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shrines, monuments and historie
si tes.
The Early Beglnnlngs
Jerusalem was not always the city it
appears to be today. There was a
time when the hillsides were mere–
ly pastures for herds and flocks of
nomadic tribesmen.
To discover the beginnings of
JerusaJem as a city and to catch a
glimpse into the future that God
had in mind for JerusaJem, we
must go back in time all the way to
Abraham- J,900 years before the
birth of Jesus. Abraham had lived
in Ur, a city of the Chaldeans in
Mesopotamia.
Through Abraham, God set out
to build a great nation. He
instructed Abraham to leave Ur for
a land he would yet show him
(Gen. 12:9) .
9
1
On faith, he journeyed to
settle a land he had not
seen. God promised
Abraham when he
arrived in the
land of Ca-
naa n th a t
t his land
would one
day be-
Mediterranean Sea
come the possession of his descen–
dants. So Abraham knew two things:
1) God would give him children and
2) tl;lis land would be theirs.
T hen a great famine set in upon
the land. Abraham, and all those
who accompanied h im, had to
migrate southward to Egypt. After
the famine, Abraham and his neph–
ew Lot carne back into the land of
Canaan. There Lot selected the
lower Jordan valley and the Dead
Sea region for his homeland. Abra–
ham settled in what would later be
called the Judean hills.
Jerusalem
today,
s clty of more than
400,000 populstion, is
the capital of modern
Israel. lt is a city
replete with histories/
snd religious sites
snd is ho/y to three
world religions–
Christian, Jew and
Muslim.
In
addition
to its religious sig·
nifícance its long and
involved history make
it one of the most
interesting cities in
the world to visit.
Melchlzedek, Klng of Salem
During the time of Abraham there
were no large nations. Instead,
there were small cities where fami–
lies lived or around which a tribe of
nomadic people settled. The popu–
lation of these cities was probably
not more than a few hundred- at
most one or two thousand.
Each city was presided over by a
king. Often,
these city-states
we r e
a t
war with one
a no t her .
Somet ímes
c ities
would form