|
|
The Patriarchal Period: 1960 from Creation
1800 BCE
The Sacrifice of Isaac on Mount Moriah
The earliest biblical event that connects Jerusalem inextricably with the Jewish nation is the historical meeting of Abraham with King Malchizedek: "And Malchizedek, king of Shalem, brought out bread and wine… and he blessed him and he said: Blessed is Abram of God, the Most High, acquirer of heaven and earth" (Genesis 14:18). Shalem is Jerusalem as we learn from Psalms 76:3: "Then His Tabernacle was in Shalem and His dwelling in Zion". The meeting takes place in the Valley of Shaveh, or the Valley of the King, apparently located adjacent to the city. Later, upon God's commandment, Abraham arrived in the Land of Moriah to sacrifice his son, Isaac (Genesis 22). The scripture identifies the mountain where this critical event took place as "The Mountain of Moriah" [Har Hamoriah] (Chronicles 2, 3:1) in Jerusalem. We learn from many archaeological findings that Canaanite Jerusalem was originally a well-fortified city surrounded by a strongly built wall. Despite its small size, it was very difficult to conquer. At the foot of the hill on which the city was built flows the Gihon wellspring, which was surrounded by a powerful system of fortifications and whose impressive remnants were recently discovered. The Canaanite rulers of the city dug out a sophisticated water system that included an underground passage leading to the spring for use during wartime. The Scripture states that during the time in which the twelve tribes conquered the Land of Israel, Jerusalem was not inhabited by the Canaanites and remained in gentile hands until the time of David. |
|
|
|
The Canaanite Period: 2210 from Creation
1550 BCE
The Jebusite City
Jerusalem as a Jebusite City is first mentioned in the Book of Joshua (15:8) and later in the Book of Judges in the story of the concubine of Givah (19:10): "But the man did not wish to stay, and he rose to leave. He finally arrived in the vicinity of Jebus, that is, Jerusalem". Jebusite Jerusalem remained a gentile enclave located between the inheritance of the tribe of Judah in the South and the inheritance of the tribe of Benjamin in the North. We learn about the might of the Jebusite city from the terraced stone structure located on the Eastern slope of the City of David hill (picture). This structure apparently supported the city’s fortress, the Fortress of Zion (Samuel II, 5:7).
|
|
|
|
|
The Period of King David: 2760 from Creation
1000 BCE
The Capital of the Kingdom
In approximately 1000 B.C.E., King David arrived in the city. David, who had previously ruled in Hebron for seven years, conquered the Fortress of Zion and turned the "Jebusite City" into his religious and national capital: "David occupied the fortress and called it the City of David" (Samuel II, 5:9). Then David fortified the city: "He built up the surrounding area, from the Millo inward" (ibid) and built his palace here. Within the archaeological excavation that is currently taking place atop the City of David, remnants of a large, very impressive structure that might possibly be identified as David’s Palace have begun to be uncovered. Caves were discovered on the Southern slope of the City of David which some have identified as burial caves for the Kings from the Davidic Dynasty as is stated in the Bible: "Then David slept with his ancestors, and he was buried in the City of David" (Kings I, 2:10).
|
|
|
|
|
The Period of King Solomon: 2800 from Creation
960 BCE
Building the Temple
David’s dream of building the Temple in Jerusalem was not fulfilled, since the Temple is a house of peace, and David was a man of war: “But God said to me: You shall not build a house for my name, because you have been a man of battles and have shed blood” (Chronicles I, 28:3). David was promised that his vision would be fulfilled through his son: “You shall not build the Temple, rather a son born to you will build the Temple for me” (Kings I, 8:19). The son born to David who would succeed him was Solomon, who was crowned in Jerusalem near the Gihon wellspring following an attempted revolution by his brother Adoniya: “And they anointed him… king at Gihon and they came up from their rejoicing... Moreover, Solomon is sitting on the royal throne” (Kings I, 1:45-46). Solomon’s greatest accomplishment in Jerusalem was the building of the Temple: “Then Solomon began to build the house of the Lord at Jerusalem on Mount Moriah” (Chronicles II, 3:1). In the vicinity of the Temple in the Southern region, Solomon built the new King’s house as well as the Cedar Forest house, the Hall of the Seat of Justice and the Daughter of Pharaoh’s house, the king’s wife. Solomon apparently connected Mount Moriah in its entirety to the city with a new wall.
|
|
|
|
|
The Period of King Hezekiah: 3035 from Creation
725 BCE
The Assyrian Siege
Shortly after Solomon’s death the unified kingdom split into the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, both of which underwent major transformations. At the end of the 8th century BCE, the Northern kingdom of Israel (whose capital was Samaria) fell into the hands of the Assyrian empire, and Jerusalem remained the sole capital of the Hebrew people. In the time of King Hezekiah, the Assyrian king, Sancheriv, posed a threat to Jerusalem. Hezekiah prepared himself against attack by strengthening the city’s fortifications: “Also he took courage and built up the wall that was broken and raised it up to the towers and another wall outside that, and he strengthened the Milo in the City of David, and made weapons and shields in abundance” (Chronicles II, 32:5). Hezekiah built a broad, mighty wall whose remains can still be seen today in the Old City's Jewish Quarter and on Mount Zion. This wall is evidence that even prior to the days of Hezekiah the city spread out past the Western hill. In addition to fortifications, Hezekiah channeled the waters of the Gihon inward towards the city, through an excavated underground canal called Hezekiah's Tunnel. This tunnel channeled the water to the Shiloach pool, located in the central valley estuary. Regarding this impressive feat the Bible relates: “This same Yechizkiyahu also stopped up the upper watercourse of Gihon, and brought it straight down to the West side of the City of David and Yechizkiyahu prospered in all his works” (Chronicles II, 32:30). The Shiloach inscription discovered engraved on the wall of the tunnel teaches us that the tunnel was excavated simultaneously from two directions. Additionally, it describes the joy of the excavators upon meeting one another. In the year 701 BCE the army of the Assyrian king, Sancheriv, advanced until it faced the walls of Jerusalem. Sancheriv’s siege of Jerusalem failed, as the prophet Isaiah envisioned: “Thus said the Lord concerning the Assyrian king: He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there… for I will defend the city to save it” (Kings II, 19:32-34).
|
|
|
|
|
The Period of the Prophet Jeremiah: 3140 from Creation
620 BCE
The Struggle for the Spirit
Approximately one hundred years after the Assyrian siege, the threatening shadow of the Babylonian Empire appeared and the later Judean kings were faced with a choice rebel or surrender before Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. The prophet Jeremiah, contrary to Isaiah, envisioned a difficult future of destruction for Jerusalem in its struggle with the enemy: “Thus said the Lord: Behold I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylonia, and he shall burn it with fire” (Jeremiah 34:2). He called upon the Judean kings to surrender before the Babylonians in addition to calling upon the nation to repent from their evil ways and from the moral corruption that had spread throughout society and the kingdom. Alas, to no avail, Yehoyakim, one of the last of the Judean kings, refused to heed the prophet’s advice and even persecuted him and his loyal scribe, Baruch ben Neriyah, publisher of Jeremiah's prophecies. In the days of the last Judean king, Tzidkiyahu, the king’s ministers full of hate for the prophet, threw Jeremiah into a prison pit with the intent of drowning him in mortar. However, one of the king’s servants, convinced the king to rescue him from the pit. Jeremiah was saved, although this was not to be the fate of the city.
|
|
|
|
|
The Destruction of the First Temple: 3174 from Creation
586 BCE
Burning the City
Following a prolonged and arduous siege on Jerusalem, Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the city, as Jeremiah had envisioned. "And he burnt the house of the Lord, and the king’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem, and every great house he burnt with fire" (Kings II, 25:9). King Tzidkiyahu was captured by the Babylonians and the nation of Israel was sent into Babylonian exile. There, "On the waters of Babylon…we sat down and wept when we remembered Zion" (Psalms 137:1). The survivors remained in Israel without a Temple and without a leader. Gedalia ben Ahikam from Mitzpah, who was appointed by the Babylonians to introduce order and to rule, was killed by Ishmael ben Netanya of the royal dynasty (Jeremiah 40-41). Among the burnt houses of Jerusalem in the City of David, archaeological excavations have uncovered a treasure of "bula" or stamped engravings made of mortar. The findings include a seal upon which is engraved the name of Gemaryahu ben Shafan the Scribe, a minister in the court of King Yehoyakim and uncle to Gedalia ben Ahikam (Jeremiah 36:10). Recent excavations that took place at the entrance to the City of David have discovered an additional stamp on which is engraved the name of Yuchal ben Shlemiyahu, an elder in the court of King Tzidkiyahu (Jeremiah 38:1). These finds remind us of the ancient rulers in Jerusalem during its days of glory who were not wise enough to listen to the prophet who envisioned its destruction.
|
|
|
|
|
The Return to Zion and the Period of the Second Temple: 3222 from Creation
538 BCE
The Pilgrimage
Following the declaration of Coresh the Persian in the year 538 BCE, many of those exiled to Babylonia returned to the Land of Israel. In the year 516 BCE, 70 years following exile, those who returned to Zion inaugurated the second Temple. In the middle of the fifth century, Ezra the Scribe, who served as the religious-spiritual leader, immigrated [to Israel] and instituted religious reform that included the divorce of gentile women and regular weekly Torah readings. A number of years later Nechemia, the Governor, arrived and rebuilt the city walls. A gloomy description of the walls of Jerusalem in ruin, prior to their reconstruction and rehabilitation, appears in the book of Nechemia: "And I went up by night by the gate of the valley… and viewed the walls of Jerusalem which were broken down, and its gates which had been destroyed by fire. Then I went on to the fountain gate and to the king’s pool, but there was no place for the beast that was under me to pass" (Nechemia 2:13-14). The new wall of the city in the East followed a higher route than the previous wall due to the immense accumulation of demolition and waste at the foot of the mountain. Excavations that took place on the Eastern slope of the City of David revealed remnants from the Persian period. It also appears that the Hasmonean wall and towers from the Second Temple Period, built on top of the hill, were constructed on the route of the fortifications that Nechemia built in this area. As the years passed, the Hellenists replaced Persian rule over the land. Following the Hasmonean revolution against the Slevecus regime, Jerusalem became the legislative capital of the state of Judea and with time grew in size and glory. Jewish pilgrims swarmed to the city from all over Israel and the Diaspora. The Shiloach Pool that was established toward the end of the Second Temple Period became one of the centers for pilgrims on their way up to the Temple Mount.
|
|
|
|
The Destruction of the Second Temple: 3830 from Creation
70 CE
The Exile
In the time of Herod, while under Roman rule (1st century BCE), Jerusalem reached the peak of its prosperity. The massive construction that took place in the city is described in the books of Yoseph ben Matityahu [Josephus Flavius]. During the first century ACE, it seems that a number of palaces were built in the City of David for the royal family of Chadayev, however no remnants of these palaces have yet to be discovered. A few years following the death of Herod, the Romans installed a governor to rule over Judea. The year 66 ACE inaugurated the outbreak of revolution against Roman authority and the city was placed under siege. In the year 70 CE the walls were penetrated and the Second Temple went up in flames.
|
|
|
|
|
The byzantine era
326 ce
The Meyuhas Home and the Shiloach Village
As a result of Jerusalem's destruction in the Great Revolt, the southern part of the City of David was turned into a quarry. During the Byzantine Era, homes and agricultural structures were built in the City of David, several remnants of which were uncovered at the Visitors’ Center site and – more recently – at the Givati Parking Lot excavations. In the middle of the fifth century CE, Empress Ælia Eudocia, wife of Byzantine Emperor Theodosius II, rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem and included the City of David within them. In addition, she had a church built at the Siloam Pool site. The little that remains of this structure may be seen near the outlet of Hezekiah’s Tunnel. At this time, people began to forget the significance of the City of David as the original city of Jerusalem. Various traditions (that apparently originated as early as the Second Temple Period) identified David’s City (and subsequently his burial site) at Mount. Zion.
|
|
|
|
|
The early arab era
638 ce
The Meyuhas Home and the Shiloach Village
The Muslim conquest of Jerusalem from the Byzantines had almost no effect on the city’s physical structure. The population, however, declined, as Christian residents left for places still under Byzantine rule. Once Muslim rule was established, the official ban on Jewish residence in Jerusalem was lifted. According to the capitulations signed by Caliph Omar and the Christian community, the Muslims undertook not to allow Jews to settle in the city. Nevertheless, a source discovered in the Cairo Genizah indicates that 70 Jewish families from Tiberias were allowed to move to Jerusalem and remain there. The Jews set up residence in the northern part of the City of David because of its proximity to the Temple Mount and the Siloam Pool. Excavations now underway at the Givati Parking Lot have uncovered artifacts attesting to extensive Jewish settlement and commerce in this area during the Muslim Era. In 1033, a powerful earthquake destroyed the walls of Jerusalem. When they were rebuilt some 30 years later, the southern wall followed a shorter path, leaving out the City of David and compelling the Jews to move to other parts of Jerusalem.
|
|
|
|
|
From the middle ages to the modern era
1099 ce
The Meyuhas Home and the Shiloach Village
From the time the walls were constructed by the Fatimid rulers in 1063, the City of David has remained outside the fortified city walls and settlement there effectively came to a halt. The Gihon Spring continued to serve as a primary source of water for Jerusalemites living within the Old City walls. During the Ottoman Era, a sparsely populated rural locality began to take shape on a hill east of the City of David, on the opposite side of the Kidron Stream, eventually developing into Silwan village. Silwan was annexed as a neighborhood of Jerusalem in 1921. Towards the end of the Ottoman Era, an inscription was discovered in the southern part of the City of David, documenting excavation of the Siloam Tunnel during the First Temple Period, in the days of King Hezekiah. To this day, the inscription, discovered about six meters from the tunnel outlet at the Siloam Pool, is on display at the Istanbul Archæological Museum.
|
|
|
|
|
Immigration to Israel: 5642 from Creation
Year 1882
The Meyuhas Home and the Shiloach Village
Throughout the 19th century, many archaeologists and researchers visited the City of David for the purpose of exposing its Northern region. Thus the American, Edward Robinson, uncovered the mysteries of the ancient Shiloach tunnel and the British archaeologist, Charles Warren, discovered the water system and the famous shaft still named after him, The Warren Shaft System. In 1873 the City of David enjoyed a Jewish renewal when the Meyuhas family established its home in the City of David. The family decided to leave the Old City for the City of David as their business suffered from the gates of the Old City being locked every evening and opened only in the mornings. They were the first Jewish group in centuries to settle on a hill that had such a glorious Jewish past. In 1882, new immigrants from Yemen joined the Meyuhas family and built their homes in the caves near the village of Silwan, opposite the City of David. In 1884, following the involvement of philanthropic Jews, a beautiful neighborhood was built for this community called the Shiloach Village. This neighborhood thrived and grew, but also greatly suffured from the riots in 1929. Recovering, the Jews returned to the Shiloach Village and strengthened their hold on it only to suffer again following the Arab Uprising in 1936. For two years the Arab residents conspired against their Jewish neighbors until the Jews were forced to abandon it in 1938.
|
|
|
|
|
The State of Israel: 5708 from Creation
The year 1948
The City of David in Enemy Territory
In the wake of the declaration of the establishment of the State of Israel on the fifth of Iyar 5708 (14.5.48), the surrounding Arab armies, together with local Arab agitators, and attacked Israel on all fronts. The battle that waged over the Old City of Jerusalem lasted approximately two weeks, and the Jewish Quarter subsequently fell into enemy hands. With the cease fire on November 30, 1948 the boundary was drawn between Israel and Jordan such that the City of David and the entire Old City remained in Jordanian control. For 19 years the Jews were cut off from ancient Jerusalem and could only view its slopes from the top of Mount Zion. During this period, in the 1960s, British archaeologist Kathleen Kenyon carried out excavations in the City of David and discovered a number of impressive findings, including the walls of the Canaanite city on the Eastern slope of the hill.
|
|
|
|
|
The Six Day War: 5727 from Creation
The year 1967
The Liberation of Jerusalem
Following the Six Day War, Jerusalem was reunited and the boundaries of war erased. However, a Jewish presence was missing from the City of David. Towards the end of the 1970s, archaeological excavations in the City of David began, and continued for several seasons, under the directorship of Professor Yigal Shiloh, whose discoveries and greatly expanded our current understanding of the City of David. Since then excavations have continued to enrich our knowledge of the City of David. In 1991, Jewish residents began to return to live in the City of David and today the area is a thriving Jewish community. The purpose of the "City of David Visitors Center" is to bring as many people as possible to visit the area and to experience the place… where it all began.
|
|
|
|
|
The City of David Today
And the City is Built, on its Hilltop
Following the Six Day War Jerusalem was united and the boundary erased. However, a Jewish presence was missing from the City of David. Towards the end of the seventies, archaeological excavations in the City of David began, and continued for several seasons, under the directorship of Professor Yigal Shiloh discoveries and greatly expanded our current understanding of the City of David. Throughout the years, additional excavations have taken place which enriched our knowledge about the City of David. In 1991 the first Jewish residents began to return to live in the City of David and today the area is a thriving Jewish community. The purpose of the “City of David Visitors Center” is to bring as many people as possible to visit the area and to experience the place… where it all began.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
