Jerusalem, Solomon's kilometer
Jerusalem
Solomon's kilometer
Solomon's Jerusalem was just a kilometer long, north to south. It extended from the Temple hilltop to the Hinnom Valley, which lay below the City of David at the southern bottom of the ridge. A kilometer is just three-quarters of mile. But in Solomon's day, Jerusalem, with it's first Jewish Temple and a new palace, became quite the attraction. Perhaps Solomon's most famous guest was the Queen of Sheba, wherever Sheba was. Scholars can only guess.Jerusalem Temple on bedrock
Solomon built his Temple on bedrock at the top of the ridge. Some people today call that hill the Temple Mount. King David lived down the hill in the City of David. It was a smaller, walled city below the top of the ridge.Solomon's pagan shrine
"Solomon built a hilltop shrine for worshiping Chemosh, god of Moab. And on the Mount of Olives, the ridge of hills east of Jerusalem, he built a shrine to worship Molech, another repulsive god of Ammon. He built similar places of worship for all his foreign wives, so they could continue worshiping their own gods by burning incense and offering sacrifices" (1 Kings 11:7-8, Casual English Bible).Jerusalem, uphill, upgraded, upended
Solomon's Temple lasted 400 years, a tad beyond expectations of "builder's grade." Babylonian invaders from what is now southern Iraq destroyed it and the entire city in 586 BC.Jews deported
Babylonians exiled the surviving Jews to what are now Iraq and Iran. Persians of Iran conquered the Babylonians 50 years later and freed the Jews to go home. They rebuilt an apparently more modest Temple in 516 BC. That means from 586-516 BC, Jews had lived without a Jerusalem worship center for 70 years. Then, 70 years after they built the second Temple, Nehemiah, a Jewish winetaster for the Persian king, got permission to go to Jerusalem and repair the walls. He served there as governor for about 13 years.For Bible features
Stephen M. Miller's website and The Casual English BibleMap Jerusalem falls
Map Jerusalem falls
Map Micah 3, Jerusalem Falls.
9 Listen to me you rulers of Jacob’s people,
You leaders of Israel
You crooks who poison justice,
And cheat fairness.
10 You have built Jerusalem
In the blood of my people.
You have built my sacred Zion[2]
On the solid rock of evil.
11 Your judges settle cases for a bribe.
Priests will teach you if you pay.
Prophets will advise you for a fee.
Yet they all have the nerve
To invoke God’s support.
They say,
“Absolutely, the LORD is with us
Nobody’s going to hurt us.”
12 Tell it to Jerusalem
When it’s a plowed field.
This city is coming down,
Collapsing into a pile of rocky ruins.
The stately Temple Mount, abandoned,
Will grow into a wooded hilltop.
Micah 3:9-12
Map Jerusalem Falls
