Continuing
from the previous post, in discussing the types of construction that was known
in Jerusalem and Israel in the centuries between David and Lehi, to show what
type of construction that Nephi, Sam and Zoram would have known and lived
around, and no doubt would have implemented in their design and building of the
City of Nephi and the land of the Nephites in those early years.
For
centuries Jerusalem was sparsely inhabited. It began to grow in the time of
King David who made the city his capital. By the time Solomon was anointed king
in 956 B.C., Jerusalem had become a city of crowded, narrow streets, with
spacious quarters for the royal palaces and related court retinue.
David’s Jerusalem: The east was
protected by the Kidron Valley, the west protected by the Central Valley, the
south protected by the joining of the Hinnom Valley with the Central and Kidron
Valleys
It
seems reasonable to assume that the Israelite cities, especially Jerusalem, of
the Later Monarchy, mid-10th century to the time Lehi left Jerusalem
in 600 B.C., would have directly influenced Nephi, Sam and Zoram in their
design and building of their new land in the area that was called the land of
Nephi. This would have been what we know fro the scriptural record as the City
of Nephi, later called the City of Lehi-Nephi, as well as at least the lands of
Shemlon and Shilom (Mosiah 10:7-8), which flanked the City of Nephi. Such
building would have taken place between about 585 B.C. to about 225 B.C., when
Mosiah was told to flee the city (Omni1:12-13). It is also very likely that
other, nearby areas were populated and built up during that 350 year period.
In the
area of Andean Peru, that would have stretched from Cuzco and Sacsayhuaman, to
the north along what is now called the Urubamba Valley (what the Inca called
the Sacred Valley), which includes cities of Ollantaytambo, Pisac, Chinchero,
Machu Picchu, all the way south to Lake Titicaca, including Tiwanaku and Puma
Punku.
In Israel,
the havoc and destruction of the Aramean Wars of the 9th and 8th centuries B.C.
were followed by the prosperous period of the reign of Jeroboam II in the
Northern Kingdom and Uzziah and Azzariah in Judah. Cities built during this
time reflect a distinct pattern belonging to what is referred to as Iron Age
II. Streets reappear. Sometimes they follow a deliberate plan, as at
Tirzah (Tel Far'ah), sometimes they follow the natural line of the hill, as at
Debir (Tel beit-Mirsim).
In Megiddo,
Debir and elsewhere, sewers have also been discovered. A palace for the
governor or a central administrative building was frequently erected near the
main gate, as at Megiddo or at Mizpah. These new features probably had little
impact on the mass of the population. Even in the most "modern" of
the cities of the period, alleys still separated groups of buildings, as they
had done in the past.
The
proper planning of streets and quarters on a regular basis did not come until
the Hellenistic period (about 300 years after Lehi left Jerusalem), at which
time independent government and policy for each city reached its peak. At this time, they obtained
their water from rain water stored in cisterns under the houses and from public
springs or wells within the city limits, from which water was taken each day in
pitchers and jars.
The
disposal of sewage, from combined bath and toilet rooms, mainly in the better
class houses, is indicated, by clay and stone sewers and pipes found in the
foundations of Canaanite and Israelite cities. The sanitary facilities,
bath-tubs and squatting oriental style toilets must have looked much like the
remains of the bathroom in the palace of Lachish (8th century B.C.)
A drain
passed through the bottom of the wall, with a water-closet fitted against it on
the other side. A large tub would be used for cold water, the small one for
hot. After a bath, the water could be run off through clay pipes into a drain
or cesspool. The toilet was flushed from a sewer of water and emptied directly
into the sewer. Sewers and pipes would be cleaned at intervals.
The ancient Hebrews were among the earliest peoples to
incorporate cleanliness and hygiene into their religious observance and
everyday life. Some attribute Moses' upbringing in an Egyptian royal household
for his emphasis on the purifying aspects of water. Washing, bathing and
cleanliness played a prominent role in the religious rites of the Jews, and
indirectly afforded the people a greater measure of health than enjoyed by most
ancient societies.
The earliest recorded sanitary laws concerning disposal of
human waste also are attributed to Moses and his teachings in the Old Testament
around 1500 B.C., when his people are instructed to dispose of their waste away
from the camp, and to use a spade to turn the remains under the earth or sand.
Of course, in crowded cities, more ingenuity is required.
Jerusalem's water supply and drainage developed in stages
from the ancient days, even prior to the reign of King David in 1055 B.C.
Drains were built for removing sewage from homes and streets, while excess
waste and refuse were carted out through the appropriately-named "Dung
Gate" of the city.
Beneath the
Old City of Jerusalem are several tunnels and sewers that date to the time Lehi
left Jerusalem. It was through a tsinnor,
a water conduit, such as one of these that Joab captured the foritified
stronghold of Jerusalem (City of David) for the king (2 Samuel 5:8)
Because the temples required their own "pure
water" arrangements, there were two separate drain and waste water systems
in the city. This was certainly an extra expense, but the early plumbers
developed a conservation system for its reuse. Sink water was channeled into
ponds or large cesspools or directed into a settling basin. Here the waste
materials would be held in suspension and subsequently used as manure for the
fields and croplands. Any surplus water was eventually used in the cultivation
of gardens.
More elaborate sewer systems were found in smaller towns of
the region. They consisted of a trunk line and auxiliary drains underneath the
houses. In the courtyard of Solomon's Temple stood what the Old Testament calls
a "molten sea," said to have held 2,000 baths (cubic measures). It was
used by the celebrants to wash their hands and feet before entering the
sanctuary. According to one source, the "sea" or laver was a replica
of the apsu, the laver that Babylonian priests used in their temple
rites, except the Babylonian laver was chiseled out of stone.
The Molten
or Brazen Sea was a large basin in the Temple in Jerusalem made by Solomon for
ablution of the priests, standing in the south-eastern corner of the inner
court
This "molten sea" was a 7-foot high basin of
bronze or brass, 15 feet in diameter and 3 inches thick. It rested on the backs
of 12 cast-iron oxen, which stood in four groups of three. The basin contained
water sufficient for 150 ritual baths (mikvah),
with the seas representing the world, the ten ells of diameter corresponding to the ten Seifirot, and the round at the top as the heavens.
Biblical scholars calculate the weight of the
"sea" alone at 33 tons, an astounding figure which can never really
be proven. The laver was situated close to the temple's "Water Gate"
with a convenient water conduit on the outside of the complex.
When we read the Book of Mormon, we need to keep in mind
that the Nephites came from that background found in Jerusalem as shown in this
series—they were not a new society emerging from an earlier, pre-state of
lesser accomplishments as archaeologists always want to believe, but the
continuation of a society with more than 500 years behind them, and at least 300
to 400 years of advances rivaled in accomplishment by only a few societies of
the day. What the Nephites brought to the Land of Promise was a very modern
civilization for the time, with vast accomplishments behind them and a
knowledge of construction that involved cut and dressed stone and magnificent
edifices. Obviously, the Land of Promise should reflect that level of
accomplishment.
And there is only one place in all of the Western Hemisphere
that does!
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