Ancient Walls

The Oriental Town or City WALLS DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CITY AND VILLAGE, AS TO WALLS. In early Old Testament times the villages were smaller places of abode without walls around them, whereas the cities or towns were larger places that had walls around them. The Mosaic Law made such a distinction: "If a man sell a dwelling house in a walled city" (Leviticus 25:29). "But the houses of the villages which have no wall round about them" (Leviticus 25:31). The villages were often located near a fortified city upon which they were more or less dependent. Thus the city was the metropolis of the villages. We often read in the Bible of "cities and their villages," Some speak of the expression: "cities and their daughters," indicating a mother-city, and her dependent villages surrounding her (cf. Joshua 15:45 and 17:11).1 Walls a part of city fortifications. In Bible times most cities were walled and fortified for protection against an enemy. Those living in a city without walls would be interested in having walls built for them. Often when the Bible says that a certain character built a city, what is meant is not that a new site was located and a new city was built, but rather that a city already inhabited was supplied with walls entirely around its confines.2 It was thus that Solomon built "Bethhoron the upper, and Beth-horon the nether, fenced cities, with walls, gates, and bars" (II Chronicles 8:5). [Manners And Customs of Bible Lands]

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