"WALLS" IN THE BIBLE

Two themes, among many, that appear numerous times in the Bible are: (1) architecture (from the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11 to the New Jerusalem of Revelation 21) and (2) warfare or the threat of warfare (from Lot being rescued from a coalition of kings in Genesis 14 to the final battle between good and evil in Revelation 20). And these two themes converge in the walled cities of the Middle East built as a defense against attackers.

The importance of having such a defense is seen in the fact that practically all of the books of Nehemiah and Ezra are devoted to rebuilding the walls and gates of Jerusalem after the return from Exile. The gates were meant to be barred and closed at night to guard against intruders. (Joshua 2:5,7) And King Solomon made it a prime objective of his to strengthen all the cities “walls, gates, and bars.” (II Chronicles 8:5; I Kings 9:15) The bars on the gates are specifically said to be made of brass in Psalm 107:16 and Isaiah 45:2. And the gates themselves could be made out of wood (most commonly),  often sheathed in bronze to help prevent the enemy from setting them on fire (Psalm 107:16). And much later they could be even built of iron (Acts 12:10-14). It was also important for a successfully attacking army to break down the walls of a conquered city (II Chronicles 25:23; 36:19).

The defenseless position of cities without such fortifications is described in almost identical wording in both Jeremiah 49:31 and Ezekiel 38:11 although J.A. Thompson states, “There is no reason to think that either is dependent on the other.” In fact, the situation behind the two prophecies is quite different. Jeremiah predicts the historical fate of Israel when the Babylonian army attacks while Ezekiel's prophecy is actually an apocalyptic vision of the attempted plundering of Israel in the last days by the forces of the mysterious foe Gog. That latter attempt will be crushed decisively by God.

Fortified cities continued to be built in Europe and the Middle East until the beginning of cannon warfare, which rendered them largely ineffective for defense. And even in Bible times, the more militarily advanced nations of Assyria and Babylon could do great damage to walls and gates of a city through use of their siege ramps, siege engines and catapults. (Ezekiel 21:22) Siege ramps and battering rams are even mentioned as being employed by the Israelites in II Samuel 20.

Most of the sieges of biblical times and later were rather protracted and only ended when the inhabitants of the city were forced into submission by lack of food and water (see II Chronicles 32:10-11). Samaria actually held out for two years once against an Assyrian siege. For that reason, rulers such as King Hezekiah at least assured that Jerusalem was guaranteed with a ready supply of water through underground water pipes and wells. But a long-term food supply was more difficult to obtain during times of siege. Thus, we read that during the siege of Samaria by Ben-hadad, the people were resorting to eating donkey's heads, pigeon dung, and even fighting over babies to kill and eat (II Kings 14:13). Similarly, the representative of the Assyrian army tries to demoralize the people of Israel by telling them that they are doomed to eat their own dung and drink their own urine (II Kings 18:26-27).

The methods of escaping from a besieged position in the Bible are quite varied. For example, the siege of Abel is ended when the inhabitants throw out the body of the one person inside the city that the besieging army wants (see below). In I Kings 20:30, a prophet in Israel tells the king to send a small group of men out of the city at night to attack Ben-hadad of Aram and his army. Ben-hadad is drunk at the time, and his troops are caught unawares. This is actually quite similar to the story of Washington and his troops crossing the Delaware River to attack the Hessians on Christmas Day. In both cases, the other army is defeated because of their lax and overconfident behavior.

The people of Israel first encounter siege warfare when they are fighting in Bashan (in the trans-Jordan). Moses reminds them of their conquest of King Og's towns with their “high walls, double gates, and bars.” (Deuteronomy 3:5) But despite that victory assured through God's help, they had later refused to enter Canaan when the spies gave a report of the land's cities with “walls up to heaven.” (Deuteronomy 1:28)

In the next case of siege reported in the Bible, the Israelites are again the aggressors. This is the famous case of the Battle of Jericho. The Israelites circle the town, but the siege only lasts three days, at which time the walls of the city miraculously fall down. Archaeological findings have uncovered much supporting evidence for this story even though the final word on the subject is not in yet. See my post “Joshua 5-6: Archaeology and the Bible” for more details.

But in most of the other cases of siege, it is the Jews who are under attack, especially those in the city of Jerusalem. God even uses Moses to predict the future Assyrian and Babylonian sieges (Deuteronomy 28:47-57). However, the story of that city begins with the shoe on the other foot. Originally, the city was called Jebus and was in control of the Jebusites who were quite confident of their impregnable position (II Samuel 5:6-8). They were so confident that they jeered at David and his troops that even the blind and lame would be able to keep the Israelites out of the city. An alternative explanation of that passage is that the Jebusites were actually pronouncing some sort of magic curse on the Jews. But David's men actually exploited a feature of the city designed to allow it to endure a protracted siege – their water supply. The men climbed up a shaft that was part of the water system to catch the Jebusites unawares. Subsequently, David pronounces his own curse saying that the blind and lame shall never again enter the “house.” “Yet here [Matthew 21:14], in 'the house,' Jesus the Son of David is approached by the blind and the lame, and, far from dismissing them, he heals them.” (France)

From that point on, Jerusalem becomes the target of numerous attacks and sieges by the Egyptians (I Kings 14:25-26); Philistines and Arab marauders in Jehoram's reign; the Northern Kingdom (the reigns of Amaziah and Jehoash); Syria and Israel during Ahaz's reign; escape from the Assyrians during Hezekiah's rule; the Babylonians in 587 BC; the Greeks under Antiochus III and Antiochus IV around 170 BC; Roman generals in 63 and 54 BC; the Parthians in 40 BC, and the Romans under Titus in AD 70. It was this last decisive blow against Jerusalem that was predicted approximately 40 years earlier by Jesus in Matthew 24. See my post entitled “Matthew 24: One or Two Questions” for one possible analysis of that difficult and controversial chapter.

Although city walls were mainly erected to keep enemies from breaking in, they could also serve to keep people in. Thus, we see several examples in the Bible in which people trapped inside need to escape out of the city and manage to do so by unusual means. In Joshua 2:15, the Israelite spies have managed to enter into Jericho but are detected by the authorities. They only escape by Rahab letting them climb down the outer walls by a rope. There is an interesting parallel to this story in the New Testament where Paul is lowered down the city wall of Damascus in a basket by friends so that the Jews threatening his life cannot find him (Acts 9:25).

Getting back to the OT, there is the story of Ehud in Judges 3 entering the Moabite capital and cleverly assassinating the king and escaping from the city (some scholars believe that it was by way of the royal privy). Another judge, Samson, employs the novel method of escaping from Gaza. He yanks up the gates of the city and carries them on his back for 40 miles uphill to Hebron. One could also cite the case of Peter in prison walking right out of prison and through the gates of the city while being led by an angel (Acts 12:10).

However, some more infamous dwellers in a city escape over the walls only at the cost of their lives. Most prominent of these is Queen Jezebel, who is thrown over the city walls and has her dead body devoured by dogs (II Kings 9:30) exactly as earlier foretold (I Kings 21:23). Similarly, the siege of the city of Abel by Joab's forces in order to retrieve the traitor Sheba is only halted when a wise woman of the city convinces its leaders to decapitate Sheba and throw his head over the wall (II Samuel 20).

The vicinity of city walls became the scene of some other ignominious deaths in OT times. Thus, Uriah the Hittite was killed on David's orders near a city wall (II Samuel 11). After that event, David reminded Joab of the death of Abimelech when a woman killed him by throwing a millstone from a wall (Judges 9). And even after death, often bodies were hung from the walls of the city or left near the city gate as a warning for all to see. Also witness the death of the king of Ai (Joshua 8:29) and the display of Saul's body (I Samuel 31:10).

The figurative uses of “wall” imagery in the Bible are also interesting to consider:

    I Samuel 25:16 – Abigail tells her husband Nabal that David's men “were a wall to us both by day and by night.” This is an obvious metaphor expressing the protection that David's troops provided against danger.

    Hosea 2:6 – God builds a wall so that Israel cannot stray to other lovers.

    Proverbs 18:11 – “The rich imagine their wealth to be a high wall.” If so, then they are obviously trusting in the wrong thing to bring them ultimate security.

    Proverbs 25:28 – “Like a city breached, without walls, is one who lacks self-control.” (NRSV)  In other words, it is only one's self-control that prevents him from being utterly destroyed.

    Ecclesiastes 9:13-15 describes the interesting case of a humble man who managed to save a besieged city from destruction but then sank again into obscurity. If it weren't for the fact that this person is said to be a man, one would instantly think of the wise woman of Abel described above (II Samuel 20), whose name is lost to posterity.

    Song of Songs 8:9-10 – The heroine's brothers in protecting their sister's chastity are said to be a high wall, but it will soon be breached. See Song 2:8 where the word “garden” literally means an enclosure in Hebrew. (Dictionary of Biblical Imagery)

    “The walls of Jerusalem were regarded as a testimony to the faithfulness of God to his covenant nation (II Chronicles 14:7).” (DBI)   In Isaiah 26:1 and Ephesians 60:18, walls represent God's salvation. Conversely, God is said to break down enemy walls in Psalm 89:40; Isaiah 5:5; 25:12; and Ezekiel 13:10-15. In a similar manner, Christ broke down the wall separating Jews and Gentiles (2:14).