2 Samuel 5:7 Nevertheless, David captured the stronghold of Zion, that is the city of David.
At stake is the past and future location of the Jewish Temple. Zion equals the city of David. This is a critical statement.
There are many scholars, critics, and experts who suggest Jerusalem, Zion, and the city of David are synonymous. The Bible says something different.
The city of David is a specific location within greater Jerusalem. The city of David is located south of what is known as the Temple Mount in modern day Jerusalem. The city of David is down the hill, below, and south of the modern day Temple Mount. The distance between the two locations is approximately 600-1000 feet.
2 Chronicles 3:1 Then Solomon began to build the house of the LORD in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the LORD had appeared to his father David, at the place that David had prepared on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
The verse in 2 Chronicles gives a specific location for the Temple. Where did the Jebusites live? Where is the floor of Ornan the Jebusite? The verse states it is in Jerusalem. The Bible has answers.
2 Samuel 5:6 Now the king and his men went to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, and they said to David, “You shall not come in here, but the blind and lame will turn you away”; thinking, “David cannot enter here.”
The Jebusites lived in Jerusalem.
2 Samuel 5:7 Nevertheless, David captured the stronghold of Zion, that is the city of David.
The following terms are synonymous per Scripture, Zion and city of David.
2 Samuel 5:8b Whoever attacks them should strike by going into the city through the water tunnel.
A water source is noted to be within the area of the Jebusites. There is only one source of water in the area, the Gihon Spring. The spring is located down the hill and south of the modern day Temple Mount. The Gihon Spring is approximately 600-1000 feet south and below the Temple Mount complex as we know it.
2 Samuel 5:9 So David lived in the stronghold and called it the city of David. And David built all around from the Millo and inward.
Once conquered, David named the fortress area the city of David. The area was walled. David built up the area within. David commissioned his son Solomon to build the Temple.
Solomon’s temple was built within a few years of 970 BC. Herod improved upon the second Temple which was built in 350 BC. Herod’s Temple was rebuilt and refurbished in roughly 20 BC. Both Temples were built on the same site.
Fast forward roughly 3,000 years from King David to today’s world, November 2015. This real estate is back in the news in a major way.
Archeologists have unearthed a fort to the south of the modern day Temple Mount in the city of David. The site has been covered by a parking lot.
“The new archeological finds indicate the establishment of a well-fortified stronghold that was constructed on the high bedrock cliff overlooking the steep slopes of the City of David hill,” the archeologists said in a joint statement.
http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Culture/Archaeological-find-in-Jerusalems-City-of-David-may-answer-100-year-old-mystery-431895
http://www.foxnews.com/science/2015/11/03/ancient-fortress-discovery-may-solve-one-jerusalems-great-archaeological-mysteries.html
First century AD Jewish historian Flavius Josephus noted a fortress, “…he built a citadel in the lower part of the city, for the place was high, and overlooked the Temple; on which account he fortified it with high walls and towers, and put into it a garrison of Macedonians.” The first century book of Maccabees also confirms the location of the citadel in the city of David.
Multiple sources from across time all note the city of David as the location south of the modern day Temple Mount. Yet the conclusion drawn by experts??? The Temple was built north of the location unearthed. “This stronghold controlled all means of approach to the Temple atop the Temple Mount, and cut the Temple off from the southern parts of the city.”
Historians and books written in the first century say the Temple site was south in the city of David. This is below the modern day Temple Mount area.
The Bible says the Temple site was south in the city of David.
photo credit:Israel Antiquities Authority
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John 2:9-11 When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.”
