Jerusalem
The city David made his capital and where Solomon built the temple. It is the setting of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus and of the first church, and is holy to Jews, Christians and Muslims.
Jerusalem stands in the Judean hills, about 750 metres above sea level. David took it from the Jebusites and made it his capital (2 Samuel 5:6–10), and the temple built there made it the centre of Israel’s worship. It was destroyed by Babylon in 587/586 BC and by Rome in AD 70, and each time became the focus of hope for restoration.
What happened here
- about 2085 BC, traditional dateMelchizedek Blesses Abram
Genesis tells how Melchizedek, king of Salem and priest of God Most High, meets Abram with bread and wine after a battle, blesses him and receives a tenth of everything. Psalm 110 names a priesthood after him, and Hebrews applies it to Jesus.
- about 2050 BC, traditional dateThe Binding of Isaac
In Genesis God tests Abraham by telling him to offer his son Isaac as a burnt offering in the land of Moriah. Abraham obeys, an angel stops his hand, and a ram is offered in the boy’s place. The promise is confirmed with an oath.
- about 1003 BC, estimated dateDavid Takes Jerusalem and Brings the Ark
David captures the Jebusite stronghold of Zion, makes it his capital and brings the ark of the covenant there with music and dancing. Jerusalem becomes both the royal city and a centre of Israel’s worship.
- about 1000 BC, traditional dateGod’s Covenant with David
David proposes to build a temple for the ark. Through the prophet Nathan he is told instead that God will build him a house, a dynasty whose throne will stand for ever. The promise becomes the root of the hope for a Messiah.
- about 995 BC, traditional dateDavid, Bathsheba and Nathan
Samuel tells how David takes Bathsheba, the wife of one of his warriors, and when she is pregnant has her husband Uriah killed in battle. The prophet Nathan confronts him. The child dies; a second son, Solomon, is born.
- about 966 BC to 959 BC, estimated dateSolomon Builds the Temple
In the fourth year of his reign Solomon begins a temple for the Lord in Jerusalem, with cedar and craftsmen from Hiram of Tyre. Seven years later the ark is carried into its inner room and the house is dedicated.
- about 925 BC, estimated dateShishak Invades Judah
In Rehoboam’s fifth year the Egyptian king Shishak marches on Jerusalem and carries off the treasures of the temple and the palace. Shoshenq I’s relief at Karnak lists towns he claimed in Judah, Israel and the Negev.
- about 740 BC, estimated dateThe Call of Isaiah
In the year King Uzziah dies, Isaiah sees the Lord enthroned in the temple and is sent as a prophet to Judah. When Syria and Israel attack, he tells King Ahaz to trust God, gives the sign of Immanuel and speaks of a coming king from David’s line.
- 701 BC, firm dateHezekiah Withstands Sennacherib
Sennacherib of Assyria overruns Judah, takes Lachish and shuts Hezekiah up in Jerusalem. Hezekiah pays tribute, Isaiah promises that the city will not fall, and it is not taken. Assyrian annals and reliefs record the campaign from the other side.
- 627 BC, estimated dateThe Call of Jeremiah
In the thirteenth year of King Josiah, Jeremiah, of a priestly family at Anathoth, is called to be a prophet to the nations. For some forty years he warns Judah of disaster from the north, and he promises a new covenant written on the heart.
- 622 BC, estimated dateJosiah’s Reform and the Book of the Law
During repairs to the temple in Josiah’s eighteenth year the high priest Hilkiah finds a book of the law. The king consults the prophetess Huldah, renews the covenant, destroys the shrines of other gods throughout the land and keeps a great Passover.
- 609 BC, firm dateJosiah Falls at Megiddo
Pharaoh Necho marches north to the Euphrates in support of Assyria. King Josiah of Judah goes out against him at Megiddo and is killed. Three months later Necho deposes Josiah’s son Jehoahaz and makes Jehoiakim king as Egypt’s vassal.
- 16 March 597 BC, firm dateThe First Deportation to Babylon
Nebuchadnezzar takes Jerusalem, deports the young king Jehoiachin with thousands of Judah’s leading people, and puts Zedekiah on the throne. Babylon’s own chronicle dates the capture to the day.
- 587/586 BC, estimated dateThe Fall of Jerusalem and the Destruction of the Temple
After a long siege the Babylonian army breaches Jerusalem, burns Solomon’s temple and the city, and deports most of the remaining people. The kingdom of Judah comes to an end.
- about 550 BC to 539 BC, estimated dateThe Prophecy of Comfort and the Suffering Servant
Isaiah 40–55 tells the exiles that their punishment is over, names Cyrus as the Lord’s anointed who will send them home, and speaks of a servant who suffers for the sins of many.
- 538 BC, estimated dateThe Edict of Cyrus and the First Return
Cyrus of Persia, having taken Babylon, allows the Judean exiles to go home and rebuild the temple in Jerusalem, and hands back the temple vessels. A first group returns.
- March 515 BC, estimated dateThe Second Temple Is Completed
After years of delay the returned exiles, urged on by the prophets Haggai and Zechariah and backed by a decree of Darius, finish rebuilding the temple in Jerusalem. It is dedicated in the spring of 515 BC.
- 458 BC, estimated dateEzra Brings the Law to Jerusalem
The priest and scribe Ezra comes from Babylon with a commission from the Persian king, confronts marriages with foreign wives, and reads the law of Moses aloud to the assembled people, who bind themselves to keep it.
- 445 BC, estimated dateNehemiah Rebuilds the Walls of Jerusalem
Nehemiah, cupbearer to the Persian king, is sent to Judah as governor and rebuilds the ruined walls of Jerusalem in fifty-two days against the opposition of Sanballat of Samaria. He then reforms the city’s debts, Sabbath and temple.
- about 435 BC, estimated dateMalachi and the Close of the Prophets
The last book of the Twelve Prophets rebukes the priests and people of rebuilt Jerusalem and promises a messenger who will prepare the Lord’s way, and the return of Elijah. The Gospels apply both to John the Baptist.
- 332 BC, firm dateAlexander the Great Conquers the Near East
Alexander of Macedon defeats the Persian king, takes Tyre and Gaza by siege and founds Alexandria in Egypt. Judea passes from Persian to Greek rule. Josephus, centuries later, tells of a visit to Jerusalem.
- 167 BC, estimated dateAntiochus IV Desecrates the Temple
The Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes plunders the temple in Jerusalem, forbids the practice of the Jewish law on pain of death and has a pagan altar set up on the altar of burnt offering.
- 167 BC to 164 BC, estimated dateThe Maccabean Revolt and the Rededication of the Temple
The priest Mattathias and his sons take up arms against the decrees of Antiochus IV. Judas Maccabeus defeats the king’s generals, cleanses the temple and rededicates the altar, an event kept each year as the feast of Dedication, Hanukkah.
- 142 BC, firm dateJudea Gains Independence under the Hasmoneans
Simon, the last of the Maccabee brothers, wins freedom from Seleucid tribute and is made high priest and ruler by a national assembly. His son John Hyrcanus enlarges the state by conquest. Judea is ruled by its own priest-princes for some eighty years.
- 63 BC, firm datePompey Takes Jerusalem
Called in by two Hasmonean brothers who are fighting for the throne, the Roman general Pompey storms the temple mount and enters the sanctuary. Judea loses its independence and becomes tributary to Rome.
- 40 BC to 37 BC, estimated dateHerod the Great Becomes King of Judea
The Roman senate names Herod, son of the Idumean Antipater, king of the Jews. Three years later he takes Jerusalem with a Roman army, and the last Hasmonean king is executed. Herod rules as Rome’s client until his death.
- 20/19 BC, estimated dateHerod Rebuilds the Temple
Herod replaces the temple built after the exile with a far larger sanctuary of white stone and gold on a greatly extended platform. This is the temple of the Gospels. Work on it continues for decades, almost until its destruction in AD 70.
- 4 BC, estimated dateThe Death of Herod and the Division of His Kingdom
Herod the Great dies at Jericho. Augustus divides his kingdom among three sons: Archelaus in Judea, Antipas in Galilee and Perea, Philip in the north-east. Matthew sets the return of Jesus’ family from Egypt at this point.
- AD 6, firm dateJudea Comes under Direct Roman Rule
Augustus banishes Archelaus and puts Judea, Samaria and Idumea under a Roman governor. Quirinius, legate of Syria, registers property for taxation, and Judas the Galilean calls for resistance.
- AD 30 or 33, estimated dateJesus Enters Jerusalem
A few days before the Passover Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey from the Mount of Olives. Crowds spread cloaks and branches on the road and hail him with words from Psalm 118, as the one who comes in the name of the Lord.
- AD 30 or 33, estimated dateJesus Drives the Traders from the Temple
Jesus overturns the tables of the money changers in the temple courts and drives out those buying and selling, calling the place a house of prayer made into a den of robbers. Three Gospels set this in his last week, John at the start of his ministry.
- AD 30 or 33, estimated dateThe Last Supper
On the night before he dies Jesus eats with the twelve in Jerusalem, gives them bread and a cup, calling them his body and his blood of the covenant, and foretells his betrayal. John tells instead how he washed their feet. The Gospels differ on the day.
- AD 30 or 33, estimated dateThe Trials before the Council and Pilate
The Gospels tell how Jesus is questioned before the high priest Caiaphas and the council, judged guilty of blasphemy, and handed in the morning to the Roman prefect Pontius Pilate, who has him flogged and orders him crucified as “King of the Jews”.
- AD 30 or 33, estimated dateThe Crucifixion
Jesus is crucified outside Jerusalem at a place called Golgotha, on the order of Pontius Pilate, under the charge “King of the Jews”, and dies the same afternoon. Tacitus mentions the execution, and so does a passage of disputed wording in Josephus.
- AD 30 or 33, estimated dateThe Burial and Resurrection
The Gospels tell that Jesus was buried in a rock tomb on the evening of his death and that on the first day of the week women found the tomb open and empty and were told that he had risen. That God raised him from the dead is the central claim of Christian faith.
- AD 30 or 33, estimated dateThe Appearances and the Great Commission
The Gospels and Paul report that the risen Jesus appeared to his followers, in Jerusalem, on the road to Emmaus and in Galilee, and sent them to make disciples of all nations. The accounts differ on where and in what order.
- AD 30 or 33, estimated datePentecost
At the feast of Pentecost in Jerusalem, Acts says, the Holy Spirit comes on the followers of Jesus, Peter preaches that God has raised Jesus and made him Lord and Christ, and about three thousand people are baptised.
- about AD 34, estimated dateThe Martyrdom of Stephen
Acts tells how Stephen, one of seven men chosen to serve the Jerusalem church, is accused before the council of speaking against the temple and the law and is stoned to death. The persecution that follows scatters the believers beyond Jerusalem.
- c. AD 31–36, estimated dateThe Conversion of Paul
Saul of Tarsus, a Pharisee who is persecuting the followers of Jesus, becomes one of them near Damascus. Acts tells the story three times, and Paul’s own letters speak of it as a revelation of God’s Son and a call to preach to the Gentiles.
- AD 44, firm dateHerod Agrippa Kills James and Dies at Caesarea
Acts says that King Herod Agrippa I had the apostle James, son of Zebedee, put to death and imprisoned Peter, who escaped. The king died suddenly at Caesarea. Acts and Josephus both describe his death, and the figures Josephus gives put it in AD 44.
- about AD 49, estimated dateThe Council of Jerusalem
Acts tells how Paul and Barnabas go up from Antioch to Jerusalem to settle whether Gentile believers must be circumcised, and how the apostles and elders decide that they need not be. Whether the meeting Paul describes in Galatians is the same one is disputed.
- about AD 57 to AD 59, estimated datePaul’s Arrest and Imprisonment at Caesarea
A riot in the temple puts Paul into Roman custody. He is held for two years at Caesarea under the governor Felix, defends himself before Festus and King Agrippa, and appeals to the emperor.
- AD 62, firm dateThe Death of James, the Brother of the Lord
While Judaea is between Roman governors, the high priest Ananus has James, the leader of the Jerusalem church, condemned and stoned. Josephus records it within a generation; Christian writers a century later tell a fuller story.
- AD 66 to AD 70, firm dateThe Jewish Revolt and the Destruction of the Temple
Judaea rises against Rome in AD 66. After four years of war Titus takes Jerusalem; the temple is burned, the city is razed, and the daily sacrifice comes to an end.
- AD 132 to AD 135, estimated dateThe Bar Kokhba Revolt and Aelia Capitolina
The Jews of Judaea rise against Rome under Simon bar Kosiba, called Bar Kokhba. Hadrian’s armies crush the revolt at great cost, Jerusalem becomes the Roman colony Aelia Capitolina, and Jews are barred from the city.
- AD 335, firm dateThe Church of the Holy Sepulchre Is Dedicated
Constantine has a temple cleared from the site in Jerusalem where a rock tomb is uncovered, and builds a great basilica beside it. Bishops from across the East dedicate it in 335. Later writers add that his mother Helena found the cross there.
- AD 637/638, estimated dateJerusalem Surrenders to the Caliph Umar
Later Christian and Muslim historians tell how Jerusalem, after a siege, was yielded on terms to the caliph Umar; the Christian account names the patriarch Sophronius. One Muslim historian quotes the written guarantee given to its people and churches.
- 1095 to 1099, firm dateThe First Crusade
In 1095 Pope Urban II calls the knights of the West to go east in arms for the remission of their sins. Four years later the armies storm Jerusalem and massacre its defenders and inhabitants, as their own writers report.
- 16 March 1672, firm dateThe Synod of Jerusalem and the Confession of Dositheus
Gathered for the dedication of the rebuilt church of the Nativity at Bethlehem, a synod under Patriarch Dositheus of Jerusalem rejects a confession with Reformed teaching printed under the name of Cyril Lucaris and sets out Orthodox doctrine in eighteen decrees.
- 7 December 1965, firm dateRome and Constantinople Lift the Anathemas of 1054
On 7 December 1965 Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras I declare together that they regret the excommunications exchanged in 1054 and remove them from the memory of the church. The act does not restore communion between the two churches.