Lecture entitled “Jerusalem in the Bronze Age”
Al-Sharq Center for Research and Culture presents the third lecture of the Jerusalem History series prepared and presented by Dr. Issam Adwan, President of the Center.
(Full video below the article)
Amorite Jerusalem:
Archaeological excavations indicate that the city of Jerusalem was built at the beginning of the ancient Bronze Age, that is, before the advent of the Canaanites and Jebusites, as is commonly believed. She had an Amorist identity, The Amorites were one of the Canaanite tribes that inhabited Palestine, and Jerusalem was a small town on a hill near the Gihon Spring.
It witnessed human settlement and clear agricultural activity, Its houses were circular in shape, Her name was “Menorta”, which suggests Amorian origin, It means candle or light, It is the same meaning of the Canaanite word “Shalem” or “Salem”, At the end of the Old Bronze Age, there was a severe drought and increased indiscriminate migration to Transjordan and northern Arabia.
Canaanite Jerusalem:
The city of Jerusalem was built again in the Middle Bronze Age (Canaanite Jerusalem) or (Oro Salem) i.e. the city of God Salem (peace), One of the religious traditions of the Canaanites was the worship of major gods shared by all Canaanite cities. Each Canaanite city had its own god, from which its name is often derived, such as (Beit Shan) Beit Shean, as it is the city of the god Shan, And Jericho, the city of the moon god wanders, Among the famous Canaanite gods are the gods Ayl and his son, the god Salem or Shalem, the goddess of peace, Hence the city took its Canaanite name Or Shalem, meaning the city of the god Salem, the goddess of peace.
Antiquities in the Middle Bronze Age show that Canaanite Jerusalem was surrounded by a wall of mud and stone on its four sides. It is connected to Gihon’s eye by a secret channel that ends in a reservoir inside the wall, In the Late Bronze Ages, Jerusalem was transformed into Jebusite. The Jebusites are the masters and leaders of the Canaanites in Jerusalem, And from them her name became Jebus.
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Melchizedek is the most famous Arab Canaanite Jebusite king who ruled the city of Jerusalem in the nineteenth century BC. And Melchizedek lived at the time of the Prophet Abraham, peace be upon him, He was the one who received him and his nephew Lot, peace be upon him, in 1805 BC when they came from your southern Iraq as a result of persecution. He honored and welcomed them in the land of Canaan, He believed in their calling.
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Melchizedek is known to have been the first to raise the bases of Al-Aqsa Mosque and rebuild the wall of Jerusalem and draw water to it through rocky tunnels. He used to worship in Al-Aqsa Mosque and slaughter sacrifices on top of the rock, and distribute its meat to the poor, the needy and passers-by, This rock thus took on its sanctity and importance before Islam.
Source: Jerusalem History Course No. (0104) at Al-Quds Open University.
Watch a lecture entitled “Jerusalem in the Bronze Age”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DrvuZCsXdM&list=PLVHdznIg0A0TX3ulO9MH3bxkO8OgxOO0v&index=3
