The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1912-11-16
JERUSALEM: ITS NAME
AND ANTIQUITY
A Revered City-origin of the Name
Probably the Most Ancient of
All the Cities Now Inhabited.
written specially for The Catholic
Bulletin by Rev. J. Gmeiner.)


Bulletin by Rev. J. Gmeiner.)
What memories does the name of
Jerusalem recall to the mind: Jeru-
salem, the Holy City of the Old Testa-
ment since the days of David; Jeru-
salem, the scene of the great Sacrifice
of the Cross and the last days of Our
Savior's earthly life; Jerusalem, the
sanctified place where the Holy Ghost
came down on the Apostles and the
first faithful and where the Catholic
Church had it's origin; Jerusalem, the
center of the conflicts for ages be-
tween the followers of Mohammed and
the Crusaders; Jerusalem, for many
ages looked upon with profound rev.
erence by Jews, Christians and Mo-
hammedans.
The Jews love Jerusalem with un-
dying love as their Holy City; the
Christians, because it is the original
home of their religion; and the Mo-
hamm medans, because they profoundly
revere Christ as one of the greatest
of prophets.
This latter fact seems to be little
known. For the sake of Christ, the
Mohammedans cherish feelings of
great respect for all places once hal
lowed by His presence. Next to Mec-
ca and Medina, Jerusalem is Holy
City to the Mohammedans.
Their sacred book, AL Koran, speaks
very reverently of the Virgin Mother
of Our Savior; and in chapter has
the following remarkable words:
God said, o Jesus, verify will cause
Thee to die, and I will take Thee up
unto Me, and I will deliver Thee from
the unbelievers; and will place those
who follow Thee above the unbeliev-
ers, until the day of resurrection
One of the Oldest Cities.
Jerusalem is not only most widely
revered city, but it is also one of the
oldest cities of the world.
We generally read of Jerusalem as
a city of the Jebusites, taken by David
about 1000 B. c., and called Jebus.
Hence there is a widespread impress
sion that the name Jerusalem" came
into use with the day Of David.
But already in Josue's time, long
before David, the name Jerusalem"
seems to have been known, as may be
inferred from the statement, "Jebus,
which is Jerusalem" (Josue: 18, 28.)
And in several other passages of the
books of Josue and Judges the name
Jerusalem is mentioned
But the name of jerusalem
reaches up to a still higher antiquity.
In 1887, about one hundred and
eighty miles south of Cairo, Egypt, a
remarkable collection of letters, the
Amarna Letters, inscribed on clay tab
let's, was discovered, which contain
the correspondence between two Egyp-
tian kings who lived in the fifteenth
or fourteenth century before Christ
and their officials in Palestine,
Phoenicia and Syria and some friend
ly Eastern rulers. In these Amarna
letters, Jerusalem is called "Uru-
sa1im." This conclusively shows that
the name Jerusalem" or "Urusalim,' =
was already known about 1450 B. G..
Yet still, still further into antiquity
reaches the name of Jerusalem, at
least in an abbreviated form.
In Genesis, IA, Is, we read that
Abraham met Melchisedech, king Of
Salem. It is generally admitted that
the city of Salem mentioned here was
Jerusalem. This brings the antiquity
OF Jerusalem to the days OF Abraham,
who was contemporary OF the we'll
known Babylonian king Hammurabi
about 2240 B. G. How long befoFe