The Stone Hillside of Jerusalem

In the 1920s, R. A. Stewart Macalister excavated a stone structure in Jerusalem and called the remains a ramp. Later scholars have not all agreed.

Scripture: Nevertheless David took the stronghold of Zion. This is David’s city.

Second Samuel tells of David taking a stronghold held by the Jebusites. Nearby verses add that he built around from a place called Millo, and reigned thirty-three years in Jerusalem.

Before Jerusalem came Hebron, where he reigned over Judah for seven years and six months. There the elders of Israel anointed him king over Israel, per 2 Samuel.

Kathleen Kenyon, in the 1960s, dated it to the start of Iron Age II, given as 1000 to 900 BCE. Yigal Shiloh dug in the seventies and eighties.

Dates differ. Jodi Magness argues for an original twelfth century BCE build. Israel Finkelstein and colleagues argue the upper part was built, or substantially rebuilt, in the Hasmonean period, roughly the second and first centuries BCE.

Eilat Mazar's dig directly above reportedly found it connects with and supports the Large Stone Structure. She hypothesizes both form one royal palace, with the Large Stone Structure in use from the tenth century until 586 BCE.

Her biblical link is the House of Millo in Second Kings twelve, verse twenty-one, where King Joash was reportedly assassinated, dated in this account to 799 BCE. That is her interpretation, not settled fact.

So any link to the passage is only hypothesized: a structure in the City of David, the oldest part of Jerusalem, with date and purpose still argued. It sits on the eastern side of the City of David, shown here in a view from the Mount of Olives.

A hillside of stones, and still no single answer. May the Lord Jesus Christ be with you today. Follow this page for another look at the ground beneath the Bible.