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THE CITY OF JERUSALEM

• ~~ILLIAM J. ATKINSON

Presented to The Maryland Masonic Research Society

March )0, 198)

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• The city of Jerusalem, or more precisely the earliest part called

the City of David, is of great antiquity. Evidence has been found there

of settlements dating back to about 3000 B.C. It existed long before

the Hebrew exodus from Egypt and held out against the Hebrew invaders

until King David succeeded in conquering it. At that time it vas a very

8111&11 city,- actually outside the 1IIOderu c.1ty, located on a spur of rock

between the Tyropoean aDd Kidron Valleys, but strongly fortified and

well situated for defense.

As with all fortified places the one thing it could not do without

during a seige was a reliable source of water. This vas provided by an

unfailing spring, uamed Gihon, located on the side of the Kidron Valley

• but outside aDd below the city walls. No doubt the ex18tance of tha spring

is what brought about the ex:1stance of the city.

The early inhabitants, the Jebusites,had tunneled down to this spring

from inside thMr walls aDd bad c&1llOuflaged the area of the spring

eaabling the iDhabitants to hold out against the Hebrews until, it is

88sumed frOli a reference in the Bible (Samual, chapter 5), Joab, KJ.ng

David' s geDeraI, discovered thia tUDDel aDd led his soldiers up through

it,thereby overcoming the inhabitants who had relied so completely on the

streDrth of their fortifications that they had neglected to guard their

bmne1.

King David and King Sol01llD11 greatly enlarged the perimeter of the

city, extending it to include the area of the palace and the Temple'

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Arclaeo10gists have found that other cities in the Ro1y Land area

had dug down to the water table to provide the inhabitants with water

within thMr valls. Considering the amount of work that had to be done

SDd the tool. available, these were truly Rerculean tasks.

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At JIl1 iD1tiation as a Select Kaster, when first I heard of the

erect10u of the Secret Vault, I bad no knowledge of the enstaDC8 of

bmDels under the City of David and assumed our degree work vas .ere1y a

matter of ritual. No such tunnel actually has been found and, of course,

no one could seriously consider that a potentate of King SolO1l1011's stature

would actively participate in the physical labor ezceptin8, perhaps, a

care1lOni&l· ground break1Ds· as by our present day politicians. - BowneT,

just because the tUDne1 has DOt been fcnmd does not rule out the possibility

of its exiatance.

Exploratory work in, around aDd under Jerusalem has been goiDa ou

for -.ny years and is very actiw1y beiDa carried out at the present time

despite strenuous objectio1l8 from various couservativa religious groups.

As e:amp1e. of so_ of the more inter_tiDg excavatiousl

In 1867 Captain Charles Warren and Captain Charles Wi1sou sailed from

England for the Ha1y Land hoping to find in Jerusalem the location and

Jll&terial remains of SolO111OD's Temple. Working v1:th the Palestine Exploration

Pund, these two sunk shafts am excavated much fill from the Temple area,

discovering a C01IIplaaof underground tuanela and shafta in the area of the

City of David. Captain Warren also located a vall, completely buried, in

• front of the Golden Gate, which gate, closed for several centuries, recently

baa been found to rest atop another, INCh earlier, gate.

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The most unusual archaeological expedition was that of Captain

Montague Brownslow Parker, son of the Earl of Morley. The origins of

this expedition (1909-l911) are DDt fully mown. It appears that

Valter B. Juvelius, a Swedish "Biblical scholar", cla1Jlled to have discovered

a coded pusage in the Book. of Ezekiel which described the precise 10catiOll

of the long lost treasure·of Solomon's Temple, supposedly concealed at the

time of Nebuchadnezer's conquest of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. deep below the

Temple Mount in a cave connected to the city hy a 8ecret undergrouDd pasaage.

Because of the earlier discovery by Captain Warren of the tuDDels aDd

ahafts beneath the City of David, Juvel1us became convinced that it 1I1ght

be pos8ible to clear the way to the Temple KOUJ?t and unearth this vut

e· treasure. Parker undertook. the raising of funds aDd enlisted the aid of

hi8 friends captain Duff, Major Foley, and Clarence "ilson, the owaer of a

yacht which they fitted out for the voyage. Parker bribed two high raDk1q

Turkish officials for permission to excavate, and later on the goveruor of

the city ad Shaikh Khalil, hereditary guardian of the Mosque. Juveliua

enlisted the services of a DaD1sh clairvOJ1lllJ to direct the search.

Following the inatruc.t1ona of the clairvoyant, Parker re-opened one

of the shafts dug by Charles Yarren in 1867 hoping to find the entrance to

the tunnel leading to the treasure. To quiet the local archeeol'g'cal

c01DlllUl1ity Parker, without divulging his real objective, asked Pere Louis

Vincent of the Dominican ?athers in Jerusalem to serve as archaeological

advisor. Parker' a 1II8n cleared out Yarren, s shaft and Bezek1ah' 8 'l'unnel.

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The work in 1909 produced nothing of value in the form of treasure

and in 1910 Parker was given only until the end of sUDlDer 1911 to complete

his excavations. Although clearing of the tunnels c:ontinued as rapidly

as possible, it soon became apparent the even should the right passage be

found it could not be excavated in the time remaining. Accordingly, Parker

paid the necessary bribes and he aDd his men, at night and disguised as

AraDs, were secretly adDitted to the Temple Mount and started digging in

a section known as "SolOllOn's Stables", where the Danish c:la:f.rvoymt

usured them the treasure lay. Still no treasure was found.

• On the night of April 17, 1911, Parker and his men entered the sanctuary

of the Dome of the Rock and lowered the_elves into the cavern beneath the

Bock where they began to exavate, breaking apart a stone that c:overed the

ancient shaft below. A Mosque attendant,- by chance having decided to spend

the u1ght at the Mosque, investigated the strauge ooues aDd went screa1ll1ng

into the city exposing the sacrilege. Parker and his lien prudently fled

to their yacht at Jaffa and IlUlDAged to escape. Mobs rioted in the city

and even the governor's troop. were unable to restore order.

Soon after the disturbaa.c:es subsided a Turkish C01IDIl1ssion of Inquiry

arrived at Jerusalem. It ordered the appointment of a new sheikh for the

Dome of the Rock, recalled AJ:l1J1!Y Bey as governor, and censured the Turkish

Commissioners who had dealt with Parker.

As we all know, Solomon built the first Temple at Jerusalem which was

destroyed Wh811 Jerusalem was overrun and the tribes carried avay into

captivity. Zerubbabel rebuilt the Temple, but on a mre modest scale,

• be lac1d.ng the resourcea available to ICing Solomon. Herod the Great,

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ruled 36 B.C. to 4 B.C., and his successors greatly enlarged the area of

the Temple Mount by erecting huge walls and filling in the spaces behind

them. Herod rebuilt the entire Temple area, and of Jerusalem's beauty

during the aerodian period the Talmud says: "Whoever has not leen Jerusalem

in its .ple_or has never Men a lovely city."

According to the Gospel of John (2: 20) the building of the Tewaple

lasted 46 years, until abou,t 28 A.D. However, in 66 A.D. the Pirst Jewish

Revolt broke out and in 70 A.D. the Roman legions crushed the revolt and

destroyed Jerusalem.

• Much work is being done at Jerusalem and other sites in the Holy LaDd.

Yigal Shiloh, director of excavatioDa in the City of David, the original

.ite of Jerusalem, 18 s.king 1S0 vohmt.ers for the sixth seasol1, June 20

to August 13, 1983, and academic credit may be earaed. Hinimua stay is

two weeks.

The foregoing information was taken. for the most part, from various

is.ues of The Biblical Archaeo1'sy Baviav, published by the Biblical

Archaeology Society, 1317 , Street Northwest, Washington, D.C. 20004.

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Jeri1s.alem HEROD'S

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"l , ~. STitc of"\\ Solomon 5 ~\': .§

" emple ; '2 \. and Royal Palace .' ~

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to U1

Valle"] of Hinnom

The }cbusitc and David's city

The Solomonic Ex­pansion

8th-7th ccctury, B.C. expansion

\Vatcr systems

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LION'S GATE