The Jerusalem Bible (Standard Edition)

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A coin issued by the Jewish rebels in 68 CE. Obverse: " Shekel, Israel. Year 3". Reverse: "Jerusalem the Holy", in the Paleo-Hebrew alphabet The Siege and Destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans (David Roberts, 1850) Jerusalem's population size and composition has shifted many times over its 5,000-year history. Since the 19th century, the Old City of Jerusalem has been divided into Jewish, Muslim, Christian, and Armenian quarters. Matthew Teller writes that this convention may have originated in the 1841 British Royal Engineers map of Jerusalem, [13] or at least Reverend George Williams' subsequent labelling of it. [329]

Solomon proceeded to perform the actual construction of the Jerusalem Temple that his father David had wished to build. It took from April/May, 966 b.c. ( 1 Kings 6:1) to Oct./Nov., 959 ( v. 38). Israel provided the labor force ( 5:13-17), but once again it was Hiram and the Phoenicians of Tyre who furnished both the timber and the skilled workers ( 5:6-12; cf. 2 Chron 2:7). The great cedar logs were floated as rafts to the port of Joppa, from which they were then transported overland to Jerusalem ( 2 Chron 2:16). The basic plans for the Temple, q.v., called for an arrangement twice the size of the older Tabernacle but also corresponded to the double chamber, porch, and court of known Egyp. and Phoen. temples of this period. They had been given their written formulation by David and, more fundamentally, by the very Spirit of God ( 1 Chron 28:11, 12, 19): it was the dwelling of God and, as the Tabernacle before it, symbolized and typified the way of salvation, by which man may come to the presence of God (cf. Heb 8:1-5; 9:23, 24). The building itself faced E and was relatively small: sixty cubits (ninety ft.) long, twenty cubits (thirty ft.) wide, and thirty cubits (forty-five ft.) high, no traces of which have yet been discovered. Importance lay not only in the building but also in the sacred inclosure, with presumably the outdoor altar rather than the most holy place (the “oracle”) of the building resting over the Moriah threshing floor ( 1 Chron 22:1). This in turn would have required certain leveling and construction of retaining walls; see below, III, B. Jerusalem had a population of 882,700 in 2016, of which Jews comprised 536,600 (60.8%), Muslims 319,800 (36.2%), Christians 15,800 (1.8%), and 10,300 unclassified (1.2%). [17] As the British Mandate for Palestine was expiring, the 1947 UN Partition Plan recommended "the creation of a special international regime in the City of Jerusalem, constituting it as a corpus separatum under the administration of the UN." [211] The international regime (which also included the city of Bethlehem) was to remain in force for a period of ten years, whereupon a referendum was to be held in which the residents were to decide the future regime of their city. [212] However, this plan was not implemented, as the 1948 war erupted, while the British withdrew from Palestine and Israel declared its independence. [213] His son Amaziah, who acceded to the throne in 796, suffered such a defeat before the armies of N Israel that Jerusalem was plundered and 600 ft. of the northern wall, from the Gate of Ephraim to the (NW) corner gate, was demolished ( 2 Kings 14:13, 14). Thiele dates this precisely to 790 b.c., the time of Uzziah’s elevation to coregency ( Mysterious Numbers of the Heb. Kings, 1st ed., pp. 70-72; contrast his less likely, earlier date in the 2nd ed., p. 83).

Historically, Jerusalem's economy was supported almost exclusively by religious pilgrims, as it was far from the major ports of Jaffa and Gaza. [381] Jerusalem's religious and cultural landmarks today remain the top draw for foreign visitors, with the majority of tourists visiting the Western Wall and the Old City. [334] In 2010, Jerusalem was named th

Over the next four hundred years, Jerusalem's prominence diminished as Arab powers in the region vied for control of the city. [173] Jerusalem was captured in 1073 by the Seljuk Turkish commander Atsız. [174] After Atsız was killed, the Seljuk prince Tutush I granted the city to Artuk Bey, another Seljuk commander. After Artuk's death in 1091 his sons Sökmen and Ilghazi governed in the city up to 1098 when the Fatimids recaptured the city. Ever since the capture of the Ark by the Philistines at the first battle of Ebenezer, c. 1080 b.c. ( 1 Sam 4:11, 22), it had remained apart from the public worship of Israel ( 1 Chron 13:3; though cf. 1 Sam 14:18). Even after its return to Israel, however, because of the disaster it had produced at Beth-shemesh ( 1 Sam 6:19, 20), it had been left at Kiriath-jearim ( 7:1, 2), farther inland on the road to Jerusalem. But soon after his occupation of Zion in 1003, David assembled 30,000 of the leading men of Israel formally to conduct it into his new capital ( 2 Sam 6:1, 2). After a three-months’ delay at the house of Obed-edom, occasioned by the death of Uzzah for having profaned the sacred object ( vv. 7, 11), the king finally achieved his goal, conducting the Ark within the walls of the City of David and placing it in a tent sanctuary ( vv. 12, 17). He instituted regular offerings and a musical service in conjunction with it ( 1 Chron 16); henceforward Zion was to be “the city of God” ( Ps 46:4; cf. 48:2); see below under IV. The change of metaphors into more modern language often changes their meaning more than what was intendedThe Old Testament was translated to reflect Jewish interpretations of the text. The problem for some here is prophecies that were later seen to be about Christ.Some think their translationshould always reflect this; others that they should be translated in such a way as the original audience might have understood them A. Location. Jerusalem is situated thirty-three m. E of the Mediterranean and fourteen m. W of the Dead Sea, at an elevation of 2,500 ft., at a major road junction on the crest of W Pal’s. central ridge. This ridge rises slowly from the promontory of Mt. Gilboa in the N (1,700 ft.) to a point near Hebron, c. twenty m. S of Jerusalem (3,370 ft.). Although Jerusalem’s highest point (under 2,600 ft.) cannot rival Hebron to its S, David properly described its location, for most of his subjects, “to which the tribes go up” ( Ps 122:4). Jerusalem’s western half was subdivided by a larger ravine that branched off midway in the course of the Tyropoeon: the “cross valley,” cutting westward to the present Jaffa Gate. To its S lay what the OT may have designated as Mt. Gareb ( Jer 31:39; so J. Simons, Jerusalem in the OT, 231-233, and IDB, II, 853, though see below, II, C, 3), but to which subsequent history, after the abandonment of the original City of David in a.d. 70, has assigned the old name of Zion (Jos. War, V. iv. 1), prob. because of the dominant position of its 2,550 ft. elevation peak. Though Gareb was once again embraced within expanded Byzantine Jerusalem, in a.d. 985 the Mohammedan Caliph of Cairo, so as to shorten the city’s line of defense, once more redirected the southern wall roughly .2 m. farther N, with the result that the southern part of Gareb, together with the whole of ancient Zion, have henceforward remained outside the walls of Jerusalem and have become partially unoccupied.

This period, when Canaan formed part of the Egyptian empire, corresponds in biblical accounts to Joshua's invasion, [109] but almost all scholars agree that the Book of Joshua holds little historical value for early Israel. [110] Modern-day reconstruction of Jerusalem during the reign of Solomon (10th century BCE). Solomon's Temple appears on top. Following that post, Owens debated Ami Kozak, a comedian who took issue with her treatment of the topic. Criticism of America's support for Israel in the war against Hamas gained attention from outside her audience recently when she debated the issue with the comedian Ami Kozak. Owens, who compared Israel to the American South under Jim Crow, recounted visiting Jerusalem and seeing "the Muslim quarters, [where] the Muslims are allowed to live." Like most of his royal successors in Judah, Solomon was born, lived, reigned, died, and was buried at Jerusalem ( 2 Sam 12:24; 1 Kings 11:42, 43; 2 Chron 1:13; 9:30; cf. Song of Solomon 3:3), Solomon considered Jerusalem as a standard of perfection ( Song of Solomon 6:4). He conducted his Egyp. bride into this Davidic city, until he had built her a palace of her own ( 1 Kings 3:1); he sacrificed before God’s Ark in Jerusalem ( v. 15); and he left it for his initial act of dedication to Yahweh and his resultant acquisition of divine wisdom only because the Mosaic Tabernacle had not yet been moved down from Gibeon, six m. to the N ( 1 Kings 3:4; 2 Chron 1:3-6). January is the coldest month of the year, with an average temperature of 9.1°C (48.4°F); July and August are the hottest months, with an average temperature of 24.2°C (75.6°F), and the summer months are usually rainless. The average annual precipitation is around 537mm (21in), with rain occurring almost entirely between October and May. [320] Snowfall is rare, and large snowfalls are even more rare. [321] [322] Jerusalem received over 30cm (12in) of snow on 13 December 2013, which nearly paralyzed the city. [321] [322] A day in Jerusalem has on average, 9.3 sunshine hours. With summers averaging similar temperatures as the coastline, the maritime influence from the Mediterranean Sea is strong, in particular given that Jerusalem is located on a similar latitude as scorching hot deserts not far to its east. Judah, to Jehu’s revolt, 841. Upon Solomon’s death in 930, and the refusal at Shechem of northern Israel to accept Rehoboam’s kingship, the latter fled to Jerusalem and sought to raise troops to subdue Ephraim ( 1 Kings 12:18, 21); but God forbade it. Rehoboam was forced to content himself with defensive measures ( 2 Chron 11:5-12). Immediately after his own accession in the N, Jeroboam prohibited further pilgrimages to Jerusalem by members of the ten tribes ( 1 Kings 12:27, 28), though as a result many of the Levites emigrated S, strengthening the religious position of Jerusalem. Northern secular support for Rehoboam came to an end in three years ( 2 Chron 11:14-17).Jerusalem had a population of 804,400 in 2011, of which Jews comprised 499,400 (62.1%), Muslims 281,100 (34.9%), Christians 14,700 (1.8%), and 9,000 (1.1%) were not classified by religion. [17] It is easy to find Jerusalem in the Bible, starting at the beginning. In Genesis, God spoke to Abraham to take Isaac to a particular place within Canaan. He said,