The city of Jerusalem is the most significant biblical city. It was King David’s capital. It was where Solomon built the temple. It was where Jesus was crucified, and the church first came into existence.

The City of David

  • Jerusalem is mentioned 667 times in the Old Testament and 139 times in the New.
  • Jerusalem sits in the hill country of Judah at an elevation of 2,500 feet. There are many natural defenses.
  • The City of David was built on a hill over the Gihon spring that supplied it water even in times of siege. The spring still produces water today, though Hezekiah dug a tunnel to reroute it during his reign.
  • In David’s time, Jerusalem was a mere 15 acres, walled, with the added protection of the Kidron Valley on its East and the Central or Tyropoeon Valley on its West. The only way it could be attacked was from the North, coming over Mt. Moriah. In various stages of expansion, the city grew to the west, and the Hinnom Valley became its Western defensive asset.
  • It was a Canaanite city initially. The Jebusites and other Canaanites called Jerusalem, “Urusalimum” (foundation of the god Shalim), “Jebus,” and “Salem” (city of peace).
  • Melchizedek was King of Salem (Gen. 14:18; Ps. 76:2). Also, Abraham took Isaac to the mountains of Moriah to sacrifice (Gen. 22:2). Solomon built the Temple there (2 Chron. 3:1).
  • David’s general, Joab, led the campaign to conquer the Jebusite city, and David made it his capital for Israel. His stronghold/palace was in the Northwest corner of Jerusalem, the highest point in the city.
  • God planned to build a permanent Temple just north of the city wall (and David’s palace) on Mt. Moriah.
  • When Solomon reigned, he expanded the walled city north to encompass Mt. Moriah, extending the city to 37 acres. The expansion included Solomon’s palace and the Temple. 

Herod’s Temple and Ruins

  • Herod the Great lived 74 B.C. to A.D. 4. He was “great” for his building projects, including Caesarea Maritima, Masada, and the Temple in Jerusalem.
  • Herod’s Temple was an expansion and renovation of the Temple that Zerubbabel finished. Jewish critics feared that Herod was building the Temple to make himself great, but Herod claimed his motives were to please the Jewish people, and he reasoned that Zerubbabel’s Temple looked too much like a fortress and didn’t have the size or grandeur of Solomon’s Temple. He was restoring the Temple to proper dimensions while enhancing it with better infrastructure and the best aesthetics.
  • The construction/renovation began about 20 B.C. and was only completed about six years before
  • Herod enlarged the Temple complex to cover 35 acres.
  • Herod added, “The Court of the Gentiles,” a secular place where the “merchants of the Temple” gathered. A flight of steps led up to an area reserved exclusively for Jews.
  • Herod’s retaining walls for the foundation platform still exist. Herod quarried large stones to be the foundation. The largest building stone found in Israel is in the Temple foundation: length: 44’8”/ width: 11-14’/ height: 11’/ weight: approx. 628 tons.
  • The western and southern walls of the Temple mountain have been excavated since 1968.
  • Herod’s Temple’s actual steps and entrances have been uncovered as have the tiny shops and narrow streets where likely merchants hawked their wares. Most of these are all between 30 and 60 feet underground as one walks along the base of the Western Wall. The tour is called The Western Wall Tunnels.
  • Cisterns have been discovered that fed water to the Second Temple.
  • Several mikvehs have been excavated. These were ritual baths outside the Temple that thousands of worshippers would immerse themselves in to be ritually pure and then proceed into the Temple. Huge underground cisterns fed these.
  • A stone with the following inscription forbidding Gentiles from entering the Temple’s inner court has been discovered: “No stranger is to enter within the balustrade around the temple and enclosure. Whoever is caught will be responsible to himself for his death, which will ensue.”
  • The giant stone blocks from the top of the wall, which were thrown down into the streets by Titus’ troops in A.D. 70, were found where they fell. The street was crushed at the impact.
  • The Western Wall Plaza is also known as “The Wailing Wall” because of the many tears shed and prayers offered by Jews. Written prayers are placed in any crack or crevice in the stones. It is an important pilgrimage site, and every year Jews pray that the Temple will be rebuilt.