What King David and Son King Solomon Did For Jerusalem As Well As their Descendants and Those Who Harmed Jerusalem

 Nadene Goldfoot                                                    

Let's start with the Middle Bronze Age of 2000-1550 BCE,, which was 4,024 years ago, Jerusalem seems to have been the capital of a Canaanite city-state. 

       "Priest and ruler of Salem  honoring the most high god"

 Abraham (Gen.14:18-19) tells us it is identical with the village of  Salem ruled by Melchi-zedek, "priest of the most high god" that Abraham honored.  

Hyksos arriving in a revolution  in Egypt left in Jerusalem Hittite and Hurrite shelters with their habitation. (The Hyksos were a group of nomadic people from Western Asia who ruled parts of Egypt from around 1638–1530 BCE: ) (The Hyksos' origins are thought to be in the Near East, and they were part of a larger migration across the Middle East.) In the Tel el Amarna Period (15th cent. BCE) this city was ruled by a king who was menaced by these HABIRU invaders (Hebrew?) and appealed to his suzerain, the pharaoh, for help. The Habiru are mentioned in cuneiform texts from the 20th to 18th centuries BCE, and in the Amarna letters from the 14th century BCE. In Egyptian texts, they are called 'apiru, and in Ugaritic, they are called 'apiruma. ) I'd hate to see how today's Palestinians would call us.   The Egyptians maintained a Cushite garrison in Jerusalem.  Cushites were from the son of Ham and brother of Mizraim (Egypt)and Libya and Morocco and Canaan (Gen.10:6), tribes in Africa and S. Arabia.                                                                

Adoni-zedek's Defeat:  He had led a coalition of 5 Amorite villages/towns against the Gibeonites for making peace with Joshua at the time of the invasion of Canaan.  Joshua defeated them, slaying the 5 kings who had taken refuge in a cave.  Now, at the time of Joshua's conquest (c.1320 BCE)  Adoni-zedek, King of Jerusalem, was defeated at Aijalon, but his city remained an independent home between the tribes of Benjamin and Judah.  

           King David, youngest son of Jesse, born in Bethlehem, became armour-bearer of King Saul at age 25, and befriended the king's son, Jonathan.  He was a military hero in the Philistine battles, and married King Saul's daughter, Michal.  His male line went back from Jesse to his grandfather, Boaz who married Ruth.  Six generations more takes him to Judah, son of Jacob-father of the 12 sons that made up Israel.  

In the 12th cent., Jebus-Jerusalem maintained its independence with The Philistines, a sea people who would later turn against the people of Jerusalem.  What had happened was that King David of Israel in about 1010 BCE captured Jerusalem.  The city was right in their tribal land of Judah!  Of course, David made the city the capital of his United Israel, composed of all of the land of his other 11 brothers.  (II Sam.5:6-8;  I chron. 11:4-6).  

David did not harm the native Jebusites but dealt leniently with them.  He added the fortress of Zion and also a "House of Heroes" for his guard.  He also constructed a tomb inside the city for himself and his dynasty.  By transferring the Ark of the Covenant there, David made Jerusalem the religious center of Israel.  By his conquests, he made it the capital of an empire reaching from the Red Sea on the West to the Euphrates River on the East.  

King Solomon, son of David (970-930 BCE) and Bathsheba, had help from the prophet, Nathan to take the throne,  enriched the city from his commercial ventures and heavy taxation.  (I Kings 10: 27-9).  He enlarged the city by adding a Palace and The Temple, wile filling the gap between them and David's City with the MILLO ("filling").  The erection of the Temple transformed Jerusalem definitely into the permanent center of the Jewish religion, notwithstanding all later separatist efforts.  

After Solomon's death and the secession of the Northern tribes, Jerusalem remained the capital of Judah and of the Davidic dynasty down to its destruction in 586 BCE.  During this period, the city was often threatened by the kings of Israel (one of whom, King Joash, made a breach in the wall in 785 BCE) with the kings of Aram;  it was plundered by Shishak of Egypt in (905 BCE).                                         

Sennacherib of Assyria besieged it in 701 BCE.  It was in preparation for this siege that Hezekiah cut the tunnel (named for him) by which the waters of the Gibon were permanently diverted from SILGAM into the "Lower Pond" inside the city.  
                                                                     

King Uzziah/Azariah-king of Judah c.(780-740) BCE)  strengthened Jerusalem's city walls and also added towers and "engines"-Jotham, king at age 16; conquered Philistia and defeated the Arabians and Meunites to the S of his kingdom.  Headed a league of kings who opposed Tiglath-Pileser of Assyria.  

King Hezekiah of Judah (720-692 BCE)  made the "other wall" that encompassed his pool. He broke his father, Ahaz's dependence on Assyria and freed religious worship from Assyrian influence, purged the palace and Temple of images and pagan altars, and renewed the pure monotheistic religion.  These changes were supported by the prophets like Isaiah who had influence in affairs of state.  Hezekiah fortified Jerusalem and constructed the Siloam tunnel to improve its water-supply.  

Jerusalem fell to the Babylonian ruler, Nebuchadnezzar, in (586 BCE) that was followed by the deportation of most of the population and the destruction of the Temple and Royal Palace.                                                            

After an interval of 50 years, some of the exiles returned and renewed the Temple worship in (519 BCE.)  Jerusalem then became the capital of a Persian province, autonomous in internal matters, under the rule of the high priest, Zadok of the House of Zadok. He was a descendant of Aaron.  He officiated at the altar in Gibeon but after Saul's death, went to David at Hebron and----together with ABIATHAR----was David's chief priest and remained loyal during Absalom's rebellion and on David's command, annointed Solomon as king.   

   Nehemiah building walls        Ezra teaching to Torah

By the 5th century BCE, the walls were repaired by Nehemiah, while Ezra (5th century BCE) effected a spiritual reform of the people.  By decree, all the nobles and 1/10 of the people were brought back from Persia to fill the half-empty city.  He's a re-founder of Palestinian Jewry and reformer of Jewish life.  He's also a member of the Zadok family.  Ezra was a scribe for  the Persian government.

  Nehemiah served as the governor of Judah.  He had been the cupbearer to the Persian king Artaxerses (Ashueros) I.  He had heard that Jerusalem's people were in terrible condition, and asked the king to allow him to go there and he finished in 52 days the repair of its walls, even though neighboring people interferred.  Then he had turned to social reforms with Ezra like observing the Sabbath, cancelling debts owed by the poor.  

A theocratic rule continued in hellenistic times, during which the city prospered materially.  This was due in part to the growth of a Jewish Diaspora which regarded Jerusalem as its spiritual center.  Bethlehem had become hellenistic.  

The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia