Note 1 at Jn. 5:1: The city of Jerusalem is located 15 miles west of the Dead Sea and Jordan River and 31 miles east of the Mediterranean Sea. It was constructed on four hills--Zion, Moriah, Acra, and Bezetha and surrounded on the east, west, and south by deep valleys.

Although the name "Jerusalem" means "city of peace," it has undergone at least 28 sieges since the time of Joshua until our day with literally hundreds of thousands of lives lost. One source reports 600,000 Jews slain when the Romans, under Titus, destroyed Jerusalem in A.D. 70.

It is not surprising that Satan would unleash some of his most vicious attacks against a city that was (1) the capital of the only kingdom God ever established among men; (2) the location of the temple of God where God often spoke with men and accepted their sacrifices; (3) the city of God's prophet and kings in the line of David; (4) the site of the death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ; and (5) the place where the Christian church was birthed on the Day of Pentecost.

Many other names are used to designate Jerusalem throughout scripture, most of which indicate a connection or closeness to God. The most frequently used name is Zion, which appears over 100 times in the Old Testament and eight times in the New Testament under the name "Sion." It has often been called the city of David, but by far, the greatest number of titles identify Jerusalem as the city of God. It is called the city of God (Ps. 46:4; 48:1,8; 87:3; Heb. 12:22; Rev. 3:12), the city of the Lord (Isa. 60:14), the mountain of the Lord (Isa. 2:3; 30:29), the city of righteousness (Isa. 1:26), Ariel (meaning "the lion of God"--Isa. 29:1), the faithful city (Isa. 1:26), the mountain of the Lord of hosts (Zech. 8:3), the holy mount or mountain (Ps. 48:1; Isa. 11:9; 27:13; 66:20; Dan. 11:45; Zech. 8:3), the place of my sanctuary (Isa. 60:13), the Zion of the Holy One of Israel (Isa. 60:14), the holy city (Neh. 11:1,18; Isa. 48:2; 52:1; Mt. 4:5; 27:53; Rev. 11:2), and "Hephzibah" (Isa. 62:4), which means "my delight is in her." Research on names given to Jerusalem would add considerably to this list, but the list given here establishes the close connection of the heart of God to Jerusalem.

God, Himself, refers to Jerusalem as "my city" (Isa. 45:13) and "my holy mountain" (Isa. 11:9; 56:7; 57:13; 65:11,25; 66:20). He gives this distinction to no other place or city.

Before the conquest of Canaan by the Israelites under Joshua, the city was known as Urusalim (an abbreviated form of this name is Salim or Salem), which is the earliest known name, and means a "city of Salim" or a "city of peace." The king of Jerusalem at the time the Israelites invaded Canaan was Adoni-Zedec (Josh. 10:1), whose name means "lord of righteousness," substantially the same as "king of righteousness," which was also used of Melchisedec (Heb. 7:1- 3) who reigned as King of Salem some 500 years before (O.T. spelling is Melchizedek).

Although the name "Jerusalem" does not appear in the account of Melchizedec blessing Abraham in Genesis 14:18-20, scholars believe that the "Salem" mentioned in Genesis 14:18 is the abbreviated form of "Jerusalem" or "Urusalim," and therefore, the city existed before the time of Abraham.

The account given in Genesis 22 of God telling Abraham to "get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him (Isaac) there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of" (v. 2). The place is called "the mount of the Lord" in Genesis 22:14, and evidence is strong that Mt. Moriah in Jerusalem was the location of this incident.

After the invasion by Israel into the promised land, the children of Judah had the responsibility to drive the Jebusites from Jerusalem but failed to do so (Josh. 15:63). The Jebusites were descendants of a son of Canaan, the son of Ham, who was the son of Noah (Gen. 10:16). It is possible that the Jebusites settled in the area of Jerusalem after the flood and may have played a part in building it. At any rate, they were so well established that the children of Judah could not drive them out.

After the death of Joshua (Jud. 1:1), the children of Judah fought against Jerusalem and took it (Jud. 1:8) and proceeded to conquer other occupied areas. They still were not totally successful, however, as revealed in Judges 1:21. The Jebusites still inhabited Jerusalem with the children of Benjaminm, who were unable or unwilling to drive them out. Even before this time, the city had been referred to as Jebusi (Josh. 18:16,28). The name "Jebus" continued (Jud. 19:10-11) and the Jebusites continued to inhabit the city until the time of David. The account of the final conquering of the Jebusites is found in 2 Samuel 5:6-9 and 1 Chronicles 11:4-8. David had already reigned as king over all the tribes of Israel in Hebron for 7* years (2 Sam. 5:1,5), but when Jebus was conquered, David moved his headquarters there and called it "the city of David" (2 Sam. 5:9).

Towards the end of David's reign, he was tempted to take a census of Israel (1 Chr. 21:1) which displeased the Lord (v. 7). One of the results was that Jerusalem was almost destroyed by an angel (v. 16). David repented and was commanded to build an altar "unto the Lord in the threshing floor of Ornan, the Jebusite" (v. 18). He bought the land, built the altar and offered sacrifices there and Jerusalem was saved (vv. 25-27).

Solomon, when given the task of building the temple, built it in Mt. Moriah in the exact spot where David had built his altar and sacrificed to stop the destruction of Jerusalem (2 Chr. 3:1). It was during Solomon's reign that Jerusalem reached the peak of her glory as indicated by 2 Chronicles 9:27. "And the king made silver in Jerusalem as stones, and cedar trees made he as the sycomore trees that are in the low plains in abundance." Jerusalem remained the capital of a united Israel until, under Rehoboam, David's grandson and son of Solomon, ten tribes revolted, and the kingdom was divided about 975 B.C. (1 Ki. 12:19-20). Jerusalem remained the capital of Judah until 616 B.C., when it was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar (2 Ki. 24:11-16; 25:8-12).

Jerusalem became the capital once again in 546 B.C. after the 70-year captivity was ended and remained so through Roman occupation and the earthly appearance of Jesus until A.D. 70 when it was utterly destroyed by the Romans under Titus. Some 567 years later (around A.D. 637) an Arab leader by the name of Omar built a Moslem temple called the Dome of the Rock on Mt. Moriah to commemorate Abraham's offering of Isaac, and this temple, although rebuilt several times, remains on Mt. Moriah today.

Not until June 1967 did Jerusalem come, once again, completely under the control of the Jews. It now serves, as in Jesus' time, as Israel's capital.