The history of the city of Jerusalem

The importance of Jerusalem is unexpected. It is not located on any major trade routes and is situated in Judea, at an elevation of 2500 feet. The Dead Sea, the Rift Valley Cliffs and the Judean wilderness surround it on three sides. It has natural defenses on the east, south and west. It is not agriculturally rich, lying between the desert and the arable fields. Many years ago the area was covered with large trees. Over the years the trees were used to construct buildings, fire ovens and heat houses. As the forests were cleared, the land was converted to planting for produce.

Jerusalem was not always a city of Israel. During the Biblical period of the Judges, it was a Jebusite city, called Jebus. King David’s troops captured it and he himself moved into an old fortress named “Zion”. The city was small at that time, with a population between 2000 and 2400. With the capture of Jerusalem, King David had rid Israel of one of the last “foreign” enclaves in the Holy Land. Jerusalem was also more acceptable as a capital to the northern tribes and David’s own tribe of Judah in the south. King David claimed Jerusalem as his own private property. This reduced the chance of tribal rivalries for control of the center of Jewish worship.

Jerusalem was attacked many times in the following years. Egyptian Pharaoh Shishak, Hazael of Aram Damascus, and the Jewish tribes of the north all endeavored to capture the city. In approximately 790 BC, King Joash of Israel (the Northern Kingdom) attacked and broke down a 600 foot section of the outer wall. The Assyrian Empire was growing at this time and many people fled the northern country to settle in Jerusalem. The Northern Kingdom fell to the Assyrians in 722 BC and King Hezekiah began having the walls of Jerusalem strengthened for the coming attack on the south. By this time the city had 25,000 inhabitants and covered 150 acres.

In 701 BC Sennacherib of Assyria attacked the city but was unable to take it. It was only in 586 BC that the Babylonians, under Nebuchadnezzar, utterly destroyed the city and the temple. Most of the residents were deported to Babylonia as slaves. Fifty years later, a remnant was allowed to return to Jerusalem. The city was resettled under the protection of the Medes, who had conquered Babylon. A new, more modest temple, was completed in 516 BC (Ezra 6). A hundred years later, the city walls were rebuilt.

The city remained relatively peaceful for the next two hundred years while under Persian control. Alexander the Great (Greek) conquered the Middle East in 332 BC. Alexander died soon after and the Ptolemies of Egypt inherited control of Israel and Palestine. Their rule was benign and the Hebrew priests developed into their own aristocracy. In the second century BC the Seleucid king Antiochus III pushed out the Ptolemies. His successor, Antiochus IV (175-164 BC), tried to eradicate the Jewish religion. He set up a statue of Zeus in the temple and forbid the reading of the Torah and circumcision.

Judas Maccabeus led a Jewish revolt in 164 BC that succeeded in returning Jerusalem to Israel’s control. The temple was purified and re-dedicated. Priests ruled Jerusalem until there was a dispute between two claimants to the title of High Priest. By this time, Rome was expanding her Empire and each of the priests appealed to her for assistance. General Pompey marched on Israel and captured it for the Roman Emperor. Jerusalem remained under Rome almost continuously until the seventh century AD.

The last great temple, of which only the western or wailing wall remains, was built under the direction of King Herod the Great (37-4 BC). Construction and renovation on the temple continued long after Herod’s death, as late as 64 AD. This construction was going on during the earthly life of Jesus. The crisis created by the hostility between traditional Jews and the believers of the New Covenant led to an invasion by the Romans (67-74 AD) who completely leveled the temple in 70 AD.

Judea remained relatively peaceful for the next 60 years. Emperor Hadrian (117-168 AD) decided to rebuild Jerusalem and name it Aelia Capitolina, in honor of Jupiter. He also banned circumcision. These two moves by the Empire stirred up another Jewish revolt led by Simon Bar Kochba in 132 AD. After three years of fighting, the Romans crushed the rebellion. They renamed the land Syria Palestine, and expelled all Jews from the city on pain of death.

In 313 AD, Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity and made it the official religion of the Empire. This led to many monasteries and holy sites being erected in Jerusalem and throughout the areas where Jesus lived and ministered. Islam was founded by Mohammed in 622 AD and the armies of Islam captured Jerusalem in 638. The Dome of the Rock was built on the site of the former temple. Jerusalem was now the center of Jewish, Christian and Muslim faiths. Caliph Omar I tightly restricted the Jewish life and forbid the construction and repair of synagogues. He also required Jews to wear a yellow patch on their sleeves.

Jerusalem remained peaceful until the Turks began to persecute Christians and destroy churches around 1009 AD. The Turks captured Jerusalem in 1071 and closed all Christian sites. The Pope initiated the Crusades in 1095 to try and wrest the Holy Land back from the Muslims. The Crusaders captured Jerusalem in 1099 and massacred all of the Muslim inhabitants. The Kingdom of Jerusalem was established and fortified by the European Christians. They remained until 1291, when the city recaptured by the Turks.

Long before any of this, most of the Nation of Israel lived in Diaspora. Only a tiny percentage of the population of Jerusalem was Jewish. In 1948, the country of Israel was established and the Palestinian inhabitants were displaced to make room for the victims of Adolph Hitler. Many Jewish people, refugees and others, returned to Israel and Jerusalem to establish their own country on their historical land base.

The flood of Jewish settlers caused many new tensions between the Israelis and the Palestinians, as well as with Arab neighbors Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, and especially Syria. The Jerusalem of modern times is claimed by Israelis and Palestinians as their capital. Jerusalem, the city, is a place of significance for Jews, Christians and Moslems. Today it is divided into quarters: the Jewish Quarter, the Armenian Quarter, The Muslim Quarter, and the Christian Quarter. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is occupied by are six denominations: Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Armenian, Syrian, Coptic and Ethiopian. Suspicion prevents any of the six from having much to do with the others. What we see happening in Jerusalem between Israelis and Palestinians has been occurring for thousands of years.