History of Old City Jerusalem: Its Walls, Gates, & Key Sites: Historical Tour of All Periods, Israel

[Music] [Music] well welcome to the Holy Land in this site of the walls of Jerusalem so in this video we're going to be taking you all around the walls of Jerusalem the current walls but we're also going to take you back in time and we're going to show you the history of how the walls were during the times of the Canaanites David Solomon after Solomon Hezekiah Nehemiah the walls during the time of Christ and then the walls after the time of Christ and then how they are today along with the gates so I think you'll find this video very enlightening to show you what the walls were like all throughout the history also as a special treat during the second half of the video we'll be looking at the current walls and gates of old city Jerusalem so follow along and enjoy this video of the walls of Jerusalem now the first walls of Jerusalem were built by the Canaanites some five thousand years ago so long before the Israelites entered the Promised Land the Jebusites lived securely within the walls of Jerusalem the city was blessed with natural valleys around it that made it easy to defend the city walls and his fortress provided additional protection the long history of Jerusalem began well before it was captured by King David and made into the capital of the people of Israel some 3,000 years ago archaeological findings indicate the existence of a settlement in Jerusalem in the 3rd millennium or 3 thousand years before Christ the first mention of the city in historical sources begins in the second millennium BC or once again 2,000 years before Christ the location of the ancient Canaanite city of Jerusalem was chosen specifically for its natural protective qualities the hill on which early Jerusalem was built has natural fortifications from three directions the deep Kidron Valley from the east were also known as the valley of jehoshaphat and then to the west was the Hinnom Valley also known as the taro peein Valley and the lowland where the two valleys met to the south is down in the place located south of the city of Jerusalem down in a deep valley which goes down to the Dead Sea the only side that isn't naturally protected is the north and this has been a problem that has accompanied ancient Jerusalem throughout its history and is even mentioned in biblical passages such as the words of Jeremiah and from the north shall come the evil Jeremiah 114 during the time of the Israel conquest initially the city of Jerusalem was captured but not fully and then when David came on the scene in about 1000 BC then it was he who was able to conquer the city and enlarge it God was with David and allowed him to capture Jerusalem from the Jebusites later he built additional walls to fortify the city the gijón spring was outside the city at this time and the city became known as the City of David Jerusalem's ancient water source was and always has been Negi hoenn spring on the east side of the city of David in the valley of jehoshaphat or the Kidron Valley in 2nd Samuel 5/6 God tells us about how David captured the city of Jerusalem from the Jebusites and the king and his men went to Jerusalem against the Jebusites the inhabitants of the land who said to David you will not come up here but the blind and the lame will Ward you off thinking David cannot come in here so they were mocking David and said you will never take this city nevertheless David took the stronghold of Zion that is the City of David and David said on that day whoever would strike the Jebusites let him give up the water shaft to attack the lame and the blind who are hated by David's soul therefore it is said the blind and the lame shall not come into this house and David lived in the stronghold and called it the City of David and David built the city all around from the Mylo inward and David became greater and greater for the Lord the God of hosts was with him so in this passage we see here that the Jebusites are mocking David and then David comes up through the water shaft of the gijón spring and captures the city of Jerusalem from the Jebusites from within the city coming up from underneath of the city right here is where it all began my dear friends this is where God's plan to establish the temple and his speaking to the people and residing in this special place of Jerusalem about 3,000 years ago and it will be the place where Christ is going to reign during the millennial reign and this is the place where the prophets and the priests have ministered from but it all began in the City of David now you can see the southern stairs here and you can see the Temple Mount platform the City of David ran from just below or even connecting to the southern stairs they're running down along the ridge down to the Hinnom Valley and where the Kidron Valley meet in fact down at the tip down there is where the pool of Salome is and that would be the lower part of the City of David you can see right here there's this wall here that's ancient wall it's believed that that's what's a nehemiah fortified there's a kind of a tower there that's where a watch place was a lookout was so this is the city of David and this is what David conquered about 3,000 years ago then after the time of David then Solomon comes on the scene and he adds to the walls of the city of Jerusalem so David dies and then Solomon built a temple on the threshing floor of Araunah or Ornan and he enlarged the temple mount platform and added walls from the City of David to the Temple Mount so he enlarged he built this temple platform he built the temple which was glorious and then he enlarged the city walls so that it would encompass the city of David and the platform the Temple Mount were the new temple was that he had built around 700 BC then Hezekiah enlarged the city of Jerusalem in a big way what was happening was that the northern ten tribes of Israel the northern part of Israel was falling to the Assyrians as had been prophesied by God he had sent them prophet after prophet after prophet warning them but they did not listen so God fulfilled his word the prophecies and the Assyrians moved in and took over the north as they were doing that many people fled from the north and sought refuge in Jerusalem and so they settled in what is called the western side of the city of Jerusalem so when the Assyrians were getting closer and threatening to take Jerusalem and the southern part of the nation of Israel which was called Judah then Hezekiah went into a massive quick frenzied building program and he built what was called Hezekiah broad wall that's named that because of how wide it is it was built quick and it encompassed the whole western side of the city of David and Jerusalem so there was a massive expansion then under King Hezekiah and second chronicles 32 5 it says about Hezekiah he set to work resolutely and built up the wall that was broken down so he repaired what did exist and raised towers upon it and outside it he built another wall so this is the expansion talking about the expansion and he strengthened the Mylo in the City of David he also made weapons and shields in abundance so Hezekiah is new wall measured 22 feet wide or about seven meters wide by about 25 feet high or eight meters high it was a massive undertaking and measured around 2.5 miles in length or about 4 kilometers a portion of the wall was discovered in the 1970s by Israeli archaeologist naman Bobby God and dated to the reign of King Hezekiah which was about 716 to 687 BC it was called Hezekiah broad wall by archaeologists because of its width Hezekiah also built a water tunnel in order to keep the water from the gijón spring inside the city walls so the Assyrians couldn't cut off the water supply the curving tunnel is 583 yards or about 533 metres long and has a fall of exactly 12 inches or 30 centimetres between its two ends the beginning and the lower part which winds up down at the pool of Salome it was chiseled from both ends to the middle at the same time and it took the water from the gijón spring under the mountain to the pool of siloam below the city later then nehemiah rebuilt the city walls of jerusalem so when the Babylonians conquered and destroyed Jerusalem in 586 BC they also destroyed the walls and burn the gates with fire however God sovereignly moved in the heart of artaxerxes the king of Persia to allow Nehemiah to rebuild the walls later on says a Nehemiah 1 now it happened in the month of Kislev in the 20th year as I was in Susa the Citadel that Hanan II one of my brothers came with certain men from Judah so Nehemiah was in Babylon and his brothers came to him and reported the news of what was happening in Jerusalem and they said their remnant there in the province who survived the exile is in great trouble and shame the wall of Jerusalem is broken down and its gates are destroyed by fire so Nehemiah rebuilds this wall and it was a massive amazing miracle it says in Nehemiah 6:15 so the wall was finished on the 25th day of the month of Elul in 52 days and when all our enemies heard of it all the nations around us were afraid and fell greatly in their own esteem for they perceived that this work had been accomplished by the help of our Lord Nehemiah didn't change the existing walls of Hezekiah majest repaired those that existed some 275 years after Nehemiah there was a has ammonia wall addition the Jews gained their independence from the Seleucid Empire in around 167 BC and they gained it under the Maccabee ins and the Hasmoneans at this time Jerusalem began to be rebuilt along with its walls during this period a wall was added to the northern part of the existing wall it would be this city layout that would exist during the time of Christ in 63 BC the Romans conquer the Jew and made several major changes in Jerusalem Herod the Great enlarged the Temple Mount to its current size the Antonia fortress was also built that was beside the Temple Mount for protection purposes and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre which is the balae place where Christ was crucified buried and rose again was located outside the city walls at this time from 37 to 70 AD the walls of Jerusalem swelled to the north so Herod Agrippa the first laid the foundation for an expansion of the walls of Jerusalem to the north a grip of the first began the construction of an additional wall of the city which was completed at the beginning of the first jewish-roman war in 66 AD this would be the largest area the city walls would ever encompass in Jerusalem's history in 70 AD the Jews revolted against the Romans and the city and the temple were burned and leveled this fulfilled Christ prophecy regarding the destruction of Jerusalem because of the Jews rejection of Christ as their Messiah later in around 132 AD the Jews revolted again against the Romans Hadrian the Roman Emperor ordered the city to be totally destroyed and renamed it was then called Aelia Capitolina and Israel was renamed to Palestine which comes from the word Philistines this was done in an attempt to eradicate any association of Jerusalem and Israel with the Jews after some two centuries without walls new walls were erected around the city probably during the reign of Emperor Diocletian sometime between 289 ad and the turn of the century the walls were then extensively renewed later on by the Empress heylia ayo dosia during her banishment to jerusalem in around 443 to 460 AD it should be mentioned however that the original walls that existed during the time of Christ were never completely destroyed therefore some of the walls that exist today are from this time period newer walls have been built upon them but parts of the original walls as mentioned are from the time of Christ a good example of this is part of the western wall or also known as the Wailing Wall the walls of Jerusalem would then be rebuilt and torn down until the time of Suleiman the Magnificent's arrived on the scene in the 1500s the city walls that exist today were built in the 16th century under Suleiman the Magnificent he decided to rebuild the city walls on much of the remains of the ancient walls that already existed they were completed in 1538 and are the walls of the city today and you will notice in these walls that about halfway up the walls kind of change the lower part is generally the older part of the walls and then the new part or the part that you can see usually with smaller stones and sometimes haphazardly laid is the newer part now the walls of Jerusalem today are glorious and majestic we'll take a look at each section of the city walls now we'll start with the western city wall side and then see the northern eastern and southern sides of the city walls along the way we'll highlight the city gates and a few outstanding places in another video we'll talk about the history and show you in more detail each city gate that exists today along with a few that existed in the time of Jesus that no longer exists the western side of the walls of Jerusalem are spectacular and beauty one notable place along this wall is the believed place where Christ was try and condemned to crucifixion Herod's Palace was located just inside this wall and it's believed eyelet was using it when Christ was brought before him the Jaffa Gate is also on this side of the wall it's the largest and one of the most used gates of the city it was built by Suleiman the Magnificent in 1538 it marked the end of the highway that led from Jaffa or the Joppa port on the Mediterranean ocean to Jerusalem a large opening in the wall was made right beside the original gate that still exists today in 1898 when kaiser wilhelm ii of germany visited Jerusalem the ruling Ottoman Turks opened it up so the German emperor would not have to dismount his carriage to enter the city today this opening allows cars to enter the old city between Jaffa Gate and the City of David this gate leads into the Christian and Armenian quarters of the old city the northern city walls section is the longest and has the most gates this side of the wall was always the weakest side to protect because of the terrain slopes uphill from here for this reason most of the battles that were fought took place on this side it was here that the Romans entered to conquer Jerusalem in 70 AD the first gate in the section of this wall is the new gate it carries this name because it was constructed in 1898 and is the newest gate it was built with permission of sultan abdul hamid the second and is located near the northwestern corner of the city it leads into the christian quarter the next gate is the damascus gate it is one of the busiest and certainly the most magnificent of all Jerusalem's the gate consists of one large centre gate originally intended for use by persons of high station or high prominence and two smaller side entrances for the common people it's the main entrance into the Muslim Quarter of the city today just after the Damascus Gate is Zedekiah's cave or also known as Solomon's quarries this is a massive underground cave that was used for coring large lime stones used in the walls of Jerusalem it encompasses five acres or 2.5 actors that runs the length of five city blocks under the Muslim Quarter of the old city of Jerusalem next is Herod's gate it connects the Muslim Quarter inside the old city to a Palestinian neighborhood just inside it is a short distance to the east of the Damascus Gate the eastern wall section of the old city is quite majestic and faces the mountain of Olives which rises up and the Kidron Valley which falls below it the Temple Mount where the temple was once located shares part of this side of the wall the Lions gate is located in this section of the wall the entrance also leads to the famous Via Dolorosa near the gates crest our four figures of lions - on the left and two on the right legend has it that sultan Suleiman placed the figures there because he believed that if he did not construct a wall around Jerusalem he would be killed by Lions Israeli paratroopers famously stormed through this gate during the six-day war to conquer the Temple Mount after which they unfurled the Israeli flag above the old city the eastern gate also known as the golden gate was the main entrance to the original temple during the time of Jesus Jesus used this gate regularly when he was in Jerusalem to teach on the Temple Mount area now this eastern gate has played a significant role in the Old Testament and even in the New Testament and it will play according to many scholars an important role in prophesied future events as well now during the time of Christ there was a bridge that was from here of the eastern gate and it would span over the Kidron Valley and wind up over towards the Mount of Olives that way people didn't have to go down the Kidron Valley and back up so right here right directly under this gate this is a newer gate about five hundred years old but right directly under it it has been found was the original gate so Christ would have walked right through here on a regular basis especially the last week of his ministry he would come back and forth staying on the Mount of Olives and then ministering right here in the on the Temple Mount so this plays a real key role in the Bible according to Jewish tradition the Messiah will enter Jerusalem through this gate when he returns to prevent this the Muslims sealed the gate during the rule of Suleiman and built a cemetery by it of course we know that Jesus the Messiah already entered through this gate and when he returns no cemetery will stop him from reentering this gate the southern wall section of the old city has some significant places along it the most notable is the southern steps area this was the main entrance to the Temple Mount during the time of Christ and it is what connected the City of David to the Temple Mount right here this group of people can you say hi they are sitting on the very stairs they are called the rabbi stairs that went up to the Temple Mount during Christ's time and these are the very stairs upon which Christ would have walked upon which he would have taught his disciples and also upon which the Apostle Paul would have learned under gamma Leal one of the most famous rabbis in Jerusalem and in the Apostle Paul's time today all of the original gates from the southern stairs have been closed off there was no doubt that Jesus would have used these stairs and taught his disciples here as well there are also hundreds of mikvahs which are Jewish purification pools by these stairs that were used for purification purposes and likely used as well at Pentecost for the 3,000 that were saved and then got baptized the dung gate is located along this section of the wall and is the closest in proximity to the western wall or the Wailing Wall which is in the Jewish quarter of the old city of Jerusalem the gate received its name because refuge or trash was hauled out of the city through this gate just up from the dung gate is the Zion gate it was one of the main gates used by the Israeli Defense Forces in 1967 to enter and capture the old city the stones surrounding the gate are still marked by weapons of fire and you can see the holes and all these damaged parts in this gate area now what can we learn as a faith lesson from the history of Jerusalem and its walls and gates well according to many passages in the Bible God still has a plan for the Jews scripture contains many prophecies about how God would bring them back to their homeland after being scattered for thousands of years he also says that during the Great Tribulation Period that many if not most of them will recognize that Jesus is indeed their Messiah and turned to him in repentance amazingly we see the first prophecy fulfilled in that the Jews returned to their homeland and now have their own country there have been many civilizations that have occupied the Holy Land but God has fulfilled prophecy in bringing the Jews back to their homeland today the stones here cry out that God's Word is true and is verifiable through the fulfillment of these prophecies there is a statement found in the southern stair area of the Temple Mount that summarizes the history and walls of this magnificent chosen City here's this wonderful phrase and listen to it carefully The Jerusalem stone so resilient and supple boughs to the transient follies of humankind bearing a testimony like a hundred witnesses and yet remain silent this is the place this is the city where God has decided to dwell in a special way it's also the place where he will return to in power and great glory at his second coming and it will be the place from which he will reign during the millennial reign of Christ on this earth after the Great Tribulation Period and before the destruction of the current heavens and earth and the creation of new heavens and earth if God has fulfilled countless prophecies regarding two Jerusalem the Jewish nation Christ's first coming and the regalia of Israel back to her homeland then we can rest assured that every other prophecy in the Bible will be fulfilled as well therefore we should be living lives that are pleasing to the Lord and awaiting his return well I hope that you have found this talk and this video helpful hope you found it enlightening so thank you for watching and may God bless you [Music]

Channel: HolyLandSite

Views: 212,932

Keywords: Eastern Gate, Beautiful Gate), Herod’s Gate, Golden Gate, Lions Gate, Stephen’s Gate, New Gate, Damascus Gate, Zion Gate, Dung Gate, Southern Stairs, Temple Mount, Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Herod's Palace, Pilate's Palace, Condemnation of Christ to Crucifixion, Jebusite Walls of Jerusalem, King City of David Walls of Jerusalem, King Solomon's Walls of Jerusalem and Temple, King Hezekiah's Broad Wall, Nehemiah's Walls, Herod the Great, Suleiman the Magnificent

Id: uxzfFA-DU5g

Length: 28min 6sec (1686 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 24 2020