David was thirty years old when anointed and crowned in Hebron by the elders of the tribes of Israel, with pomp and poetic praise, but not in the presence of prophets or priests. There’s no Samuel. This is a political moment for the king and the Judah-base that supports him. His next move is symbolic and strategic - he’ll establish a new capitol in the Jebusite city-citadel that has already been the mountaintop stronghold of the region for at least a thousand years.
This is the city we know today as Jerusalem.
The Jebusites - indigenous people of Canaan, are mentioned as the city’s rulers not only in the Bible but also in several important archeological findings, dating their presence as early as the 18th century BCE (!) The early Bronze Age city is specifically named in the Egyptian 14th century BCE Amarna Letters as Urusalim. Despite conflicting and confusing references in the Book of Joshua that refer to Jerusalem’s conquest, the most common understanding is that the Jebusite site remained so, wedged between the territories of Benjamin and Judah, until the 10th century BCE and the rise of David of Judah, following the fall of Saul of Benjamin.
Some of this geographical-political arc may help make sense of this story but what exactly were the shifting factors that enabled David to conquer this fort remains a mystery. Although ongoing archaeological research is providing dramatic findings and clues about the origins of the city and its transformation as ‘the City of David’ in the 10th century BCE, there are still holes and riddles in this successful and swift conquest story that have not been fully resolved.
One of the curious aspects in this chapter is the reference to people who are blind and disabled, possibly crippled or with difficulty walking, who have something unclear to do with Jerusalem’s conquest. It is so unclear that even the actual phrase in today’s chapter includes the editors’ explanation:
וַיֵּ֨לֶךְ הַמֶּ֤לֶךְ וַֽאֲנָשָׁיו֙ יְר֣וּשָׁלַ֔͏ִם אֶל־הַיְבֻסִ֖י יוֹשֵׁ֣ב הָאָ֑רֶץ וַיֹּ֨אמֶר לְדָוִ֤ד לֵאמֹר֙ לֹא־תָב֣וֹא הֵ֔נָּה כִּ֣י אִם־הֱסִֽירְךָ֗ הַעִוְרִ֤ים וְהַפִּסְחִים֙ לֵאמֹ֔ר לֹא־יָב֥וֹא דָוִ֖ד הֵֽנָּה׃
“The king and his men set out for Jerusalem towards the Jebusites who inhabited the region. David was told, “You will never get in here! Even the blind and the lame will turn you back.” They meant: David will never enter here.”
Who are the blind and the lame? Interprets and translators have scratched their heads over this odd reference for apparently as long as this text has been written. Their presence does not seem to stop David, who nevertheless hates them so much that he later forbids the entrance to his palace (or to the future temple) to anybody who may be blind or lame. What is this about??
Robert Alter suggests that
“This puzzling phrase is a notorious crux. The most disparate theories have been proposed for how to read the words of the text and how to reconstruct what is said to go on in the conquest of the city...The explanation proposed by Yigael Yadin is probably the most plausible: he points to a Hittite text for the swearing in of troops in which a blind woman and a lame man are set before the men with the monitory imprecation that their fate will be like that of those wretches if they fail in their duty. The Jebusites, then, might have displayed the lame and the blind on the ramparts with an analogous curse against those who would presume to attack the city. This taunting curse would explain why these maimed figures are “despised by David.”
Whatever this odd blindspot is about, what’s clear is that David takes the city and names it ‘The City of David’. It’s unclear what’s the fate of the local people but many suggest that they stayed on and integrated into his new national state, likely in reduced status.
He fortifies the city further, builds a palace with cedar timber sent from the kings of the far north, and gives birth to 11 more sons, including a baby boy named Solomon. It’s unclear how many mothers are involved in these efforts nor how many girls were born. But Jerusalem - who will retain feminine qualities for some fascinating reasons, as some cities do, is born as the sacred center in today’s chapter.
Why is Jerusalem so important? Location.
“Like other generals, the aspect of statehood most familiar to David was geography. Which is why when he took on Jerusalem he didn’t see a Jebusite city, walled and fortified on top of the hill, but rather the bellybutton of the land - the place where the northern-southern artery that leads from Beersheba to Nablus intersects with the eastern-western artery that connects Jaffa and Jericho. This is why Jerusalem will also be the symbolic difference between Saul and David. Saul never built a city, and did not liberate Jerusalem from the Jebusites although it was in the territory of his tribe - the people of Benjamin. David will do it differently. He will build an imperial capital, and demolish whatever and whoever stands in his way. It will be next to his tribal territory of Judah - but outside his heritage - in a city that is recognized, as the Talmud teaches ‘a location that does not belong to any of the tribes.’ Just like Washington DC does not belong to any of the states of the United States - so Jerusalem would be built as a spiritual center that will unite the tribes of Israel not just in the face of common enemies but also as a center of shared faith.”
Amotz Asa-El, The Jewish March of Folly. (Translation: Amichai Lau-Lavie)
Now that he secures the city, David’s next move is to sanctify it with the sacred ark. It won’t be so simple.
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