We have no history of the first
settlers in the hills and valleys around Jerusalem. We do know people began to build tombs
in the area at least 5200 years ago, and we also know this land was not part of
Mesopotamia, which marked the beginning of Western
civilization. The entire area was a link between Egypt and
Damascus 4000 years ago. However, the site of ancient Jerusalem was a bit
off this path. Perhaps people settled in
this area as it was off the main roads,
most likely with little attention to the Egyptian overlords, but why is the city of Jerusalem thought of as sacred geography?
The first worship in the city, as most religions of the
time, was cosmic. A Syrian-influenced evening
star god named Shalem was the chosen deity when the city was established. These first western
Semitic settlers believed some places were sacred, and thus, they made
settlements in these sites. The social theory of the time, in this
area, was all city sites were sacred; this was the only reason to build a
city. Only sacred sites were
fit for human settlement.
Did the Syrian God
manifest himself to travelers in the hills of Jerusalem 4000 years ago, or was
this place settled simply due to the
availability of fresh water in what is a surrounding desert? Gihon Spring
is co-located at the foundation of the very
first know city walls. Occam’s
razor? Very little is known with regards to worship in Jerusalem from 4000
to 3500 years ago; we do not even know if the city was continuously occupied during this segment
of time. About 3600 years before present, evidence points
to a new influence in the city from the
Hurrian people. At this time, the
entire triangle from Gaza to Damascus and Beirut was referred to as Canaan.
These people were Egyptian and most of what is
known about Jerusalem at this time comes from Egyptian archives –
cuneiform tablets. During this era the
god Baal, the son of El - who can be referenced
in the Hebrew Bible - became the protector of the hills and valleys and the city of Jerusalem.
Invasions from the Aegean and Anatolian people followed the
Hurrian effect, and in this mixture, people
north of Jerusalem began to refer to themselves as Hebrews. The
Bible tells the story that these people came out of Egypt; the extra-biblical evidence suggests these people were not
foreigners; rather the Hebrews represented an evolutionary mix of many people
who came to the region. Archaeology suggests these people were
native Canaanites, genetically linked with new foreigners; who developed a
unique culture with a myth of foreign
descent to keep them bound together - apart from other groups of
Canaanites. In the fundamental
sense, they were the tribe who survived. Moreover, it is here, in this tribe, the first stories of the
Bible, and the God named Yahweh emerged in the human journey – as a common myth among one grouping of people.
Since that time many gods were developed and worshiped in
Jerusalem. The mixture of people was a time of polytheism in the city – A
city of central location between what
became the Israelite people in the north, and the people of Judea who lived south of the city. This is until the city was flattened
by the Babylonians 2600 years ago. The people of Jerusalem, for the most part, took residency with their victors in
Babylon. The Canaanite people lost their home but kept their culture in developing the Jewish faith; based
on the myths from the older Canaanite writings we refer to today as Genesis and
Exodus. Oppression and occupation are essential
ingredients in the recipe of worship.
When the Persians defeated Babylon the Hebrew people
migrated back to the region and rebuilt Jerusalem as a Jewish city. However, occupation was to return to this land, this time, powered by the Greek empire. The Greek occupation is referred to as the Hellination of Jerusalem. Unrecognized by many
Christians, the Greek occupation is the root
cause of the messiah myths that were to follow, including Jesus. The messiah myths began in the Jewish texts such as the
book of Daniel – written as a “why & how” to keep the Jewish people
together during Greek occupation; stories which grew out of someone simply
telling someone else: “don’t be threatened, our god will protect us and send us
a savior.” It is human nature;
religion is a product of the human condition.
The Romans replaced the Greeks;
the occupation continued. Eventually,
some of the Jewish people took to the words in Daniel
and began to tell their occupiers that the Jewish Messiah is real. ~1970 years ago a man known as Paul the
Preacher, and many others said to the
people, the Messiah is here. Among
these messiah stories, there was one
which won over; Jesus. A new fledgling faith had begun. Then
the sludge hammer hit, Rome flattened Jerusalem once again – 1945 years before
present day. Within the next four decades, a group of Jewish people completed the Gospels of Mark, Matthew, Luke,
and John. The Jesus Myth flourished 1900 years ago as a political revolt
by a subjected people, in relative poverty, powerless, effectively dominated by
an economic and military capacity so staggering it could not be overcome. They turned Paul’s visions of
cosmic Jesus into a physical
person. We must remember the Gospel author predicted the second fall
of Jerusalem after it had fallen.
The people of this new faith, for the first time, were
teaching the connection to God does not require a connection to sacred
geography; as they did not have a sacred place, Jerusalem was destroyed. The Roman occupation scattered the people,
thus, geography was no longer relevant –
this is until Christianity became the religion of Rome. Christians are inherently Jewish, and as any Jewish person would; now that the Christians had
the power, they rebuilt the city, and
found their sacred geography in Jerusalem. The idea of God being in a particular
physical space is deep-rooted in the
human psyche; this is why humans build
temples, houses of gods are all over the world. When the Christians could
not control the land, they scorned it. Once they had power; they found
value in the land once again. The ‘new to power’ Christians went so far
as to remove the Jewish people from the city as they did not choose to believe in
their messiah. When the Christians rebuilt Jerusalem, the Jews were once
again exciled. I admire the
Jewish people for their tenacity.
Then came the fall of Rome.
Christians lost power in the region;
the Islamic religion was created, and
Muslims took over the “third Jerusalem” built by the Romans. As the
Christians nations began to recover from the fall of Rome, the Crusades were
funded to take back the holy land.
The human tragedy of this story is astonishing. It all started 4000 years
ago due to a spring in the desert.
We must ask ourselves, why is faith based in a physical
space? Why do we build temples to
connect us with the gods? The answer may
be that faith is the expression of our needs, our desires, and most of all our
security. The mind has evolved to find
security in physical spaces.
I’ll admit, even as an Atheist, I was excited to see the
sacred geography of Jerusalem. However I found a tourist trap, a
Disneyland of an ancient faith.
Today the city is a bazaar – the commercialization of outdated ideas which
requires a heavily armed police force to keep the peace. I would
encourage every American to visit
Jerusalem, our Israeli friends are on guard, and safety is not the issue.
Rather the importance is, once visiting Jerusalem, upon returning to Tel Aviv;
one can realize the preciosity of modern life; how lucky we are to live in
2015.
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