Sunday in Jerusalem - King David's Tomb and the City of David

After leaving the Montefiore neighborhoods, we continued walking towards the Old City.

Our next stop was the site known as King David's Tomb.

Another brief historical note:   The area now known as Jerusalem was the home of the Jebusites until they were conquered by the early Israelites in the eleventh century CE.  Under the rule of King David, a new city was built nearby.  During the many years between the Exodus and the rule of King Saul and King David, the Israelites fought many battles with their neighbors and did not always act as a  unified people.  They became unified under King David, and it was King David's son Solomon who presided over the construction of the great Temple which was the fulfillment of God's directions to Moses while the Israelites were wandering through the desert.

So King David died about 3000 years ago, before the construction of the Temple.  There is no detailed contemporary documentation of the location of his burial.  During the time of the Crusaders, a location was identified as a strong candidate for the location.  It is also believed that in the same building as King David's tomb, but upstairs, was the site of the Last Supper.

Penelope poses next to King David,
who is holding his harp

An olive tree
donated by
Pope John Paul II

We walked up to the roof of the building.   There is a spectacular view from there, overlooking the Old City.  Here is a personal note:   When I (Bob) visited Israel in 1966 as a 13-year-old, the Old City was still part of Jordanian territory, and was not available for Jews to visit.  The view from the top of King David's Tomb was the closest we could get to seeing where the Western Wall is.  A nearby tower had a machine-gun nest, and I took a picture of it; the picture is probably buried in an old photo album somewhere.  Below are pictures of the view today, and of the tower without any apparent arms:

   

We continued on towards the archaeological digs that are happening today just outside the Old City.  It is now a near certainty that the city of Jerusalem built during the time of King David is adjacent to the Old City, and may even overlap it - but it is not on the exact location as that chosen by the Ottomans.  Here are some pictures of on-going excavations and some signs of explanation: