Jerusalem in the First Temple Period (1006-586 BCE)

One of David's first actions as king was to conquer Jerusalem and declare it the capital of his kingdom. A geopolitical constraint apparently dictated this choice, despite the city's drawbacks.

Beginning in the period of David's kingdom many traditions aboutMount Moriah, which rose above biblical Jerusalem, became sanctified. The most famous is the Binding of Isaac (the akeidah ) by Abraham, the father of the Hebrew nation.

David conquered Jerusalem in approximately 1004 BCE and made it a center of government. He brought the Ark of the Covenant to the city, and Jerusalem became the political and spiritual nexus of the Jewish people. David refrained from building the Temple, leaving the task to his son Solomon. The concentration of religious ritual at the Temple made Jerusalem a place of pilgrimage and an important commercial center.

The city served as the capital of the united kingdom (Judah and Israel) for only two generations. Its centrality was restored by the conquest and destruction of the northern Kingdom of Israel by the Assyrians in 722 BCE.

It was in Jerusalem that most of the great prophets were active, articulating spiritual and ethical principles that would transcend the city's narrow confines to become pillars of human civilization. In 586 BCE the city succumbed to the Babylonians. At the order of their king, Nebuchadnezzar, the city was torched, the Temple razed, and the people taken into exile. A small number returned 50 years later.