Where Are You, Jerusalem?

Joshua 15 describes the east–west boundary of the tribe of Judah in a long and very detailed passage. In the area of Jerusalem the boundary passes near the area of En Rogel, identified today as the Kedron Valley south of the City of David. It continues via the Hinnom Valley, which is the southern boundary of the western hill of Jerusalem (“Mount Zion”).

From there the line continues west “unto the side of the Jebusite southward,” the area identified today as the southern slopes of the western hill. It then ascends to “the top of the mountain that liets before the Valley of Hinnom westward,” that is, to the main watershed of the Land of Israel, and from there westward to the spring of Mei Neftoah, the Lifta Spring of today, at the western approach to Jerusalem.

The conclusion from this description is quite clear: Jerusalem (the City of David and the Old City of today) was not within the boundaries of Judah, but rather slightly to the north, that is, in the land of the tribe of Benjamin. And indeed, in Joshua 8, Jerusalem is listed among the cities included in the land of Benjamin.