The city of Jerusalem is a city that is mentioned throughout the Old and New Testaments. It is first mentioned in the story of Abraham and Melchizedek. Melchizedek was the king and priest of the city of Salem (Salem is an early form of the word Jerusalem). Genesis 14:18
Soon after this the Jebusites gained control of the city and gave it the name Jerusalem. The city is not mentioned again until the story of David.
After David had reigned seven and one-half years in Hebron he determined to make Jerusalem his capital city. About 1000 B.C., he captured the city. After he captured the city, he called it after himself, “The City of David”. II Samuel 5:9. He also engaged in a great amount of rebuilding. David made it the religious capital of his nation. He brought the tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant into the city. During David’s reign, the city was mostly populated by people from the tribes of Benjamin and Levi.
After David died, his son Solomon took over reigning in Jerusalem. During his reign, he built the great temple in the city. Solomon also greatly expanded the city walls.
Following Solomon’s death and the dividing of the kingdom, Rehoboam and the tribes of Judah and Benjamin remained in control of the city.
During the fifth year of Rehoboam’s reign, Shishak king of Egypt besieged the captured Jerusalem. I Kings 14:25 & 26. The city was pillaged by the Arabians during the reign of Jehoshaphat. II Chronicles 24:23.
Jehoash, king of Israel, broke down the walls and looted the city. II Kings 14:13 & 14. Uzziah refortified the walls of the city during his reign. II Chronicles 26:9.
Ahaz gave some of the riches of the city to Tiglath-pileser the king of Assyria. II Kings 16:8. Hezekiah also added more fortifications to the city and also made many religious reforms.
Jonathan, a Syrian lord, repaired the city about 161 B. C. The city was surrendered to Antiochus Sidetes about 134 B. C. The Romans then took the city by storm. Julius Caesar appointed Antipater Procurator governor of the city forty-seven years before Christ was born.
At 24 B. C. Herod the great was appointed king over the city of Jerusalem. He built many great buildings and also a temple in the city. The kingship of the city was given at 4 B. C. to Herod Archelaus.
King Agrippa gained control of and ruled over the city at 56 A. D. At 70 A. D. Titus, a rebelling Roman emperor, besieged the city and gained control of it.
The one hundred fiftieth day of the year 72 A. D. found the city in flames. Inner strife had caused a battle within the city walls and as a result the city was utterly destroyed.
The city was rebuilt during the early 600’s. Emperor Constantine I (the Great) ordered the city to be rebuilt. Within five years, control of the city changed hands three times. The Persians first captured the city. The Byzantines (under Constantine I) again regained the city, but they soon lost it to the Muslim Arabs.
Ottoman Turks took control of the city in 1517. In December 1917, during World War I, the British took the city. Because the British encouraged Jewish immigration to the areas around the city, the city is over ninety percent Jewish in population.
In May 1948, the British control ended and the Arabs and Israeli peoples fought for control of the city. As a result of this fighting the city is now divided into West and East Jerusalem.
War broke out again in June, 1967 between the same two countries, but this time the Israeli people won control and have kept control ever since. It is now the capital of the nation.
The new Jerusalem is spoken of in Revelation and also in Isaiah 52:1. It depicts the final state of the church. The new Jerusalem will be a restoration of Paradise. The new Jerusalem will depict all of God’s great handiwork.