“King David and all Israel went to Jerusalem that is Jebus, where the Jebusites were, the inhabitants of the land. The inhabitants of Jebus said to David. ‘You will not come in here.’ Nevertheless King David took the stronghold of Zion, now the city of David. David said. ‘Whoever attacks the Jebusites first shall be chief and commander.’ Joab son of Zeruiah went up first, so he became the chief. King David resided in the stronghold. Therefore it was called the city of David. He built the city all around about from the Millo in a complete circuit. Joab repaired the rest of the city. King David became greater and greater, for Yahweh of hosts was with him.”

Next stop Jerusalem. There is no mention of how long King David spent in Hebron here. This section is based on 2 Samuel, chapter 5. In the presentation in 2 Samuel, there is a back and forth about the blind and lame being able to defeat David, which is not here in this presentation. Otherwise, it is pretty much the same. Obviously the city of Jerusalem is very important since it appears over 780 times in the biblical literature. It is one of the oldest cities in the world, dating back to 3,000 BCE, some 5,000 years ago, with many different names and inhabitants. It has a long and checkered history with the 3 major western religions of the book claiming it as their holy city. Jerusalem is about 20 miles north of Hebron, sitting on a plateau sometimes called Zion, about 18-24 miles from the Jordan River and some 30-35 miles from the Mediterranean Sea. This was the last stronghold held by the Jebusites. King David captured it fairly easily since there was not any mention of a big battle. The assumption was that the city was so fortified that anyone could defend it. That proved wrong. Thus it became the City of David, right on the border between Judah and Benjamin, the respective homes of King David and King Saul. The Millo was an old wall in the old part of the city. King David was blessed by Yahweh. Notice the city is already called the City of David. However, it seems to maintain its old name of the city of the Jebusites, Jerusalem. Joab, the son of David’s sister, Zeruiah took command of the troops because he was the first to attack Jerusalem.