JERUSALEM
The city that the Bible tells most about is Jerusalem. It is on a high ridge of hills in the middle of the land. On one side of it is a deep valley, and across the valley a hill called the Mount of Olives. On that hill there was a village, Bethany, where some of Jesus' friends lived. Deep valleys were on two other sides of the city.
Why did they build cities on the hilltops, and not in the valleys? Because, in the old days when wars often took place, a city on a hilltop could not be so easily taken. It was a safe place to live. To make it still safer, a wall was built around it, very thick and high. On the top there was a path, with a low wall outside, so that in war armed men could go up and shoot from the wall. In the walls there were great gates, that were shut at night and when there was a war.
In the city of Jerusalem was the palace of the Jewish kings, and the temple. King Solomon built the first temple. It stood for over three hundred and fifty years, then it was destroyed in a war. The city was burned and the walls thrown down, and many of the people were killed. After more than fifty years, another temple was built on the same spot. It was later added to and made more beautiful. It was built of white stone. A man who saw it wrote that it looked, when the sun shone on it, like a mountain of snow.
THE SISTINE MADONNA
By Raphael (1483-1520)
Raphael is generally considered the greatest of all painters, and the Sistine Madonna is the most famous Madonna in the world.
"The Sistine Madonna is above all words of praise; all extravagance of expression is silenced before her simplicity. Not one false note, not one exaggerated emphasis, jars upon the harmony of body, soul, and spirit. Confident, but entirely unassuming; serious, but without sadness; joyous, but not to mirthfulness; eager, but without haste; she moves steadily forward with steps timed to the rhythmic music of the spheres."--Estelle M. Hurll
This stood a long time, almost six hundred years, then in another war it also was thrown down, and never has been built again. It was this temple that was standing when Christ lived. He often taught in the open spaces about it. When he was a boy of twelve he first visited it, and the last days of his life he spent teaching in it. Jesus loved the temple and Jerusalem very much. He was very sorry that it must be destroyed. He said once, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not!"
A Jewish poet wrote a little poem about Jerusalem, to show how he loved it. Here it is:--
"I was glad when they said unto me,
Let us go into the house of the Lord.
"Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem.
"Jerusalem is builded as a city that is compact together:
"Whither the tribes go up, the tribes of the
Lord, unto the testimony of Israel, to give
thanks unto the name of the Lord.
"Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
they shall prosper that love thee. [{222}]
"Peace be within thy walls,
and prosperity within thy palaces.
"For my brethren and companions' sakes,
I will now say, Peace be within thee.
"Because of the house of the Lord our God
I will seek thy good."
Another poet who was living in a foreign land, wrote another poem:--
"By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat
down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.
"We hung our harps upon the willows in
the midst thereof.
"For there they that carried us away captive
required of us a song; and they that
wasted us required of us mirth, saying,
Sing us one of the songs of Zion.
"How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?
"If I forget thee, O Jerusalem,
let my right hand forget her cunning.
"If I do not remember thee, let my tongue
cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer
not Jerusalem above my chief joy."
When one Bible writer hoped for some great good in the future, and wanted to make a very glorious picture, as splendid as he could, he told of a city coming down from heaven, and called it the New Jerusalem, because that city was dearer to him than any other place he knew, and he said:--
"AND I JOHN SAW THE HOLY CITY,
NEW JERUSALEM,
COMING DOWN FROM GOD OUT OF HEAVEN."