3. _The Royal Period_ (B.C. 1003-587). With the accession of David a new era began in Israel, and every part of the kingdom soon felt the strong hand of its new master. He was not one to brook a foreign fortress in the centre of his realm, and in the first year of his reign over united Israel he marched against it, and demanded its surrender. Trusting to their strong situation, the Jebusites refused, and, as an insult, placed "the blind and the lame" on its walls in mockery of his attempt. But, under the valiant Joab, the height was scaled, the fortress was taken, and Jerusalem was thenceforth "the city of David." (2 Sam. 5.) David made it his capital, brought thither the ark of the covenant, and surrounded it with a new wall. Solomon enriched it with treasures, and with its greatest glory, the Temple on Mount Moriah. After the division it remained the capital of Judah, though close to the border of the Ten Tribes. It was taken without resistance from Rehoboam, by Shishak, the king of Egypt, and robbed of its wealth, 930 B.C. In the reign of Jehoshaphat it was restored to something like its former prosperity; but under his son Jehoram, B.C. 840, it was taken by a sudden attack of the Philistines and Arabians, and again plundered. Under Athaliah it became a shrine of abominable Baal worship, but was reformed by Jehoiada in the earlier days of the reign of Joash. Joash, however, in his later years allowed the people to relapse into idolatry, with the usual result; for, about B.C. 800, the powerful Hazael, king of Syria, overran the Shefelah, defeated the Judaites, and was only kept from entering the city by a gift of its treasures. Amaziah, the next king, elated by a victory, offered battle at Beth-shemesh to Joash, king of Israel, then the most powerful state between Egypt and Assyria. He was defeated; and, as a result, Jerusalem was entered by the Israelites, its wall was thrown down, and it was again plundered. The city suffered during the wicked reign of Ahaz, but was restored and divinely protected from its Assyrian besiegers in the good reign of Hezekiah. After the death of Josiah it was entered by the Egyptians under Necho; but its final destruction was wrought by Nebuchadnezzar, of the Babylonian empire. Twice he visited it with a heavy hand, setting up one king after another; and, when his vassal Zedekiah again rebelled, he besieged it for more than a year, with some intermissions, and at last, in B.C. 587, made a breach in its walls and took it by storm. Then, for the first time, the city was absolutely destroyed, and made a heap of ruins, while its people were carried into captivity. [Illustration: NATURAL FEATURES OF JERUSALEM.]