Page 71 - Biblical Backgrounds

In 597 BCE, Jerusalem fell at the hands of Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar captured
Jehoiachin and took him as a prisoner to Babylon. Zedekiah was set up as a puppet king over Judah.

In 586 BCE, King Nebuchadnezzar laid siege to Jerusalem. He destroyed the city and burned its temple.
The destruction of the temple started on the 9th of Ab (Hebrew month) and was completed on the 10th.
Interestingly, the 9th of Ab will also be the day Jerusalem's second temple (Herod's temple) was
destroyed in 70 A.D.

Life During this Time…

There was a lot of stone and very little wood in Judea at this time, so houses were typically constructed
of stone, sometimes 1 to 2 feet thick. Normally, they were rectangular in shape and consisted of very
few rooms: one central gathering area and rooms to sleep in. Quite often, the houses were
interconnected like our compendiums of today. Stone walls made the homes cooler in the heat of the
summer and warmer in the cooler weather. They used wood beams for the ceilings and covered the
wood with dirt, sometimes a foot deep or more. Almost all the roofs were flat and had stair access from
the lower floor to the roof. Some houses had a room at the front that served as a workshop or a front
location for a home business. Behind this room was a courtyard, then rooms opening from the
courtyard for family living.

Farming was the principal trade in Judea, but most farmland was terraced up hillsides, just as it is today.
They grew vegetables, hay, wheat, and groves of olive trees used for oil. The oil of the olive trees had
medicinal purposes, plus they used it for cooking, and lighting their homes in the evening.

Marriage
As is the case today in many Middle Eastern countries, most marriages were arranged by the parents of
the woman and the man. There were exceptions, but most arranged marriages were seldom forced on
young people who had absolutely no interest in each other. Sometimes these arrangements were made
when the girl or boy were very young teenager. Most rabbis proposed age 18 as the appropriate age for
men, and sometimes younger. Young women married as soon as they were physically ready, generally
around age 13 to 14.

Marriage was defined as a union of one man and one woman in Judea. Polygamy among Jews greatly
decreased and, at this time, basically vanished.

A marriage was consummated by two steps. First, there was a betrothal of one year. Parents came
together to sign a marriage contract of betrothal called a ketubah, in which the marriage was initiated
but not consummated physically for a term of one year. The couple lived apart during this period of time
while the boy constructed a home for his bride, and the young girl proved her chastity. The
commitment of a betrothal was so legally binding that a divorce breaking that commitment was
required. If a man’s betrothed became pregnant, people would assume that she had regarded him as an
inadequate man, and this would publicly humiliate him. It also spoke of her lack of discretion and
unwillingness to keep herself pure for her husband. Worse yet, if he did not divorce her, people would
assume that he was the father of the child, and he would bear great shame in a culture that was
obsessed with shame and honor. He would bear this shame for multiple years to come.

69