Archaeologists have discovered new evidence supporting the biblical account of the siege and burning of the city of Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 586 BCE, according to a research paper published in September in the journal of archaeology.
Historical Context
Judah was a vassal kingdom of Babylon in the late seventh century BCE, under the rule of Nebuchadnezzar II. This was unacceptable to the King of Judah, Jehoiakim, who rebelled against the King of Babylon in 601 BCE despite the warning of the prophet Jeremiah. He ceased paying the required tribute and allied himself with Egypt when Nebuchadnezzar attempted (and failed) to invade those lands. Jehoiakim died and was succeeded by his son Jeconiah when Nebuchadnezzar’s forces besieged Jerusalem in 597 BCE. The city was looted, Jeconiah surrendered, and he was deported to Babylon along with a significant portion of Judah’s population. His uncle Zedekiah became the king of Judah.
The Siege and Burning
Zedekiah also rebelled against Babylonian rule and refused to pay the required tribute, seeking an alliance with the Egyptian Pharaoh Hophra. This led to a horrific 30-month siege by Nebuchadnezzar’s forces against Judah and its capital Jerusalem. Ultimately, the Babylonians prevailed again, breaching the city walls to occupy Jerusalem. Zedekiah was forced to watch his sons being killed, was blinded and bound, and was taken to Babylon as a captive. This time, Nebuchadnezzar was less merciful and ordered his soldiers to completely destroy Jerusalem and demolish the wall around 586 BCE.
Archaeological Evidence
There is archaeological evidence supporting the account that the city was destroyed by fire, along with nearby villages and towns on the western border. Three residential buildings were excavated between 1978 and 1982, revealing charred wooden beams dating to approximately 586 BCE. Archaeologists also found ash and charred wooden beams from the same time period when they excavated several buildings at the Giv’ati parking lot site, near the presumed location of Solomon’s Temple. Samples taken from the plaster floor showed exposure to high temperatures up to 600 degrees Celsius.
Research Techniques
However, it was not possible to determine whether the fires were intentional or accidental, nor where the fire started if it was intentional. For this latest research, Shalom and her colleagues focused on building number 100 in the Giv’ati parking lot. They utilized Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, which measures infrared light absorption to determine the heating level of the sample, and archaeological magnetic analysis, which determines whether samples containing magnetic metals were heated enough to realign those compounds to a new magnetic north.
The analysis revealed varying degrees of exposure to high heat in three rooms (designated A, B, and C) in the basement of building 100, with clear evidence in room C. This may indicate that room C was the ignition point; however, there was no fire pathway; the burning of room C seemed isolated. The authors concluded, based on a previous 2020 study on parts of the second floor of the building, that multiple fires were ignited in the building and that the fires blazed intensely on the upper floors, except for the localized intense fire in room C on the first floor.
Research Conclusions
The researchers wrote: “When a structure burns, heat rises and concentrates under the ceiling. Therefore, the walls and ceiling are heated to higher temperatures than the floors.” The presence of charred beams on the floors indicates that this is indeed the case: most of the heat rose to the ceiling, even causing the beams to collapse onto the floors, which were subjected to radiant heat. However, the extent of the debris is likely not solely due to those collapses, suggesting that the Babylonians deliberately went and demolished any remaining walls.
Moreover,
Shalom: “Target the most important and most famous buildings in the city,” rather than destroying everything randomly. “After 2600 years, we still mourn the temple.”
Despite the lack of evidence for additional fuel that could have been an accelerant, Shalom and others concluded that “we can assume the fire was deliberately set due to its presence in all rooms and floors of the building,” and that “the clutter within the rooms indicates the presence of sufficient flammable materials (vegetable, wooden, and construction materials) to make additional fuel unnecessary. The widespread distribution of burnt remains suggests deliberate destruction by fire… The spread of the fire and the rapid collapse of the building indicate that the destroyers made significant efforts to completely destroy the building and render it unusable.”
Source: Journal of Archaeological Science, 2023. 10.1016/j.jas.2023.105823
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