Story 91: Da'vid Captures Je-ru'sa-lem And Makes It His Capital l

   The first task of Da'vid after becoming the ruler of all Is'ra-el was to decide which city should be his capital. For seven years the seat of his government had been He'bron, sacred to all the people of the nation for many reasons, but he did not wish it to appear that the eleven tribes were being annexed to the little government of Ju'dah. He felt that to keep his capital at He'bron would cause undue pride among the people of Ju'dah, and make the other tribes jealous. He also wished to avoid the mistake of Saul, who made his home town of Gib'e-ah capital in spite of the fact that it was a place of little national importance, and was scorned by the people as the scene of one of the worst outrages in his history of the nation.
   For personal reasons, Da'vid preferred his native city of Beth'le-hem for the capital, but its situation would not permit the building of proper defenses. His problem was to choose a capital which was not then held by any of the twelve tribes; otherwise, there would be jealousy among the tribes; and to find a city which might be taken by the combined efforts of all the tribes, thereby giving them a sense of unity as a nation.
   For all these reasons, therefore, Da'vid set his heart on taking Je-ru'sa-lem, a strongly fortified city, situated between the land of Ju'dah and Ben'ja-min, and thus belonging to neither. It was then held by the Jeb'u-sites, a strong Ca'naan-it-ish tribe which had occupied the mountainous section of Ju'dah when the Is'ra-el-ites first entered the land. Neither Josh'u-a, who conquered them after a great struggle, nor the children of Ju'dah, who seized the lower part of the city, nor the Ben'ja-mites, to whom the city had been assigned, were able to take the strong citadel of Je'bus on Mt. Zi'on.
   The Jeb'u-sites were so strongly fortified on the eastern hill of the city that they looked with scorn upon any who dared to attack them, and cried from the walls of their citadel that even the blind and the lame could defend it. It was shut in by deep valleys on three sides, and was not easily approached from the other. Through the centuries it had defied all attempts to scale its heights and break down its fortifications; to capture the fort of Je'bus was regarded as an impossible feat.
   Da'vid, however, had relied upon the strength of the LORD to do what had seemed impossible in days gone by, so he believed that he could take this powerful fortress. He led his armies in the attack, and was successful; not by strength of arms or skill in warfare, but by the unseen forces of the GOD of Is'ra-el. The city was given to Da'vid as a servant of the LORD GOD of Hosts, and as a blessing to all the world, for the stronghold of Je'bus was thereby made the fortress of Zi'on, and Je-ru'sa-lem became a city unequaled in importance by any other in the history of the world.
   Greater wisdom was never displayed in the selection of the capital of any nation. Je-ru'sa-lem was, indeed, a "mountain throne" for the kings of Is'ra-el, and a "mountain sanctuary" for the people of GOD. High above Jer'i-cho in the Jor'dan valley, the Phi-lis'tine strongholds on the plains of the Med'i-ter-ra'ne-an, the Phoe-ni'ci-an cities of Tyre and Si'don, and Da-mas'cus of Syr'i-a, it stood in defiance of all enemies for hundreds of years. Situated in a mountain fastness on the edge of one of the highest table-lands of Ca'naan, in the most prominent part of the mountain range which extended from the desert country on the south to the plains of Es-dra-e'lon on the north, the Holy City of Je-ru'sa-lem was the pride and glory of GOD'S chosen people throughout their history. Not until the Mes-si'ah set up His worldwide dominion did it lose its importance, and long after the Advent it held a position of Honor.