* chief fathers.
13 Ne 11:1-15
* Jerusalem.
We have already seen the situation and extent of this ancient
city, (Note on 8:28;) but the Jerusalem of sacred history is
no more. After having been successively destroyed by the
Babylonians and Romans, and taken by the Saracens, Crusaders,
and Turks, in the possession of the latter of whom it still
continues, not a vestige remains of the capital of David and
Solomon, not a monument of Jewish times is standing. The very
course of the walls is changed, and the boundaries of the
ancient city are become doubtful. The monks pretend to shew
the sites of the sacred places; but they have not the
slightest pretensions to even a probable identity with the
real places. The Jerusalem that now is, however, called by
the Arabs {El Kouds,} or "the holy city," is still a
respectable, good-looking town, of an irregular shape: it is
surrounded by high embattled walls, enclosing an area not
exceeding two miles and a half, and occupying two small hills,
having the valley of Jehoshaphat on the east, the valley of
Siloam and Gehinnom on the south, and the valley of Rephaim on
the west; and containing a population variously estimated at
from 20,000; to 30,000; souls.
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