City: The earliest mention of city-building is that of Enoch, which was
built by Cain
(Genesis 4:17) After the confusion of tongues, the
descendants of Nimrod founded several cities
(Genesis 10:10-12) Next, we
have a record of the cities of the Canaanites, Sidon, Gaza, Sodom,
etc.
(Genesis 10:12,19; 11:3,9; 36:31-39) The earliest description of a city
is that of Sodom
(Genesis 19:1-22) Damascus is said to be the oldest
existing city in the world. Before the time of Abraham there were
cities in Egypt
(Numbers 13:22) The Israelites in Egypt were employed in
building the "treasure cities" of Pithom and Raamses
(Exodus 1:11) but it
does not seem that they had any cities of their own in Goshen
(Genesis 46:34; 47:1-11) In the kingdom of Og in Bashan there were sixty
"great cities with walls," and twenty-three cities in Gilead partly
rebuilt by the tribes on the east of Jordan
(Numbers 21:21,32,33,35)
(Numbers 32:1-3,34-42; Deuteronomy 3:4,5,14; 1 Kings 4:13) On the west of Jordan were
thirty-one "royal cities"
(Joshua 12:1)ff besides many others
spoken of in the history of Israel. A fenced city was a city
surrounded by fortifications and high walls, with watch-towers upon
them
(2 Chronicles 11:11; Deuteronomy 3:5) There was also within the city generally a
tower to which the citizens might flee when danger threatened them
(Judges 9:46-52) A city with suburbs was a city surrounded with open
pasture-grounds, such as the forty-eight cities which were given to
the Levites
(Numbers 35:2-7) There were six cities of refuge, three on
each side of Jordan, namely, Kadesh, Shechem, Hebron, on the west of
Jordan; and on the east, Bezer, Ramoth-gilead, and Golan. The cities
on each side of the river were nearly opposite each other. The
regulations concerning these cities are given in
(Numbers 35:9-34)
(Deuteronomy 19:1-13; Exodus 21:12-14) When David reduced the fortress of the
Jebusites which stood on Mount Zion, he built on the site of it a
palace and a city, which he called by his own name
(1 Chronicles 11:5) the
city of David. Bethlehem is also so called as being David's native
town
(Luke 2:4) Jerusalem is called the Holy City, the holiness of
the temple being regarded as extending in some measure over the whole
city
(Nehemiah 11:1) Pithom and Raamses, built by the Israelites as
"treasure cities," were not places where royal treasures were kept,
but were fortified towns where merchants might store their goods and
transact their business in safety, or cities in which munitions of
war were stored.
