Jerusalem
See also: Jerusalem (thematic sheet).
What joy, when they said to me: "We will go to the house of the Lord!" Our steps finally stop before you, Jerusalem! Jerusalem, well-built city, where everything holds together! It is your home that the tribes of Israel, the tribes of the Lord, come on pilgrimage to praise the Lord."[1]
Inhabitants or natives
The Temple people
Caiaphas the high priest, Hillel, Gamaliel, Shammai, the great doctors of Israel, the members of the Sanhedrin.
The disciples of Jesus
Annalia the young consecrated virgin, Sarah her cousin, also a virgin, Elise Annalia’s mother, Joseph of Sepphoris, Sidonia, the blind man born blind.
The Romans
Pontius Pilate the Consul, Claudia Procula his wife, Longinus the centurion, Alexander the Roman soldier, and all the supporting characters.
Descriptions
Maps, plans and photos
Additional notes
Descriptions of high places
The Temple: EMV 32.
The Cenacle: EMV 599 and EMV 600.
The House of Anna and that of Pilate: EMV 604.
Miscellaneous notes
- Jerusalem largely belonged to Lazarus[2].
- The city had more than 500 synagogues[3].
- Maria Valtorta sometimes found it difficult to distinguish two of the city gates which looked very similar:
"He returns toward the walls, to the Gate of Ephraim or Stercorary, or of the Dung, for several times I have heard these two neighboring gates indicated by these three names, perhaps because one opens onto the road to Jericho which is at the bottom, the road that leads to Ephraim, and the other because it is near the valley of Hinnom where the city’s rubbish is burned, and they look so much alike that I confuse them."[4]
Notable events
- Presentation of Mary[5]
- Presentation of John the Baptist[6]
- Presentation of Jesus[7]
- Jesus before the doctors[8]
- The triumphant entry (Palm Sunday)[9]
- The Last Supper (Eucharist)[10]
Its name
םירושלי (Jerusalem)
Yerushalem – Yerushalayim means "foundation of peace".
Where is it mentioned in the work?
EMV 3 EMV 6 EMV 10 EMV 12 EMV 25 EMV 32 EMV 40 EMV 41 EMV 53 EMV 54 EMV 55 EMV 66 EMV 67 EMV 68 EMV 69 EMV 70 EMV 72 EMV 85 EMV 197 EMV 549 EMV 582 EMV 587 EMV 588.
Holy Week: EMV 589 EMV 590 EMV 591 EMV 592 EMV 593 EMV 594 EMV 595 EMV 596 EMV 597 EMV 598 EMV 599.
The Passion: EMV 600 EMV 602 EMV 604 EMV 605 EMV 607 EMV 608 EMV 609 EMV 610 EMV 611 EMV 612 EMV 612 EMV 614 EMV 615.
Easter Sunday: EMV 616 EMV 616 EMV 617 EMV 618 EMV 619 EMV 621 EMV 622 EMV 623 EMV 624 EMV 626.
From Resurrection to Ascension: EMV 627 EMV 628 EMV 629 EMV 630 EMV 631 EMV 633 EMV 638.
The apostolic times: EMV 639 EMV 640 EMV 641 EMV 642.
Learn more about this place
David the founder
When Israel entered Canaan, the city was called Jebus and was occupied by the Jebusites, an indigenous Semitic tribe. David, native of Bethlehem, seized the fortress, perhaps by having his men go through the spring tunnel (2 Sam 5:6). He improved the fortifications, built a palace, and installed the Ark of the Covenant in the city, thus making it his capital. It was at this time that the name "Zion" appeared, originally given to the fortress or its location but later becoming the name of the entire city.
Solomon the builder and his successors
It was with Solomon (circa 970-931 BC), son and successor of David, that Jerusalem was adorned with monuments and became a royal capital seeking to rival the great cities of the East. According to the biblical books, Solomon's greatest glory was the construction of the Temple. For such a vast enterprise, he called upon his neighbor and ally, King Hiram I of Tyre, who provided him with the cedar wood from Lebanon and stone. These raw materials arrived at Joppa, a port fifty kilometers from Jerusalem.
The Temple measured 30 m long, 10 m wide, and 13 m high. Gold and bronze were abundant, molded and shaped by Phoenician artisans. Near the Temple, Solomon also had a sumptuous palace built. To protect these new constructions, the original enclosure was extended northward, while the city expanded westward, beyond the Tyropoeon valley, towards the Valley of Hinnom (Gehenna).
After Solomon's death and the kingdom's split, Jerusalem remained the capital of the Kingdom of Judah, but its development slowed. Hezekiah (716-687 BC) had a 550-meter channel dug to bring the waters of the Gihon spring into the Pool of Siloam. In 587 BC, Nebuchadnezzar captured the city, dismantled its walls, and destroyed the Palace and the Temple. The city was slowly rebuilt only after 538 BC. The Second Temple was dedicated in 515 BC.
Ezra and Nehemiah restore the Worship
Ezra, a scribe exiled in Babylon, was sent by King Artaxerxes to Jerusalem. Ezra held a letter from the king ordering the authorities to deliver the money and provisions necessary for the service of the Temple. He received permission to lead a new group of Jewish exiles of 1,700 men to Palestine. This group gathered at Ahava north of Babylon before departing for Jerusalem, which they reached four months later. Ezra delivered the utensils he had received for the house of God to those responsible; he was deeply saddened to discover that Jews in Palestine, even priests, had, contrary to the law of Moses, married pagan women: he persuaded most of them to separate from these foreigners. Thirteen years later, when Governor Nehemiah returned to Jerusalem and had restored its walls, Ezra presided over the reading of Moses' law to the people. "They read from the book of the law of God, distinctly and giving explanations, so that everyone understood what was read. The whole assembly wept as they heard the reading. Therefore, Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest, and the Levites who explained the text said to them: This day is consecrated to the Lord your God! It is not a time for grief and weeping. Ezra added: Return to your homes, take a good meal, drink excellent drinks, and share with those who have nothing ready, for this day is consecrated to our Lord. Do not be sad! The joy that comes from the Lord will give you strength!"[11]
Judas Maccabeus the liberator drives out the Horror and Abomination
In 167 BC, Antiochus IV Epiphanes plunders the city, builds a citadel, the Acra, opposite the Temple, and installs an altar to Zeus in the Temple. Facing such abomination, Judas Maccabeus raised the Jews and seized the Temple (164 BC) and the lower city, where he took refuge. Only in 141 BC did Simon Maccabeus take control of the Acra and the city became again the capital of the new Hasmonean dynasty. A new palace was built, a bridge constructed linking the Temple to the upper city, and the walls were reinforced and extended. The city then experienced a century of prosperity and independence until its capture by Pompey in 63 BC.
The purification of the temple by Judas Maccabeus in 164/5 BC is commemorated every year in December by Hanukkah. The name Festival of Lights comes from its predominant characteristics.
This new dedication took place exactly three years after the profanation by Antiochus Epiphanes:"On the fifteenth day of the month Kislev, in 145, the king built the Abominable Horror (a statue of Jupiter) on the altar of the temple and altars were built in the other cities of Judah. Incense was burned before the gates of houses and on the squares. The books of the law found were torn and thrown into the fire. By royal order, anyone found possessing a holy book or obeying the law of Moses was put to death. The king's supporters had the power to treat in this way, month after month, the faithful Israelites they found in the cities. On the twenty-fifth day of the month, they offered sacrifices on the pagan altar built on the temple altar. Women who had their children circumcised were put to death by royal order, with their baby hung around their neck; their families and those who performed the circumcision were also executed. However, many inhabitants of Israel had the courage to resist and not eat unclean foods. They preferred to die rather than eat impure food and thus betray the holy covenant: they were therefore put to death. Divine wrath weighed heavily on Israel."[12]
"On the twenty-fifth day of the ninth month, or month of Kislev, in the year 148, the Jews rose early in the morning; according to the law of Moses, they offered a sacrifice on the new altar they had built. On the exact date the pagans had profaned the altar, the new altar was consecrated to the sound of hymns, harps, lyres, and cymbals. The entire people fell on their faces in worship; they praised God who had led them to victory. The consecration of the altar was celebrated for eight days; the faithful joyfully offered full sacrifices, as well as communion and praise sacrifices. They decorated the temple facade with golden crowns and shields; they restored entrances and rooms, and replaced doors. Great joy reigned among the people because they were freed from the shame caused by the pagans. Judas, his brothers, and all the assembly of Israel decided to celebrate with joy and gladness the consecration of the altar every year at the same time, starting the twenty-fifth of Kislev and for eight days."[13]It was on the 25th of Kislev – which could roughly be translated as December 25 – that Jesus was born. Maria Valtorta uses the word Encénies to designate this Festival of Light.
Herod the Great, the last builder
Herod (37-4 BC) inaugurated an urbanization policy making him equal to Solomon. He sumptuously rebuilt the Temple and extended its esplanade, enclosing it within walls, raised the Antonia fortress, named in honor of Mark Antony, also built a Senate, a theater, and an amphitheater, and enclosed the upper Tyropoeon where the markets were located within a second wall.
The city was surrounded by walls flanked by many towers. At the northwest corner of the wall, Herod had a palace built protected by a rampart supported by three towers. Today, only the base of one of these towers remains, traditionally called the "Tower of David." It was near the "Hippicus" tower, so called in memory of a companion of Herod[14]. Near this tower, according to Maria Valtorta, are the store of Joseph of Sepphoris[15] and the synagogue of the freed Roman slaves[16].
The residential district extending over the western hill of Jerusalem at the time of the Second Temple took the name "Upper City". This name is explained by the fact that it is topographically higher than the rest of the city, including the Temple Mount. It was redeveloped and rebuilt in the finest Roman tradition by Herod and his successors, with large buildings grouped and separated by streets, and squares lined with palaces and public buildings.
This Upper City housed large sophisticated homes inhabited by the families of the high priests and local aristocracy. This is the district where the palace of Chuza, near Herod’s, and that of Lazarus, closer to the "Siste" or Xystus (gymnasium), were located. Here stood the palace of the high priest Caiaphas (mentioned in the New Testament). It was here that Jesus was arrested and held for a night before being handed over to the Roman procurator, Pontius Pilate, for judgment[17].
The destruction of the Temple
"The emperor, judging it impossible to reduce the Upper City unfortified with earthworks, because of the steepness of the site, distributed the tasks among his forces on the 20th day of the month of Ab (July-August). The transport of timber for carpentry was however laborious, all the surroundings of the city up to a distance of about 200 meters having been ravaged, as I mentioned earlier. Having completed the earthworks after eighteen days of work, on the seventh day of the month of Elul (August-September), the Romans brought in their siege engines. Some rebels, despairing of saving the city, abandoned the citadel's walls, others slipped stealthily into tunnels. Flooding the alleyways, sword in hand, they (the Romans) massacred indiscriminately all they encountered and set fire to houses with all those who had taken refuge there. Often, when entering houses to loot, they found families entire family dead and rooms filled with famine victims... They pierced all in their path, cluttered the streets with bodies, and flooded the entire city with blood, to the point that several fires died out in this bloody flood. Toward evening, the massacres ceased but after nightfall, fire prevailed, and dawn of the eighth day of Elul rose over Jerusalem in flame - a city that had suffered so much... The Romans then set fire to the peripheral neighborhoods of the city and tore down the walls. Thus Jerusalem was taken on the eighth day of Elul (September 20), in the second year of the reign of Vespasian."[18]
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