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Jeremiah 31:38-40

Jeremiah 30-31, often referred to as the Book of Consolation, is ultimately a message of hope after a time of judgment and exile. Though Israel and Judah have suffered devastation for abandoning the Lord, one day the Lord himself would restore them. It is not clear whether these chapters were written after the devastation (including the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C.) had already occurred, or they were speaking of it in the future. In any case, they clearly foretold of a day of restoration that lay ahead for God’s people. Jeremiah 31:38-40 specifically notes that Jerusalem would one day be rebuilt as part of this restoration, but not merely as it was before. The restored city would be expanded to include even the two valleys that had previously marked the boundary of three quarters of the city. The prophecy visualized plans being made for these new boundaries (presumably to be bounded by walls) by detailing the path of a measuring line that would go out from the northwest corner of the Temple Mount, encircle the city, and return to the southeast corner of the Temple Mount (see also the “Jerusalem during the Time of Nehemiah, circa 445 B.C. map). The “whole valley of the dead bodies and the ashes” that would be included likely refers to the Hinnom Valley. By the time of Jeremiah, this valley had become known as the location of Topheth, a pagan altar where children were burned as a sacrifice to the Canaanite god Molech (see 2 Kings 23:10; Jeremiah 7:31-32; 19:6-13). But Jeremiah foretold of a time when the Lord would bring such destruction upon Jerusalem that the valley would be filled with dead bodies (Jeremiah 19:6-9). Yet in the day of Israel and Judah’s restoration, the whole valley, along with the fields (or terraced gardens) running the whole length of the Kidron Valley, would be sacred to the Lord, and the new city would never again be uprooted or overthrown.

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Genesis 38

The story of Judah and Tamar is likely set in the foothills (often called the Shephelah) of Judah around the general area of Adullam. The story opens by noting that Judah went “down” from his brothers, though it does not mention where his brothers were living. The last mention of their location, however, is in Genesis 35:27, where it notes that they were in Mamre in the vicinity of Hebron, appropriately situated at significantly higher elevation than Adullam. After settling in this area, Judah married a Canaanite woman, who bore him three sons. The passage also notes that Judah’s wife was living in Kezib when she bore their third son, so presumeably Judah was living there as well. This is likely the same location called Aczib elsewhere in Scripture (Josh 15:44; Micah 1:14). Judah then took a wife, Tamar, for his oldest son, but his son soon died. So Judah instructed his second son to fulfill the common custom of marrying his brother’s widow and raising children in his brother’s name. Though this son married Tamar, he refused to have children by her, so the Lord put him to death. Then Judah instructed Tamar to remain in her father’s house as a widow until his third son is old enough to marry her, but secretly he feared that his third son might die like his brothers if he married her. Sometime after this Judah’s wife died, and Judah made plans to go “up” to Timnah, where his sheep were being sheared. Several other passages of Scripture (Joshua 15:10; Joshua 19:43; Judges 14; 2 Chronicles 28:18) mention a place called Timnah, which was located at Tall Batashi along the Sorek Brook, but it is unlikely that this is the same Timnah mentioned in this story, because Tall Batashi is at a very low elevation, so it could hardly be said that Judah went “up” to that Timnah from Aczib or Adullam. Instead the Timnah of Genesis 38 may have been located at Khirbet et Tabbaneh northeast of Adullam (likely also mentioned in Joshua 15:57) and higher in elevation. If Timnah is indeed located there, Enaim may have been located at Khirbet Beth Ikka, though this identification is less certain (see also Joshua 15:34, which mentions a town called Enam). Returning to the story, the passage notes that, upon hearing of Judah’s plans to go up to Timnah, Tamar disguised herself as a prostitute, went up to Enaim, and seduced Judah on his way to Timnah as part of a plan to bring shame upon him for not providing his third son, who was now an adult, to her as a husband. It is interesting to note that the word Enaim, which means “the place of two springs,” can also mean “the place of two eyes,” and some commentators have speculated that the writer was making a play on words with the name of the village, because it was at Enaim that Judah failed to recognize Tamar, and later he failed to recognize his own hypocrisy in denouncing Tamar for her sexual immorality.

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1 Kings 14:21-31; 2 Chronicles 11-12

At the start of his long and prosperous reign, King Solomon formed an alliance with Egypt and sealed their treaty by marrying Pharaoh’s daughter (1 Kings 3:1). While this ensured no overt military conflict between Israel and Egypt, behind the scenes Egypt was no doubt working to subtly undermine Solomon’s power, as evidenced by at least two occasions when Egypt granted asylum to Solomon’s enemies (1 Kings 11:14-40). After Solomon died, one of those enemies–Jeroboam–returned from Egypt and was made king over the northern tribes, while Solomon’s son Rehoboam continued to rule over Judah (1 Kings 12:16-20). Philistia also appears to have reestablished its independence after Solomon’s death. It must have been clear to Rehoboam that Egypt and Philistia, and perhaps Moab, could no longer be trusted as safe neighbors, because he immediately fortified a number of towns throughout Judah. Interestingly, none of these fortified towns were located between Judah and Israel. Instead, they guarded all routes leading to Jerusalem from the west, south, and southeast. In the fifth year of Rehoboam’s reign, around 926 B.C., King Shishak of Egypt (also called Shoshenq I) launched a military campaign throughout Judah and Israel, attacking numerous towns. Shishak was of Libyan ancestry himself and was aided in his campaign by a vast army of Libyans, Sukkiim, and Cushites. He did not continue to occupy the towns of Israel and Judah, however, suggesting that his primary goal was simply to weaken both nations after the death of Solomon. Shishak recorded his campaign on sculptures in the temple of Karnak near the Egyptian capital of Thebes. Some of the towns noted in his list are difficult to identify with certainty, but those that have been somewhat firmly established are shown on this map. It should also be noted that a large portion of Shishak’s list pertaining to the Judahite towns has been severely damaged, so he likely attacked a several other towns not shown on this map. The towns of Jerusalem, Libnah, and Beersheba also must have been among those missing from the Judahite list, because the Bible explicitly notes that Jerusalem was attacked (1 Kings 14:25-26; 2 Chronicles 12:9), and the destruction layers of Libnah and Beersheba suggest that Shishak had destroyed them as well. The Bible also notes that Shishak took away the treasures of the Temple and the king’s palace, including the gold shields that Solomon had made.

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