Jerusalem, therefore, attracted an enormous influx of visitors, both official and private, because of its importance as the political center of Jewry.
The religious importance of the city was absolutely decisive in attracting this influx.
In the first place, Jerusalem was one of the most important places for Jewish religious education. It attracted scholars from Babylonia and Egypt, and the world-wide reputation of its scholars attracted students.
Jerusalem had significance, too, for the most varied religious movements. Here was the focal point of Christianity (cf. Galatians 2.1-10), and here we find the Essenes. For Christianity, the holy places must have been a permanent center of attraction and were, no doubt, revered from the very beginning. The earliest witnesses of the gospel were there, too. It is clear – from Galatians 2.10, 1 Corinthians 16.1-4, and 2 Corinthians 8-9 (cf. Acts 20.4) that world Christendom sent its gifts to its Mother Church in Jerusalem.
Religious expectation looked to Jerusalem. Thus, all the many messianic movements of the time aspired towards Jerusalem. Many people settled in Jerusalem so that they might die in the Holy Place and be buried in the place of the Resurrection and the Last Judgment.
From: Jerusalem in the Time of Jesus: An Investigation into Economic and Social Conditions During the New Testament Period by Joachim Jeremias; translated from the German by F. H. Cave and C. H. Cave (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1969), p. 75. The translators based their work on a draft of an earlier translation by M. E. Dahl. The translation is of the 3rd German edition (1962) as revised by the author up to 1967.
Joachim Jeremias (1900-1979) was a German Lutheran theologian and New Testament scholar who specialized in Near Eastern studies. He was Professor of New Testament at the University of Gottingen from 1935 to 1968.
