Ruins of the 7-acre Castle of Shechem
Millo is another name for the compact cities of Shechem and Jerusalem.
by Arthur Chrysler
“Biblical poetry makes frequent use of synonymous parallelism. Reading Zechariah 9:9 correctly, we see that the prophet is not speaking of someone riding two animals. As is common in biblical poetry, which is based on parallel structure, the repetition of an idea or fact does not indicate its duplication in reality. Parallelism is a poetic device to create a thought rhythm and is not to be taken literally as a repetition in fact. The prophet’s statement, “riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass,” describes the same event in different words” (Gerald Sigal, The Jew and the Christian Missionary: A Jewish Response to Missionary Christianity, 1981, p. 79).
Another use of synonymous parallelism is found in Judges 9:6, where it says, "And all the men of Shechem gathered together, and all the house of Millo, and went, and made Abimelech king..." Notice the repetition - "And all the men of Shechem..." - "and all the house of Millo..." This repetition occurs again, twice, in verse 20 - "...let fire come out from Abimelech, and devour the men of Shechem, and the house of Millo; and let fire come out from the men of Shechem, and from the house of Millo, and devour Abimelech." In this case, "the men" parallels "the house," and "Shechem" parallels "Millo." The house and the men are one and the same. The city of Shechem and Millo are one and the same.
D. J. Wiseman makes reference to the use of synonymous parallelism when he put forward as a working hypothesis the possibility that Darius the Mede is to be identified with Cyrus the Persian king: "...The basis of the hypothesis is that Daniel 6:28 can be translated ' Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius, even (namely, or i.e.) the reign of Cyrus the Persian.' Such a use of the appositional or explicative Hebrew waw construction has long been recognized in I Chronicles 5:26 ('So the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria even the spirit of Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria') and elsewhere" (D. J. Wiseman, Notes on some problems in THE BOOK OF DANIEL, Some Historical Problems in the Book of Daniel, 1965, p. 12).
In I Chronicles 11:8, is found another example of repetition in a verse, "And he built the city roundabout, even from Millo round about...". "Millo," in this instance, is parallel to "the city," therefore, Millo and the city (the city of David) should be considered as one and the same.
II Samuel 5:6-7 says, "And the king and his men went to Jerusalem unto the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land: which spake unto David, saying, Except thou take away the blind and the lame, thou shalt not come in hither: thinking, David cannot come in hither. Nevertheless David took the strong hold of Zion: the same is the city of David."
The Septuagint version of II Samuel 5:7 reads, "And David took first the hold of Sion: this is the city of David."
II Chronicles 32:5 says, "Also he strengthened himself, and built up the wall that was broken, and raised it up to the towers, and another wall without, and repaired Millo in the city of David." Notice the word "in" is written in italics in the King James Bible. In the back of the King James Bible it states, "The words in italics are words that do not have any equivalents in the Hebrew or Greek text. They are words which have been supplied by the translators in order to make the meaning of the sentence clearer, or in order to make the passage read more smoothly in English." Knowing this, one could read this verse again, omitting the word "in": "...and repaired Millo the city of David".
Conclusion:
The ancient city of Shechem covered approximately 7 acres and the ancient city of David covered an area of approximately 10 acres. During the time that these two compact cities were mentioned in Scripture, they would have been considered full of people, and were referred to as Millo.
Another use of synonymous parallelism is found in Judges 9:6, where it says, "And all the men of Shechem gathered together, and all the house of Millo, and went, and made Abimelech king..." Notice the repetition - "And all the men of Shechem..." - "and all the house of Millo..." This repetition occurs again, twice, in verse 20 - "...let fire come out from Abimelech, and devour the men of Shechem, and the house of Millo; and let fire come out from the men of Shechem, and from the house of Millo, and devour Abimelech." In this case, "the men" parallels "the house," and "Shechem" parallels "Millo." The house and the men are one and the same. The city of Shechem and Millo are one and the same.
D. J. Wiseman makes reference to the use of synonymous parallelism when he put forward as a working hypothesis the possibility that Darius the Mede is to be identified with Cyrus the Persian king: "...The basis of the hypothesis is that Daniel 6:28 can be translated ' Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius, even (namely, or i.e.) the reign of Cyrus the Persian.' Such a use of the appositional or explicative Hebrew waw construction has long been recognized in I Chronicles 5:26 ('So the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria even the spirit of Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria') and elsewhere" (D. J. Wiseman, Notes on some problems in THE BOOK OF DANIEL, Some Historical Problems in the Book of Daniel, 1965, p. 12).
In I Chronicles 11:8, is found another example of repetition in a verse, "And he built the city roundabout, even from Millo round about...". "Millo," in this instance, is parallel to "the city," therefore, Millo and the city (the city of David) should be considered as one and the same.
II Samuel 5:6-7 says, "And the king and his men went to Jerusalem unto the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land: which spake unto David, saying, Except thou take away the blind and the lame, thou shalt not come in hither: thinking, David cannot come in hither. Nevertheless David took the strong hold of Zion: the same is the city of David."
The Septuagint version of II Samuel 5:7 reads, "And David took first the hold of Sion: this is the city of David."
II Chronicles 32:5 says, "Also he strengthened himself, and built up the wall that was broken, and raised it up to the towers, and another wall without, and repaired Millo in the city of David." Notice the word "in" is written in italics in the King James Bible. In the back of the King James Bible it states, "The words in italics are words that do not have any equivalents in the Hebrew or Greek text. They are words which have been supplied by the translators in order to make the meaning of the sentence clearer, or in order to make the passage read more smoothly in English." Knowing this, one could read this verse again, omitting the word "in": "...and repaired Millo the city of David".
Conclusion:
The ancient city of Shechem covered approximately 7 acres and the ancient city of David covered an area of approximately 10 acres. During the time that these two compact cities were mentioned in Scripture, they would have been considered full of people, and were referred to as Millo.
The city of David/Millo (in shadow at sunset). The Mount of Olives and Silwan (well-lit at sunset). Photo by Bud Chrysler