the only perennial spring in the whole circuit of Jerusalem, was close to it, and would have been an inducement to the Jebusites to build their fortress there. In the sites that have been excavated, cisterns, sometimes vaulted over and with steps down into them, have been constantly found. Traces have also been observed of concealed passages or tunnels by which access has been obtained to the nearest spring. Some such explanation has been given of the “gutter” (<100508>2 Samuel 5:8 the King James Version,
“watercourse” the Revised Version (British and American)), by which Joab obtained access to the fortress of Jebus and enabled David to capture it
(<131106>1 Chronicles 11:6; compare Vincent, Canaan d’apres l’exploration
recente, 26). During an investment of a fortified city by an enemy, it was a point in strategy for the inhabitants to secure the fountain and to divert or conceal the stream flowing from it so that the besiegers might be left without a water supply (<120301>2 Kings 3:19,25; <143203>2 Chronicles 32:3;
compare also <101226>2 Samuel 12:26,27, Century Bible, Kennedy’s note).
Israelites were in possession of the strongholds of the land, for when the Philistines overran the country, they had no fortresses to flee to, but “did hide themselves in caves, and in thickets, and in rocks, and in coverts, and in pits” (<091306>
1 Samuel 13:6).
2. In the Period of the Monarchy:
When David captured the Jebusite fortress (<100506>2 Samuel 5:6 ff) and transferred his capital from Hebron to Jerusalem, a new era of
independence and even of conquest began. The natural strength of David’s town, with such fortification as had been added, made it impregnable to any Philistine or Syrian foe, and one of the strongest fortresses in Western Asia.
Although Solomon was a man of peace, he included among the great buildings which he executed fortresses and works of defense. He built the wall of Jerusalem round about. He built Millo (called Akra (“citadel”) in the Septuagint), and closed the breaches of the city of David, so that there might be no vulnerable point found in the defenses of the city (<110915>1 Kings 9:15). This fortification is represented in Septuagint, which has here an addition to the Massoretic Text, as securing the complete subjection of the original inhabitants who remained. Solomon also built Hazor to watch Damascus, Megiddo to guard the plain of Jezreel, and Gezer overlooking the maritime plain, his work being one of refortification rather than of building from the foundation. He fortified also Beth-horon, Upper and Nether, to block the way against Philistine invasion. The store cities, and cities to accommodate his chariots and horses, were also part of his military system (<110918>1 Kings 9:18 ff).
The disruption of the kingdoms, and the jealousy and hostility that followed between Judah and Israel, necessitated fresh undertakings of fortification, on the part of both kingdoms. Rehoboam dwelt in Jerusalem, and built cities for defense in Judah. He fortified the strongholds and provisioned them and stored arms within them in case of siege (<141105>2 Chronicles 11:5 ff). One of Jeroboam’s first acts on ascending the throne was to build the two fortresses, Shechem to guard Mr. Ephraim, and Penuel to protect Gilead (<111225>1 Kings 12:25 f). Baasha later pushed his frontier within a few miles of Jerusalem, fortifying Ramah to overawe Asa in his very capital. The long war which lasted through the reigns of
Jeroboam, Nadab, Baasha and Elah, kings of Israel, was largely a war of
sieges, one of them, that of Gibbethon, having apparently lasted 27 years
(<111527>1 Kings 15:27, compared with <111615>1 Kings 16:15 ff).
With Omri there arose in Israel a powerful ruler whose name is mentioned with respect in the Assyrian monuments, which designate the kingdom of Israel Mat Bit Khumri, “the land of the house of Omri.” He was the builder of Samaria which remained the capital of the Northern Kingdom till its fall in 722 BC. In excavations but recently carried on by the archaeological expedition of Harvard University, the walls of Omri’s palace and fortress were laid bare, giving an impression of the great strength of the place.
While Solomon built the wall of Jerusalem, we read that Uzziah built towers at the corner gate, and at the valley gate, and at the turning of the wall, and fortified them (<142609>2 Chronicles 26:9). Jotham his son, continued his father’s labors in the further fortification of the city (<142703>2 Chronicles 27:3,1). Hezekiah had good reason to add still further to the strength of the city, seeing that he had to bear the brunt of Sennacherib’s expedition to the west. Sennacherib boasts that of Hezekiah’s fortified towns, he captured 46, with innumerable fortresses besides (Schrader, Schrader, The
Cuneiform Inscriptions and the Old Testament, I, 286), but he cannot tell that Jerusalem was among them, for it came through the ordeal unscathed.
In the reign of Manasseh Jerusalem was captured and the king himself carried away to Nineveh, but on his repentance he was restored to the throne and set himself to strengthen the fortifications of the city (<143314>
2 Chronicles 33:14). The city was unable, however, to hold out against Nebuchadrezzar and his captains; for it was taken in 597 BC, and King Jehoiachin and the flower of the population were deported to Babylon.
After a siege of two years it was again taken in 586 BC, and temple and city were destroyed, and the walls razed to the ground.
3. In the Period of the Return:
The patriotic labor of Nehemiah in the rebuilding of the wall of Jerusalem belongs properly to the history of the city (see JERUSALEM). In the Maccabean struggle, the Akra (1 Macc 1:33; 3:45, etc.), the citadel, was long held by a Syrian garrison, and was in the end delivered up to the high priest by Demetrius (1 Macc 10:32). Notable also still later was the castle of Antonia (<442224>
Acts 22:24) on the site of the earlier castle of Nehemiah’s day (<160208>Nehemiah 2:8; 7:2).