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Jerusalem again mentioned (Josh. xv. 8; comp. |
Josh. xviii. 16). This border ran through the
valley of Ben Hinnom; the country on the south
of it, as Bethlehem, belonged to Judah; but the
mountain of Zion, forming the northern wall of
the valley, and occupied by the Jebusites, apper-
tained to Benjamin. Among the cities of Benja-
min, therefore, is also mentioned (Josh. xviii. 28)
'Jebus, which is Jerusalem' (comp. Judg. xix. 10;
1 Chron. xi. 4).

After the death of Joshua, when there remained for the children of Israel much to conquer in Canaan, the Lord directed Judah to fight against the Canaanites; and they took Jerusalem, smote it with the edge of the sword, and set it on fire (Judg. i. 1-8). After that, the Judahites and the Benjamites dwelt with the Jebusites at Jerusalem; for it is recorded (Josh. xv. 63) that the

children of Judah could not drive out the Jebusites inhabiting Jerusalem; and we are farther informed (Judg. i. 21) that the children of Benjamin did not expel them from Jerusalem. Probably the Jebusites were removed by Judah only from the lower city, but kept possession of the mountain of Zion, which David conquered at a later period. Jerusalem is not again mentioned till the time of Saul, when it is stated (1 Sam. xvii. 54) that David took the head of Goliath and brought it to Jerusalem. After David, who had previously reigned over Judah alone in Hebron, was called to rule over all Israel, he led his forces against the Jebusites, and conquered the castle of Zion, which Joab first scaled (1 Sam. v. 5-9; 1 Chron. xii. 4-8). He then fixed his abode on this mountain, and called it the city of David.' Thither he carried the ark of the cove

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363. [Jerusalem.] nant; and there he built unto the Lord an altar in the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite, on the place where the angel stood who threatened Jerusalem with pestilence (2 Sam. xxiv. 15-25). But David could not build a house unto the name of the Lord his God for the wars which were about him on every side (2 Sam. vii. 13; 1 Kings v. 3-5). Still the Lord announced to him, through the prophet Nathan (2 Sam. vii. 10), I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own and move no more. From this it would seem that even David had, then at least, no assurance that Jerusalem in particular was to be the place which had so often been spoken of as that which God would choose for the central seat of the theocratical monarchy, and which it became after Solomon's temple had been built.

chiefly, that it was in his own tribe of Judah, in which his influence was the strongest, while it was the nearest to the other tribes of any site he could have chosen in Judah. The peculiar strength also of the situation, enclosed on three sides by a natural trench of valleys, could not be without weight. Its great strength, according to the military notions of that age, is shown by the length of time the Jebusites were able to keep possession of it against the force of all Israel. David was doubtless the best judge of his own interests in this matter; but if those interests had not come into play, and if he had only considered the best situation for a metropolis of the whole kingdom, it is doubtful whether a more centrical situation with respect to all the tribes would not have been far preferable, especially as the law required all the adult males of Israel to repair three times in the year to the place of the Divine presence. Indeed, the burdensome character of this obligation to the more distant tribes, seems to have

The reasons which led David to fix upon Jerusalem as the metropolis of his kingdom have been alluded to elsewhere [ISRAEL; JUDAH]; being,

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References to modern sites

1 Church of the Holy Sepulchre

2 Greek Convent

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W Pool of Bethesda II English Church

Sole of English Fest

2000

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W. Hughes, 18ft

References to ancient sites, &c.

Probable anurse of the First Wall

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Second Wall (archuting the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, regarded as Golgotha) of the Second Wall fincluding the above site) Third Wall

b Tower of Hippies

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e Tower of Phasachus e The lystus

Edinburgh. Published by A.& C. Black, 1844.

d Tower of Mariamme

f Gate of Gennath

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