Background Information Old Testament New Testament New Testament (cont.) Gentile Period (cont.)
1-Biblical Jerusalem 16-Salem, Jebus 33-Ashlar Stones 51-Bethesda Pool 68-Saint Anne's Church
2-History of Jerusalem 17-Milo, Jebusite Wall 34-Temple Mount 52-Holy Sepulcher 69-Sultan's Pool
3a-Map of Today's City 18-Gihon Springs 35-NE of End of Wall 53-Garden Tomb 70-Citadel
3b-The Four Quarters 19-City of David 36-SE End of Wall 54-Fort Antonia 71-Colonnade Column
3c-Photos 20-David's Palace 37-Western Wall 55-Phasael Tower  
3d-Silwan 21-Temple Mount 38-West Wall Tunnel 56-Struthion Pool  
4-The Walls Today 22-Solomon's Walls 39-Mikvah, Ritual Baths 57-Gethsemane  
5-The Gates Today 23-Solomon's Quarries 40-The Large Mikvah 58-Tombs in Hinnom Miscellaneous
6-Archaeology Periods 24-Broad Wall 41-Wilson's Arch 59-Jerusalem Tombs Archaeological Finds
7-Archaeology History 25-Hezekiah's Tunnel 42-Warren's Gate Gentile Period Jason's Tomb
8-Old Ancient Core 26-Middle Gate 43-Barclay's Gate 60-Ecce Homo Lazarus' Tomb
9-Kidron Valley 27-Nehemiah's Wall 44-Robinson's Arch 61-Roman Inscription Tomb of David
10-Central Valley Hasmonean 45-Western Wall Street 62-Cardo Maximus Via Dolorosa
11-Hinnom Valley 28-Walls and Towers 46-Western Wall Shops 63-Roman Road Bazaars
12-Mount of Olives 29-Aqueduct 47-South Temple Wall 64-Nea Church Hezekiah's Pool
13-Mount Moriah 30-Acra 48-Archaeology Park 65-Al Aqsa Mosque Lachish and Assyria
14-Western Hill Mt Zion 31-Temple Mount 49-Siloam Road 66-Dome of the Rock .Ancient Artifacts, Period Pieces
15-Ophel 32-Tombs in Kidron 50-Siloam Pool 67-Temple Mount  
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22- Solomon's Wall and Old Testament Gate System on the Ophel

A section of a wall built in Solomon's day around 950 BC was found south of the Temple Mount on the Ophel. The remains of the excavated wall are 19.6 feet high and 230 feet long. Found along with the portion of Solomon’s wall were a gatehouse that led into the royal district of the city. The gate is built in the typical style used by Solomon and his builders at Megiddo, Beersheba and Ashdod, with four symmetrical rooms, two on each side of the passageway through the gate.

A 78 by 59 foot tower in the wall overlooking the Kidron Valley is located under the road that runs along the Ophel. Two earthenware jars, almost four feet tall, were also found from the time of Solomon. One jar handle was marked with the inscription: "For the King." King Solomon would have built his royal palace north of his father David’s palace further up the Ophel. This would later be called the “upper house of the king” by Nehemiah 3:25. The city wall would have been expanded north. The exact location of Solomon’s palace is undetermined at this time. It could be connected to the location of these walls on the Ophel, or its location could be under the temple mount extensions of the Hasmoneans and Herod, or it could have set on the temple mount on the southern half of his temple mount square just south of the temple. In any case, the city wall would have been expanded north. This is that wall.

Solomon's Gate, Ophel, Gate House, Solomon's Wall south of Temple Mount, Diagram of Gate and Royal Structure on Ophel, Tower, extra tower

Gate House, Royal Structure, Solomon's Wall and Gate, Ophel, Jerusalem, four-chamber gate system, water chamber

 

Gate Chambers, Royal Structure, Solomon's Gate, North Wall of Solomon's Jerusalem, 950 BC

Solomon's City Jerusalem, North Gate, Ophel, Gate House, Tower, Wall, Ophel, Map, Diagram, Labels
Walls built by Solomon north of David's Palace of Cedar (2 Samuel 5:11) and Solomon's Palace of the Forest of Lebanon (1 Kings 7:2), on the Ophel just south of the Temple Mount on Mount Moriah.

It took Solomon thirteen years, however, to complete the construction of his palace.

He built the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon a hundredcubits long (150 feet), fifty wide (75 feet) and thirty high (45 feet), with four rows of cedar columns supporting trimmed cedar beams. It was roofed with cedar above the beams that rested on the columns—forty-five beams, fifteen to a row. Its windows were placed high in sets of three, facing each other. All the doorways had rectangular frames; they were in the front part in sets of three, facing each other.

He made a colonnade fifty cubits long and thirty wide. In front of it was a portico, and in front of that were pillars and an overhanging roof.

He built the throne hall, the Hall of Justice, where he was to judge, and he covered it with cedar from floor to ceiling. And the palace in which he
was to live, set farther back, was similar in design. Solomon also made a palace like this hall for Pharaoh's daughter, whom he had married. All these structures, from the outside to the great courtyard and from foundation to eaves, were made of blocks of high-grade stone cut to size and trimmed with a saw on their inner and outer faces. The foundations were laid with large stones of good quality, some measuring ten cubits and some eight. Above were high-grade stones, cut to size, and cedar beams. The great courtyard was surrounded by a wall of three courses of dressed stone and one course of trimmed cedar beams, as was the inner courtyard of the temple of the Lord with its portico.
- 1 Kings 7:1-12

These walls expanded the City of David to the north. Solomon’s building projects around his palace complex would have required the opening of the northern wall,
leaving a breach. As mentioned before, David may have built his own palace just on the outside of the old north wall of the Jebusite city that had enclosed
their fortress or stronghold. The book of 1 Kings also records Solomon rebuilding this northern wall which would have included him extending the wall further to
the north to include his new palace and thus closing up this breach in the wall made for the many years of construction in this area of the
city on the Ophel. This is the wall recently excavated and seen in the photos.

Ophel, Solomon's Wall, 950 BC four chamber gate system, Royal structure, straight wall
Looking north/northwest over the Ophel as it rises up Mount Moriah to the south wall of the Temple Mount.

Gate House, Royal Structure, Ophel, Solomon's Ophel Walls
Looking east over the chambers from the northwest corner of the Gate House towards the Royal Structure and the extra tower in Solomon's wall north of the City of David from 950 BC. Mount of Olives is in the background.

Royal Structure, Solomonic Walls, Solomn's Gate System, 950 BC, Gate House, Ophel
Looking northeast at the southwest corners of the Gate House in Solomon's Gate System in the wall of 950 BC on the Ophel.


Looking at the south side of the SW corner of the south chamber of the two west chambers of Solomon's four chamber gate on the Ophel from 950 BC.

SW corner, west side of Solomon's 4 chamber gate on Ophel, 950 BC
A view looking east at the west wall an the SW corner of one of the chambers in Solomon's 950 BC four chamber gate system on the Ophel.

inside one of the four chambers of Solomn's gate system on the Ophel, Water Chamber with water jugs
Inside one of the west chambers of the four chamber gate of Solomon on the Ophel called the water gate or horse gatebecause water jars were found here that had been stacked to store water.

Pithos, Royal Gatehouse, Mazar, Solomon's Gate, wall, large vessels forty, 40i, 701 BC, 950 BC, water storage

Pithos, Royal Gatehouse, Mazar, Solomon's Gate, wall, large vessels forty, 40i, 701 BC, 950 BC, water storage, Toni Wiemers

Pithos, Royal Structure, Mazar, Solomon's Gate, wall, gigantic pithoi,701 BC, 950 BC, dates, wine, honey storage

Pithos, Royal Structure, Mazar, Solomon's Gate, wall, gigantic pithoi,701 BC, 950 BC, dates, wine, honey storage, Toni Wiemers

Pithos, Royal Structure, Mazar, Solomon's Gate, wall, gigantic pithoi,701 BC, 950 BC, dates, wine, honey storage

Pithos, gigantic pithoi, Royal Structure, Solomon's Gate, wall, 701 BC, Royal bakery, dates, wine, figs

Hezekiah Bulla, Isaiah Bulla, Gate House, Extra Tower, Ophel

Isaiah Bulla, Belonging to Isaiah the prophet, Ophel Hezekiah Bulla, Belonging to Hezekiah son of Ahaz king of Judah
This Isaiah Bulla (image is of a replica) was found on the Ophel by Mazar. The image to the right is an example of a previously found bulla of Hezekiah, but not the one found by Mazar near
the Isaiah Bulla. The drawing below is an image of the Hezekiah Bulla found by Mazar near the Isaiah Bulla outside the Royal Structure and the Extra Tower of the Gate System on the Ophel.

Hezekiah Bulla, Ophel,


An actual seal that would have made an impression in clay (or, a bulla) with a winged image similar to the Hezekiah Bulla from around 700 BC found by Mazar.

diagram showing location of finding the Hezekiah Bulla and Isaiah Bulla outside the Wall of Solomon and the Extra Tower in the 950 Gate System and Royal Storehouse on the Ophel, Straight Wall
A diagram showing the locations where the Hezekiah Bulla and the Isaiah Bulla were found outside the Old Testament city walls (Straight Wall) of Solomon and the
extra tower that connected to the Larger Tower of the Royal Gate House and Royal Structure of Solomon.

Location of Isaiah Bulla and Hezekiah Bulla discovery
The locations where the Hezekiah Bulla was found outside the east wall of the connected to the Larger Tower and the Isaiah Bulla were found outside the
Straight Wall of the Old Testament city near the Royal Structure in the Gate System of Solomon.

Location of Isaiah Bulla and Hezekiah Bulla discovery, Labeled diagram map of Solomon's Gate House and Royal Structure with photos, pithoi

Nebuchadnezzar's discription of taking Jerusalem in 597 on cuneiform tablet in Babylonian Chronicles

Toni Wiemers, Ophel, South of Jerusalem, Isaiah Bulla, Hezekiah Bulla, Solomon's Wall and Gate System
Toni Wiemers stands south of Jerusalem with the Temple Mount and the Ophel in the background. The location of the Isaiah and Hezekiah Bulla discoveries are
roughly identified in the background on the Ophel.


 


Solomon had built the supporting terraces (Millo) and had filled in the gap in the wall of the city of David his father. - 1 Kings 11:27

 


These are Solomon's walls built to extend the city to the north around his Palace of the Forest of Lebanon around the year 950. Solomon began to reign in 970.
He spent 7 years building the Temple and 13 years building his palace. At the end of these 20 years of building (950 BC), Solomon would have closed up the
gap in the north wall that was created by all of his construction work. These are the walls he built.
 

Click image for a chart identifying the lettered sites.
 
 

 

"Jerusalem: History, Archaeology and Apologetic Proof of Scripture - Revised Edition" 2022, Galyn Wiemers

 

 

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JERUSALEM: HISTORY, ARCHAEOLOGY AND APOLOGETIC
PROOF OF SCRIPTURE - Revised Edition (2022)


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