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Jerusalem's history is as significant as any other city in the Ancient Near Eastern culture. This splendid city, whose name is made up of two words: the root yrw meaning 'to lay a foundation' and shalem depicting the name of the Semitic (Amorite) god Shalmanu, is filled with nearly 4,000 years of history. Although Palaeolithic remains have supposedly been found, the first settlement on the site seems to belong to the Early Bronze Age, the great foundation era of cities in Canaan. This Amorite name also belongs to this period. Jerusalem is first mentioned in the Execration Texts of the 20th and 19th centuries B.C. as "u-r-s-m-m." While the important Ebla Tablets mention nothing of Jerusalem, from that time onwards the city's existence is documented in Biblical and extra-Biblical literary sources as well as by the extensive archaeological remains.
The site chosen for the establishment of the city lay slightly to the east of the north-south watershed route of Caanan. Whoever controlled this strategic route basically controlled the whole region not only north and south, but also east and west. The earliest city was founded by the all important Gihon Spring. Thus, the first fortified walls of the city were built near this spring.
The first substantial mentioning of Jerusalem that appears in history is in the Middle Bronze Age (the period of the Patriarchs). It was then already a substantial city, ruled by a king called Puti-hiba in the El Amarna Letters. The local aristocracy seems to have included Hittite elements. Genesis 14 records an encounter of Abraham with Melchizedek, the priest-king of Salem. Later during Joshua's period (1,400 B.C.), the reappearance of a similar theophoric suffix (one containing the name of God) takes the form of the name of Adonizedek, King of Jerusalem (Josh. 10:1). This was a Canaanite city.
At the time of Joshua's conquest Jerusalem was at the head of a league of other Canaanite cities that attacked the Hivite confederation of Gibeon and other cites. Later, during the time of the Judges, the city itself still was not able to be taken by the Israelites. The name of the city was now called Jebus.
During the Philistine wars, Jerusalem was allied with the Philistines themselves. It was not until the time of David that the city was taken. Once in possession of this significant city, David did not apparently and totally evict former inhabitants, for we find David still purchasing a threshing floor from the Jebusite Araunah (probably the last king of Jebus) for his altar. Even though the size of this city was now only about 100 yards wide and 300 yards long (quite insignificant in comparison to other Israelite cities) the name "City of David" or "Zion" pre- served the royalty of this city and marked the possession of this city under God.
Solomon, who succeeded David, was the King who built the First Temple. He enlarged the city northward. After Solomon, Jerusalem became the capital of the southern kingdom of Judah. Despite the siege of the city by the Assyrian king Sennacherib in 701 B.C., the city survived another 115 years until it was conquered by Nebuchadnezzer and his Babylonian army (586 B.C.).
The city revived when Cyrus of Persia allowed the Babylonian exiles to return to Judas in 538 B.C. After a long period of slow growth, the Second Temple was inaugurated. Nehemiah repaired its walls and Ezra established the religious significance it once held.
In the wars of Alexander's successors, Jerusalem was captured by the Ptolemies of Egypt and the city remained in their possession throughout the 3rd century BC The rising wealth of the Hellenistic period enabled the High Priest Simeon to repair the walls once more and improve the town's water supply. It was surrendered to Antiochus III in 198 B.C. When the religious persecution of Antiochus IV had led to the desecration of the Temple area (167 B.C.), the Maccabeans (Jewish zealots) revolted and re-took the western hill opposite the Temple Mount. The temple was rededicated to God by Judas Maccabeus in 164 B.C.
In 152 B.C. Jerusalem became the residence of the Hasmonaean High Priest Jonathan who soon assumed independence from the Seleucid rule. This Hasmonaean rule lasted until the civil war between the sons of Jannaeus facilitated Roman intervention. Pompey took the Temple in 63 B.C. and brought the entire city under Roman rule.
Herod the Great (37 B.C. - 4 A.D.) had to besiege the city to evict the last Hasmonaean, Mathathias Antigonus. After great slaughter, Herod, now King, began enormous building projects: He rebuilt the Temple, doubling its size. Historical records indicate that he expanded the Temple to include 35 acres, large enough to accommodate the 150,000 residents of Jerusalem during the time of the New Testament and the estimated 1 million Jews who would come to the Temple to celebrate the various religious festivals. Also, 1,000 priests trained in masonry were used. He also built the Antonio, a strong fortress overlooking the Jewish temple. In addition, he built himself a palace.
In 66 A.D., the city passed into the hands of the Jewish insurgents against Rome. From then until the beginning of the siege by Titus, the city was torn by fighting between factions. The siege itself, which included an Roman army of 65,000 men lasted from April to September 70, resulted in the burning of the Temple and the destruction of most of the city. The camp of the Roman legion (Legio X) was established on the ruins of Herod's palace. The Jewish historian Josephus details the destruction of Jerusalem in great detail in Wars and in Antiquities.
After this era of Biblical history, the city saw the Byzantines, the Arabs, the Crusaders, and the Turkish Ottoman Empire take control of its borders (300 A.D. - 1450 A.D.).
a. Gen.14:18 Melchizedek was the king of Salem.
b. Gen. 22 Mt Moriah was probably located where Solomon built His temple (II Chr. 3:1).
c. Josh. 10:1 Adonizedek was the king of Jerusalem.
d. Judges 19:10f The city was also named Jebus. It is here that the Levite and his concubine stop.
e. I Chr. 11:4-8 David and his men conquer Jebus by means of the tsinnor (water system).
a. Josh. 15:8 The valley was used as a border of Judah.
b. Josh. 18;16 This valley was used as a border for Benjamin.
c. II Kgs. 23:9f Josiah defiled Topheth in the valley of the children of Hinnom.
d. II Chr. 33:6 Ahaz, a wicked king of Judah, burned incense in the Hinnom Valley and burned his children in the fire.
e. Jer. 7:31-33 Jeremiah speaks about the children of Israel building high places in this valley. Jeremiah states (32:35) that the valley will be called the Valley of Slaughter."
f. Mt. 5:22 This is only one of ten references to Gehenna in the New Testament. It signifies judgment.
a. II Sam. 15:23 David, in fleeing from Absolom, passes over the Kidron Valley towards the wilderness.
b. I Kgs. 15:13 King Asa destroys his mother's idol and burns it by the brook Kidron.
c. II Kgs. 23:4,6 King Josiah had vessels of Baal burned outside Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron.
d. John 18:1 Jesus and the disciples cross the brook, Kidron, where there was a garden, Gethsemane.
a. II Sam. 5:7 David took the strongholds of Zion, the same is the City of David.
b. I Kgs. 8:1 Solomon brought the Ark out of the city of David, which is Zion.
c. Psalm 2:6 "I have set my king upon my holy hill of Zion."
d. Psalm 48:2 "The beauty of Zion."
e. Is. 28:16 "I lay in Zion, for a foundation a stone..."
f. Jer. 9:19 "A voice of wailing is heard out of Zion."
g. Joel 2:1 "Blow the trumpet in Mt. Zion, and sound the alarm in my holy mountain."
h. Zech. 8:3 "The Lord says, 'I will return to Zion and dwell in Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the 'City of Truth,' and the mountain of the Lord Almighty will be called the 'Holy Mountain.'"
a. II Sam. 5:7 David took the stronghold of Zion, the same is the City of David.
b. I Kgs. 2:10 David dies and is buried in the City of David (He sets the pattern for 15 kings to follow, with the exception of Uzziah and Hezekiah.)
c. I Kgs. 11:27 Solomon repairs the millo and the breaches of the City of David.
d. II Chr. 32:5 Hezekiah repairs the millo and the City of David.
a. I Kgs. 1:9 Solomon is anointed at the Gihon Spring as king.
b. II Kgs. 20:20 Hezekiah brought the water into the city by means of a conduit/tunnel (1,728 feet long).
c. II Chr. 32:2-4 Hezekiah stopped the waters of the Gihon Spring for the dual purpose of prohibiting the Asyrians of having water as well as bringing water to his own people without having to go outside the city wall.
a. II Chr. 32:5 Hezekiah built up the walls of the city and raised its towers.
b. II Kgs. 25:4 The walls fell due to the attacks of the Babylonians in 586 B.C.
c. Neh. 2:13 Nehemiah inspects the walls.
d. Jer. 39:8 Jeremiah states that the walls of Jerusalem are broken down.
a. I Kgs. 6:1f The temple was built by King Solomon in the 480th year out of Egypt. It took 7 years to build.
b. II Chr. 35:20 King Josiah repairs the temple.
c. Ezra 3:8 Zerubbabel was appointed to rebuild the temple. However, the building of the temple was halted by ArtaXerxes.
d. John 2:20 According to John, the building of Herod's temple took 46 years. It began in 22 B.C. Josephus tells us (Antiq. 20:219) that the final stages of this great temple wasn't completed until 64 A.D, just 6 short years shy of its destruction.
e. Mt. 4:5 Jesus is tempted by Satan on the pinnacle of the temple (SW corner).
f. Mt. 21:12 Jesus overthrows the money changers in the temple.
g. Mt. 24:1-2 Jesus predicts that "not one stone should be left upon another," predicting Jerusalem's fall.
h. Mk. 13:1 As Jesus departs the temple with his disciples, one of the disciples responds, "What manner of stones and buildings are here..." They were impressed with Herod's talent in building.
i. Acts 3:1 John and Peter are in the temple. Peter heals a lame man laying at the Beautiful Gate.
j. Acts 26:21 Paul is apparently mistaken as a Gentile. Therefore, when he crossed into the court of the Israelites, the Jews were about to kill him.
a. Zech. 14:4 "And his feet will stand on that day upon the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east..."
b. Mt. 21:1f The Palm Sunday event takes place here.
c. Mt. 24:3f The Olivet Discourse is given by Jesus from here.
d. Mt. 26:36f Jesus prays on the Mount of Olives in the Garden of Gethsemane.
a. John 18:12f Jesus is taken from the Garden of Gethsemane to the House of Caiphas, the High Priest.
a. Mt. 26:17f Jesus asks his disciples to prepare the Passover. They find a room in which to fellowship. It is here that the betrayer is revealed!
a. Mt. 27:32f After Jesus is helped carrying his cross, He is taken to Calvary for crucifixion. After he dies, Jesus' body is put into a tomb. He raises from the dead on the 3rd day!
1. MIDDLE BRONZE: Jerusalem was the first site to be excavated in Israel (by F. de Saulcy in 1864) and over the last 130+ years these efforts have revealed amazing discoveries. In the City of David area of the city, Middle Bronze walls have been uncovered, dating to the earliest historical references of Jerusalem. However, due to the building of this city on the Ophel Hill, many of the walls and buildings that are found have been eroded away into the Kidron Valley below. During this time period (and into even David's Jerusalem), the city was no larger than approximately 350 meters long and 100 meters wide. This was the size of Jebus when David would take the city.
2. LATE BRONZE I & II: Most impressive to the City of David excavations is the water system that begins at the Gihon Spring. Among the earliest remains of the water tunnels that were built all over Israel during this period, this specific water system consisted of horizontal and vertical water shafts (50 feet high!) that were designed to bring water into the city.
This 50 foot vertical shaft is called Warren's Shaft, named after the one who discovered it, Charles Warren. Various portions of the Jebusite wall can be seen today as well as parts of the Jebusite wall terrace.
3. IRON AGE I: After David took the city, he fortified the walls and built stepped stone structures. Also, Scripture tells us that King Solomon built the Temple. Unfortunately, Solomonic remains of the Temple can no longer be seen. It was primarily covered up/built over by Herod the Great's Temple.
Solomon's Temple stood in the same area as the present-day Dome of the Rock.
4. IRON AGE II: Houses dating to the 7th-6th centuries B.C. can be seen. The most famous being a house named after its owner, Ahiel's House. (incidentally, I had the opportunity to excavate one of these ancient Israelite houses on this eastern slope of the City of David Excavations.). Other city walls have been dated to this same period. One wall, named the Broad Wall (once, 27 feet high!), dates to Hezekiah and extends northward into what today is called the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem.
Perhaps the most impressive find dating to the period of Hezekiah is what now has been called Hezekiah's Tunnel. Unbelievably, during the Assyrian siege of the city in 701 B.C. by King Sennacherib. For the purpose of safely and protectively bringing water into the western part of the city, this tunnel is 1,708 feet long. From the start of this tunnel to the terminating point, the amount of drop in elevation is only 7 feet and 1 inch! Just inside the end of the tunnel, an inscription was found in 1913 revealing how the tunnel was made. The inscription reads:
"(Behold) the piercing through! And this was the manner of the piercing through. While yet (the minors were lifting up) the pick one toward another, and while there were yet three cubits to be (cut through, there was heard) the voice of each calling to the other; for there was a fissure (?) in the rock on the right hand... And on the day of the piercing through, the miners smote the soon so as to meet the other, pick against pick. And the water flowed from the source of the pool, 1,200 cubits; and 100 cubits was the height of the rick over the head of the miners." This inscription dates precisely to the time of Hezekiah! Please note: This impressive tunnel empties the water of the Gihon Spring into a pool called in New Testament times "The Pool of Siloam (mention in John 9).
5. PERSIAN: More Israelite houses can be seen as well as a 5th century wall built by Nehemiah following the Exile from Babylon. He built up the same walls and houses that were destroyed years before by the Babylonians.
6. HELLENISTIC I & II: A tower can be seen at the City of David dating to this time period. During this time, the this portion of the city was still in use. However, the city was now expanded to the north. The Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem also reveals some walls and house structures of the time period of the Hasmonaeans (152-137 B.C).
7. ROMAN I: With too many finds to mention, most significantly stands the remains of Herod's Temple. massive stones and walls of this temple can be seen. Early archaeologists of the 19th century revealed that the Temple walls extended far below the city street of that day. Various arches, steps, houses (specifically those burnt by the Romans in 70 A.D.), and miqva's (Jewish ritual baths) can be seen. Most common to visitors today is the Western Wall (or "Wailing Wall"), the most sacred Jewish place today). On top of the "Temple Mount" once stood the Holy of Holies. Today there stands the Dome of the Rock, a rock from which it is believed the prophet Mohammed ascended into heave in 632 A.D.
Today, the walled city of Jerusalem consists of 8 city gates, none of which date to the time of Christ. However, remains of the Eastern Gate have been seen.
The general locations/places of Christ's last week can also be appreciated. At various points, the original streets and steps of New Testament Jerusalem can be seen. The general location of Christ's crucifixion and resurrection can be seen within the Old City of Jerusalem at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Even though the church wasn't built until the 320's A.D., this site marks the general location of this significant Biblical events.
8. ROMAN II & III & BYZANTINE: In the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, the original Cardo (street) can be seen. This impressive boulevard was the "Main Street" of Late Roman Jerusalem. Also, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, built over a 2nd century A.D. pagan temple built by King Hadrian, dates to the 320's A.D. and was built by Constantine.
In this church, evidences of 1st century tombs dating to the time of Christ can be seen, specifically an arcosolium tomb, a bench tomb cut into the rock wall.
Remains of this type of tomb, perhaps the type of tomb in which Jesus was placed, have been found beneath the church. Today it is barely recognizable because over the centuries pilgrims chipped away at the rock and thus destroying the tomb.
Much of the Old City walls of Jerusalem tha can be seen today date to either one of these three periods.
Among the more traditional sites bearing historical, Biblical, and archaeological significance that we will attempt to visit in Jerusalem include the following:
Church of the Ascension
Garden of Gethsemane
Church of Agony
St. Stephen's Gate
St. Anne's Crusader Church
Holy Sepulcher Church
Garden Tomb/Calvary
Model of NT Jerusalem
Ecco Homo Arch
Via Dolorosa
Upper Room/Mt. Zion
Pools of Bethsaida
City of David Excavations/Hezekiah'sTunnel
"Journey of a Lifetime"