Although there is no exact record, scholarly accounts come to a total of about seventy, some endearing, some in praise of it. Included in the Bible and post biblical Jewish literature are the following:
City of David (II Samuel 5:9);
City of G-d (Psalms 87:2);
City of Truth (Zechariah 8:3);
Joyful City (Isaiah 22:2);
Faithful City (Isaiah 1:25);
Lion of God (Isaiah 29:1);
Paragon of Beauty (Lamentations 2:15);
Dwelling of Righteousness (Jeremiah 31:22);
"Ariel (lion of G-d) is another synonym for Jerusalem.
"Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelt!" (Isaiah 29:1); and this leads to the picture of a lion which was the coat of arms of the House of David. In our time, it is the logo of the municipality of Jerusalem.
Yet the only name that has prevailed through the centuries is Yerushalayim - Jerusalem.
When the Romans rebuilt the city in 135 CE, they renamed it "Aelia Capitolina" after their Emperor Aelius Hadrianus and their god Jupiter Capitolinus. In their determination to erase any trace of Jewish existence, they also gave a new name to the captured province of Judea, calling it "Palestine," after the non-Jewish and long-extinct Philistines of the biblical era.
With the advent of Christianity, the city returned to its Hebrew name, then spelled "Hierusalem" and St. Matthew called it "Hages Polis," meaning Holy City. The early Arab name of the city, "Iliya," adapted from the Roman name, appears in chronicles and on coins as late as the 10th century CE.
When the Patriarch Sophronius surrendered Jerusalem to Caliph Omar, he signed for the handing over of the city of Iliya, as recorded by the noted Arab historian, Balhaduri.
"From there (Damascus) he (Omar) journeyed to Aelia and concluded with the inhabitants a written document in the year 17 (638 CE)." (Balhaduri, Conquest of the Countries, 869) Later, in the Islamic period, the name "Bayt al Maqdis" came into use, an adaptation from the Hebrew "Beit Ha Mikdash." The Islamic name of the city thus revealed its Hebrew origin. Later, the name was changed to "al-Quds," the "Holy One".
The first mention of the city by the name of Yerushalayim can be found in the book of Joshua (10:1): "Now it came to pass when Adoni-Zedek king of Yerushalayim had heard how Joshua had taken Ai."
Jerusalem is mentioned 657 times in the Hebrew Bible and 154 times in the New Testament. Zion is mentioned 152 times in the Hebrew Bible. Zion is mentioned 7 times in the New Testament. Al Quds (Jerusalem) is not mentioned a single time in the Koran.
On the compound of Yireh and Shalem, a rabbinical tradition holds that Abraham called the city 'The LORD-Yireh' (Provider), while Shem had named it Shalem, but that G-d combined the two into Yireh-Shalem, Yerushalayim.
Zech.2:12
And the LORD shall inherit Judah his portion in the Holy Land, and shall choose Jerusalem again.
Jewish Perspectives
