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The Location of Davidic Jerusalem

The Bible informs us that David took the city of Jerusalem from the Jebusites who called the city Jebus. In the Bible, Zion refers to the hill which was the site of the Jebusite city and Davidic Jerusalem. At the top of this hill there was a fortress. Because this fortress was located on the hill of Zion, it was called the Fortress of Zion.

2 Samuel 5:7 Nevertheless David took the strong hold of Zion: the same is the city of David…9 So David dwelt in the fort, and called it the city of David. And David built round about from Millo and inward.

1 Chronicles 11:5 And the inhabitants of Jebus said to David, Thou shalt not come hither. Nevertheless David took the castle of Zion, which is the city of David…7 And David dwelt in the castle; therefore they called it the city of David.

Jebus – Trodden hard, or fastness, or "the waterless hill," the name of the Canaanitish city which stood on Mount Zion #Jos 15:8 18:16,28 It is identified with Jerusalem (q.v.) in #Jud 19:10 and with the castle or city of David #1Ch 11:4,5 – Easton’s Revised Bible Dictionary

Zion – Zion is a term that most often designates the Land of Israel and its capital, Jerusalem. The word is found in texts dating back almost three millennia. It commonly referred to a specific mountain near Jerusalem (Mount Zion), on which stood a Jebusite fortress of the same name that was conquered by David and was named the City of David. The term Zion came to designate the area of Jerusalem where the fortress stood, and later became a metonym for Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem, the city of Jerusalem and the entire Promised Land to come, in which, according to the Hebrew Bible, God dwells among his chosen people. – wikipedia.org

So, Zion was the name for the hill on which the Jebusite city was built as well as the name for the former Jebusite fortress at the peak of that hill. Similarly, Josephus describes the hill that occupied by Davidic Jerusalem with a term that is alternatively used to speak of the fortress at the hill’s summit. Here, Josephus does not use the biblical term Zion. Instead, he uses the term Akra as a name for the hill of the Lower City (Davidic Jerusalem). The area that Josephus is referring to is the hill which was east of the Tyropoeon Valley across from the western ridge which was occupied by the Upper City. This is another name for the Moriah ridge.

1. THE city of Jerusalem was fortified with three walls, on such parts as were not encompassed with unpassable valleys; for in such places it had but one wall. The city was built upon two hills, which are opposite to one another, and have a valley to divide them asunder; at which valley the corresponding rows of houses on both hills end. Of these hills, that which contains the upper city is much higher,….But the other hill, which was called "Acra," and sustains the lower city, is of the shape of a moon when she is horned;…Now the Valley of the Cheesemongers, as it was called, and was that which we told you before distinguished the hill of the upper city from that of the lower, extended as far as Siloam; for that is the name of a fountain which hath sweet water in it, and this in great plenty also. – Josephus, Wars of the Jews, Book 5, Chapter 4 – THE DESCRIPTION OF JERUSALEM., Paragraph 1

Tyropoeon Valley – Tyropoeon Valley (i.e., "Valley of the Cheesemakers") is the name given by Josephus the historian (Wars 5.140) to the valley - wikipedia.org

Geographically speaking, the hill called Akra (which was occupied by the Lower City) is identical to Zion hill which was occupied by Davidic Jerusalem. Akra is simply a later term for the hill of Zion. At the summit of the hill called Akra and Zion was a stronghold alternatively called the Fortress of Zion (the Citadel, the City of David) or the Akra Fortress.

The Books of First Maccabees also provides evidence that the Fortress of Akra and the Fortress of Zion were one and the same. In these Jewish books, the City of David (another name for the Fortress of Zion hill) is identified as the place that was used by Antiochus IV Epiphanes’ troops to assault the Temple. In the text of First Maccabees, this stronghold is referred to simply as the “City of David” (1 Maccabees 1:36, 14:36) and the “tower” (1 Maccabees 1:33, 1 Maccabees 6:16, 1 Maccabees 13:52).

1 Maccabees 1:29 And after two years fully expired the king sent his chief collector of tribute unto the cities of Juda, who came unto Jerusalem with a great multitude, 30 And spake peaceable words unto them, but all was deceit: for when they had given him credence, he fell suddenly upon the city, and smote it very sore, and destroyed much people of Israel. 31 And when he had taken the spoils of the city, he set it on fire, and pulled down the houses and walls thereof on every side. 32 But the women and children took they captive, and possessed the cattle. 33 Then builded they the city of David with a great and strong wall, and with mighty towers, and made it a strong hold for them. 34 And they put therein a sinful nation, wicked men, and fortified themselves therein. 35 They stored it also with armour and victuals, and when they had gathered together the spoils of Jerusalem, they laid them up there, and so they became a sore snare: 36 For it was a place to lie in wait against the sanctuary, and an evil adversary to Israel. 37 Thus they shed innocent blood on every side of the sanctuary, and defiled it:

1 Maccabees 6:16 So king Antiochus died there in the hundred forty and ninth year. 17 Now when Lysias knew that the king was dead, he set up Antiochus his son, whom he had brought up being young, to reign in his stead, and his name he called Eupator. 18 About this time they that were in the tower shut up the Israelites round about the sanctuary, and sought always their hurt, and the strengthening of the heathen.

1 Maccabees 13:52 He ordained also that that day should be kept every year with gladness. Moreover the hill of the temple that was by the tower he made stronger than it was, and there he dwelt himself with his company.

1 Maccabees 14:36 For in his time things prospered in his hands, so that the heathen were taken out of their country, and they also that were in the city of David in Jerusalem, who had made themselves a tower, out of which they issued, and polluted all about the sanctuary, and did much hurt in the holy place:

These passages have lead scholars to conclude that the stronghold described in the Book of First Maccabees that was occupied by Antiochus’ troops and identified in the text as the City of David (the Fortress of Zion) was the same as the fortress of Akra hill.

By the author of First Maccabees the Akra is identified with ‘the City of David – Smith, Jerusalem: The Topography, Economics and History from the Earliest Times to A.D. 70 (2 vols., 1907, 1908), volume I, p. 445

Acra – The Acra was a fortress or citadel built in Jerusalem by Antiochus Epiphanes, ruler of the Seleucid Empire, after his conquest of the city in 168 BCE. According to Josephus^[1], it stood on a hill higher than the Temple and was garrisoned by Greek soldiers…The first stage of the liberation of Jerusalem by the Maccabees in 164 BC was incomplete, as they gained possession of the city and the temple but the Hellenistic garrison and local supporters of the Seleucids held out in the Acra for a considerable time. It withstood the efforts of both Judas and Jonathan Maccabeus to subjagate it, eventually yielding to Simon Maccabeus in 141 BC. After reduction of the fortress the Maccabees demolished the Acra and leveled the hill on which it had stood – wikipedia.org

So, from biblical and historical texts we can see that David’s Jerusalem occupied a hilly area on the Moriah ridge east of the Tyropoeon Valley across from the western ridge. This portion of the Moriah ridge was comprised of a hill called Zion or Akra. At the top of this hill there was a stronghold that was alternatively called the City of David, the Fortress of Zion, or the Akra Fortress.

The location of Zion hill (Akra hill) and Davidic Jerusalem was a specific area on the southern portion of the central Moriah ridge. This site is near the Gihon Spring and south of the Moriah Platform that we see today.

Zion – Sunny; height, one of the eminences on which Jerusalem was built…It was the south-eastern hill of Jerusalem. When David took it from the Jebusites #Jos 15:63 2Sa 5:7 he built on it a citadel and a palace, and it became "the city of David" #1Ki 8:1 2Ki 19:21,31 1Ch 11:5 In the later books of the Old Testament this name was sometimes used #Ps 87:2 149:2 Isa 33:14 #Joe 2:1 to denote Jerusalem in general, and sometimes God’s chosen Israel #Ps 51:18 87:5 – Easton’s Revised Bible Dictionary

City of David – The City of David, also known as the Ophel (Hebrew: העופל‎, perhaps meaning "fortified hill") is the name of the narrow promontory beyond the southern edge of Jerusalem's Temple Mount and Old City, with the Tyropoeon Valley (valley of the cheesemakers) on its west, the Hinnom valley to the south, and the Kidron Valley on the east. The previously deep valley (the Tyropoeon) separating the Ophel from what is now referred to as the Old City of Jerusalem currently lies hidden beneath the debris of centuries. Despite the name, the Old City of Jerusalem dates from a much later time than the settlement in the City of David, which is generally considered to have been the original Jerusalem. – wikipedia.org

Pool of Siloam – Pool of Siloam is a rock-cut pool on the southern slope of the City of David (believed to be the original site of Jerusalem) now outside the walls of the Old City to the southeast. The pool was fed by the waters of the Gihon Spring – wikipedia.org

2. Zion – The Zion of the Jebusites: Jerus (in the form Uru-sa-lim) is the oldest name we know for this city; it goes back at least 400 years before David. In 2 Samuel 5:6-9, "The king and his men went to Jerusalem against the Jebusites. .... Nevertheless David took the stronghold of Zion; the same is the city of David .... And David dwelt in the stronghold, and called it the city of David." It is evident that Zion was the name of the citadel of the Jebusite city of Jerusalem. That this citadel and incidentally then city of Jerusalem around it were on the long ridge running South of the Temple (called the southeastern hill in the article JERUSALEM, III, (3) (which see)) is now accepted by almost all modern scholars, mainly on the following grounds:

(1) The near proximity of the site to the only known spring, now the "Virgin's Fount," once called GIHON (which see). From our knowledge of other ancient sites all over Palestine, as well as on grounds of common-sense, it is hardly possible to believe that the early inhabitants of this site with such an abundant source at their very doors could have made any other spot their headquarters.

(2) The suitability of the site for defense.--The sites suited for settlement in early Canaanite times were all, if we may judge from a number of them now known, of this nature--a rocky spur isolated on three sides by steep valleys, and, in many sites, protected at the end where they join the main mountain ridge by either a valley or a rocky spur.

(3) The size of the ridge, though very small to our modern ideas, is far more in keeping with what we know of fortified towns of that period than such an area as presented by the southwestern hill--the traditional site of Zion. Mr. Macalister found by actual excavation that the great walls of Gezer, which must have been contemporaneous with the Jebusite Jerusalem, measured approximately 4,500 feet in circumference. G. A. Smith has calculated that a line of wall carried along the known and inferred scarps around the edge of this southeastern hill would have an approximate circumference of 4,250 feet. The suitability of the site to a fortified city like Gezer, Megiddo, Soco, and other sites which have been excavated, strikes anyone familiar with these places.

(4) The archaeological remains on these hills found by Warren and Professor Guthe, and more particularly in the recent excavations of Captain Parker (see JERUSALEM), show without doubt that this was the earliest settlement in pre-Israelite times. Extensive curves and rock-cuttings, cave-dwellings and tombs, and enormous quantities of early "Amorite" (what may be popularly called "Jebusite") pottery show that the spot must have been inhabited many centuries before the time of David. The reverse is equally true; on no other part of the Jerusalem site has any quantity of such early pottery been found.

(5) The Bible evidence that Zion originally occupied this site is clear. It will be found more in detail under the heading "City of David" in the article JERUSALEM, IV, (5), but three points may be mentioned here:

(a) The Ark of the Covenant was brought up out of the city of David to the Temple (1 Kings 8:1; 2 Chronicles 5:2), and Pharaoh's daughter "came up out of the city of David unto her house which Solomon had built for her"--adjacent to the Temple (1 Kings 9:24). This expression "up" could not be used of any other hill than of the lower-lying eastern ridge; to go from the southwestern hill (traditional Zion) to the Temple is to go down.

(b) Hezekiah constructed the well-known Siloam tunnel from Gihon to the Pool of Siloam. He is described (2 Chronicles 32:30) as bringing the waters of Gihon "straight down on the west side of the city of David."

(c) Manasseh (2 Chronicles 33:14) built "an outer wall to the city of David, on the west side of Gihon, in the valley" (i.e. nachal--the name of the Kedron valley). – The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia http://www.searchgodsword.org/...

In conclusion, Davidic Jerusalem was largely a hill (called Zion or Akra) on the southern portion of the Moriah ridge south of today’s Moriah Platform. We have highlighted the area of Davidic Jerusalem in green on the same photo of modern Jerusalem provided by BiblePlaces.com. (See Jerusalem David.)

Solomon Builds the Temple

Just four years after David’s death Solomon began building the Temple. The project was completed within 11 years of David’s death.

2 Chronicles 3:1 Then Solomon began to build the house of the LORD at Jerusalem in mount Moriah, where the LORD appeared unto David his father, in the place that David had prepared in the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite. 2 And he began to build in the second day of the second month, in the fourth year of his reign.

1 Kings 6:1 And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month Zif, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of the LORD….37 In the fourth year was the foundation of the house of the LORD laid, in the month Zif: 38 And in the eleventh year, in the month Bul, which is the eighth month, was the house finished throughout all the parts thereof, and according to all the fashion of it. So was he seven years in building it. 7:1 But Solomon was building his own house thirteen years, and he finished all his house.

1. SOLOMON began to build the temple in the fourth year of his reign, on the second month, which the Macedonians call Artemisius, and the Hebrews Jur, five hundred and ninety-two years after the Exodus out of Egypt; but one thousand and twenty years from Abraham's coming out of Mesopotamia into Canaan, and after the deluge one thousand four hundred and forty years; and from Adam, the first man who was created, until Solomon built the temple, there had passed in all three thousand one hundred and two years. Now that year on which the temple began to be built was already the eleventh year of the reign of Hiram; but from the building of Tyre to the building of the temple, there had passed two hundred and forty years. – Josephus, Antiquities, Book 8, Chapter 3

While Old Testament passages list the building projects of Solomon there are no indications that the size or location of Solomon’s Jerusalem was any different than that of his father David.

1 Kings 9:10 And it came to pass at the end of twenty years, when Solomon had built the two houses, the house of the LORD, and the king’s house,… 15 And this is the reason of the levy which king Solomon raised; for to build the house of the LORD, and his own house, and Millo, and the wall of Jerusalem, and Hazor, and Megiddo, and Gezer.

Likewise, the first century Jewish historian Josephus describes Solomon’s work in building the Temple in some detail. However, Josephus does not mention any enlargement of the city by Solomon. By comparison Josephus does chronicle enlargements and incorporations of formerly external areas into the city during later periods (for example, see Wars of the Jews, Book 5). And as Dan Bahat states, there are no archeological remains of any walls built by Solomon.

We never found any remains of the Solomonic walls. – Dr. Dan Bahat, 1995, The Coming Temple, Presentation 2, 25:00-26:20 minutes, Koinonia House, http://store.khouse.org/...

As we can see, there isn’t any historical evidence that the size or location of Jerusalem during Solomon’s reign was different in any significant way from Davidic Jerusalem. What we do know is that Solomon began building the Temple only four short years after David’s death. And the temple was completed within eleven years of David’s death. This does not allow much time for the city to grow or be expanded especially since the major building projects of this time are listed for us. No enlargement of the city area is indicated and the walls of Solomon’s city aren’t known today. The construction works that are described in the biblical and historical sources undoubtedly took a great deal of expense and effort. In Jerusalem labor was dedicated to the building of the Temple, Solomon’s Palace, the Millo, and the wall.

These facts have some relevance to the potential sites for the location of the Temple. We know the area that was occupied by Davidic Jerusalem. And we have a great deal of information on Solomon’s construction projects and his work on the Temple. But we have no historical evidence indicating that Solomon’s Jerusalem was significantly different in size or location than David’s Jerusalem. This evidence points to a location of the Temple very near to or perhaps even within Davidic Jerusalem. This works against the suggestion that the Temple was located at any site far outside the city which would have to be incorporated into the city by a great deal of time and expense.

Suggesting that the Temple was located somewhere on the Moriah Platform would involve just the type of an enlargement that biblical and historical texts do not provide any evidence of. To put a finer point on it, the Dome of the Rock is a distance of nearly 1/5 mile (1/3 kilometer) north of the Gihon Spring area. (See ancient_jerusalem_diagram.) This fraction of a mile (or kilometer) may seem small in to us today. But, as Dan Bahat points out, a Temple site within the Moriah Platform would have required the city of Jerusalem to have been doubled in size in the space of just over a decade that was already devoted towards several other major constructions.

“When King Solomon built the Temple, his temple mount, now I speak already about, let’s say about artificial features. The thing he did was to build a temple on top of Mount Moriah, and he surrounded, or rather ground, that mount with walls because it was outside the city as you all know. It was the threshing floor or Araunah the Jebusite. That’s where King David built the altar. And this is the place where later King Solomon built the Temple. Since it was outside the city it had to be surrounded by walls and those walls actually doubled the area of Jerusalem of that time because the city of Jerusalem lying over the city of David is about one half of what it was in Solomon’s time when also Mount Moriah was surrounded by walls. We never found any remains of the Solomonic walls.” – Dr. Dan Bahat, 1995, The Coming Temple, Presentation 2, 25:00-26:20 minutes, Koinonia House, http://store.khouse.org/...

It is difficult to conceive of how a major development like doubling the size of the city could fail to be mentioned by our historical sources. Additionally, it is hard to accept that a huge development like doubling the city would have been possible at all in a few short years that were already consumed by other major projects.

We have illustrated the geographic facts presented in the references above. (See diagram entitled ancient_jerusalem_diagram). As sources show the area of Davidic Jerusalem was small by today’s standards. Its northern limit was 1/5 mile (1/3 km) south of the site of the Dome of the Rock today. And yet its north-south direction was only approximately twice that distance. The site of the Dome of the Rock would have been outside the known area of Davidic and Solomonic Jerusalem by a distance equal to half the length of the city.

In conclusion, the location of David’s Jerusalem on the southern portion of the Moriah ridge is a fact universally accepted today and supported by demonstrable evidence from Josephus, the Bible, and archeology. And the suggestion that Solomon expanded the city to the north to take in an area double the size of Davidic Jerusalem is unsupported by historical, biblical, and archeological claims. There is no evidence that Solomon enlarged Jerusalem in order to incorporate a Temple site far outside the existing boundaries of the city. To the contrary, the known historical and biblical facts undermine the idea that the Temple was located far outside the ancient city and instead indicate that the Temple was either within or directly abutting Davidic Jerusalem on the southern portion of the Moriah ridge, south of the Moriah Platform.

Proximity of the Temple to the Gihon Spring

Another indication that the Temple was south of the Moriah Platform comes from its reported proximity to the Gihon Spring.

Before the Temple was built, David housed the Ark of the Covenant in a tabernacle within his fortress at the summit of the hill of Zion, the site of Davidic Jerusalem.

2 Samuel 6:12 And it was told king David, saying, The LORD hath blessed the house of Obededom, and all that pertaineth unto him, because of the ark of God. So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obededom into the city of David with gladness….16 And as the ark of the LORD came into the city of David, Michal Saul’s daughter looked through a window, and saw king David leaping and dancing before the LORD; and she despised him in her heart. 17 And they brought in the ark of the LORD, and set it in his place, in the midst of the tabernacle that David had pitched for it: and David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD.

The account of Solomon’s anointing in 1 Kings informs us that this fortress of Zion hill (where the Ark was placed) was located very near to the Gihon Spring.

1 Kings 1:32 And king David said, Call me Zadok the priest, and Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada. And they came before the king. 33 The king also said unto them, Take with you the servants of your lord, and cause Solomon my son to ride upon mine own mule, and bring him down to Gihon: 34 And let Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him there king over Israel: and blow ye with the trumpet, and say, God save king Solomon. 35 Then ye shall come up after him, that he may come and sit upon my throne; for he shall be king in my stead: and I have appointed him to be ruler over Israel and over Judah. 36 And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada answered the king, and said, Amen: the LORD God of my lord the king say so too. 37 As the LORD hath been with my lord the king, even so be he with Solomon, and make his throne greater than the throne of my lord king David. 38 So Zadok the priest, and Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and the Cherethites, and the Pelethites, went down, and caused Solomon to ride upon king David’s mule, and brought him to Gihon. 39 And Zadok the priest took an horn of oil out of the tabernacle, and anointed Solomon. And they blew the trumpet; and all the people said, God save king Solomon.

After he had finished the Temple, Solomon moved the Ark from the tabernacle in the fortress of Zion hill to the Temple. The account of Solomon’s moving the Ark is provided in 1 Kings 8 and 2 Chronicles 5.

1 King 8:1 Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes, the chief of the fathers of the children of Israel, unto king Solomon in Jerusalem, that they might bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of the city of David, which is Zion. 2 And all the men of Israel assembled themselves unto king Solomon at the feast in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh month. 3 And all the elders of Israel came, and the priests took up the ark. 4 And they brought up the ark of the LORD, and the tabernacle of the congregation, and all the holy vessels that were in the tabernacle, even those did the priests and the Levites bring up. 5 And king Solomon, and all the congregation of Israel, that were assembled unto him, were with him before the ark, sacrificing sheep and oxen, that could not be told nor numbered for multitude. 6 And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the LORD unto his place, into the oracle of the house, to the most holy place, even under the wings of the cherubims.

2 Chronicles 5:2 Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes, the chief of the fathers of the children of Israel, unto Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of the city of David, which is Zion. 3 Wherefore all the men of Israel assembled themselves unto the king in the feast which was in the seventh month. 4 And all the elders of Israel came; and the Levites took up the ark. 5 And they brought up the ark, and the tabernacle of the congregation, and all the holy vessels that were in the tabernacle, these did the priests and the Levites bring up. 6 Also king Solomon, and all the congregation of Israel that were assembled unto him before the ark, sacrificed sheep and oxen, which could not be told nor numbered for multitude. 7 And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the LORD unto his place, to the oracle of the house, into the most holy place, even under the wings of the cherubims:

Before we continue, here is a summary of what we have learned so far. First, we know that the Ark was in the fortress at the summit of Zion hill. Second, we know that Davidic Jerusalem was situated on this hill which comprised the southern portion of the Moriah ridge. Third, 1 Kings 8 and 2 Chronicles 5 indicate that the moving of the Ark took place in Jerusalem. Fourth, we have no information that Solomon doubled the size of the city to incorporate a Temple site far outside the city to the north. Fifth, the text doesn’t indicate that the Ark was moved any great distance. The natural conclusion that can be drawn from these facts is that the site of the Temple was somewhere on the hill of Davidic Jerusalem (Zion) and near to the fortress at the summit of the hill. Since the Fortress of Zion was near the Gihon Spring this would indicate that the Temple was also nearby the Gihon Spring.

Other historical accounts confirm that the Temple was, in fact, near to the fortress on the summit of the hill of Zion and to the Gihon Spring.

Josephus explains that the Temple was located in close proximity to the hill called Akra (Zion, Davidic Jerusalem). According to Josephus, both the hill of Akra (Davidic Jerusalem, the Lower City) and the Temple were peaks of the Moriah ridge on the east side of the Tyropoeon Valley across from the western ridge. Notice that Josephus only describes two hills as the hills of Jerusalem, the western ridge or hill of the Upper City and the Akra which held the Lower City (Davidic Jerusalem). (For reference see Jerusalem U-L City.) He does not include the hill of the Temple in his description of Jerusalem’s hills.

However, after he describes the location of the hill of Akra, Josephus explains that next to (over against) the hill called Akra was the hill of the Temple. From his descriptions, we can see that Josephus did not consider the peak of the Temple to be a distinct hill of Jerusalem. Rather he only mentions it in relation to the hill of Akra, which was another name for Zion, the hill occupied by Davidic Jerusalem.

1. THE city of Jerusalem was fortified with three walls, on such parts as were not encompassed with unpassable valleys; for in such places it had but one wall. The city was built upon two hills, which are opposite to one another, and have a valley to divide them asunder; at which valley the corresponding rows of houses on both hills end. Of these hills, that which contains the upper city is much higher,….But the other hill, which was called "Acra," and sustains the lower city, is of the shape of a moon when she is horned; over against this there was a third hill, but naturally lower than Acra, and parted formerly from the other by a broad valley. However, in those times when the Asamoneans reigned, they filled up that valley with earth, and had a mind to join the city to the temple. They then took off part of the height of Acra, and reduced it to be of less elevation than it was before, that the temple might be superior to it. Now the Valley of the Cheesemongers, as it was called, and was that which we told you before distinguished the hill of the upper city from that of the lower, extended as far as Siloam; for that is the name of a fountain which hath sweet water in it, and this in great plenty also. But on the outsides, these hills are surrounded by deep valleys, and by reason of the precipices to them belonging on both sides they are every where unpassable. – Josephus, Wars of the Jews, Book 5, Chapter 4 – THE DESCRIPTION OF JERUSALEM., Paragraph 1

Likewise, First Maccabees repeatedly states that the City of David (the fortress on the summit of Zion hill) was very near in proximity to the Temple.

1 Maccabees 1:33 Then builded they the city of David with a great and strong wall, and with mighty towers, and made it a strong hold for them. 34 And they put therein a sinful nation, wicked men, and fortified themselves therein. 35 They stored it also with armour and victuals, and when they had gathered together the spoils of Jerusalem, they laid them up there, and so they became a sore snare: 36 For it was a place to lie in wait against the sanctuary, and an evil adversary to Israel. 37 Thus they shed innocent blood on every side of the sanctuary, and defiled it:

1 Maccabees 6:16 So king Antiochus died there in the hundred forty and ninth year. 17 Now when Lysias knew that the king was dead, he set up Antiochus his son, whom he had brought up being young, to reign in his stead, and his name he called Eupator. 18 About this time they that were in the tower shut up the Israelites round about the sanctuary, and sought always their hurt, and the strengthening of the heathen.

1 Maccabees 14:36 For in his time things prospered in his hands, so that the heathen were taken out of their country, and they also that were in the city of David in Jerusalem, who had made themselves a tower, out of which they issued, and polluted all about the sanctuary, and did much hurt in the holy place:

Elsewhere in his chronicles, Josephus continues to locate the Temple very near to the fortress of Akra (Zion) and the Lower City on the hill of Akra (Zion), which was Davidic Jerusalem.

4. Now Judas, supposing that Antiochus would not lie still, gathered an army out of his own countrymen, and was the first that made a league of friendship with the Romans, and drove Epiphanes out of the country when he had made a second expedition into it, and this by giving him a great defeat there; and when he was warmed by this great success, he made an assault upon the garrison that was in the city, for it had not been cut off hitherto; so he ejected them out of the upper city, and drove the soldiers into the lower, which part of the city was called the Citadel. He then got the temple under his power, and cleansed the whole place, and walled it round about, and made new vessels for sacred ministrations, and brought them into the temple, because the former vessels had been profaned. He also built another altar, and began to offer the sacrifices; and when the city had already received its sacred constitution again, Antiochus died; whose son Antiochus succeeded him in the kingdom, and in his hatred to the Jews also. – Josephus, Wars of the Jews, Book 1, Chapter 1, Paragraph 4

5. Upon this the men of power, with the high priests, as also all the part of the multitude that were desirous of peace, took courage, and seized upon the upper city [Mount Sion;] for the seditious part had the lower city and the temple in their power; – Josephus, Wars of the Jews, Book 2, Chapter 17, Paragraph 5

According to Josephus the Temple was close enough to the fortress at the peak of Zion (Akra) hill that the two structures were actually adjoining one another.

3. At this time it was that the garrison in the citadel of Jerusalem, with the Jewish runagates, did a great deal of harm to the Jews; for the soldiers that were in that garrison rushed out upon the sudden, and destroyed such as were going up to the temple in order to offer their sacrifices, for this citadel adjoined to and overlooked the temple. When these misfortunes had often happened to them, Judas resolved to destroy that garrison; whereupon he got all the people together, and vigorously besieged those that were in the citadel. This was in the hundred and fiftieth year of the dominion of the Seleucids. So he made engines of war, and erected bulwarks, and very zealously pressed on to take the citadel. But there were not a few of the runagates who were in the place that went out by night into the country, and got together some other wicked men like themselves, and went to Antiochus the king, and desired of him that he would not suffer them to be neglected, under the great hardships that lay upon them from those of their own nation; and this because their sufferings were occasioned on his father's account, while they left the religious worship of their fathers, and preferred that which he had commanded them to follow: that there was danger lest the citadel, and those appointed to garrison it by the king, should be taken by Judas, and those that were with him, unless he would send them succors. When Antiochus, who was but a child, heard this, he was angry, and sent for his captains and his friends, and gave order that they should get an army of mercenaries together, with such men also of his own kingdom as were of an age fit for war. Accordingly, an army was collected of about a hundred thousand footmen, and twenty thousand horsemen, and thirty-two elephants. – Josephus, Antiquities, Book 12, Chapter 9

So, according to historical and biblical accounts, the Temple and the Fortress of Zion (Akra) were adjoining one another on two peaks on the hill that was Davidic Jerusalem. As we have already seen, biblical texts indicated that the fortress of Akra/Zion was near the Gihon Spring.

Since the Temple was very nearby the Fortress of Zion, the Temple also must have been very near to the Gihon Spring. This geographic relationship between the Temple and the Gihon Spring is also supported by historical and archeological data.

The Letter of Aristeas was written over 800 years after the Temple was first built by Solomon and 400 years after Solomon’s Temple was destroyed. Nevertheless, it reports that the site of the Temple was also near a spring.

Letter of Aristeas – …a Hellenistic work of the second century BCE…Josephus^[2] who paraphrases about two-fifths of the letter, ascribes it to Aristeas and written to Philocrates – wikipedia.org

The Temple faces the east and its back is toward the west. The whole of the floor is paved with stones and slopes down to the appointed places, that water may be conveyed to wash away the 89 blood from the sacrifices, for many thousand beasts are sacrificed there on the feast days. And there is an inexhaustible supply of water, because an abundant natural spring gushes up from within the temple area. – Letter of Aristeas, ccel.org, http://www.ccel.org/...

Likewise, Tacitus, the Roman historian of the first century AD, reports that Herod’s Temple actually had a natural spring within its courts.

Tacitus – Publius (or Gaius) Cornelius Tacitus (ca. 56 – ca. 117) was a senator and a historian of the Roman Empire. The surviving portions of his two major works—the Annals and the Histories—examine the reigns of the Roman Emperors Tiberius, Claudius, Nero and those who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors. These two works span the history of the Roman Empire from the death of Augustus in AD 14 to (presumably) the death of emperor >Domitian in AD 96. – wikipedia.org

Accordingly he pitched his camp, as I have related, before the walls of Jerusalem, and displayed his legions in order of battle….The temple resembled a citadel, and had its own walls, which were more laboriously constructed than the others. Even the colonnades with which it was surrounded formed an admirable outwork. It contained an inexhaustible spring; there were subterranean excavations in the hill, and tanks and cisterns for holding rain water. – Tacitus, the Histories, Book 5

These two historical witnesses (the Letter of Aristeas and Tacitus’ History) confirm that during the first and second Temple periods the Temple had a natural spring within its courts. This is important because the Gihon Spring is the only natural spring in the area of Jerusalem.

Gihon Spring – The Gihon Spring was the main source of water for the City of David, the original site of Jerusalem. One of the world's major intermittent springs - and a reliable water source what made human settlement possible in ancient Jerusalem – wikipedia.org

Gihon - 2. The only natural spring of water in or near Jerusalem is the "Fountain of the Virgin" (q.v.), which rises outside the city walls on the west bank of the Kidron valley. On the occasion of the approach of the Assyrian army under Sennacherib, Hezekiah, in order to prevent the besiegers from finding water, "stopped the upper water course of Gihon, and brought it straight down to the west side of the city of David" – Easton’s Revised Bible Dictionary

Even the Mishnah seems to indicate that the Temple had a natural spring within its courts. The quote below comes from Tractate Middot, the very passage of the Mishnah which provides the descriptions and details of the Temple. In this quote, a ceremony called the “drawing of water” is referenced. As we will see later, this ceremony involved drawing water out of the Gihon Spring during the Feast of Tabernacles.

…why was its name called the water-gate? Because through it they brought the pitcher of water for pouring out for the "Feast of Tabernacles." Rabbi Eliezer, the son of Jacob, said: "And by it the waters were flowing down, with the direction of coming out below the threshold of the Temple." – Sketches of Jewish Social Life by Alfred Edersheim, Appendix 1 Massecheth, Middoth (Being the Mishnic Tractate Descriptive of the Measurements of the Temple), Perek II, http://www.bible-history.com/...

These accounts confirm biblical descriptions that the Temple was very close to the Fortress of Zion (Akra) and to the Gihon Spring itself. Since both the Gihon Spring and the Fortress of Zion were south of the Moriah Platform, this indicates that the Temple too was located south of the Moriah Platform. In other words, the Temple could not have been located 1/5 mile (1/3 km) away from these two sites (Akra and the Gihon Spring).