Walls and Gates of Jerusalem at the time of Nehemiah

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This is my plan drawing of the walls, gates, towers, etc of Jerusalem, about the time of Nehemiah’s return to the ruined city (around 444 B.C.).

The walls, gates, towers & structures of the city of Jerusalem have changed a lot over time. A long before the Israelites entered the Promised Land (around 1400 B.C.), the Jebusites lived securely within the walls of Jerusalem. Scholars believe the first human settlements in Jerusalem took place during the Early Bronze Age—somewhere around 3500 B.C. The city was originally named Jebus, hence dwellers in the city were called Jebusites. The city was blessed with natural valleys around it that made it easy for the Jebusites to defend, plus the city walls and its fortress provided additional protection against invasion… or so the Jebusites believed!

Despite the Jebusites confidence in the defend-ability of Jebus/Jerusalem, King David captured the city around 1003 B.C. [1]. The reletively modest city was renamed The City of David. King David set about building in the city and his son Solomon built the temple mount platform, on Mount Moriah, & set about constructing the first temple about 40 years later. King Solomon added walls from the City of David, which encompassed the temple & Temple Mount.

Hezekiah’s Broad Wall Expansion of the Western Hill
The Assyrians, headed by Sennacherib (about 701 B.C.) invaded Judah, the Southern Kingdom of Israel, directly due to the Israelites disobedience of God’s commands. The Lord God allowed most of Judah to be conquered but protected Jerusalem because of Hezekiah’s (the then king) obedience to Him. As Hezekiah began to prepare for what he knew would be a terrible siege by the merciless Assyrians, he decided he had to build new defenses for Jerusalem.
During the peaceful time of king Hezekiah, Jerusalem’s urban population had grown enormously, & stretched far outside the old walls of the city and were thus unprotected. King Hezekiah fortified the existing walls of the city and rapidly had built a new wall (the Broad wall) to protect those people living outside the main city walls [2].

Hezekiah built a water tunnel in order to keep the water from the Gihon Spring inside the city walls so that the Assyrians couldn’t cut off the city’s water supply (2 Chron. 32:3–4).

Despite these reinforcements, the Babylonians did invade & occupy Jerusalem in 586 B.C. They destroyed the Temple, burnt the gates with fire & pulled down the walls. They then sent the Jews off into exile to Babylon. About 538 B.C. the Persian King Cyrus conquered the Babylonian empire & was moved by the Lord God to allow the Jews to return to Jerusalem and rebuild their Temple. In fac t there 3 returns from exile, it was in the last one that Nehemiah came to Jerusalem, & set about rebuilding the walls, gates & defences of the city. In just 52 days, with many people’s help, the walls were rebuilt, despite much opposition [3].

[1]
2 Samuel 5:6-10 New International Version (NIV)
David Conquers Jerusalem
6 The king [David] and his men marched to Jerusalem to attack the Jebusites, who lived there. The Jebusites said to David, “You will not get in here; even the blind and the lame can ward you off.” They thought, “David cannot get in here.” 7 Nevertheless, David captured the fortress of Zion—which is the City of David.

8 On that day David had said, “Anyone who conquers the Jebusites will have to use the water shaft to reach those ‘lame and blind’ who are David’s enemies (or, are hated by David).” That is why they say, “The ‘blind and lame’ will not enter the palace.”

9 David then took up residence in the fortress and called it the City of David. He built up the area around it, from the terraces (or, the Millo) inward. 10 And he became more and more powerful, because the Lord God Almighty was with him.

[2]
5 Then he [king Hezekiah] worked hard repairing all the broken sections of the wall and building towers on it. He built another wall outside that one and reinforced the terraces (or, the Millo) of the City of David. He also made large numbers of weapons and shields.

[3]
Nehemiah 6:15-16 New International Version (NIV)
15 So the wall was completed on the twenty-fifth of Elul, in fifty-two days.

Opposition to the Completed Wall
16 When all our enemies heard about this, all the surrounding nations were afraid and lost their self-confidence, because they realized that this work had been done with the help of our God.

Link to related Bible Cartoon
Click colour bar below to see the Bible Cartoon of Eliashib rebuilding the Sheep gate, on the BC Gallery page, with download & purchase options:
Bible Cartoon: Nehemiah 03 – Rebuilding Jerusalem’s walls

Click colour bar below to see the Bible Cartoon of Eliashib rebuilding the Sheep gate, on the BC Gallery page, with download & purchase options:
Bible Cartoon: Nehemiah 03 – Rebuilding Jerusalem’s walls – Scene 01 – Eliashib rebuilds the Sheep gate

Click colour bar below to see the Bible Cartoon of Eliashib rebuilding the Sheep gate, on the BC Gallery page, with download & purchase options:
Bible Cartoon: Nehemiah 03 – Rebuilding Jerusalem’s walls – Scene 02 – Men of Jericho repair walls

Click colour bar below to see the Bible Cartoon of Eliashib rebuilding the Sheep gate, on the BC Gallery page, with download & purchase options:
Bible Cartoon: Nehemiah 03 – Rebuilding Jerusalem’s walls – Scene 03 – Zaccur repairs walls

Click colour bar below to see the Bible Cartoon of Eliashib rebuilding the Sheep gate, on the BC Gallery page, with download & purchase options:
Bible Cartoon: Nehemiah 03 – Rebuilding Jerusalem’s walls – Scene 04 – Sons of Hassenaah rebuild the Fish Gate

Click colour bar below to read the BC Encyclopaedia article about the history of Jerusalem:
BC Encyclopedia: Jerusalem: Gates and Walls