The walls that we see today in the Old City of Jerusalem are
not the same walls that Jesus saw, since those where destroyed in the year 70
A.D. by the Romans. In that time, there wasn’t a stone left on top of a stone
(except for the underground foundations). The walls that we see surrounding the
Old City today were built by the Ottoman king Suleiman the Magnificent in the
years 1537-1542. Interestingly, the area that is known as Zion, the highest in
Jerusalem, is the only one that wasn’t surrounded by Suleiman’s walls. The
reason probably was because there was a Franciscan monastery there.
The Jerusalem walls have been built and destroyed several
times, and then it gets rebuilt again. David wrote the following sentence about
these walls (Heb. Homa).
(Psalms 51:18) Do good to Zion
in your good pleasure; build up the walls of Jerusalem
In the past, all the important cities had walls around them,
because they were needed to protect them from invaders. But there will be a day
when Jerusalem won’t need physical walls anymore, because the very Presence of
God will be like a wall of protection…
(Zechariah 2:5) And I will be
to her a wall of fire all around, declares the LORD, and I will be the
glory in her midst.
The prophecy says that in that time Jerusalem will extend
its limits, and the city will grow to receive more people…
(Zechariah 2:1-4) And I lifted my
eyes and saw, and behold, a man with a measuring line in his hand! (2)Then
I said, “Where are you going?” And he said to me, “To measure Jerusalem, to see
what is its width and what is its length.” (3) And behold, the angel who
talked with me came forward, and another angel came forward to meet
him (4) and said to him, “Run, say to that young man, ‘Jerusalem shall be
inhabited as villages without walls, because of the multitude of people and
livestock in it.
Micah also prophesied…
(Micah 7:11) A day for the
building of your walls! In that day the boundary shall be far extended.
PSALMS 125
One of the Psalms that the pilgrims used to sing when they
went up to Jerusalem for the feasts (Heb. Aliyah L’Regel) was Psalms 125,
which talks about how God surrounds Jerusalem, and in the same way keeps those
who trust in Him.
(Psalms 125:1-5) Those who trust
in the LORD are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abides
forever. (2) As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so
the LORD surrounds his people, from this time forth and forevermore.
(3) For the scepter of wickedness shall not rest on the land allotted to the
righteous, lest the righteous stretch out their hands to do wrong. (4) Do good,
O LORD, to those who are good, and to those who are upright in their
hearts! (5) But those who turn aside to their crooked ways
the LORD will lead away with evildoers! Peace be upon Israel!
God’s protection also applies to our daily lives. The
biblical principle says that if we obey, all will go well with us (“Do good to
those who are good and upright in their hearts”); but to those who practice
evil, are left exposed to curses and spiritual consequences. Obedience is the
spiritual wall.
More articles on the
Promised Land, in the page: Israel
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