Did Xerxes Wage War on Jerusalem?
Julian Morgenstern wrote a series of articles during the fifties and sixties calling attention to an event purported to have taken place in the fifth century B.C.E. He pointed to passages in Ezra-Nehemiah, the Psalms, and the books of Isaiah, Malachi, Joel, Obadiah, and Lamentations as evidence of a...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
HUC
1997
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| In: |
Hebrew Union College annual
Year: 1996, Volume: 67, Pages: 43-53 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Parallel Edition: | Non-electronic
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| Summary: | Julian Morgenstern wrote a series of articles during the fifties and sixties calling attention to an event purported to have taken place in the fifth century B.C.E. He pointed to passages in Ezra-Nehemiah, the Psalms, and the books of Isaiah, Malachi, Joel, Obadiah, and Lamentations as evidence of a Jewish rebellion against the Persian Empire at the beginning of the reign of Xerxes. This uprising was quickly crushed by Persia and its allies. In the suppression, much of Jerusalem's population was massacred. The rest were captured and sold into slavery. The city, including its walls and temple, was devastated. This paper suggests the reason this thesis has not been accepted by many scholars is that the author overstated his case. His penchant for claiming too much evidence vitiated his argument. But if Ezra 4:8—23 is made the centerpiece for the case presented, Morgenstern's thesis becomes plausible. The letters of Rehum and Artaxerxes witness to a destruction of Jerusalem coming as a punishment for a rebellion against Persia. They do not, however, indicate that the temple was destroyed. The monarch responsible for the devastation may have been Xerxes (as Morgenstern claimed), or his father, Darius. |
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| Contains: | Enthalten in: Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Hebrew Union College annual
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