Abstract
The Christian and rabbinic concept of the city asserts a symbolic dimension of the city derived fundamentally from the theological themes of the Hebrew Bible, which redefined the symbolism of the city compared to that of the neighboring nations. The concept of the city in the Bible extends from the synonym of a place that concentrates in itself all the evil (e.g. Gn 19,20-32; Is 1,9-10; Jr 19,13), to a place with the status of special holiness (e.g. 2S 20,19; Is 62,10-12; Tb 13,10) or identified with God’s special protection (e.g. 2K 19,34; 20,6; Is 37,31-35; 38,6; Mi 4,7-8; Dn 3,28).The transformation of this theme in the present article is analyzed through the occurrence of the Hebrew term 1'l1. Since in the rhetorical perspective it is assumed that the occurrence of
a particular word is not incidental but points the reader to the message of the text, the tracing of occurrence of the term 1'l1, might be helpful in understanding the development of the theological meaning of the concept of the city.