City of David Overview

Video - City of David Overview
Channel - HolyLandSite
Website - https://www.holylandsite.com/

Location
1. The City of David is located just south of the Temple Mount on a plateau ridge.
2. It’s where all the history of Jerusalem began.
3. It is strategically located with the Kidron Valley to the east and the Hinnom Valley to the south. These valleys provide it with natural protection.
Psalms 125:2: As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds His people from this time forth and forever.
4. It has been the most excavated site in Israel over the past 150 years.

Historical Background
1. It was 3,000 years ago that King David made the City of David, also known as Jerusalem, the capital of Israel.
2. Before David, it was Abraham who would traverse here when he met with the King of Salem (Jerusalem).
3. Later, Abraham would be willing to offer his son, Isaac, to the Lord on Mt. Moriah which is just above the City of David.
4. The City of David had an amazing source of fresh water known as the Gihon Spring.
5. The City of David is also referred to as Zion in Scripture.
2 Samuel 5:7: Nevertheless, David captured the stronghold of Zion, that is the city of David.

Places of Interest
1. Theater with an excellent movie showing the history of the City of David.
2. Bet Hatsofeh Lookout – Great place to see a panoramic view of the City of David and the sites around it.
3. Palace of King David.
4. Stepped Stone Retaining Wall
5. Walls Nehemiah repaired.
6. Hasmonean Tower
7. House of Ahiel (four-room house)
8. Burnt room – Evidence of a room that was burnt during the Babylonian destruction in 586 BC.
9. Recent discoveries unearthed two Bullae (clay seals) dating to the beginning of the 6th Century BC, bearing the names "Gedaliah Ben Pashur" and "Yehuchal Ben Shelemayahu." Both officials are named in the Bible (Jeremiah 38:1).
10. Jeremiah's Dungeon. Jeremiah 38:6: So they took Jeremiah and cast him into the cistern of Malchiah, the king's son, which was in the court of the guard, letting Jeremiah down by ropes. And there was no water in the cistern, but only mud, and Jeremiah sank in the mud.
11. Gihon Spring
Jerusalem’s main water source
King Solomon was anointed here along with many other kings
King Hezekiah diverted the water down to the Pool of Siloam
12. Hezekiah’s Water tunnel
13. Canaanite Tunnel
14. Warren Shaft System
15. Melchizedek's Temple
16. Ancient 3,000-year-old walls.
17. Tomb of King David
18. Pool of Siloam – Siloam means “safe”
Herod the Great enlarged the Pool of Siloam to make it a massive Mikveh
A blind man was healed here by Christ
19. Pilgrim's road leading up to the temple from the Pool of Siloam called the Herodian Street. It was used by countless Jews to ascend to the temple. There is no doubt Jesus walked this road as well.
20. There was a cannel tunnel under the Herodian Street that was used for waste purposes. In this tunnel, thousands of Jews were slaughtered by the Romans in 70 AD as they tried to escape the city.
21. In this same tunnel, a rare gold bell that was sewn onto priest’s garments, an ancient silver shekel which was used to pay the half-shekel temple tax, and a Roman sword with its leather sheath still partly intact have been recently discovered.
22. Excavations in Givati parking lot in the City of David.

City of David in the Bible
1. Before King David conquered this site, it was known as the city of Jebus (1 Chronicles 11:3–5).
2. David built houses for himself and prepared a place for the Ark of the Covenant in the City of David (1 Chronicles 15:1).
3. David brought the Ark of the Covenant to the City of David (2 Samuel 6:12).
4. David strongly desired to build a house for the Lord, but God said no because of all the bloodshed he had shed in battle. However, he made all the plans and prepared much of the materials his son, Solomon would use to build the House of the Lord (1 Chronicles 22:5).
5. From David’s palace rooftop he saw Bathsheba bathing and committed a serious sin (2 Samuel 11:2).
6. David died and was buried in the City of David (1 Kings 2:10).
7. King Solomon was anointed as king at the Gihon Spring (1 Kings 1:45).
8. After David built his palace and much of the city of David, his son, Solomon, built the temple just north of the City of David (1 Kings 6:1).
9. The people would go up from the City of David to the temple to worship God using the Pilgrim's Road (Isaiah 2:3).
10. Later, King Hezekiah built a tunnel to divert the water from the Gihon Spring (the city’s water source) down to the Pool of Siloam to keep the water inside the city walls so warring armies (the Assyrians) couldn’t cut off the water to the city (2 Chronicles 32:30).