City of David - the Palace

As a follow up to my previous post discussing water projects around the City of David this post will discuss the Palace. The palace that was uncovered was probably also King David’s Palace. There is not enough space for another palace in the City of David which is a small area to begin with. We can, therefore, assume that it was the palace of the King of Judea.

How do we know that this is the palace?

Nearby, a large amount of seals, 88, were found and a name of a minister, that is mentioned in the Bible, is stamped on one of them. This substantial number of seals found in one small area, near the big building, leads us to think that this was the headquarters.

Additionally, this building despite being built within the walls is still fortified like a fortress. History tells us that Kings fortified their palaces even if they were built within the city walls.

In ancient times the common people used to take advantage of existing walls to support their own homes, and remnants of such homes have been uncovered. And when we stand on the Palace and look down at the buildings, we can imagine King David standing there in the morning and looking down at Bat-Sheva (Samuel II ch:11-12).

We can clearly see the Kidron Valley from the Palace and the tombs on the slopes of Mt. of Olives. As a side note, to the best of my knowledge, this is the most ancient cemetery in the world that is still active.

The entire area of the City of David is nowadays in a village named ‘Silwan’. Names can sometimes give us many clues and much information, as may be the case here. Down the hill, we can see the Siloam Pool and the ascending road of the pilgrims from the pool up to Temple Mt. Directly below this Pilgrims Road, there is a sewage tunnel that also takes us up to the area of the Holy Temple.

I’d like to than AnnRina and the Jerusalem Watch for this video.