Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Douglas Wilson is a senior fellow of theology at New Saint Andrews College. Wilson isthe author of numerous books on education, theology, and culture, including: The Case for Classical Christian Education , Recovering the Lost Tools of Learning , Mother Kirk , and Angels in the Architecture , as well as biographies on both Anne Bradstreet and John Knox.

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5 CITIES That RULED the WORLD

Thomas Nelson

Contents

Introduction.........................ixJerusalem............................1Athens...............................43Rome.................................83London...............................117New York.............................153Epilogue.............................183Notes................................201Acknowledgments......................217About the Author.....................221Index................................225

Chapter One

For many thousands of years, Jerusalem has been situated at one of the busiest intersections of history. From the wars of King David to yesterday's terrorist attacks, Jerusalem has consistently been in the middle of things. Today it is a holy city for three major religions, and that has been no small part of many of our current conflicts. In years past, because Jerusalem was situated in a perilous spot between major powers-whether those powers were Egypt, Babylon, Persia, Rome, or the Parthians-many armies met to fight there. So that caused significant problems. As a result, the city has known many masters-first the tribe of Melchizedek (unless he was a Jebusite), followed by the Jebusites, the nation of Israel under David, the Babylonians, the Persians, the Greeks, independence under the Hasmoneans, the pagan Romans, the Byzantine Christians, the Persians again for a few years, the Muslims, the crusaders, the Muslims again, the British, and an independent government of Israel in 1948, with the recapture of Jerusalem by the Jews in 1967. And I have probably left out some important lords-of-the-place-for-the-time-being, and I offer them my sincere apologies.

Jerusalem, the city of peace, has been a busy place of seemingly unending conflict. Pastor and educator George Grant quoted an observer who shrewdly noted that the constant strife in Jerusalem is not an interruption of its historical charm-that is Jerusalem's historical charm. Despite this conflict (and some could argue because of it), the city has left us a legacy that does not depend on armies, a legacy of the spirit.

Moriah and Melchizedek

Centuries ago, an elderly man named Abraham and his young son named Isaac were walking slowly toward the future site of Jerusalem. Servants accompanied them, but when they got close to the mountain, the father instructed the servants to stay where they were. He said that he and his son were going up on the mountain to worship God, and then both of them would return. That was a remarkable statement, given what the father planned to do on that mountain: take his son and sacrifice him there.

God had promised Abraham a lineage, but He had promised it specifically through Isaac. When Isaac was finally born to his aged parents, Sarah and Abraham, God tested Abraham. God instructed Abraham to "go to the land of Moriah, and offer [Isaac] there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you" (Gen. 22:2 ESV).

This story is often read as though it were a test of Abraham's love or dedication to God. But it was actually a test of faith. God had told Abraham specifically that he would have innumerable descendants and that they would be reckoned through Isaac. The test was whether Abraham was really going to believe God's promise.

This fascinating and terrifying story fits into our history of Jerusalem because of where Abraham's near sacrifice of Isaac occurred. At the end of the previous chapter of Genesis, Abraham was in Beersheba, which is a little less than fifty miles from the region of Moriah, where God had told him to go. And when he got there, God said that He would identify a particular mountain for Abraham. On foot, that's a long journey for one donkey and four men. Centuries later, the children of Israel were told that God would choose to set His name in a particular city (Deut. 12:5). King David accomplished that final settlement when he took the city away from the Jebusites, but the process of selection began with Abraham's wrenching journey to that place.

Men lived in this place long before the Israelites did, and the name goes back that far as well. The place was called Uru-Salem in ancient cuneiform tablets that have been discovered. Uru is related to an ancient word for city, and Salem was the name of a local god. But Salem is also close to the Hebrew word for peace-shalom-and so they thought of it as Jeru-shalom, the city of peace. Malchizedek, an ancient priest-king who lived there in the time of Abraham-several thousand years before Christ-was "king of Salem, that is, king of peace" (Heb. 7:2 ESV).

David and Solomon

In the time of Abraham and Melchizedek, the Hebrews were a very small nomadic tribe. When Abraham's grandson Jacob went to live in Egypt, the band was around seventy or so. But when Moses led the people out of slavery a few centuries later, they had grown to a multitude-more than a million people. After the Israelites left Egypt and invaded Canaan from the east, from across the Jordan River, they were not able to conquer the land all at once. One obvious example was Jerusalem, inhabited by Jebusites, who were fairly certain of their prospects for defense. The Jebusites were a Canaanitic tribe, and all through the period of Israel's judges they were able to hold out against the Israelites. Their city was a natural fortress with a readily available supply of water. The time of the judges ended with the reign of Saul, who was followed by David, the second king over all twelve tribes. When David finally made the strategic decision to mount an assault on Jerusalem, the defenders were pretty cocky about David's chances. The Jebusites declared to him: "'You will not come in here, but the blind and the lame will ward you off'-thinking, 'David cannot come in here'" (2 Sam. 5:6 ESV).

Up to that point, the settlement of Canaan had been according to the allotment given to the various tribes. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were the patriarchs of Israel, and the twelve tribes were descended from Jacob's sons. The rise of David to power was part of a strong governmental consolidation, one that set the stage for a move away from tribal government. Once the city was in his hands, he made Jerusalem the "City of David," and it became a true capital city under his oversight.

David's son Solomon completed this task, dividing Israel into administrative provinces. Each district under Solomon had to provide the food for the palace for a month, which was no small burden. This centralization and increased taxation were "tolerable" because of the widespread prosperity, which is the way it frequently goes. David had anticipated this move because he had minimized the importance of tribal boundaries.

The ark of the covenant was the central embodiment of God's presence with Israel, normally housed in the tabernacle's holiest place. When the time of the judges came to a disastrous end, Israel lost the ark to the Philistines in battle. After the ark of the covenant was recovered from the Philistines a short time later, David eventually had it brought back to Jerusalem. He established a tabernacle for the ark on Mount Zion, but no ongoing sacrifices were performed there. It was a place for the sacrifices of praise and music. David was a notable musician, and this particular reformation introduced music into the worship of God,...