Origins: The city of David

While I was still at the Josephs’ I went to what is now an archaeological park that was the city of David. People say it is the birthplace of the city of Jerusalem. King David had captured this place from a tribe called the Jebusites in 1004 BCE and established this place as his capital.

It was here, under the rule of King David that Israel was united. The Holy Ark was historically brought here and King David danced on the streets of the city in praise of his God. It was also here that the first temple was built.

So much for the history of the place but looking at the elaborate houses here I have noticed that this was indeed a rich city. Considering that theses houses are thousands of years old and whatever remains of it, still stands strong, we can thus see the accomplished architectural genius that went into making these houses.  I wish I could go back in time to relive the “city of David” experience.

One of the most exciting experiences here was walking through the tunnel of Shilloh, which is about half a kilometer and was built by King Hezekiyahu. This took me about half an hour to go from the starting point, which is from the city to the Shiloh well. I waded through cool ankle deep water carrying my boots in my hand. I am told that the specialty of this tunnel is that it was all carved out starting on either side and meeting in the middle, a great engineering feat I must say. I know some construction companies who would give you two tunnels for the price of one if they were asked to do the same job. I even tried the Warren shaft that lead m to the water tunnel, which was used to transport water from the springs of Gikhon that was outside the city.

Overall the City of David has its own beauty, I have seen and been to the best of the renascence art world but the city of David does not borrow its inspiration from anywhere. It is what it is all by itself.