Jerusalem is the heart of three of the world’s major religions. For the Jews, Jerusalem is where King Solomon built the first Holy Temple. For Muslims, Jerusalem is where the Prophet Muhammad made the night journey (Isrā) from Mecca. And for Christians, this was the place where the Prophet Jesus was crucified.
In the past 3,000 years Jerusalem has been seized around 20 times and has survived six major conflicts. It has an incredibly complicated history and if you do not know its past, it is difficult to understand the strife being experienced today. Here is a brief history of an unremarkable hill summit’s road to become a religious center of the world and sparked centuries of bloody conflicts to possess the Holy Land.
The Early History of Jerusalem
3,000 to 1,000 B.C. – The land was first settled by pagan tribes and would become known as the land of Canaan.
According to the Bible: the Book of Samuel, the first king of Israel, Saul, was unable to reach a victory in a battle against a rival tribe, the Philistines. At some point David, a shepherd and musician, was appointed to the court of Saul, the king was a fan of David’s talent thus appointed him to become his armor bearer. During one battle, the tribes reached a stalemate. A dual was proposed, and the Philistines sent in their fiercest warrior, a giant named Goliath. The Israelites were horrified by the sheer size of their enemy’s champion, no warrior in his right mind would go up against such a behemoth. Then a scrawny boy stepped forward, it was David, the lowly shepherd with little battle experience. He entered the combat zone armed with only a sling, David picked up a stone and slung it at the giant, aiming for his head. The stone struck Goliath perfectly and his dead body fell to the floor. Following the dual, the Philistines retreated and the Israelites claimed victory.
David became the head of the king of Israel’s army and eventually married Saul’s daughter. It wasn’t long before Saul became jealous of the former Shepard’s new fame. Saul sprung a plot to assassinate David and he was forced to flee. The war raged on between the Philistines and Israelites in David’s absence. This time the army of Israel was obliterated. Many were killed including all of Saul’s sons leaving him without an heir. Overcome by the bitter defeat, Saul committed suicide.
Thus began David’s rule as the second king of Israel.
1,000 B.C – King David invades Israel. By this point in history, no one had ever established a capital, let alone one that was so fortified.
For a desert land, Jerusalem possessed an abundant water source making it a greatly desirable area. It was also strategically valuable; the deep, natural valleys that surrounded the city made it a stronghold. Jerusalem’s location as a central crossroads made it conveniently accessible for any tribes or visitors that desired to pay homage to the “one true God.” The final reason David wanted to conquer Israel was due the belief that Jerusalem was “the place God would choose,” or so it says in the Bible. There was no safer resourceful land to call home than Jerusalem.
After successfully conquering the city, he made Jerusalem the capital of his new united kingdom. To ordain the land, he moved the sacred Ark of the Covenant, to the city. King David then went on to destroy the Philistines forces so thoroughly that they were never a serious threat to his kingdom again. By the end of his reign, he had become overlord of a massive empire of small kingdoms.
970 – 931 B.C – After David’s death his son, Solomon, assumed the throne. The Bible portrays Solomon’s reign as an era of unequaled prosperity.
He was described as synonymous with power, affluence, and wisdom. His very name was derived from the word shalom, meaning “peace.” Although the Bible may suggest it was a fitting name, even with all of Solomon’s acclaim, the truth was he was anything but peaceful. It turns out that Solomon was not the first to assume the throne after David. Solomon’s older brother, Adonijah, had usurped the throne from the elderly king David, even though it was believed that God promised Solomon that he would be the next king. In retaliation Solomon decided to stage a coup and received the crown by force, later executing his own brother for his attempted subterfuge. Solomon was also said to have had divine wisdom that was bestowed upon him by God. One example of this “wisdom” was the story of the Judgement of Solomon, where he ordered two women fighting over a baby – they each claimed was their child – to cut the baby in half, with each woman receiving one half of the body.
In the case of Jerusalem, Solomon is most well-known for constructing the first Holy Temple and built it to house the Arc of the Covenant. This officially established Jerusalem as the spiritual capital of the world we know today.
586 B.C. – In the late Iron Age, the mighty Assyrian Empire fell, and the Near East became the political battlefield between the Babylonian and Egyptian Empire.
The king of ancient Babylonia, Nebuchadnezzar II, inherited the conquest of the region from his father and eventually set his sights on conquering Jerusalem. Nebuchadnezzar invaded the city, in what would become known as the Siege of Jerusalem, because King Jehoiakim refused to send tribute to the previous Babylonian king. The Babylonians destroyed Solomon’s temple and sent the Jewish people into exile. Not even 50 years later, the Persian King Cyrus would claim Jerusalem and allow the Jews to return, he would also end up rebuilding Solomon’s temple.
332 B.C. -The city of Jerusalem yet again fell into foreign hands when Alexander the Great took control of the city.
Alexander had just become king of Macedonia and ruler of Greece after his father was assassinated. Two years after his father’s death, he launched an invasion of the Persian Empire. The two nations fought three major battles before Alexander achieved victory and became the ruler of all of Persia. Records aren’t specific but historians claim that following Alexander’s seizure of Tyre, he invaded Judea – a Roman province which included Jerusalem, where he was welcomed by the people as a savior rather than an invader. The Persians had allowed the Jewish people religious and political freedom during their reign and Alexander, in turn did the same. Alexander offered sacrifices to God and paid honors to the High Priest of the famous temple. He left Andromachus as the new governor of the city and continued his conquest. After Alexander the Great’s death, his empire was plunged into a civil war that would last 20 years.
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The city would continue to be conquered and seized over and over again for the next several hundred years. It would be occupied by multiple different rulers, including the Persians, Romans, Arabs, Fatimids, Crusaders, Egyptians and Islamists.
For Jerusalem, the fight for the Holy City had only just begun.
