City of David

City of David.

The city at this epoch may have extended to the southwestern hill; but it is not clear what enlargements were due to David. In II Sam. v. 9 it is said that he built "round about from Millo and inward." The Millo, however, was built by Solomon (I Kings ix. 15, 24); and the reference at the time of David may be to the place where in later times the Millo was. Whether the latter was part of the wall or a citadel (LXX. ή ăκρα) is not known. It was, however, part of the defense of the city, and is mentioned in connection with the walls (ib.). It was strengthened by Hezekiah upon the approach of Sennacherib (II Chron. xxxii. 5); and may have been an artificial terrace (comp. the Assyrian "Mulu" and "Tamlu").

A palace of stone and of cedar-wood from Lebanon was built for David by Tyrian workmen (II Sam. v. 11, vii. 2). It must have stood somewhere between the Temple and the Siloam Pool, from the latter of which steps led up to the city of David (Neh. iii. 15). Some sort of tabernacle must also have been erected for him, (, II Sam. vi. 17; , ib. vii. 2); for he brought the Ark from the house of Abinadab in Gibeah, first to the house of Obed-edom, and then to the city of David (ib. vi. 3, 11). It was here that he deposited the gold and the silver that he had taken from the Aramean princes and from the Moabites and Ammonites, whom he had subdued (ib. viii. 11 et seq.). The plague that appeared in the land toward the end of David's reign does not seem to have touched Jerusalem. It was supposed to have been stayed mysteriously at a threshing-floor on Mt. Moriah, north of the city of David, belonging to one Araunah or Aranyah, which place was then bought by David, who erected an altar there (II Sam. xxiv. 14 et seq.; I Chron. xxi. 15 et seq.). David was buried "in the city of David" (I Kings ii. 10). The site of the tomb is unknown; but it was situated probably in the rocks of the southeastern hill ("Z. D. P. V." iii. 210, v. 330). It is mentioned in Neh. iii. 16 as being near to the steps (see above)

Jerusalem