Choice of Yerushalayim/2

Choice of Yerushalayim

Exegetical Approaches

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Religious Significance

Yerushalayim was picked as David's capital for its religious significance. The city was considered holy and Divinely chosen from the very creation of the world.

Site of Creation – According to --, all of creation stemmed from Jerusalem, as alluded to in Tehillim 50: "מִצִּיּוֹן מִכְלַל יֹפִי אֱלֹהִים הוֹפִיעַ".

Site of Worship – Rambam maintains that the site of the the Mikdash in Yerushalayim had a history of holiness, being a site of Divine worship throughout the ages.  It was the place where Avraham set up an altar to bind Yitzchak, and where Adam, Kayin, Hevel, and Noach all sacrificed to Hashem.¹ This was no coincidence, but a result of the location's inherent chosenness.

"וַיִּקְרָא אַבְרָהָם שֵׁם הַמָּקוֹם הַהוּא י"י יִרְאֶה" – Rambam² learns from Avraham's words that he already declared the site of the Akeidah to be the future site of the Mikdash in Jerusalem. This fact was known to many, so that in the time of Moshe it was said of the mountain, "בְּהַר י"י יֵרָאֶה".

Beit El: "אֵין זֶה כִּי אִם בֵּית אֱלֹהִים"

"הַמָּקוֹם אֲשֶׁר יִבְחַר י"י" – According to this approach, this verse refers specifically to Yerushalayim. Various reasons are given as to why, then, it is not mentioned by name:

• For the nations – Rambam maintains that had the nations known the elevated stature of Yerushalayim they would have either fought violently to control it, or destroyed the city so as to prevent others from having it.
• For Israel – Keli Yekar, in contrast, suggests that Hashem wanted to keep the name a secret lest people belittle the earlier sites

Jerusalem in the period of the Avot

Military and Economic Advantages

David chose Jerusalem as his capital due to a combination of strategic factors including its defensibility, central location, and availability of water sources and other resources.

Political Move

David's choice was political in nature, a part of his effort to unite the various tribes (especially Yehuda and Binyamin) into one centralized nation.

¹ See Bereshit Rabbah 34:9 and Pirkei deRabbi Eliezer 2323About Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer. This, however, is not at all clear from a simple reading of Sefer Bereshit.  No sacrifice of Adam is even mentioned,

² See also Targum Onkelos, who does not explicitly mention the Mikdash but explains similarly: "וּפְלַח וְצַלִּי אַבְרָהָם, תַּמָּן בְּאַתְרָא הַהוּא, אֲמַר קֳדָם יְיָ הָכָא יְהוֹן פָּלְחִין דָּרַיָּא".