Resists the Israelites

Resists the Israelites.

In Hebrew annals Jerusalem is first mentioned in connection with Melchizedek, King of Salem (Gen. xiv. 18), then with the incursions of the Israelites after the taking of Ai. It was one of the five cities of the Amorites, who seem to have succeeded to the Egyptian power in southern Palestine. Each of these cities had its prince ("melek"), that of Jerusalem being Adoni-zedek, who took the lead against the city of Gibeon (Josh. x. 1 et seq.). All the princes were taken, slain, and hanged at Makkedah (see, also, the list, ib. xii. 10). The relation of the inhabitants of Jerusalem to the Jebusites can not now be determined. They may themselves have been Jebusites; at least, the latter were not completely driven out at the time (ib. xv. 63). In fact, Jerusalem is expressly called a "foreign city," not belonging to the Israelites (Judges xix. 12); and the Jebusites are said to have lived there for very many years together with the Benjamites (ib. i. 21; according to Josh. xv. 63, "with the children of Judah"), in whose territory the city lay. At one time the city seems to have been called "Jebus" (Josh. xv. 8, xviii. 28; Judges xix. 10). It was at Jerusalem that Adoni-bezek died (Judges i. 7). Finally the Judahites took the place, burned it, and killed its inhabitants. It must have been soon rebuilt; for in the early history of David (I Sam. xvii. 54) it is again called by its old name, "Jerusalem." Perhaps only the "lower city" had been taken (Josephus, "Ant." v. 2, § 2)—just as in Maccabean times the Acra or citadel was held for twenty-six years by the Syrian garrison—which would explain the apparent contradiction between verses 8 and 21 of Judges i. (Moore, "Judges," p. 21). The name "Zion" seems already to have been attached to a portion of the city; at least the "Mezudat ziyyon" is mentioned (II Sam. v. 7; I Chron. xi. 5). But the place was renamed by David "'Ir Dawid" (= "City of David"), in the same manner as Assyrian rulers were wont to give their names to captured cities. Though dignified by the name "'Ir," the town need not necessarily have been large. In addition to the fortress, it must have contained some place of worship, besides houses for the people and the soldiers. What the "zinnor" (II Sam. v. 8) was is not known. The word is usually rendered "watercourse" (LXX. παραξιφις (?); Aquila, κρουνισμος = "stream"; Symmachus, ἐπαλξις = "battlement," "parapet"; according to later Hebrew usage, "canal," "aqueduct").

Jerusalem