Jerusalem: The City of David

Today, as a Jewish History tiyul, we went to the City of David just outside the Old City of Jerusalem. This city was where King David built his palace and it was also the location of his capital city. David decided on that Jerusalem would be on the border of Judah territory and Benjamin territory (territory belonging to each of the tribes of Jacob/Israel). David is of Judean decent. He decided to place Jerusalem where it is not only for the four major reasons that any major city is built (water, trade, food, and defense), he was also influenced by two other reasons. These reasons were divine and DC. Divine, meaning that this is the site that Abraham "sacrificed" Isaac to God, and DC, meaning that it was on the border of two opposing brotherly tribes.
Jerusalem's hilly landscape makes it difficult to collect water. Jerusalem has no real significant natural water source except springs. The fact that David would establish a major city at a place with no natural water source, but real religious value. This really got me thinking about what was more important to people back then. Was it water or religious value? I came to a decision that the most important thing is unity between the Israelites. Until the time of the kings, the Israelites had constant unity and disunity. The most important thing was to unite everyone and keep them united for even during times where there was much prosperity. This was the Israelites weakness and it was greatly improved during the times of the kings.