From the great plain of Esdraelon onwards towards the south, the mountainous country rises gradually, forming the tract anciently known as the mountains of Ephraim and Judah; until, in the vicinity of Hebron, it attains an elevation of nearly three thousand Paris feet above the level of the Mediterranean Sea. Further north, on a line drawn from the north end of the Dead Sea towards the true west, the ridge has an eleva tion of only about twothousand five hundred Paris feet ; and here, close upon the watee-shed, lies the city of Jerusalem. Its mean geographical posi tion is in latitude 31° 46' 43" north, and longi tude 35° 1,3" east from Greenwich.
The surface of the elevated promontory itself, on which the city stands, slopes somewhat steeply towards the east, terminating on the brink of the valley of Jehoshaphat. From the northern part, near the present Damascus gate, a depression or shallow wady runs in a southern direction, hav ing on the west the ancient hills of Akra and Zion, and on the east the lower ones of Bezetha and Moriah. Between the hills of Akra and Zion another depression or shallow wady (still easy to be traced) comes down from near the Jaffa gate, and joins the former. It then continues obliquely down the slope, but with a deeper bed, in a southern direction, quite to the pool of Siloam and the valley of Jehoshaphat. This is the an cient Tyropceon. 1-Vest of its lower part Zion rises loftily, lying mostly without the modern city; while on the east of the Tyropceon and the valley first mentioned lie Bezetha, Moriah, and °pile!, the last a long and comparatively narrow ridge, also outside of the modern city, and terminating in a rocky point over the pool of Siloam. These last three hills may strictly be taken as only parts of one and the same ridge. The breadth of the whole site of Jerusalem, from the brow of the valley of Hinnom, near the Jaffa gate, to the brink of the valley of Jehoshaphat, is about one thousand and twenty yards, or nearly half a geo graphical mile.
The country around Jerusalem is all of lime stone formation, and not particularly fertile. The rocks everywhere come out above the surface, which in many parts is also thickly strewed with loose stones; and the aspect of the whole region is barren and dreary; yet the olive thrives here abundantly, and fields of grain are seen in the valleys and level places, but they are less pro ductive than in the region of Hebron and Nabu lus. Neither vineyards nor fig-trees flourish on the high ground around the city, though the latter are found in the gardens below Siloam, and very frequently in the vicinity of Bethlehem.
3. History. No city on the globe has suf fered more from war and sieges than Jerusalem. No wonder historians claim that not a stone or wall remains of the city of David. And yet, as will be seen from the review of the recent dis coveries on the Temple Hill, which accompanies this article, the visitor to Jerusalem can now, if so disposed, see the very stones placed in position by the masons of Solomon. From walls hanging
over shelving cliffs, and valleys filled with more than a hundred feet of debris, the present city stands above the foundations of former cities long since buried in ruin. Storming legions, bat tering-rams, and catapults have razed it again and again. And yet, the general outline of thc city has always been preserved. Zion and Mount Mo riah remain in full view from Olivet, and there, on those hills, stretching away toward the west, city after city has come and gone in thc passing ages.
(1) Joshua. Joshua took a part of the city about 1,444 years before Christ. After the death of Joshua, when there remained for the children of Israel much to conquer in Canaan, the Lord directed Judah to fight against the Canaanites; and they took Jerusalem, smote it with the edge of the sword, and set it on fire (bldg. i:1-8). After that, the Judahites and the Benjamites dwelt with the Jebusites at Jerusalem; for it is recorded (Josh. xv:63) that the children of Ju dah could not drive out the Jebusites inhabiting Jerusalem; and we are further informed (Judg.
i :21) that the children of Benjamin did not expel them from Jerusalem. Probably the Jebusites were removed by Judah only from the lower city, but kept possession of the mountain of Zion, which David conquered at a later period.
(2) David. Jerusalem is not again mentioned till the time of Saul, when it is stated (I Sam. xvii :54) that David took the head of Goliath and brought it to Jerusalem. After David, who had previously reigned over Judah alone in Hebron, was called to rule over all Israel, he led his forces against the Jebusites, and conquered the castle of Zion, which Joab first scaled (2 Sam. v:5-9; I Chron. xi:4-8). (B. C. to46.) (3) City of David. He then fixed his abode on this mountain, and called it 'the city of David.' Thither he carried the ark of the covenant ; and there he built unto the Lord an altar in the thresh ing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite, on the place where the angel stood who threatened Jerusalem with pestilence (2 Sam. xxiv:15-25). The rea sons which led David to fix upon Jerusalem as the metropolis of his kingdom have been alluded to elsewhere (see iSRAEL ; JUDAH) ; being, chiefly, that it tvas in his own tribe of Judah, in which his influence was the strongest, while it was the near est to the other tribes of any site he could have chosen in Judah. The peculiar strength also of the situation, enclosed on three sides by a natural trench of valleys, could not be without weight. Its great strength, according to the Inilitary no tions of that age, is shown by the length of time the Jebusites were able to keep possession of it against the force of all Israel. (See DAvtu.) (4) Solomon. After the death of David (B.