The position of Jerusalem was such as to make it a place of leading importance at the titn% of the invasion of the land by Joshua ; and we accord ingly find Adonizedek its king' summoning four other chieftains of the land to punish Gibeon for having made peace with Israel. Its great strength also appears in the fact that it was not one of the places sacked by Joshua after he had slain Adoni zedek and the other four kings who had gone up with him against Gibeon, and that the Jebusites continued to hold it for so long a period after wards. We are told in Joshua (xv, 63) that the children of Judah could not, and in Judges (i. 21), after an account of the taking and burning of Jeru salem by the children of Judah, that the children a+ Benjamin clid not, drive out the Jebusites ; and it h. added in the former verse, but the Jebusites dwell with the children of Judah,' and in the latter, 'but the Jebusites dwell with the children of Ben jamin in Jerusalem unto this day.' The difficulty of dislodging the Jebusites, followed as it is by the account of the sacking and burning of Jeru salem, and again by the repetition of the statement that the Jebusites continued to dwell with the chil dren of Israel in Jerusalem, point clearly to the fact of the natural division of the place into an upper and lower town. Of the upper town, in closed within powerful defences and forming the stronghold of Zion, the Jebusites no doubt main tained possession while the rest of the city was in flames, and they continued to dwell there after the childien of Benjamin had established themselves in the valley at its foot, or on contiguous but lower heights. This view is confirmed by the authority of Josephus, from whom we also learn that the children of Judah, disappointed in their attempt upon the upper town, withdrew to Hebron, about thirty miles to the south of Jerusalem. This would naturally give the tribe of Benjamin an opportunity for occupying- the ruined town which Judah had abandoned ; as the boundary line which separated the northern edge of the territory apportioned to Judah from the southern edge of that apportioned to Benjamin passed through, or close to Jerusalem, possibly at the foot of Zion* (comp. Josh. xv. 8, and xviii. 28, with Ps. xlviii. 2).
The stronghold of Zion, which was thus main tained by the Jebusites in this first recorded siege of Jenisalem (p.c. 1443) continued in their hands throughout the whole of the troubled times of the judges, and the early days of the kingdom of Israel. It was about 400 years aftenvards, accord ing to the chronology of the A. V.—though not more than 200 according to another compu putation t—that David the man of .zdah, having finally triumphed over the house of Saul the Ben jamite, and being firmly established on the throne of the kingdom of all Israel as well as JudaL (p.c. io48), in that Hebron which had been the chief city of the tribe of Judah ever since its first ineffectual attempt on the stronghold of Zion, gathered together his forces for a fresh attempt on the fortress which had hitherto baffled the efforts of its Hebrew invaders. Great as was the reputa tion of David, the confidence of the men of Jebus was still greater. As the Hebrew armies lay round about them, they shouted insultingly from their walls : Except thou take away the blind and the lame thou shalt not come in hither.' The simplest interpretation of this insult seems to be that the lame and the blind, the most infirm and helpless of the place, were exhibited on the walls as a sufficient defence against its besiegers. Others have thought that the idols of the Jebusites were so displayed, and that the words lame and blind were used ironically and derisively in allusion to the terms in which those idols were spoken of by the Israelites. This futile taunt, however, only served to rouse the indignation of the divinely assisted hero whom the giant of Gath had once so vainly cursed by his gods, threatening to give his flesh to the fowls of the air and the beasts of the field. A fresh iMpulse w.as added to the zeal of the be siegers, and the hill of Zion was taken.
Jerusalem was now made the capital of the united kingdoms of Israel and Judah, and Zion its strong hold, henceforth dignified by the name of the City of David, became the residence of the king, and the site of that royal palace, for the building of which 'cedar trees, and carpenters and masons' were furnished by Hiram, king of Tyre. The position
of the new capital, with reference to the territories of the several tribes, was eminently suited to give it a commanding influence among them. It rested on the southern edge of that grand and lofty pla teau which—interrupted only by the valley of Esdraelon crossing it mid-way between its northern and southern extremity—occupies the entire area of the Holy Land between the valley of the Jordan and the low lands bordering on the Mediterranean Sea. And yet it did not occupy, like Hebron, Shechem, and other great cities of Israel, the crest of one particular hill, but was seated at a height of some 3000 feet above the level of tbe sea, at a point on the eastern edge of the great southern table-land which is protected on its south and east sides by two deep valleys or ravines running down from the west and north, and joining at its south east corner, where they form the head of a deep winding cleft rather than valley, which reaches to the Dead Sea, and forms the dry bed of the Kedron. This stream also gives its name to the ravine which comes from the north and protects Jerusalem on the east; while the southern ravine is known as the valley of Hinnom. Jerusalem being thus defended against invaders on the south and east, and partly on the north, by these ravines, is open and able to extend itself, and hold ready communication with the whole country towards the west and north west over the undulating height of the plateau on which it rests. This peculiarity of position is the key to much of its subsequent history.
But Jerusalem was something more than the civil capital of the kingdom. Tt was the place which had been fore-ordained by the wisdom of God to be its spiritual centre, the Holy City to which the tribes of the Lord were to go up every year to cele brate a.t different seasons their three great festivals. David accordingly proceeded to invest it with that sacredness of character which it was to possess throughout all future ages. The ark of the cove nant, that mysterious testimony of God's favour and presence which had been constructed accord ing to his express directions in the wilderness, was still resting at Kirjath-jearim, where it had remained ever since the high-priesthood of Eli and those terrible manifestations of its sanctity which fell both on Philistines and Israelites after its removal from the tabernacle at Shiloh. This sacred receptacle with its mysterious contents David DOW resolved to carry- to Jerusalem. But its progress to its in tended shrine was again arrested by the anger of God, which burst with fatal violence on the head of Uzzah, a man who had ventured to steady it with his hand as it tottered with the motion of the cart which bore it on its way. The revered and dreaded object, left once more in charge of a private person, became a blessing to those who sheltered it with reverence, and David was ag-ain encouraged to carry out his purpose. This time a troop of Levites was employed to bear it with staves on their shoulders, according to the directions of the law of Moses, and David himself headed a great procession, which conducted it in triumph, with music, and singing, and dancing, to the tabernacle prepared for it on Mount Zion. We then find David performing the functions of priest as well as king, offering burnt-offerings and peace-offerings, and blessing the people in the name of the Lord. He also appointed certain Levites to minister be fore the ark continually, and to record, and to thank and praise the Lord God of Israel.' In the meantime the building of Jerusalem, and its enclosure within walls of wider circuit than those which had surrounded the Jebusite city, was carried on with that zeal which distinguished all the actions of the poet king,. But he could not see the contrast between his own palace, adorned with kingly magnificence, and the slight structure which sheltered the ark, without fervent desires to build for it a temple more suited to the majesty of God. Besides which, the divine oracles seemed to point at a centralization of his worship which was not yet realized ; for while the ark of the covenant' was enshrined in the City of David, the tabernacle of the Lord was at Gibeon, and there the whole ritual of the Mosaic law continued to be observed by the high-priest and his attendant priests and Levites.