Evening capital news. (Boise, Idaho) 1901-1927, 1917-04-22
The Sacred
City That Has
Cost More
Human Lives
Than Any
Other Spot on
Earth Again
to Pass Into
Christian Hands
By Dr.. Clifton Hardy Leuy

JERUSALEM, the Holy City to Jew,
Christian and Mohammedan alike, is
J now to be besieged for the seventh time
in history. The British invaders, making
their way~up from Sues, have taken the
shortcut almost due north, instead of TAX
ing the roundabout path followed by the an
cient Hebrews, when they came out Of
Egypt under the leadership Of Moses, and
are drawing their lines around Jerusalem
itself.
There is no especial strategic Importance
IN the capture of this city, which controls
no rich territory, and does not open the
way to any great country, but from SEN
timental point of view the capture of the
Holy City is of great Importance. There is
hardly any spot on earth which has cost
more human blood in the course of he last
two thousand years than this city, unimport-
ant in commerce, unimportant in wealth, i'm
portant only in sentiment and from q re-
ligious point of view.
Every Bible student knows that Ring
David was forbidden to build the Temple at
Jerusalem, because his hands were filled
with blood" but not SO many remember
that this same David had selected the site
for the Temple when, according to the CON-
mand Of the Prophet Cad, he was told to
erect an altar to God Of the Hebrews upon
the "threshing-ho of Araunah" in Jeru-
salem, and that he purchased the great rock
which Araunah had used as a threshing-
floor, paying the sum Of fifty shekels of sill
yer for it, according to Q Samuel, Chapter
XIV.
This enormous natural rock was after
wards covered by the magnificent Temple of
Solomon, and now is shown beneath the
dome of the Ell Aksa Mosque, also called
the "Dome of the Rock" because of this
sacred stone
The Mohammedans call it "The navel Of
the EARTH" considering it the centre of or
planet, second only to the great stone Of the
Caaba at Mecca.
Long before there was any thought Of
Mohammedanism, Jerusalem was great
city, even before the Hebrews came into the
Promised Land is seems to have been an i'm
portant centre, probably being a capital of
the Amorites In the famous Tel-Amarna
tablets, those cuneiform bricks which have
much of royal correspondence of the Six
teenth Century B. c., are letters exchanged
between great king of the Amorites living
in Uru-Salimu (Jerusalem) and Amenophis
III. of Egypt: Later letters in this collec-
ton, betwee- kings of Egypt and Baby
lon, ref. >sturbances in Palestine and
speak Of attacks upon Jerusalem by tribes
Of the 'Abiri or Habiri, which some schol-
ars believe refer to the invasion Of the
country by the Hebrews under the leader
ship of Joshua.
David conquered the hilltop Of Zion from
the Jebusites, and thereafter Jerusalem was
known as "The City of David, for he made
it great city. Solomon, his son and sue
cessor, was the builder Of the Temple, which
he erected on the. ridge east Of the city,
where the threshing- floor Of Araunah had
been consecrated by the altar erected by
David. This rock was called by the Hebrews
the Sakhrah, and is held to be the "Founda-
ton Of the WorldI by the Moslems, and
they also believe that it is Crock Of
Paradise, /" suspended over the abyss where
souls dwell until the Judgment.
When the northern kingdom of Israel was
formed, Jerusalem still remained the Cap
ital Of the southern kingdom Of Judah. The
city had been attacked BY the Assyrians,