City Of Jerusalem Research Paper

The history of Jerusalem goes back to 4500-3500 BCE when first settlement was established near Gihon Spring; the main source of water for the pool of Siloam in the City of David. Jebusites were the founders of the city, one of the tribes God promised to expel from the Holy Land who later named it Jebus. However, they lost the battle against Joshua (Adonizedek), the leader of the Israelite tribe after the death of Moses but still stayed there until the invasion of King David (1052 BC). King David's goal was to unite the 12 tribes of the Kingdom of Israel, surrounded by tribes Judah in the south and Benjamin in the north for the first time. The king also moved the capital from Hebron to Jerusalem. He also purchased the area from a Jebusite,

David wished to bring the ark of God to Jerusalem, nonetheless almost failed the attempt drastically. Instead, he chose to build a house for God to which God reacted He would establish for him: a house, throne and kingdom forever. God forbid David to build a house seeing blood on his hands and he assigned the task to his son, Solomon. The city has been destroyed by many nations including Romans, Byzantine Greeks, Babylonians, Turkic Mamelouks, Crusaders, Arabs and rebuilt many times. All of those peoples left a trace on the city. The city was believed to be the centre of the world in O-and-T shaped maps and served a holy place for Judaism, Christianity, and Islam since the prophets of these belief systems were known to spread the word in the vicinity of Jerusalem. Judaism considers Jerusalem the holiest city and the ancestral and spiritual homeland of the Jewsih people since the tenth century BCE. Jews must face the city's direction while praying outside it and all synagogues have done so as well. The First Temple, the site also known as the Temple Mount venerating as a holy place for the three religions, was built by King Solomon until 950 BC. The Babylonians captured the city in 580 BC destroying the temple and sending the Jews into

It was this time when King David decided to choose the city as the capital of the first kingdom of Israel and where Solomon would build the temple making it the national centre of worship. All Israelites would make a pilgrimage to the site three times a year to celebrate major festivals. The destruction of the city by Babylonians and the Romans in 70 CE promoted a sense of religious loss which added a holiday to the Jewish calendar, Tisha B'Av, a day of commemoration still celebrated today. Unlike the fact Jews were in exile for 2000 years, they kept Jerusalem in their memory as a symbol of national unity. As Psalm 137 declared, ''If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its cunning and my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth'' which could elaborate why the state of Israel (1948) declared Jerusalem as the capital of the Jewish nation. The name of the city roots from ''ir shalom'' – city of peace with the hope that it will become a place of harmony for everyone. Christian Bible mentions Jerusalem in only 445 BC until the arrival of Jesus who entered the city in 26 AD at Passover. He forced moneychangers and merchants to leave the Temple and three years after was offered as a sacrifice for all mankind's sins. Weeping over the city on a hill Jesus was nailed to a