Chapter III Jerusalem
Ever since the days of David Jerusalem has been the chief city of Palestine, and although so small a city now that it would go conveniently into Hyde Park—and perhaps never much larger than at present—it has been the theatre of great events, and it claims an attentive study. Small as it was, it stood upon several hills, which were more or less easy to defend by fortifications, and offered some choice to the monarch desirous of building a palace, a tower, or a temple. The variety of local features, of hill and ravine and water-course, finds frequent mention in the history, and is sometimes so much intertwined with the events related, that it becomes necessary to look at the topography before we can hope to understand the narrative. For instance, when David wrested the city from the Jebusites:—
“David took the strong hold of Zion.... And David dwelt in the strong hold, and called it the City of David. And David built round about from Millo inward” (2 Sam. V. 7–9).
“So he took the Lower City by force, but the Citadel20 held out still.... When David had cast the Jebusites out of the Citadel, he also rebuilt Jerusalem, and named it the City of David”—Josephus, Antiquities, vii. 3, 1–2 (Whiston’s Translation).
Here we should like to know at least which part of Jerusalem was called the City of David; because David built a house there, and most of the kings of Judah were buried there.
Again, in 1 Kings i., “Adonijah slew sheep and oxen and fatlings by the Stone of Zoheleth, which is beside En-Rogel,” and sought to get himself proclaimed king. But when Nathan the prophet, and Bathsheba the mother of Solomon, had acquainted David with the proceeding, David gave orders to place Solomon upon the king’s mule, and “bring him down to Gihon,” and proclaim him as king. There the trumpet was blown, the people piped with pipes, and Adonijah and his guests heard the noise. Before we can fully realise these scenes we must know all the localities, and how they stood related to one another, and to the position of David’s house.
The Old Testament history is full of such local references, and so are the Books of the Maccabees; and perhaps most of all, the chapters of Josephus which describe the siege of Jerusalem by Titus. Let us then try and make ourselves acquainted with the features of the ground, and learn to apply the names to the proper localities.