Jerusalem

In 1000 B.C.E king David defeated the Jebusites in Jerusalem and decided
to make Jerusalem his administrative capital. King David brought the Ark of the
Covenant to the city. He took the spiritual source of power for the twelve trib
es.
King David wanted to rest the Ark of Covenant in a great temple he wante
d to build. King David wasn t allowed to build the temple because he had been a wa
rrior.
Solomon was the King s son. After King David s death Solomon build the templ
e because he was a man of peace. After Solomon s death a war split the Israelite n
ation. Jerusalem became part of the Southern Kingdom of Judah.
Jerusalem is a religious center sacred to all 3 monotheistic religions:
Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In 586 BC Jerusalem was destroyed by Nebuchad
nezzar. The articles of the temple and its treasures were carried of to Babylon.
3000 years after King David made Jerusalem. Jerusalem was an important r
ole in Jewish existence. The western wall is the last remaining wall of the anci
ent Jewish temple. Its one of the holiest sites in Judaism.
In 539 BCE, Cyrus was the King of Persia and he issued a proclamation to
rebuild the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. 42,360 people helped rebuild the temple.
The Greeks made the temple into a show place to Greek idols in 167 BCE. Romans s
ent an army of 30,000 infantry and 6,000 cavalry to take Jerusalem. Jerusalem an
d the temples were destroyed again.
Jerusalem was a major Christian center. It attracted pilgrims from all o
ver the Roman Empire. Seljuk Tribes invaded the Country at the end of the 11th c
entury. The crusaders ruled about two hundred years. Crusaders orders in Jerusal
em were brutal.
The Assyrians , Babylonians, Egyptians, Greeks, Ptolemies, Seleucids, Roma
ns, Byzantines, Persians, and many more armies fought Jerusalem. Jerusalem has b
een besieged about forty different times. It has also been partially destroyed t
hirty-two times. The ruler ship, of Jerusalem changed twenty-six times.
In 1071 the Seljuk s seized Jerusalem. In 1917 the British occupied Jerusa
lem, and it became the capital of Palestine from 1923 until 1948. During this ti
me Jerusalem Saw Arab rioting against the Jews. Jerusalem was divided into an Is
raeli and a Jordanian sector from 1949 to 1967. The city is reunited under Israe
li government.
One of the buildings in Jerusalem is the Dome of Rock. The Dome of Rock
is not for public worhip. It s a shrine for pilgrims. It was designed by Byzantine
. In early Islamic history the Dome of Rock was the greatest monumental building
. The Dome is 20 meters high, 10 meters in diameter. The supporting structure, m
ade of lead, was originally covered in pure gold. The Muslims in the power befor
e and during the Dome s construction period had tolerated Christianity and Judaism
.
Jerusalem is most important to Christians because its were young Jesus i
mpressed the sages at the Jewish Temple. Jesus also had the last supper, the Cru
cifixion and the Resurrection there. Jerusalem is also important to Muslims beca
use it is where the prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven. Jerusalem is the third
most sacred place of Islam.
The Ark of Covenant was removed by Jewish priests from Solomon s temple du
ring the rule of the apostate King Manasseh. King Manasseh ruled through 687-642
BC. The Ark was hidden for two hundred years in a Jewish temple. The Jewish tem
ple was on the Egyptian sacred island of Elephantine in the Nile.
The Ark was later taken to Ethiopia. The Ark was on the island of Tana K
irkos. The island of Tama Kirkos was in the lake Tana. The Ark remained on the i
sland for over 800 years until it was brought to the city of Axum. Axum was the
capital of the Axumite Kingdom. Axumite Kingdom converted to Christianity after
331AD. When they turned to Christianity the Ark of Covenant had been hidden bene
ath Solomon s Temple at the time of King Josiah so the Ark of Covenant cannot be s
eized by Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians.
 The prophet Jeremiah was the son of Hilkiah. Jeremiah became the preist
of Jerusalem. His and Hilkiah instructed him to have his men search for the Ark
of covenant and other sacred treasures under the temple in the vaults.
For more than 1700 years later Frenchmen also known as the original Knig
hts Templars excavated from 1118 to 1127 the old temple of Jerusalem. Later on t
hey found a vast of wealth of gold bullion and hidden treasures. They also found
the true Ark of Covenant. The Templars soon became one of the most powerful rel
igious and political institutions in medieval Europe.
The Western Wall is in Jerusalem. The Western Wall is sacred because it
is a wall that once supported and belonged to the Second Temple that was later d
estroyed. Jews gather there to lament the loss of the temple. That s why it s also k
nown as The Wailing Wall. Mostly Judaism s go there to wail. The Western Wall was b
uilt by King Herod in 20 B.C. It took about eleven years to build all of the wal
ls. Romans later came and destroyed the Second Temple and Jerusalem in 70 AD. Th
e destruction was during the Ottoman period. The Ottoman period took place durin
g the beginning of the sixteenth century. The Western Wall was in an alley that
was 12 feet wide only a few hundred fit there. In 1967 after the six day war Isr
aelis created The Western Wall Plaza which can hold thousands of pilgrims. The I
sraelis also dug down and exposed two more tiers or layers of ashlars which are
square stones. This made The Western Wall six and a half feet higher.