WOW: Legendary Jerusalem Wall mentioned in the Bible Discovered

By Nosson Shulman: Licensed Tour Guide of VIP Israel Tours & Authentic Virtual Tours (click here to check out his free trailer videos)

“The entire army of the Chaldeans (Babylonians) that was [with] the chief executioner demolished the walls of Jerusalem (2 Kings 25:10)”

Excavators in Jerusalem have struck archeological “Gold” with the discovery of the Holy City’s first Temple era walls! With this discovery (combined with other important finds from previous digs), archeologists say they can now reconstruct the run of the wall which encircled the city on the eve of its destruction in 422 BCE.

The history of Jerusalem’s walls is fascinating (for a sample Jerusalem tour itinerary which explores its walls through different time periods, click here). The city’s earliest walls were built by the Jebusite some 4000 years ago and were considered “impenetrable”! When King David laid siege to Jerusalem, the inhabitants defending the city mocked David saying “You shall not enter here unless you remove the blind and the lame (2 Samuel 5:6)”. According to Jewish sources, the Jebusites were implying that the fortification was so strong that even if they were to use blind and lame soldiers as guards, David still couldn’t enter. Nonetheless, with G-d’s assistance, David successfully conquered the city and subsequently rebuilt the city walls (see 2 Samuel 5:9 and 1 Chronicles 11:4-8).

King Solomon (David’s son) will build the First Temple north of the city walls and build a new wall extension which included the Temple and other building projects (See 1 Kings 3:1).

Solomon’s reign brought an unprecedented level of prosperity to Israel, causing Jerusalem (it’s capital city) to expand manifold. When no room was left to build within the walls, the city started to expand rapidly outside of them. The massive expansion continued until King Hezekiah ascended to power. During his reign, the might Assyrian empire conquered much of Israel and were on their way to lay to siege to Jerusalem. Since most of Jerusalem was now outside of the city walls (and thus unprotected), Hezekiah decided to build a new wall to encompass the entire city. In places where Solomon’s wall already existed, he repaired them. During the siege, one of the greatest miracles in world history took place! G-d sent an angel to destroy the souls of the Assyrian soldiers stationed outside the walls, thus removing the threat (see 2 Kings 19 and 2 Chronicles: 32. For more on these miraculous events, click here).

Archeologists believe that the sections of the wall recently uncovered in the City of David were part of the walls originally built by Solomon and subsequently renovated by Hezekiah.

In the 5^th Century BCE, the Babylonians, led by their infamous King Nebuchadnezzar, became one of the world’s most powerful empires. After conquering most of the Middle Ease, the Babylonians set their sights on Israel and conquered it region by region until only Jerusalem was left. The Babylonians laid siege to Jerusalem but were unable to conquer it for three years (see 2 Kings 25: 1-2). However, in the third year, the Babylonians finally breached the walls, destroyed the Temple and ultimately demolished  the majority of Jerusalem’s walls.

Interestingly, a building filled with burn marks was also discovered in the digs. This find fits well with the Biblical narrative that Jerusalem’s buildings were destroyed by fire (see 2 Kings 25:9).

If you want to learn more about Jerusalem’s walls and biblical history, I highly recommend you check out this informative virtual tour video: Jerusalem: City of Gold.

Nosson Shulman is a journalist and Licensed Tour Guide in Israel specializing in Biblical tours. To allow tourists to experience Israel during the Corona era, he created the new hit Israel tour video series which brings Israel to the home of viewers by simulating actual tours. To check out his free sneak preview tour videos, click here. To view sample tour itineraries or to inquire about private tour opportunities with a personalized itinerary on your next trip to Israel, click here.