ABSTRACT
Of all the towns/cities mentioned in the Bible, none stirs the imagination like Jerusalem (the name is thought to mean something like: “the god of Salem is its foundation”). Occupied for nearly 6,000 years, this city played (and still plays) a major role in the world’s three theistic faiths: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. A walk through the Old City is an unforgettable experience: all of one’s senses are stimulated with sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and the literal touching of history. In the Hebrew Bible, Jerusalem is mentioned hundreds (672) of times (the first time is in Josh. 10: 1). When other names used
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11; 1 Chron. 11: 4, 5), and the “City of David” (40 times; 2 Sam. 5: 7, and so on), the number of references approaches 900. If the New Testament and the Apocryphal references are included, Jerusalem is referred to over 1,250 times (142 times in the New Testament and 214 times in the Apocrypha (“Mount Zion” 11 times)). By way of comparison, the second most mentioned biblical site in the Hebrew Bible is Bethel: only 73 times (Bethel is mentioned twice in the Apocrypha; it does not appear at all in the New Testament).
