Almost 4,000 years ago, Abram met Melchizedek in “Salem” to give to the king and priest of the Most High God a tenth of the booty (Hebrews 7:1-2) that he had taken from the four kings from what would be known later as Babylonia. This was before the Lord changed the name of Abram (exalted father) to Abraham (father of a multitude) by adding one letter to his name.

Melchizedek brought out bread and wine in response to Abram’s worshipful act. (Genesis 14:18) This is the first mention of bread and wine in the Bible, and it occurred at Jerusalem. When the Promised Land was being divided among the Children of Israel, the border of Judah’s territory ran right by “the Jebusite, the same is Jerusalem.” (Joshua 15:8) Almost one-thousand years after Melchizedek, King David “went to Jerusalem unto the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land: David took the stronghold of Zion: the same is the City of David.” (Second Samuel 5:6-7)

At the time of King David and later King Solomon, Jerusalem, or Zion, was the City of David. This city is now recognized to be the small peninsula of land south and east of the modern City of Jerusalem. For perhaps fifteen centuries the City of David was lost, not to be rediscovered until 1837 when King Hezekiah’s Tunnel was found.

There have been numerous archaeological discoveries in the City of David. They have found “bullae,” the clay seals bearing the imprint of the authority that signed it. The bullae sealed documents which were destroyed when the city was burned, but the clay seals remain. One of these bullae bore the name of Gemariah the son of Shaphan found in Jeremiah 36:10.

All of the buildings and geographical features that we read of in the Bible are in the City of David; David’s palace, David’s tomb, the walls inspected by Nehemiah, Hezekiah’s Tunnel, the Gihon Spring, the Millo, the steps down to the King’s Pool, and the Temple (in my opinion) For more information on that subject, please see click HERE.

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The Phoenician king Hiram of Tyre sent masons and carpenters and built a palace for King David. (Second Samuel 5:11) Guess what the archaeologists found in the ruins of the City of David? Capitals to columns in the style of the Phoenicians. They are probably from King David’s palace and are now in the Israel Museum.

The City of David is Zion. The City of David is the apple of the Lord’s eye. (Zechariah 2:8) It may be small, but it is very important. I suspect that the Lord will do important things there at some point in the future. Praise His name!