Archaeologists in the City of David, Jerusalem, discovered a 79 foot section of the 17th C BC city, constructed 7 centuries before King David conquered the city and made it his capital. The massive 26 (!) foot high wall was excavated by a team headed by Prof. Ronny Reich of the University of Haifa. It may have protected the walkway from the eastern slopes of the city to the Gihon spring down in the Kidron valley.
>>> Photo at right shows a section of the wall (courtesy IAA) >>>
The Middle Bronze period walls are from the time of the meeting of Abraham with the King of Salem (Genesis 14, 18-20): "And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine. And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth. And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all".
This wall made the Canaanite city (named Salem/Shalem) very well protected. Years later, during the 13th C conquest of Canaan, the Israelites could not conquer the city due to these walls. As per the Bible (1 Judges 21): "And the children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites that inhabited Jerusalem".
King David finally captured the city at about 1,000 BC (2 Samuel 5): "Nevertheless David took the strong hold of Zion: the same is the city of David".
>>> More details in Jerusalem News
