Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 8.djvu/406

 JERUSALEM

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JERUSALEM

Josaphat, begins near the so-called Tombs of the Judges, and descends, under the name of Wadi ed Djoz (Valley of Walnuts), south-east to the foot of Scopus, thence south, becoming a deep gorge separating Mount Moria from the Mount of Olives and the Mount of Offence. At a point 1300 feet beyond the north-east angle of the city, it is crossed by a bridge which has replaced one of the Jewish period. This older Jewish bridge gave access, on the right, to a stairca.se cut in the rock and leading up to the north side of the Tem- ple, and, on the left, to a similar staircase leading up to the Mount of Olives. To the left of the bridge is the Garden of Gethsemani (see Gethsemani), with the Tomb of the Blessed Virgin, from which the Arabs call this part of Cedron Wadi sitti Mariam, or "Valley of the Lady Mary". Next come, on the .same side, two fine monuments of the Grsco-Roman-Judaic style (second to first century b. c.) excavated in the rock. The first of these has been called, since the fourth cen- tury after Christ, the Tomb of Absalom; the second, the Tomb of the Prophet Zacharias. Between the two is a grandiose Jewish tomb of the same period, belonging to the family of the Beni Hezir. A little farther on, upon the side of the Mount of Offence, is to be seen a rock-hewn tomb of Egyptian archi- tecture. Upon the same slope is perched the vil- lage of Silwan, the houses built against long rows of sepulchres, most of them cut in a vast bank of calcareous rock popularly known as Ez Zehwele. Opposite, at the foot of Ophel, a flight of tliirty- two steps descends to a grotto, in which is a spring of slightly brackish water. This spring presents the phenomenon of a natural (subterranean) syphon producing an intermittent flow; only at intervals — from three to six times a day — does the water rush down, with a strange humming noise, from a cleft in the rock. The water of this spring is conveyed to the Pool of Siloe by a winding tunnel. The Arabs call the fountain Ain Sitti Mariam, in honour of the Blessed Virgin, and also Ain Oumm Daradj, "Fountain of the Mother of the Stairs "; its Biblical name is, accord- ing to some. En Rogel; according to others, the Upper Gihon (see below, under D). Cedron now begins to widen, and is covered with rich gardens, the "king's gardens" mentioned in the Bible. It receives the Hinnom, together with El Wad and the little valley which descends obliquely from Mount Sion. Its de- scent in a course of aliout two and a half miles is 550 feet, but in the latter half of this distance it is encumliered with fifteen to fifty feet of rubbish.

To the north of Moinit Moria one more valley be- gins outside the Gate of Herod (Bab Zahira), passes to the south-south-east, under the north-eastern angle of the platform of the Temple, and ends at the bridge of Cedron. The numerous pools in this depression, near St. Anne's church, the traditional birthplace of the Blessed Virgin, have been excavated. Here should be located the Probatic Pool, or Pool of Bethsaida (A. V. Bethesda), with the five porches (John, v, 2). The locality of the Birket Israil, a reservoir 359 feet long by 126 feet wide, has also been determined, to the north, against the outer wall of the Temple.

(c) Mount Gareli (in D. V., "the hill Gareb" — Jer., xxxi, 39) stretches between the Transverse Valley, on the south, and the upper course of El Wad, on the east. It rises somewhat abruptly towards the north-west but offers no particularlv prominent height except the rork of Cidvary (251S feet). In A. D. 70, Gareb was still covered, outside the walls, with gardens watered by springs (Bell. Jud., V, ii, 2).

There is still disc\ission as to whether Sion, the City of David, occupied the tniditional Mount Sion or Ophel; l>ut all admit that bcfon^ the reign cif I'lzeehius (727 B. c.) the city of Jeru.salem extend(td over both hills, within the limits of "the first walls".

C. HixUmj. — The history of Jerusalem is to a certain degree indistinguishable from that of Israel. It will

suffice here to call attention to the most memorable occurrences in the city.

(1) From its Origin to its Conquest by David. — As seen above, Jerusalem is the ancient Salem, the capital of Melcliisedech, king and priest of the Most High. Learning of the return of Abraham (then called Abram), who had been victorious over Chodorlahomor and his allies, Melchisedech came before the patriarch (Heb., vii, 1) "in the vale of Save, which is the king's vale " (Gen., xiv, 17). The king's vale is the Valley of Cedron, which begins to the north of the city (II Kings, xviii, 18; Antiq. Jud., I, x, 2.— Cf. IV Kings, XXV, 4; Jer., xxxix, 4). Like all the land of Chanaan, Jerusalem had been for many centuries in subjection to Chaldea; after Abraham's time it passed imder the domination of Egypt. About the year 1400, while Israel was dreaming of liberation from the Egyptian yoke, certain Cossean peoples, called Khabiri, invaded Palestine, probably at the instigation of the Chaldeans or the Hethites, and took possession of the strong- holds. Abd Hiba, king of U-ru-sa-lim, seeing his capital menaced, dispatched six letters in succession to his suzerain, Amenophis III, imploring succour. But in vain; Egypt herself was then imdergoing a crisis. It was probably at this period that Jerusalem fell into the power of the Jebusites, who called it Jebus.

When the Hebrews came into the Land of Promise, the King of Jebus was Adonisedec (Lord of Justice) — a name which, both in form and sense, recalls Mel- chisedech (King of Justice). Although Adonisedec perished in the coalition of the five kings of Chanaan against Israel (Jos., x, 26; xii, 10), Jerusalem, thanks to its strong position, long maintained its independ- ence. In the distribution of the land among the chil- dren of Israel, it was assigned to the <lescendants of Benjamin. The boundary between this tribe and that of Juda ran from En Schems, on the Jericho road, to En Rogel, in the Valley of Cedron, then, following "the valley of the son of Ennom" (Jos., xv, 7, S), or "of the children of Ennom" (Jos., xviii, 15, 16), skirted the city to the south and west. In the period of the Judges, Juda and Benjamin had tried to gain possession of it, but in vain, although they put its inhabitants to the sword and gave the city to the flames (Judges, i, 8); the city here spoken of is, as Josephus remarks (Antiq. Jud., V, ii, 2), only the lower city, or suburbs. Jerusalem remained (Judges, xix, 12) independent of Israel until the reign of David.

(2) From David to the Baliylonian Captivity. — Having become king over the Twelve Tribes of Israel, David contemplated making Jerusalem the political and religious centre of tiod's people. He assembled all the forces of the nation at Hebron, and advanced against Jebus. After long and painful efforts, " David took the castle of Sion " and " dwelt in the castle, and called it, the city of David: and built round about from Mello and inwards" (II Kings, v, 7, 9). This was about the year 1058 b. c. The king then caused cedar wood to be brought from Lebanon, and work- men from Tyre, to build him a palace. Soon after, the Ark of the Covenant was solemnly brought into the city of David and placed in a tabernacle. The king one day beheld the destroying angel soaring above Mount Moria, ready to st rik(- 1 he 1 1 oly City. The Lord stayed his arm, and David, in thanksgiving, bought the threshing-floor which was upon the svnnmit of the hill, the property of Areuna (A.V. Araunah), or Oman, the Jebusite, and there built an altar, upon which he offered lioloenusts (II Kings, xxiv; I Par., xxi). Thenceforward Mount Moria was destined to receive the temple of the Most High. David prepared the material and left the execution of the project to hisson.

In the fourth year of liis reisn, Solomon lieganthe liiiilding of the Tem])!e, \mi\vv the direction of arti- ficers sent by Hiram, Kin;; of Tyre. Hiram also sup- plied cedar wood and cypress woud; 70,000 men were employed in transporting wood from Joppc (Jaffa) to