We started lecture by loking at an image and learning about Mezad Hashavyahu Ostracon. It is 15 km south of Tel Aviv . Ostraca is a broken piece of pottery with writing. We have reference to something recorded in the scripture. In the Bible, there was a law stating that if you take your neighbors garmet you must return it before the sun sets. A very critical prophecy about people abusing the poor comes from Amos 2:8-- "They recline by every altar on garmets taken in pledge, and drink in the House of their God Wine bought with fines they imposed." Its a letter beginning to be parallel to laws within the Hebrew Bible. They are common letters reflecting the literacy. A question arose about the Yavneh Yam letter-Did the creator of this letter know Exodus? Is he citing Exodus? I do not think he was. We learned that the Torah Amulets were worn around the neck; there were 2 Silver Amulets. A saying on an amulet is the prayer prounounced by the people. It is one of the oldest blessings in the Bible. These are part of oral traditions, and now something coming from 600 BCE. I found it interesting to hear that these were prounounced at weddings. You could argue that the Bible argued the Amulet; however, I believe that is false. When oral traditions come to be written down, you can analyze them differently. Before there was writing, we spoke and talked to one another to communicate. We are now communicating different then scribal writing. Dr. Cargill gave an example of Twitter--abbreviating words has changed the way we communicate. We began to analyze communication different once we could write it down. In addition, we could tell which source is more credible. The concept of the text became key in Judaism. If we write something down and agree it is true, the credibility is rising. We begin to form Scriptures--personal discourse is not so much. What do you do when a text--believed to be true--does not match reality? Do we throw out the text. amend it, or try and make culture conform?
We then turned to the topic of Exile, Destruction, and Cognitive Dissonance. We looked at events that led up to the Exile (the rise of the Babylonian Empire with King Nebuchadnezzar led to the fall of Jerusalem). Dr. Cargill showed a slide of the Last Days of Judah. We looked at the last days of Judah. The story of Josiah's actions going to meet Neco appear to betray the idea that he was aiding the Babylonians. Even though Josiah was a righteous king--it is possible that the reason why he died was due to the Babylonians. Later, Nebuchadnezzar comes--he is the King of Babylon. He destroys Jerusalem and the temple and exiles the rest of the Nobles to Babylon. This is an example of later texts providing rationale for the problems that occur. I found shocking the slide of the Royal Family of Exile; and that 290 tablets were excavated. We looked at the 2 Conclusions of Josiah's Reign. where people were trying to wrestle with notion that God broke his promise. Dr. Cargill showed us a table of the Excavated Luxury Items in Judah. In the 12th Century, there were no luxury items because it was a Jebusite City. The 8th Century had a mass quantity of luxury items, but they disappeared in the 6th Century when exile occurred.
We moved on to how individuals respond to tragedy. One thing to do is Sing the Blues. In the Biblical texts to come, there is a reflection shown. In Lamentation 1, there is a sad and gloomy tone. For example, the line "How lonely sits the city that once was full of people! How like a widow she has become, she that was great among the nations!" (Lamentation 1-2). There is still this idea of attempting to explain that it is not God's fault--most say it is part of his "plan".
Another example of a song reflecting tragedy is Psalm 79. In line 5, it says "How long, O LORD? Will you be angry forever?" I found this line captivating. It comes off that God must be angry, otherwise he would not have broken his promise. The people believe they must have done something otherwise God would not have punished them. After the Fall, there was Complete Destruction and Economic Devastation. The death during the Babylonian Campaigns along with the depopulation by Exile to Babylon was shocking.
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