing Zedekiah

King Amon ruled from 638-637 BCE, and after him were 5 other kings of Judah, ending with King Zedekiah  who ruled  from 597 to 586 BCE., son of Josiah, originally named Mattaniah but adopted Zedekiah when appointed king by Nebuchadnezzar to succeed the exiled Jehoiachin (598-597 BCE). 
Solomon's Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BCE

In 598 was the siege of Jerusalem by the Babylonians.   He ascended the throne at the age of 21 and swore allegiance to Nebuchadnezzar;  refused early on to join an anti-Babylonian coalition of neighboring kingdoms but in 594 visited Babylon.  In his 9th year he conspired with Egypt, so Babylonians invaded and captured Jerusalem.  Zedekiah was overtaken when running away, brought to trial;  his sons were killed in front of him and his eyes were then put out and he was imprisoned in Babylon until he died (Kings 25; Jer. 52).  

Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylonia(604-561 BCE) attacked Judah in 597 and again in 586 BCE. when he destroyed Solomon's Temple. 

He exiled 7,000 Jews to Babylon (Mesopotamia). This group of Jews joined the Jews from the 10 tribes, making a large Jewish population of which many remained here even after Cyrus II King of Persia , who overran the Babylonians gaining Eretz Yisrael;  permitted a return to Jerusalem.   Several cities were now entirely Jewish.  

The story of Queen Esther, married to King Ahasureros, comes along here with Mordecai, a Benjamite  being an official, had his niece, Hadassah, enter a beauty contest for the king who wanted a new wife.  He had banished his first.  Hadassah won the contest and changed her name to Esther.  Esther overheard of a plot to kill all Jews coming from Haman and told the king, so had to confess that she was also Jewish.  The king really loved Esther, and was angry at Haman.  He had him hung along with all his sons to put an end to such a thing, which, by the way, had already started in his empire in another section.  This event turned into the holiday of Purim.  Queen Esther of the Jews was given the name Hadassah at birth, which is a Hebrew name meaning "myrtle". Her name was later changed to Esther, which is believed to be of Persian origin, possibly meaning "star" or related to the Babylonian goddess Ishtar, when she became queen. The change in name was likely to conceal her Jewish identity, as Mordecai advised her not to reveal she was Jewish when she was chosen as a candidate for queen

It wasn't till 538 BCE when Jews were allowed to return to Jerusalem from their capture with permission from Cyrus II and rebuild their Temple.  They regarded Cyrus as a Divine agent.  He was thought to also be the son or grandson of Esther.  

The rebuilding of the Second Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem spanned from 538 BCE to 516 BCE, according to Wikipedia. The project was initiated after Cyrus the Great, the Persian king, allowed the Jewish exiles to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple. While the basic structure was completed in 516 BCE, according to Wikipedia, construction and expansion may have continued until around 500 BCE. 

After 538 BCE, Judah was no longer ruled by its own kings. Following Cyrus the Great's conquest of Babylon, the region of Judah (also known as Yehud Medinata) became a province within the Achaemenid (Persian) Empire. The Persian rulers appointed governors, often Jewish, to administer the territory. Prominent figures during this period include Sheshbazzar who laid the Temple foundation and took care of Temple vessels, and Zerubbabel, who led the return of some exiles from Babylon and oversaw the rebuilding of the Second Temple. 

Following the Achaemenid (Persian) Empire, the territory of Judah came under the control of the Seleucid Empire as part of the broader Hellenistic period after Alexander the Great's conquests. The Seleucid Empire existed from 312/311 BCE to 63 BCE. It was founded by Seleucus I Nicator, one of Alexander the Great's generals, following Alexander's death and the subsequent fragmentation of his vast empire. The empire's territories initially encompassed a large swathe of the former Persian Empire, including Mesopotamia, parts of Anatolia, and Central Asia. It eventually declined due to internal conflicts, external pressures from rivals like the Ptolemaic Kingdom and the Parthians, and ultimately ended when the Roman general Pompey conquered Syria in 63 BCE, turning it into a Roman province.  This period followed the Persian rule and preceded the Hasmonean dynasty, which gained independence through the Maccabean Revolt. 

The Hasmonean dynasty ruled Judea from 140 BCE to 37 BCE. This period follows the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire and includes a time of semi-autonomous rule within the Seleucid Empire, followed by expansion and increasing independence. 

Resource:

Edited: 8/11/25, 6:26am

The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia

Tanakh (Bible) Stone Edition

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylonian_captivity

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sargon_II

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylonian_captivity#:~:text=According%20to%20the%20book%20of,from%20521%20to%20516%20BCE.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achaemenid_Empire#:~:text=Alexander's%20death%20marks%20the%20beginning,of%20Triparadisus%20in%20321%20BC.

https://www.moon.com/travel/arts-culture/jerusalem-history-first-second-temples/#:~:text=During%20the%20First%20Temple%20period,Babylon%2C%20when%20he%20conquered%20Jerusalem.

When Did Polygamy End Within The Jewish Culture? Christians? Islam?

 Nadene Goldfoot                                                

The Tanakh (Old Testament), of Judaism  reflects, without recommending, a polygamous society.  However, the household of Isaac, son of Abraham of the 2nd millennium BCE, regarded as a model in later Jewish tradition, was monogamous.  His wife was Rebecca and she was the daughter of Bethuel and mother of the twins,  Esau and Jacob. Rebecca is regarded as the ideal type of Jewish womanhood.  

                                                                    

Polygamy became general in the luxurious courts of the 1st Jewish kings of Saul, David and Solomon.  King Solomon's number of concubines is recorded which were pretty outstanding, even for a king in those days.  According to the biblical account, Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines. The wives were described as foreign princesses, including Pharaoh's daughter and women of Moab, Ammon, Edom, Sidon and of the Hittites.

I can't help but think about Abram and Sarai when Sari wanted to get pregnant and it wasn't happening.  She actually gave her Egyptian servant, Hagar, to Abram,, hoping she would conceive.  Hagar bore Abram Ishmael.  Later, much later, Sarai finally conceived, said to be at age 90,  Isaac.  Since she died at age 127, I would think Isaac was a menopausel baby.  This long time frame is what may lead to a menopause baby. During the time when the female body is not having a menstrual cycle, the body may still be releasing those last few eggs. If the egg is released and there is a viable sperm waiting to fertilize the egg, you can, and will, get pregnant.

This did not make for a happy polygamous situation for the children or for the 2 women.  Ishmael teased Isaac.  Jealousy  took place between the women..  Hagar took Ishmael and left.  

                                                                       

 Solomon's  marriage to Pharaoh's daughter appears to have cemented a political alliance with Egypt, whereas he clung to his other wives and concubines "in love." The Message, a biblical paraphrase, says that Solomon was "obsessed with women".

The only wife mentioned by name is Naamah the Ammonite, mother of Solomon's son and successor, Rehoboam. The biblical narrative notes with disapproval that Solomon permitted his foreign wives to import their national deities, building temples to Ashtoreth and Milcom.  The Ammonites were a people nearby  in Ammon, which was later known as Transjordan, today's Jordan and were also a Semitic people, related to the Israelites (Gen.19:38).  That's all it took in those days to keep the peace, marry a daughter of the king.  Solomon had a lot of enemies surrounding him, thus that many wives, one would think.                                                     

Polygynous marriage: A man would leave his family of origin and join with his first wife. Then, as finances allowed, he would marry as many additional women as he desired and could afford. The new wives would join the man and his other wives in an already established household. Polygyny -- the marriage of one man and multiple women -- was practiced by members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Mormons, until the practice was suspended, a least temporarily, in the late 19^th century. It is still practiced by separated fundamentalist Mormon groups which have left and been excommunicated from the main Mormon church.          

                                          Buying a slave

A man, one or more wives, and some concubines: A man could keep numerous concubines, in addition to one or more wives. These women held an even lower status than a wife.  As implied in Genesis 21:10, a concubine could be dismissed when no longer wanted. According to Smith's Bible Dictionary, "A concubine would generally be either (1) a Hebrew girl bought...[from] her father; (2) a Gentile captive taken in war; (3) a foreign slave bought; or (4) a Canaanitish woman, bond or free." ₂ They would probably be brought into an already-established household. Abraham had two concubines; Gideon: at least 1; Nahor: 1; Jacob: 1; Eliphaz: 1; Gideon: 1; Caleb: 2; Manassah: 1; Saul: 1; David: at least 10; Rehoboam: 60; Solomon: 300; an unidentified Levite: 1; Belshazzar: more than 1.

                                                                 

    King Abdullah II of Jordan and his Queen Rania on their 10th anniversary. 

King Abdullah II of Jordan did that very thing  to keep the peace by marrying a beautiful Palestinian lady on June 10, 1993, at least it worked out that way.  He fell in love with a Palestinian.    Black September, when Palestinian Arabs attacked Jordan, happened   between 16 and 27 September 1970, with certain aspects of the conflict continuing until 17 July 1971.  Black September (Arabic: أيلول الأسود‎; Aylūl Al-Aswad), also known as the Jordanian Civil War was a conflict fought in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan between the Jordanian Armed Forces (JAF), under the leadership of King Hussein, Abdulla's father, and the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), under the leadership of Yasser Arafat.   They are not practicing Polygamy, though. 

The ideal picture of the housewife in Proverbs 31 of Solomon seems to picture a monogamous household.  The society reflected in the Talmud is essentially monogamous, only a handful of rabbis being recorded as having more than one wife.  This ideal governed Jewish life thereafter.  

                                                                   

Epilogue: The Wife of Noble Character: Read To Wife on Shabbat

1 A wife of noble character who can find?     She is worth far more than rubies. 11 Her husband has full confidence in her      and lacks nothing of value.  12 She brings him good, not harm,    all the days of her life.  13 She selects wool and flax     and works with eager hands.14 She is like the merchant ships,     bringing her food from afar.15 She gets up while it is still night;     she provides food for her family     and portions for her female servants. 16 She considers a field and buys it;    out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.17 She sets about her work vigorously;    her arms are strong for her tasks.18 She sees that her trading is profitable,    and her lamp does not go out at night.19 In her hand she holds the distaff    and grasps the spindle with her fingers.20 She opens her arms to the poor    and extends her hands to the needy.21 When it snows, she has no fear for her household;    for all of them are clothed in scarlet.22 She makes coverings for her bed;    she is clothed in fine linen and purple.23 Her husband is respected at the city gate,    where he takes his seat among the elders of the land.24 She makes linen garments and sells them,    and supplies the merchants with sashes.25 She is clothed with strength and dignity;    she can laugh at the days to come.26 She speaks with wisdom,
    and faithful instruction is on her tongue.27 She watches over the affairs of her household    and does not eat the bread of idleness.28 Her children arise and call her blessed;    her husband also, and he praises her:29 “Many women do noble things,    but you surpass them all.”30 Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;    but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.31 Honor her for all that her hands have done,    and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.

The takkanah (Takkanah: "positive legislation", practices instituted by the rabbis not based (directly) on the commandments as such, e.g. rabbinical mitzvot) .of Rabbi Gershom Ben Judah aka (Rabbenu) 965=1028) born in Metz and lived in Mainz, Germany forbidding polygamy happened in about 1,000 CE, King Solomon died in 920 BCE, so this took place almost 2,000 years afterwards, meaning polygamy was occurring for 2,000 years.  One doesn't have a law against something unless it had been happening and was found to be out of favor in their eyes.  Thus, this gave formal sanction among Ashkenazi Jews to what was already generally accepted, .His legal decisions and regulations were accepted as binding  by European Jewry.    

Among the Sepharim (Spanish)  and Mizrachim (Oriental) Jews, on the other hand, polygamy continued to be legal, though by no means general.  In Italy, down to the 17th century, a person whose wife was barren was occasionally permitted by papal licence to take a 2nd wife.  With the Europeanization of many oriental communities in recent generations, polygamy  has become increasingly rare.  

In Israel, monogamy is  enforced by law, though existing polygamous marriages are recognized.  That would be occurrences among the Arabs.  I'm not sure if any Mormons are living in Israel, of which a branch of them still do practice polygamy, mainly in Mexico  as it is outlawed in other places.  

Religions have differing views on marriage and polygamy. For example, because Buddhism does not regard marriage as a sacrament and only a secular affair, forms of marriage vary by country. For example, Thailand legally recognized polygamy in 1955, and Myanmar outlawed polygyny in 2015.   Myanmar, Under Burmese Buddhist law, a man has the right to take more than one wife, but a wife cannot legally take more than one husband. A husband can commit adultery and face no risk of divorce or loss of property. ... Buddhist men no longer have the right to polygyny, yet neither are second wives protected by law.

In Christianity, the Roman Catholic Church condemns polygamy. The Lutheran Church accepts some polygamists. The Anglican Communion ruled that polygamy was permissible in certain circumstances in 1988. 

                                                            

 In Islam, a Muslim man may have more than one wife at the same time, up to four wives, according to Islamic marital jurisprudence.  Polygamy is legal for Muslim men according to Jordanian law. The Embassy can neither stop a man from taking a second, third, or fourth wife in Jordan, nor can it get such marriages dissolved.  Egypt is among Arab countries that allow Muslim men to marry more than one wife. ... Egypt's laws are said to be sharia-based, which means that they must conform to Islamic law. Nonetheless, Islam restricts polygamy by making it necessary for men who have more than one wife to treat each wife fairly and on equal footing.  The Salafists in Egypt are not happy about restricting  polygamy in a bill that would force the men to get the 1st wife's permission to take on a 2nd wife;   AND underage marriages.  A woman's rights group are active.   Tunisia banned polygamy in 1957.  Much of Africa allows polygamy.  The Salafists said the proposal oversteps the Islamic religion, which gives men the right to have four wives at one time.  “You cannot eliminate a licence that was given by God to men by man-made law,” said Salafist activist Sameh Abdel Hamid. “Laws are OK so long as they do not violate religious rules.”

Resource:

The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia

http://www.religioustolerance.org/mar_bibl0a.htm

https://thearabweekly.com/egyptian-salafists-uproar-over-bill-restricting-polygamy-underage-marriages-0#:~:text=Egypt%20is%20among%20Arab%20countries,marry%20more%20than%20one%20wife.&text=Egypt's%20laws%20are%20said%20to,fairly%20and%20on%20equal%20footing.

https://www.babymed.com/getting-pregnant-during-menopause#:~:text=The%20menopause%20baby&text=This%20long%20time%20frame%20is,%2C%20and%20will%2C%20get%20pregnant.

https://jo.usembassy.gov/u-s-citizen-services/local-resources-of-u-s-citizens/marriage-in-jordan/#:~:text=Multiple%20Marriages%2FPolygamy,it%20get%20such%20marriages%20dissolved.

https://www.google.com/search?q=Myanmar+law+about+polygamy&sxsrf=ALeKk01gfB7rvbFHGEgWSZVgULsHdxzc-Q%3A1627591404216&source=hp&ei=7BIDYeXNCqCs0PEP2de-2Ac&iflsig=AINFCbYAAAAAYQMg_LWCOspzuMn3ao1A6xB3UOvtXkKa&oq=Myanmar+law+about+polygamy&gs_lcp=Cgdnd3Mtd2l6EAMyCAghEBYQHRAeOgQIABBDOgcILhCxAxBDOgsIABCABBCxAxCDAToHCAAQyQMQQzoHCAAQQxCLAzoLCAAQgAQQsQMQiwM6DggAEIAEELEDEIMBEIsDOggIABCABBCxAzoFCAAQgAQ6BQguEIAEOgoIABCABBCHAhAUOggIABCABBDJAzoLCC4QgAQQxwEQrwE6BggAEBYQHjoFCAAQhgNQ6TJYiYABYLaFAWgBcAB4AIABdIgBrwuSAQQxOC4ymAEAoAECoAEBuAEC&sclient=gws-wiz&ved=0ahUKEwjl8_C7konyAhUgFjQIHdmrD3sQ4dUDCAo&uact=5

https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Proverbs

https://www.womeninthebible.net/bible-archaeology/solomons-palace/