FEATURE

In and Around Jerusalem Today

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JERUSALEM—once the center of true worship of Jehovah God, but no longer the city bearing God’s name. Jerusalem lost its privileged position after it apostatized from the teachings of God’s Word and rejected the Messiah, Jesus. (Lu 13:34, 35) To this day, however, Jerusalem is of keen interest to lovers of the Bible because events of universal importance took place there.

An aerial view of the city from the south shows features of Jerusalem in relation to one another. Mount Moriah, where the temple was located, is in the background. In the foreground is Mount Zion, bounded by the torrent valley of Kidron on the east and the Tyropoeon Valley on the west. The City of David was built on Mount Zion.

Standing on the Mount of Olives to the east of Jerusalem, a person can look across the Kidron Valley and see the site where the temple once stood. Now it is dominated by a Muslim shrine known as the Dome of the Rock. Jesus was “sitting on the Mount of Olives with the temple in view” when he gave his famous prophecy about “the conclusion of the system of things.”—Mr 13:3; Mt 24:3.

The temple site as seen from the Mount of Olives. In the foreground are the burial places of Jews who believed that someday the Messiah would appear here

The Holyland Model in Jerusalem is a model of what many believe represents the appearance of first-century Jerusalem

The Garden Tomb (top) and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (bottom, first-century tombs inside). Each is claimed by some to be the site of Jesus’ burial

Damascus Gate, Jerusalem

Street scene in the old part of Jerusalem

The Valley of Hinnom, which lay to the south and southwest of ancient Jerusalem, was called Gehenna in the first century

The Pool of Siloam, fed by the spring of Gihon through Hezekiah’s Tunnel

The first-century Pool of Siloam, where Jesus told a blind man to wash and be healed (Joh 9:7)

Traditional location of the garden of Gethsemane

Bethany, as it now appears

Warren’s Shaft, through which water from the spring of Gihon could have been drawn by buckets. It may have been through such a shaft that David’s men gained access to the Jebusite stronghold on Zion (2Sa 5:8)