Temple In Jerusalem
BY Peter Salemi
Our Home Page http://www.british-israel.ca
Historical Excerpts From Lambert Dolphin Temple Mount in Jerusalem Website
The Temple in Jerusalem has sparked controversy hatred and war throughout the centuries, and it will have a terrible, yet wonderful future just ahead of us. What will be the future role of the temple mount in Jerusalem? Who will control it in the very near future? And what is its ultimate destiny?
History of the Temple Mount
A number of Psalms speak boldly and forthrightly about God's choice, in antiquity, of Jerusalem and Mount Zion as His permanent dwelling place:
Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised in the city of our God! His holy mountain, beautiful in elevation, is the joy of all the earth, Mount Zion, in the far north, the city of the great King. Within her citadels God has shown himself a sure defense. For lo, the kings assembled, they came on together. As soon as they saw it, they were astounded, they were in panic, they took to flight; trembling took hold of them there, anguish as of a woman in travail. By the east wind thou didst shatter the ships of Tarshish. As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the LORD of hosts, in the city of our God, which God establishes for ever. [Selah]
We have thought on thy steadfast love, O God, in the midst of thy temple. As thy name, O God, so thy praise reaches to the ends of the earth. Thy right hand is filled with victory; let Mount Zion be glad! Let the daughters of Judah rejoice because of thy judgments! Walk about Zion, go round about her, number her towers, consider well her ramparts, go through her citadels; that you may tell the next generation that this is God, our God for ever and ever. He will be our guide for ever. (Psalm 48. A Song. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah)
Though occupied by the children of Ham, Canaan, the Promised Land, had been promised to
another son of Noah, to Shem, and one of Shem's unique descendants who was to be the
Savior of the world.
Forty centuries ago, God had called this man Abram out of a pagan culture to the
East, Ur of the Chaldees (in what is now Iraq).
Now the Lord said to Abram:
"Get out of your country, from your kindred and from your father's house, to a land I will show you - I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." (Genesis 12:1-3).
God showed Abraham the borders of the land that was to belong to him and his descendants:
And the Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him: "Lift your eyes now and look to the place where you are---northward, southward, eastward, and westward; for all the land which you see I give to you and your descendants forever. And I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth; so that if a man could number the dust of the earth, then your descendants also could be numbered. Arise and walk the land through its length and width, for I give it to you." (Genesis 13:14-17).
Moreover, as we have seen the promises made to Abraham and his descendants are everlasting:
"And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you. And I will give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I will be their God." (Genesis 17:7-8).
This covenant, or agreement, that God made with Abraham's descendants could not, nor cannot be revoked.
In these passages God made the following promises to Abraham and his descendants:
Against all odds, these promises have been literally fulfilled. The fact that they all
continue to come true in history as promised demonstrates the character and faithfulness
of God.
Among the promises God made to Abraham was that of a son. The Bible says that the Lord appeared to Abraham when he and his wife Sarah were advanced in age and promised they would have a son the next year. Sarah laughed when she overheard the promise:
And Sarah was listening in the tent door behind them. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age; and Sarah had passed the age of childbearing. Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, 'After I have grown old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?" And the Lord said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh, saying, 'Shall I surely bear a child, since I am old?' Is anything too hard for the Lord?" (Genesis 18:11-14).
As God had promised Abraham and Sarah indeed had a son they named him Isaac, which
means "laughter."
Centuries later the Apostle Paul commenting on the promised seed, or heir, of Abraham
tells us that all the promises of God to the Patriarch were to find their fulfillment in
one unique Seed, Yeshua, the promised Messiah. Paul wrote these words,
Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, "And to offsprings," referring to many; but, referring to one, "And to your offspring," which is Christ. (Galatians 3:16)
Thus it was God's intention from before the creation of the universe to bring the promised Messiah into the world as the biological, genetic, flesh and blood descendant of Abraham.
Lot, Abraham's nephew had made an unfortunate choice in choosing to dwell in Sodom, a
choice he would regret not only for time but also eternity. He had more than one
opportunity to move. Genesis 14 tells of five marauding kings from the East (Babylon) who
overran Sodom and the other Canaanite cities of the plain, taking Lot temporarily captive.
Abraham and a mere 318 of his men pursued these bad guys the full length of the country,
rescuing Lot and returning him "home" again to Sodom.
It was after these events that Abraham, stopping at Canaanite Jerusalem on his way back to
Hebron that the Patriarch was served bread and wine and blessed by the King of Salem, a
man who was not only the local King but also a Priest of El Elyon, "God most
High."
After his return from the defeat of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him (Abraham) at the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King's Valley). And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was priest of God Most High. And he blessed him and said, "Blessed be Abram by God Most High, maker of heaven and earth; and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand!" And Abram gave him a tenth of everything. (Gen. 14:17-20)
It is beyond the scope of this essay to dwell at length on the mysterious meeting between Abraham, the progenitor of God's chosen people Israel, and a certain righteous gentile believer who served the true and living God in the Canaanite city of Jebus that would one day be Jerusalem, the capital city of the world. It should be noted that Melchidezek is the subject of a lengthy discussion in the letter to the Hebrews in connection with a later and better priesthood that the Messiah would one day institute, (see Psalm 110, Heb. 7-10). Ordinarily the Bible does not speak much in the Old Testament about God's gracious and merciful dealings with peoples other than Israel. Yet the case of Melchidezek shows clearly that God had His man, His priest, in Jerusalem even before the Jewish people came into existence!
God tested and proved Abraham's faith as He does with all those who believe. This is to grow us up into mature, whole, complete persons fit for eternity. The most severe of all of God's tests of Abraham's faith came when Isaac had grown into a man, Abraham was asked to take this long-awaited, beloved son of promise and offer him as a burnt offering.
Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, "Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am." And he said, 'Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you." (Genesis 22:1-2).
Abraham acted in obedience to God and went on a three days journey to the site which
God had chosen. The site that God brought Abraham would later become the City of Jerusalem
The exact location on Mt. Moriah is believed to be the Temple Mount:
When they reached the mountain that God had chosen, Abraham was prepared to sacrifice
Isaac:
But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said . . . "Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering. And Abraham said, "My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering." (Genesis 22:7, 8)
At the last moment, God stayed the hand of Abraham as he was about to sacrifice his son. Instead, Abraham offered a ram as a sacrifice on Mt. Moriah. There Abraham appropriately named the spot:
And Abraham called the name of the place, The-Lord-Will-Provide (Yahweh-Jireh); as it is said to this day, "In the Mount of the Lord it shall be provided. (Genesis 22:14).
Abraham looked forward to the day when God would provide another and better sacrifice
on that same Mountain.
The New Testament speaks of Abraham's great faith which became fully pleasing to God. The
writer of the letter to the Hebrews tells us that Abraham had come to the conclusion that
God was obligated to raise Isaac from the dead should the sacrifice be made:
By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was ready to offer up his only son, of whom it was said, "Through Isaac shall your descendants be named." He considered that God was able to raise men even from the dead; hence, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back. (Hebrews 11:17-19)
Jesus was to comment later on Abraham's obedience at Mount Moriah, "Your Father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad." (John 8:56)
Here Jesus claims to be the Intimate of God, the One who thoroughly knows God because he has been with him from the very beginning. "Abraham is my credential, my proof of that," he declares. "Abraham looked forward, saw my day, and approved of me 2,500 years before I came. He understood who I am and what I am here to do, and when he saw it he rejoiced." (Ray C. Stedman)
Twenty centuries after Abraham another Father was to give up His only begotten, beloved Son on the same Mount Moriah. This time the offering would not be averted:
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. (John 3:16, 17)
As God had promised, a great nation sprung from Abraham through his son Isaac. From Isaac came the next son of the promise, Jacob. Jacob's name was changed to Israel and from Isaac were born the twelve Patriarchs of Israel:
Abraham
Isaac - not the servant Eliezer, not Ishmael
Jacob (Israel) - not Esau, then:
Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Dan, Joseph (sons: Ephraim and Manasseh), Benjamin, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher.
Abraham had not passed each and every test God had given him, his lapses and failures are
recorded for our learning in Genesis. Some of his failures brought serious consequences,
but all that have taken place was woven into the plan of God for his chosen people the
sons of Israel:
Then the LORD said to Abram, "Know of a surety that your descendants will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs, and will be slaves there, and they will be oppressed for four hundred years; but I will bring judgment on the nation which they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions. As for yourself, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age. And they shall come back here in the fourth generation; for the iniquity of the Amorites (i.e., the Canaanites) is not yet complete." (Genesis 15:13-15)
So the descendants of Israel, some 70 persons, (Gen. 46:27) went down to Egypt and
spent four hundred years there as slaves. They would increase in number to several
millions in the time of their exile from the Promised Land.
The Biblical record, Old and New Testaments alike, tell us that the Exodus of the Jews
from Egypt under Moses marks the time the people of Israel became a nation under God.
And now, O Israel, give heed to the statutes and the ordinances which I teach you, and do them; that you may live, and go in and take possession of the land which the LORD, the God of your fathers, gives you...For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the LORD our God is to us, whenever we call upon him? And what great nation is there, that has statutes and ordinances so righteous as all this law which I set before you this day?.. For ask now of the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created man upon the earth, and ask from one end of heaven to the other, whether such a great thing as this has ever happened or was ever heard of. Did any people ever hear the voice of a god speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and still live? Or has any god ever attempted to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, by wonders, and by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? (Deut. 4:1-34)
Under Moses' leadership in the wilderness, God began to reveal to Israel that had been
called out of Egypt on a pilgrim journey to the land promised four centuries earlier to
their forefather. They were dealing with no ordinary God, they were told, Yahweh was a
holy God and could not dwell with an unclean, profane people. The character of this God
was revealed in the Decalogue, the Law of Moses, made known to them at Mt. Sinai. At the
same time their sinful failings began to be evident, (see 1 Cor. 10:1-11). Rather than
showing justice, God displayed his mercy, patience, loyal-love and longsuffering. A
priesthood, a Tent of Meeting, and an elaborate system of animal sacrifices were given
them to show that this God was prepared to make provision for every kind of and every
manner of human sin whether it was directed against Him or against one another, or against
the community. The first great lesson of redemption through blood sacrifice and
deliverance by power had been shown to them at the first Passover, (Exodus 12). Sins could
be covered by the blood sacrifice of unblemished animals, and "passed-over"
until Messiah came to take sins away forever.
It was in the wilderness of Sinai after the crossing of the Red Sea that God revealed how
it was He planned to meet in fellowship with His people.
Let them make Me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them. (Exodus 25:8).
Moses did not suggest to God that a Tabernacle should be built and then God agreed to
occupy it. God lovingly looked down upon His people as He directed them toward the
Promised Land. He would not only guide them, He would dwell with them to give them
constant assurance of His shepherdly care. Yahweh instructed Moses to build the Tabernacle
in the midst of the camp, just as a Bedouin chieftain would pitch his tent in the midst of
an encampment. Furthermore the complete blueprints for this strange tent, courts, and
furniture were given to Moses on Mount Sinai.
The Tabernacle itself was basically a huge elaborate tent about forty-five feet long
divided into two parts by a curtain, or veil. The first room, upon entering - called
"the Holy Place" - was about thirty feet by fifteen feet in size. In the center
of the room, before the veil was the ark of incense standing about three feet high. On it
was placed charcoal and a mixture of incense and aromatic resins. This incense was burned
twice a day.
On the left of this altar was the seven branched golden candlestick (the Menorah). On the
right was the Table of Showbread where twelve loaves of bread were placed in two piles of
six. The bread, a memorial to the twelve tribes of Israel, was renewed every Sabbath day.
Beyond the veil was the holiest place known as the Holy of Holies. The dimensions were
15 cubits on a side - approximately 22 feet on a side. Inside the Holy of Holies was the
Ark of the Covenant. And above the Ark was the Mercy Seat.
The Ark was a wooden chest made to Divine specifications to contain the two tablets of the
Law, Aaron's rod that budded and a pot of manna. Made out of acacia wood, this strange
cabinet-like box with carrying poles was also known as the Ark of the Law. It was about
four feet long and two and one half feet high. The Ark was covered inside and outside with
gold. There were four rings fixed to its side through which two carrying poles were
passed. The Ark was placed under the care of the Levites, who were exempt from military
duties.
On the top of the Ark was the mercy seat that had two golden cherubim with outstretched
wings at its ends. The Cherubim, of which little is known, were winged celestial creatures
whose purpose was to guard and protect.
The Mercy Seat received its name because the High Priest, once a year on the Day of
Atonement, sprinkled it with the blood of the sacrifice. This was the most sacred place in
the entire Sanctuary. It was to symbolize the visible throne of the invisible presence of
God.
It was from the Holy of Holies God spoke to His people:
And there I will meet with you, and I will speak with you from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are on the ark of the Testimony, of all things which I will give you in commandment to the children of Israel. (Exodus 25:22)
And the Lord said to Moses: "Tell Aaron your brother not to come at simply any time into the Holy Place inside the veil, before the mercy seat which is on the ark, lest he die; for I will appear in the cloud above the mercy seat." (Leviticus 16:2)
The Tabernacle was erected each time God indicated to the children of Israel they were
to temporarily halt from their march in the wilderness. The imagery is clear - this tent
was only a temporary structure, looking forward to the day when a permanent house of the
Lord could be built.
Numerous Bible commentaries have commented in detail on the symbols of the Ark, the
sacrifices, the furnishings, the courts and the Tabernacle. These matters can be studied
with great benefit by believers today for the principles of God's dealings with His people
are the same in every generation even though the coming of Messiah has brought a
fulfillment of the many types and pictures portrayed by the Tabernacle of Moses.
Under the leadership of Joshua, Moses' successor, the children of Israel entered the land of Canaan, the Promised land. The Book of Joshua describes in some detail the conquest of the land and the new lessons God taught his people Israel about living in the land that had been given to them four hundred and forty years earlier. After the conquest of Canaan, the tent of meeting remained in Shiloh through the time of the Judges, a period of time which totals approximately another 400 years. Shiloh was destroyed by the Philistines (1050 BC) and never rebuilt.
More information about early Jerusalem is contained in the record in the book of Joshua at the time of the conquest. Jerusalem was then under the control of the Jebusites under a king whose name (or title) was Adonizedek (Lord of righteousness").
When Adonizedek king of Jerusalem heard how Joshua had taken Ai, and had utterly destroyed it doing to Ai and its king as he had done to Jericho and its king, and how the inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace with Israel and were among them, he feared greatly, because Gibeon was a great city, like one of the royal cities, and because it was greater than Ai, and all its men were mighty. So Adonizedek king of Jerusalem sent to Hoham king of Hebron, to Piram king of Jarmuth, to Japhia king of Lachish, and to Debir king of Eglon, saying, "Come up to me, and help me, and let us smite Gibeon; for it has made peace with Joshua and with the people of Israel." Then the five kings of the Amorites, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, and the king of Eglon, gathered their forces, and went up with all their armies and encamped against Gibeon, and made war against it. And the men of Gibeon sent to Joshua at the camp in Gilgal, saying, "Do not relax your hand from your servants; come up to us quickly, and save us and help us; for all the kings of the Amorites that dwell in the hill country are gathered against us." So Joshua went up from Gilgal, he and all the people of war with him, and all the mighty men of valor. And the LORD said to Joshua, "Do not fear them, for I have given them into your hands- there shall not a man of them stand before you." So Joshua came upon them suddenly, having marched up all night from Gilgal. And the LORD threw them into a panic before Israel, who slew them with a great slaughter at Gibeon, and chased them by the way of the ascent of Bethhoron, and smote them as far as Azekah and Makkedah. And as they fled before Israel, while they were going down the ascent of Bethhoron, the LORD threw down great stones from heaven upon them as far as Azekah, and they died; there were more who died because of the hailstones than the men of Israel killed with the sword...
Then Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, to the camp at Gilgal. These five kings fled, and hid themselves in the cave at Makkedah. And it was told Joshua, "The five kings have been found, hidden in the cave at Makkedah." And Joshua said, "Roll great stones against the mouth of the cave, and set men by it to guard them; but do not stay there yourselves, pursue your enemies, fall upon their rear, do not let them enter their cities; for the LORD your God has given them into your hand." When Joshua and the men of Israel had finished slaying them with a very great slaughter, until they were wiped out, and when the remnant which remained of them had entered into the fortified cities, all the people returned safe to Joshua in the camp at Makkedah; not a man moved his tongue against any of the people of Israel. Then Joshua said, "Open the mouth of the cave, and bring those five kings out to me from the cave." And they did so, and brought those five kings out to him from the cave, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, and the king of Eglon. And when they brought those kings out to Joshua, Joshua summoned all the men of Israel, and said to the chiefs of the men of war who had gone with him, "Come near, put your feet upon the necks of these kings." Then they came near, and put their feet on their necks. And Joshua said to them, "Do not be afraid or dismayed; be strong and of good courage; for thus the LORD will do to all your enemies against whom you fight." And afterward Joshua smote them and put them to death, and he hung them on five trees. And they hung upon the trees until evening; but at the time of the going down of the sun, Joshua commanded, and they took them down from the trees, and threw them into the cave where they had hidden themselves, and they set great stones against the mouth of the cave, which remain to this very day.(Joshua 10:1-27)
In attempting to understand what appears at first glance to be the ruthless destruction
of innocent men, women and children, it is important for us to understand that Israel was,
at this time in her history, the instrument of God in bringing divine judgment on a
thoroughly corrupt, pagan, wicked people, (Numbers 21:1, 2; Deut. 7:2,13:15, 20:17; Josh
10-11). The inhabitants of Canaan had, in fact, had 400 years to mend their ways and turn
to the living God who owned the land, (Gen. 15:16). Instead they had grown only more
corrupt and beyond the hope of salvation. To allow them to continue and propagate would
only spread the cancer of their idolatrous ways further.
In fact Israel's incomplete obedience of God in allowing remnants of the Canaanites to
live was the cause of much subsequent heartache and disaster for centuries to follow,
(Joshua 17:13, Judges 1:22ff-3:6).
The Books of Samuel tell of the capture of the Ark of the Covenant by the Philistines
and give us also the subsequent story of the wanderings of the Ark for some years until it
was brought to Jerusalem by David. After the fall and destruction of Shiloh in 1050 BC the
tabernacle and its furnishings - minus the Ark - were brought to Jerusalem, and, according
to tradition eventually set up there on Mount Moriah by King David. When the Ark was at
last recovered it was evidently returned to its proper place in the Holy of Holies of the
Tabernacle. Now the Ark and the Tabernacle had come to rest permanently at God's chosen
destination for His people Israel.
According to 2 Samuel 5 David, in the eight year of his reign had captured Jerusalem from
the Jebusites:
And the king and his men went to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, who said to David, "You will not come in here, but the blind and the lame will ward you off " - thinking, "David cannot come in here." Nevertheless David took the stronghold of Zion, that is, the city of David. And David said on that day, "Whoever would smite the Jebusites, let him get up the water shaft to attack the lame and the blind, who are hated by David's soul." Therefore it is said, "The blind and the lame shall not come into the house." And David dwelt in the stronghold, and called it the city of David. And David built the city round about from the Millo inward. (2 Sam. 5:6-9)
The first rightful king of Israel was David. David captured the city of Jerusalem from
the Jebusites and was crowned king of Israel in the city of Hebron. David solidified the
nation by making Jerusalem its capital. He brought the Ark of the covenant to Jerusalem
and placed it in the tabernacle.
King David observed that while he lived in a house of cedar, God's presence still was
in curtains (the Tabernacle). Hence David conceived a plan for a more permanent structure
to be built, a Temple.
God told king David that a Temple was to be built, but not by him. David was not to be the
one who would build the Temple because he was a man of war. That job would belong to his
son Solomon. The original command for building the Temple was given by God, "He shall
build a house for my name" (2 Samuel 7:13).
The fact that other nations had temples and Israel did not is not the reason it was built.
The Temple was to be a memorial to Israel to turn her heart away from the idols of their
contemporaries. The Temple would provide them for an incentive not to practice the same
evil things as the Canaanites.
After the Temple was built the Tabernacle was dismantled. Its fate is unknown. But, it may
well have been stored in a room under the Temple Mount were it remains to this today.
Quite a few Jewish leaders in Israel today will tell you that this is so!
Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion,
which cannot be moved, but abides for ever.
As the mountains are round about Jerusalem,
so the LORD is round about his people,
from this time forth and for evermore.
For the scepter of wickedness
shall not rest upon the land allotted to the righteous,
lest the righteous put forth their hands to do wrong.
Do good, O LORD, to those who are good,
and to those who are upright in their hearts!
But those who turn aside upon their crooked ways
the LORD will lead away with evildoers!
Peace be in Israel!
(Psalm 125. A Psalm of David. A Psalm of Ascents)
The Temple of Solomon
Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep.
Lo, sons are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the sons of one's youth. Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.
(Psalm 127. A Song of Ascents. Of Solomon.)
Kings Come to Ancient Israel
After the conquest of the land and the death of that great leader Joshua, the tribes of Israel settled into the chaotic, disjointed, and disorganized period described in the Book of Judges. This whole time period of nearly four centuries was characterized by the repeated descriptive phrase, "In those days there was no king in the land, everyone did what was right in his own eyes." (Judges 17:6, 18:1, 19:1, 21:25) Failure to drive out and exterminate the corrupting Canaanites who lived previously in the land caused these peoples to grow back like poisonous weeds until they oppressed and harassed Israel.
During this time God graciously raised up "judges" (shophetim) who reversed the status quo for a season by calling on God and rally the people around the One who had chosen them and commissioned them to occupy the land.
Moral and spiritual conditions were very low at Shiloh when the prophet Samuel was born. The Levitical priesthood under Eli was about to be disqualified in the deaths of Eli's disreputable sons Hophni and Phinehas. Although God had desired to rule Israel as their invisible Monarch and Lord, the people clamored for a national champion to rule them:
Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and carne to Samuel at Ramah, and said to him, "Behold, you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways; now appoint for us a king to govern us like all the nations." But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, "Give us a king to govern us." And Samuel prayed to the LORD. And the LORD said to Samuel, "Hearken to the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. According to all the deeds which they have done to me, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are also doing to you. Now then, hearken to their voice; only, you shall solemnly warn them, and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them."
So Samuel told all the words of the LORD to the people who were asking a king from him. He said, "These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen, and to run before his chariots - and he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his servants. He will take the tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and to his servants. He will take your menservants and maidservants, and the best of your cattle and your asses, and put them to his work. He will take the tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves. And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves; but the LORD will not answer you in that day."
But the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel - and they said, "No! but we will have a king over us, that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may govern us and go out before us and fight our battles." And when Samuel had heard all the words of the people, he repeated them in the ears of the LORD.
And the LORD said to Samuel, "Hearken to their voice, and make them a king. (1 Samuel 8:4-22)The first king chosen, Saul of the tribe of Benjamin, a son of Kish - though a man of proven military ability - failed the tests God gave him and was soon disqualified (1 Samuel 15) leaving the newly formed "monarchy" in a state of civil war.
Young David, a Bethlehemite shepherd lad from the tribe of Judah was then chosen by God. As everyone knows, he proved by his wise choices to be a man "after God's own heart." As a great military strategist David united the tribes and extended the national boundaries so that in his time Israel enjoyed a greater fraction of the land promised to Abraham than has ever since been the case.
David ruled as king for seven years and Hebron, then established his throne in Jerusalem after overcoming the ancient Jebusite (Canaanite) community there. His reign continued there in Jerusalem for the next 32 years. Secure on his throne and dwelling in a magnificent palace of cedar and stone, David began to be concerned that he, the visible king, dwelled in a magnificent house, but the invisible King of kings still dwelt in an aging temporary tent, the Tabernacle of Moses.
At first the prophet Nathan gave David approval to construct a temple, but the following night God intervened. Speaking to Nathan in a dream God laid out for David an amazing covenant whose promises continue to this present day. God committed himself to establishing the house of David forever, to a specific land and people (Israel), and to a temple (see 2 Samuel 7). Messiah, in fact, would be one of David's sons.
David, a man of war, was not, however, to build the First Temple. That task was given to his son Solomon, although David drew up the plans.
The fact that other nations had temples and Israel did not is not the reason The First Temple was to be built. The Temple was to be a memorial to Israel to turn her heart away from the idols of the surrounding nations. The Temple would provide them for an incentive not to practice the same evil things as the Canaanites.
After the Temple was built, the Tabernacle was dismantled. It may have been stored in a room under the Temple Mount. It is quite possible it is still there to this day, as many rabbis and authorities in Jerusalem believe.
Araunah's Threshing Floor
David was by no means a perfect king. He had a number of wives and his marriages were apparently nothing to boast about. His grievous sin of murder and adultery in the case of Bathsheba brought war in David's household for the rest of his days. Yet when confronted with his sin David showed contrition and repentance (Psalms 32, 51 for instance).
Late in his reign David carelessly chose to take a census of the army acting against the advice of General Joab and other army leaders. The Lord was provoked to great anger at David who evidently had forgotten that the strength of Israel was in her God and not in the number of her soldiers or skill in battle. Confronted with the seriousness of his poor judgment by the prophet Gad, David was given three choices by God as to the consequences that were to follow this serious mistake on the part of the king. The three choices given him were (1) three years of famine, (3) three years of devastation by Israel's foes, or (3) of three days of destruction (pestilence) wrought by The Angel of the Lord, (see 1 Chr. 21, 2 Sam 24 for the accounts).
Knowing that God was merciful, David asked God to choose. The result was three terrible days of pestilence from the Angel of the Lord. Jerusalem was spared at the last minute when David cried out for mercy--the sin was his and not that of the people--they were but sheep.
It was at this time, when the hand of the Angel of the Lord was stayed, that David was told by Gad to erect an altar on the threshing floor of Araunah (Ornan) the Jebusite. The location was on wind-swept Mount Moriah. The site is the place where one thousand years earlier God had stopped Abraham from sacrificing Isaac.
And Gad came that day to David and said to him, "Go up, erect an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite." . . . And David built there an altar unto the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the Lord heeded the prayers for the land, and the plague was withdrawn from Israel. (2 Samuel 24: 15,1 6, 18, 25).
Plans and Preparations for the Temple
David's role, and careful attention to all the details, plans and preparation for the temple are recorded for us in First Chronicles Chapter 22:
David commanded to gather together the aliens who were in the land of Israel, and he set stonecutters to prepare dressed stones for building the house of God. David also provided great stores of iron for nails for the doors of the gates and for clamps, as well as bronze in quantities beyond weighing, and cedar timbers without number - for the Sidonians and Tyrians brought great quantities of cedar to David. For David said, "Solomon my son is young and inexperienced, and the house that is to be built for the LORD must be exceedingly magnificent, of fame and glory throughout all lands; I will therefore make preparation for it." So David provided materials in great quantity before his death.
Then he called for Solomon his son, and charged him to build a house for the LORD, the God of Israel. David said to Solomon,
"My son, I had it in my heart to build a house to the name of the LORD my God. But the word of the LORD came to me, saying, You have shed much blood and have waged great wars; you shall not build a house to my name, because you have shed so much blood before me upon the earth. Behold, a son shall be born to you; he shall be a man of peace. I will give him peace from all his enemies round about; for his name shall be Solomon, and I will give peace and quiet to Israel in his days. He shall build a house for my name. He shall be my son, and I will be his father, and I will establish his royal throne in Israel for ever.' Now, my son, the LORD be with you, so that you may succeed in building the house of the LORD your God, as he has spoken concerning you. Only, may the LORD grant you discretion and understanding, that when he gives you charge over Israel you may keep the law of the LORD your God. Then you will prosper if you are careful to observe the statutes and the ordinances which the LORD commanded Moses for Israel. Be strong, and of good courage. Fear not; be not dismayed. With great pains I have provided for the house of the LORD a hundred thousand talents of gold, a million talents of silver, and bronze and iron beyond weighing, for there is so much of it; timber and stone too I have provided. To these you must add. You have an abundance of workmen: stonecutters, masons, carpenters, and all kinds of craftsmen without number, skilled in working gold, silver, bronze, and iron. Arise and be doing! The LORD be with you!"
David also commanded all the leaders of Israel to help Solomon his son, saying, "Is not the LORD your God with you? And has he not given you peace on every side? For he has delivered the inhabitants of the land into my hand - and the land is subdued before the LORD and his people. Now set your mind and heart to seek the LORD your God. Arise and build the sanctuary of the LORD God, so that the ark of the covenant of the LORD and the holy vessels of God may be brought into a house built for the name of the LORD."The Construction of the Temple
After the death of his father David, Solomon issued the orders for the building of the First Temple to commence:
You know that my father David could not build a house for the name of the Lord his God because of the wars which were fought against him on every side until the Lord put his foes under the soles of his feet. (1 Kings 5:3).
The building of the First Temple was a monumental task. Phoenician craftsmen were employed to build the Temple. Construction began in the fourth year of Solomon's reign and took seven years:
Then King Solomon raised up a labor force out of all Israel - and the labor force was thirty thousand men . . . Solomon selected seventy thousand men to bear burdens, eighty thousand to quarry stone in the mountains, and three thousand six hundred to oversee them. (1 Kings 5:13; 2 Chronicles 2:2).
The stones were hewn from a quarry and brought to the Temple:
And the temple, when it was being built, was built with stone finished at the quarry, so that no hammer or chisel or any iron tool was heard in the temple while it was being built. (1 Kings 6:7)
Generous sections of First Kings (Chapters 5-8) and 2 Chronicles (Chapters 1-7) give us great detail about the construction of the Temple, the priesthood and the temple services. A summary is given in 1 Kings 6:
In the four hundred and eightieth year after the people of Israel came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, which is the second month, he began to build the house of the LORD. The house which King Solomon built for the LORD was sixty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high. The vestibule in front of the nave of the house was twenty cubits long, equal to the width of the house, and ten cubits deep in front of the house. And he made for the house windows with recessed frames. He also built a structure against the wall of the house, running round the walls of the house, both the nave and the inner sanctuary - and he made side chambers all around. The lowest story was five cubits broad, the middle one was six cubits broad and the third was seven cubits broad - for around the outside of the house he made offsets on the wall in order that the supporting beams should not be inserted into the walls of the house. When the house was built, it was with stone prepared at the quarry; so that neither hammer nor ax nor any tool of iron was heard in the temple, while it was being built. The entrance for the lowest story was on the south side of the house; and one went up by stairs to the middle story, and from the middle story to the third. So he built the house, and finished it; and he made the ceiling of the house of beams and planks of cedar. He built the structure against the whole house, each story five cubits high, and it was joined to the house with timbers of cedar.
Now the word of the LORD came to Solomon, "Concerning this house which you are building, if you will walk in my statutes and obey my ordinances and keep all my commandments and walk in them, then I will establish my word with you, which I spoke to David your father. And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will not forsake my people Israel." So Solomon built the house, and finished it. He lined the walls of the house on the inside with boards of cedar; from the floor of the house to the rafters of the ceiling, he covered them on the inside with wood; and he covered the floor of the house with boards of cypress. He built twenty cubits of the rear of the house with boards of cedar from the floor to the rafters, and he built this within as an inner sanctuary, as the most holy place. The house, that is, the nave in front of the inner sanctuary, was forty cubits long. The cedar within the house was carved in the form of gourds and open flowers; all was cedar, no stone was seen. The inner sanctuary he prepared in the innermost part of the house, to set there the ark of the covenant of the LORD. The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and twenty cubits high; and he overlaid it with pure gold. He also made an altar of cedar.
And Solomon overlaid the inside of the house with pure gold, and he drew chains of gold across, in front of the inner sanctuary, and overlaid it with gold. And he overlaid the whole house with gold, until all the house was finished. Also the whole altar that belonged to the inner sanctuary he overlaid with gold. In the inner sanctuary he made two cherubim of olive wood, each ten cubits high. Five cubits was the length of one wing of the cherub, and five cubits the length of the other wing of the cherub; it was ten cubits from the tip of one wing to the tip of the other. The other cherub also measured ten cubits; both cherubim had the same measure and the same form. The height of one cherub was ten cubits and so was that of the other cherub. He put the cherubim in the innermost part of the house; and the wings of the cherubim were spread out so that a wing of one touched the one wall, and a wing of the other cherub touched the other wall; their other wings touched each other in the middle of the house. And he overlaid the cherubim with gold.
He carved all the walls of the house round about with carved figures of cherubim and palm trees and open flowers, in the inner and outer rooms. The floor of the house he overlaid with gold in the inner and outer rooms. For the entrance to the inner sanctuary he made doors of olive wood; the lintel and the doorposts formed a pentagon. He covered the two doors of olive wood with carvings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers; he overlaid them with gold, and spread gold upon the cherubim and upon the palm trees. So also he made for the entrance to the nave doorposts of olive wood, in the form of a square, and two doors of cypress wood; the two leaves of the one door were folding, and the two leaves of the other door were folding. On them he carved cherubim and palm trees and open flowers; and he overlaid them with gold evenly applied upon the carved work. He built the inner court with three courses of hewn stone and one course of cedar beams. In the fourth year the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid, in the month of Ziv. And in the eleventh year, in the month of Bul, which is the eighth month, the house was finished in all its parts, and according to all its specifications. He was seven years in building it.Dedication
After the completion of the Temple it was dedicated by King Solomon in 953 BC Solomon's speech to the people and his marvelous prayers were followed by an enormous offering of 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. A great public feast followed:
So Solomon held the feast at that time, and all Israel with him, a great assembly, from the entrance of Hamath to the Brook of Egypt, before the LORD our God, seven days. On the eighth day he sent the people away; and they blessed the king, and went to their homes joyful and glad of heart for all the goodness that the LORD had shown to David his servant and to Israel his people. (l Kings 8:65, 66)
The account in 2 Chronicles tells us that fire from heaven ignited the offerings on the altars as Solomon finished praying:
When Solomon had ended his prayer, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple. And the priests could not enter the house of the LORD, because the glory of the LORD filled the LORD's house. When all the children of Israel saw the fire come down and the glory of the LORD upon the temple, they bowed down with their faces to the earth on the pavement, and worshiped and gave thanks to the LORD, saying, "For he is good, for his steadfast love endures for ever." Then the king and all the people offered sacrifice before the LORD. King Solomon offered as a sacrifice twenty-two thousand oxen and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the people dedicated the house of God. The priests stood at their posts, the Levites also, with the instruments for music to the LORD which King David had made for giving thanks to the LORDfor his steadfast love endures for everwhenever David offered praises by their ministry, opposite them the priests sounded trumpets; and all Israel stood. (2 Chronicles 7:1-6)
A Temple without an Idol
The feature that set apart the Solomonic Temple from other Temples in the ancient world is that there was no idol in it. It contained only the Mercy Seat over the Ark and the Cherubim overshadowing the Mercy Seat. This declared to the world that idols are unnecessary for God to be present. The God of Israel was not localized in any sense. Neither was He bound to any other form such as the Ark. The Temple therefore was not necessary because of God's nature. He did not need it. One thousand years later, the first Christian martyr, Stephen, said to an unruly crowd:
...Solomon built God a house. However the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says: "Heaven is My throne, and the earth is my footstool. What house will you build for Me? says the Lord or what is the place of My rest? Has not My hand made all these things?" (Acts 7:47-50, quoting Isaiah 66:1-2).
The Temple was built to meet the limitations and needs of God's people. It emphasized the way of salvation to the those who asked His forgiveness and represented the believers assurance of the grace of God for their joy and blessing. (1 Kings 8:27-30).
"But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain thee; how much less this house which I have built!" (V. 27)
The Temple also symbolized the hearing ear of God:
Yet regard the prayer of Your servant and his supplication, O Lord my God, and listen to the cry and the prayer which Your servant is praying before You today: that Your eyes may be open toward this temple night and day toward the place of which You said, "My name shall be there," and that You may hear the prayer which Your servant makes toward this place. (1 Kings 8:28-29).
It was also a place of refuge for the stranger:
Moreover concerning a foreigner, who is not of Your people Israel, but has come from a far country for Your name's sake. (for they will hear of Your great name and Your strong hand and Your outstretched arm), when he comes and prays toward this temple, hear in heaven Your dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to You, that all peoples of the earth may know Your name and fear You, as do Your people Israel, and that they may know that this temple which I have built is called by your name (1 Kings 8: 4143).
The Temple is the house of prayer for all people where all nations of the earth should fear God:
Even them I will bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My House of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on My altar; for My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations (Isaiah 56:7).
What we know about Solomon's Temple
The on-going, intensive research now being conducted by The Temple Institute, and other groups in Jerusalem, will soon bring us more published and accessible information on the Temple of Solomon. Until now most of the published descriptions of the temple have been based on the Bible only.
Extra-biblical sources (Ref. 2) describe the Sanhedrin, the Supreme Court of ancient Israel as being housed in a special building in the Temple courtyard named the Chamber of Hewn Stone (Lishkat ha-Gazith).
We have descriptions of the ritual bath (mikvah) used by the high priest. The mikvah was supplied by flowing ("living") water from the spring called Ein Eitam which is in the hills of Bethlehem near the Pools of Solomon which are still extant. The spring was 23 cubits above the level of the Temple court.
Two chambers in the Temple are named in the Mishnah. One, the Chamber of Secrets, was where the devout placed their gifts in secret. The poor received support from these gifts also in secret. The Chamber of Utensils was also a room for storing gifts from which distribution was made every 30 days.
The vaulted Chamber of the Hearth (also mentioned in the Mishnah) was the room the eldest sons could stay and young priests sleep with the keys of the Temple Court in their custody. A fired burned continuously there to keep the occupants warm.
Incense for the temple was prepared by a family named Abtinas in the upper story of a special building in the courtyard, the Chamber of Abtinas.
We can easily imagine that rooms were needed for wood storage, for extra copies of the sacred vessels, for priestly garment storage, for temple records. Access tunnels came into the temple underground (according to more than one historical account) and some of the storage rooms were underground. These underground rooms and tunnels have apparently not been cleared, entered nor explored since the destruction of Solomon's Temple on the 9th of Av, 586 BC!
Soon-Fading Splendor
Solomon's great wisdom and the unrivaled splendor of the First Temple brought pilgrims from near and far. The account of the visit of the Queen of Sheba (2 Chron. 9, 1 Kings 10) tells us something about this great king and the magnificent and holy light from God that blessed him and all the people.
Yet Solomon failed to heed the counsel of God and of his father David. He soon had accumulated horses and chariots (disregarding the admonition of Samuel and the Law of Moses), and in the course of time he excelled his father's love of women by accumulating "700 wives and 300 concubines." One of the great understatements of the Bible attributes Solomon's downfall to the influence of his foreign wives:
Now King Solomon loved many foreign women: the daughter of Pharaoh, and Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women, from the nations concerning which the LORD had said to the people of Israel, "You shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods; Solomon clung to these in love. He had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned away his heart. For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods- and his heart was not wholly true to the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.
So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, and did not wholly follow the LORD, as David his father had done. Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites, on the mountain east of Jerusalem. And so he did for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.
And the LORD was angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice, and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods; but he did not keep what the LORD commanded. Therefore the LORD said to Solomon, "Since this has been your mind and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you and will give it to your servant Yet for the sake of David your father I will not do it in your days, but I will tear it out of the hand of your son. However I will not tear away all the kingdom; but I will give one tribe to your son, for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem which I have chosen." (1 Kings 11:1-13)For many years Solomon evidently wandered away from fellowship with His God, returning only much later, near the end of the life, to record for us in his book, Ecclesiastes, what he had learned about the emptiness of all of life apart from God.
When Solomon died his son Rehoboam became king of Israel. The nation, however, was on a spiritual decline. Rehoboam's policies caused the kingdom to be divided into north (Israel) and south (Judah) separate regimes. Jeroboam, the first king of Israel. He built two substitute places of worship, one in Bethel and one in Dan for fear the people would return to Jerusalem:
And Jeroboam said in his heart, 'Now the kingdom may return to the house of David. If these people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will turn back to their lord, Rehoboam king of Judah, and they will kill me and go back to Rehoboam king of Judah. Therefore the king took counsel and made two calves of gold and said to the people. "It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, O Israel, which brought you up from the land of Egypt. (1 Kings 12:26-28).
Because the people felt bound to the legal system of worship in Jerusalem Jeroboam realized the need that worship be centralized in the north. The northern kingdom remained in idolatry until it was overrun and taken captive in 721 BC by the Assyrians. Nineteen kings had ruled over the ten Northern tribes - the Bible has no good thing to say about a single one of them. The dismal record of the lives of Jeroboam I, Nadab, Baasha, Elah, Zimri, Omri, Ahab, Ahaziah, Jehoram (Joram)), Jehu, Jehoahaz, Jehoash (Joash), Jeroboam II, Zechariah, Shallum, Menahem, Pekahiah, Pekah and Hoshea is given in the books of the Kings.
Invasion of Shishak
Another consequence of Solomon's compromise with idolatry and the resultant spiritual decline was that God raised up an adversary against him, Hadad the Edomite (1 Kings 11:14ff). The result was considerable turmoil in the land and the king's courts. Finally God allowed Pharaoh Shishak of Egypt to come down and plunder the Temple.
And it happened in the fifth year of King Rehoboam, that Shishak, king of Egypt came against Jerusalem because they transgressed against the Lord. . . So Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem and took away the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the kings house; he took everything. He also carried away the gold shields which Solomon had made. (2 Chronicles 12:2, 9).
The temple would now continue to decline and wealth and splendor and importance for the next 367 years.
The two southern tribes of Judah and Benjamin, retaining the Temple and its sacrifices as the center of their national and corporate life, were to experience the reign of 20 kings. Fortunately several of these rulers turned from the ways of their forefathers and followed the God of Israel. When they did so, the nation enjoy a season of revival and divine blessing with a temporary respite from the general downhill course that characterizes all of human history in every nation.
Temple Harmony Disturbed and Restored
Judah's kings - Rehoboam, Abijah (Abijam), Asa, Jehoshaphat, Jehoram, Ahaziah, Athaliah, Joash, Amaziah, Azariah (Uzziah), Jotham, Ahaz (Jehoahaz), Hezekiah, Manasseh, Amon, Josiah, Jehoahaz II (Shallum), Jehoiakim (Eliakim), Jehoiachin (Jeconiah), and Zedekiah (Mattaniah) - were mostly individuals who lived out their own self-centered and personally-ambitious lives in indifference to the calling of the God of Israel. A few wonderful exceptions stand out. Some few of these rulers are noteworthy for their influence on the temple, for good or for ill.
King Asa, placed in the Temple the spoils of his father:
He also brought into the house of the Lord the things which his father had dedicated, and the things which he himself had dedicated: silver and gold utensils (1 Kings 15:15).
In his earlier years Asa followed the ways of the Lord and renewed the altar in the inner court. However, when Baasha, King of Israel made war against Judah, Asa collected all the treasures and sent them to Ben-hadad of Damascus. By sending the treasures of the Temple this sealed an alliance with him against Israel (1 Kings 15:18-20.). Asa was rebuked by God's prophet Hanani for his alliance with Syria (2 Chronicles 16:7-9). Since the temple vessels were all precisely specified by the Lord for purposes of teaching Israel about themselves and their personal relationship with their God the contents of the temple were not to be altered or modified.
Queen Athaliah, daughter of Ahaziah, was a notorious wicked woman. She went so far as to murder the royal sons who were heirs of the throne, and had she succeeded, the line of promise to the Messiah would have been broken. Fortunately God preserved the boy Joash who would live to sit on his father's throne. It fell to Joash, a good king because of the godly influence of Jehoida the priest, to restore the house of the Lord from predations of Athaliah,
...Joash decided to restore the house of the LORD. And he gathered the priests and the Levites, and said to them, "Go out to the cities of Judah, and gather from all Israel money to repair the house of your God from year to year; and see that you hasten the matter." But the Levites did not hasten it. So the king summoned Jehoiada the chief, and said to him, "Why have you not required the Levites to bring in from Judah and Jerusalem the tax levied by Moses, the servant of the LORD, on the congregation of Israel for the tent of testimony?" For the sons of Athaliah, that wicked woman, had broken into the house of God; and had also used all the dedicated things of the house of the LORD for the Baals.
So the king commanded, and they made a chest, and set it outside the gate of the house of the LORD. And proclamation was made throughout Judah and Jerusalem, to bring in for the LORD the tax that Moses the servant of God laid upon Israel in the wilderness. And all the princes and all the people rejoiced and brought their tax and dropped it into the chest until they had finished. And whenever the chest was brought to the king's officers by the Levites, when they saw that there was much money in it, the king's secretary and the officer of the chief priest would come and empty the chest and take it and return it to its place. Thus they did day after day, and collected money in abundance.
And the king and Jehoiada gave it to those who had charge of the work of the house of the LORD, and they hired masons and carpenters to restore the house of the LORD and also workers in iron and bronze to repair the house of the LORD. So those who were engaged in the work labored and the repairing went forward in their hands, and they restored the house of God to its proper condition and strengthened it. And when they had finished, they brought the rest of the money before the king and Jehoiada, and with it were made utensils for the house of the LORD, both for the service and for the burnt offerings, and dishes for incense, and vessels of gold and silver. And they offered burnt offerings in the house of the LORD continually all the days of Jehoiada. (2 Chronicles 24:4-14)Amaziah did what was right before the Lord, "but not with a blameless heart" (2 Chr. 25:2). During a civil war with Joash, King of Israel, Amaziah ignored the advice of God's prophet.
But Amaziah would not listen - for it was of God in order that he might give them into the hand of their enemies, because they had sought the gods of Edom. So Joash king of Israel went up, and he and Amaziah king of Judah faced one another in battle at Beth-shemesh, which belongs to Judah. And Judah was defeated by Israel, and every man fled to his home. And Joash king of Israel captured Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Joash, son of Ahaziah, at Beth-shemesh, and brought him to Jerusalem, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem for four hundred cubits, from the Ephraim Gate to the Comer Gate. And he seized all the gold and silver, and all the vessels that were found in the house of Cod, and Obed-edom with them; he seized also the treasuries of the king's house, and hostages, and he returned to Samaria (2 Chronicles 25:20-24)
Uzziah (Azariah) enjoyed a long and peaceful reign of 52 years in Jerusalem. He is described as a king who "did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, according to all that his father Amaziah had done. He set himself to seek God in the days of Zechariah (the priest) who instructed him in the fear of God; and as long as he sought the LORD, God made him to prosper." (2 Chr. 26:4,5) But power and success ruined this man, as it does many in positions of power,
But when he was strong he grew proud, to his destruction. For he was false to the LORD his God, and entered the temple of the LORD to burn incense on the altar of incense. But Azariah the priest went in after him, with eighty priests of the LORD who were men of valor, and they withstood King Uzziah, and said to him, "It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the LORD, but for the priests the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated to burn incense. Go out of the sanctuary; for you have done wrong, and it will win you no honor from the LORD God."
Then Uzziah was angry. Now he had a censer in his hand to burn incense, and when he became angry with the priests leprosy broke out on his forehead, in the presence of the priests in the house of the LORD, by the altar of incense. And Azariah the chief priest, and all the priests, looked at him, and behold, he was leprous in his forehead! And they thrust him out quickly, and he himself hastened to go out, because the LORD had smitten him. And King Uzziah was a leper to the day of his death, and being a leper dwelt in a separate house, for he was excluded from the house of the LORD. And Jotham his son was over the king's household, governing the people of the land. (2 Chronicles 26:16-21)What is interesting about Uzziah's illegal entry into the temple in 750 BC to burn incense, is that significant tradition claims that an extraordinarily powerful earthquake occurred at that very time. (Ref. 3)
One of the worst kings of Judah was Ahaz. He desecrated the Temple and robbed it of its treasures. He sent the Temple treasures along with his own to the Assyrian monarch Tiglath-Pileser III to secure his aid in an alliance against Israel and Syria. Ahaz went to Damascus and had a copy of their altar made and brought to Jerusalem. There he placed it before the altar of the Lord and made a sacrifice on this pagan replica. He also closed the Temple and broke up the vessels. These actions represented a terrible profanation of God's holy temple.
Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. And he did not do what was right in the eyes of the LORD his God, as his father David had done, but he walked in the way of the kings of Israel. He even burned his son as an offering, according to the abominable practices of the nations whom the LORD drove out before the people of Israel. And he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places, and on the hills, and under every green tree...
Ahaz also took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the LORD and in the treasures of the king's house, and sent a present to the king of Assyria. And the king of Assyria hearkened to him; the king of Assyria marched up against Damascus, and took it, carrying its people captive to Kir, and he killed Rezin. When King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, he saw the altar that was at Damascus. And King Ahaz sent to Uriah the priest a model of the altar, and its pattern, exact in all its details. And Uriah the priest built the altar; in accordance with all that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus, so Uriah the priest made it, before King Ahaz arrived from Damascus. And when the king carne from Damascus, the king viewed the altar.
Then the king drew near to the altar, and went up on it, and burned his burnt offering and his cereal offering, and poured his drink offering, and threw the blood of his peace offerings upon the altar. And the bronze altar which was before the LORD he removed from the front of the house, from the place between his altar and the house of the LORD, and put it on the north side of his altar. And King Ahaz commanded Uriah the priest, saying, "Upon the great altar burn the morning burnt offering, and the evening cereal offering, and the king's burnt offering, and his cereal offering, with the burnt offering of all the people of the land, and their cereal offering, and their drink offering; and throw upon it all the blood of the burnt offering, and all the blood of the sacrifice; but the bronze altar shall be for me to inquire by." Uriah the priest did all this, as King Ahaz commanded. And King Ahaz cut off the frames of the stands, and removed the laver from them, and he took down the sea from off the bronze oxen that were under it, and put it upon a pediment of stone. And the covered way for the sabbath which had been built inside the palace, and the outer entrance for the king he removed from the house of the LORD, because of the king of Assyria. (2 Kings 16:2-18)
And Ahaz gathered together the vessels of the house of God and cut in pieces the vessels of the house of God, and he shut up the doors of the house of the LORD; and he made himself altars in every corner of Jerusalem. In every city of Judah he made high places to burn incense to other gods, provoking to anger the LORD, the God of his fathers. (2 Chronicles 28:24, 25)It fell to good King Hezekiah, who succeeded Ahaz, to restore the desecrations of the temple done by Ahaz:
Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, that he may count the money which has been brought into the house of the Lord, which the doorkeepers have gathered from the people. And let them deliver it into the hand of those doing the work, who are the overseers in the house of the Lord; let them give it to those who are in the house of the Lord doing the work, to repair the damages of the house. (2 Kings 22:4, 5).
Hezekiah opened the doors and restored the vessels which Ahaz had put away. Unfortunately Hezekiah was limited up with pride and made alliances with foreign nationsand he unwisely showed the treasures of the temple to the Babylonians. His careless actions assured the eventual downfall of Jerusalem. (2 Chronicles 32:24).
Manasseh built idolatrous altars in the Temple Courts and placed a graven image in the Temple (2 Kings 21:3-9, 2 Chron. 33:2-9). God punished him by sending him to Babylon as a prisoner in chains. Though he was the most evil of all the kings amazingly he repented while in Babylon and turned to God after which he returned to Jerusalem where he repaired the altar (2 Chron. 33:14-17). His son Amon followed in the idolatrous example of his father. He worshiped an image of his father. After two years his servants assassinated him. The people then killed the assassins and made Josiah king.
Josiah took the throne at the age of 8 and at 16 years of age he set out to bring spiritual reform to the whole land. A significant reformation took place under his rule. Josiah ordered the Temple repaired. The stone work was repaired and certain timbers replaced. Josiah removed the idols from the Temple and restored two of the temples courts. He also had the Ark of the Covenant put back into the Holy of Holies (2 Chron. 35:3). The people, however, did not truly turn to the Lord in repentance in spite of the thirty-one year reign of this vigorous and godly reformer.
The reign of Jehoiakim was the beginning of the end for the Southern Kingdom. Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made this man a vassal king. After three years Jehoiakim rebelled and Nebuchadnezzar laid siege to the city. (2 Kings 24:1).
Jehoiakim's son Jehoiachin (Coniah) also did evil. The Temple vessels were taken to Babylon while Jehoiachin and his family were taken prisoner along with the thousand captives including the skilled craftsmen. Only the poorest of the poor remained in the land.
Destruction of First Temple Foreseen
The prophet Jeremiah predicted the destruction of the Jerusalem and a seventy year captivity of the people. He also pronounced judgment on those who would destroy her, namely the Babylonians. It was only a matter of time until the times of the First Temple were to come to a sad and terrible end:
And the whole land [of Israel] shall be a desolation and an astonishment, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. Then it will come to pass, when seventy years are completed, that I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity,' says the Lord; 'and I will make it a perpetual desolation. (Jeremiah 25:12, 13).
Second Temple Times
Israel in Exile
Taken from Jerusalem to Babylon in 605 B.C.E. when he was not yet 20, Daniel served his God faithfully under the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Evil-Merodach, Labashi-Marduk, Nabonidus, Belshazzar, Cambyses, Smerdis, Darius I, and Cyrus. He served each regime with fidelity and godliness so that he remained a respected statesman in all these regimes for nearly seven decades. The "times of the gentiles" spoken of by Yeshua in Luke 21:24 date from the fall of Jersualem on the 9th of Av, 586.
Daniel was late in life during the beginning of the reign of Darius the Mede. The prophet happened to be reading the great scroll of his contemporary Jeremiah (Jeremiah was about 25 years older than Daniel). There, in Chapter 25 of Jeremiah, he came upon the prophecy concerning the predicted return from captivity:In the first year of Darius, the son of Ahasuerus, of the lineage of the Medes, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans in the first year of his reign I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years specified by the word of the Lord, given through Jeremiah the prophet, that He would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem. (Daniel 9:1-2).
Realizing the captivity was about to be complete, Daniel began to pray. Though there was no doubt his own godliness and unblemished life, he acknowledged in his prayer the sins of all of Israel as if they were all his own:
Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and supplications with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. I prayed to the LORD my God and made confession, saying, "O Lord, the great and terrible God, who keepest covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, we have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from thy commandments and ordinances; we have not listened to thy servants the prophets, who spoke in thy name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.
To thee, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us confusion of face, as at this day, to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, those that are near and those that are far away, in all the lands to which thou hast driven them, because of the treachery which they have committed against thee. To us, O Lord, belongs confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against thee. To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness; because we have rebelled against him, and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God by following his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets. All Israel has transgressed thy law and turned aside, refusing to obey thy voice. And the curse and oath which are written in the law of Moses the servant of God have been poured out upon us, because we have sinned against him. He has confirmed his words, which he spoke against us and against our rulers who ruled us, by bringing upon us a great calamity; for under the whole heaven there has not been done the like of what has been done against Jerusalem.
As it is written in the law of Moses, all this calamity has come upon us, yet we have not entreated the favor of the LORD our God, turning from our iniquities and giving heed to thy truth. Therefore the LORD has kept ready the calamity and has brought it upon us, for the LORD our God is righteous in all the works which he has done, and we have not obeyed-his voice. And now, O Lord our God, who didst bring thy people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and hast made thee a name, as at this day, we have sinned, we have done wickedly. O Lord, according to all thy righteous acts, let thy anger and thy wrath turn away from thy city Jerusalem, thy holy hill; because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and thy people have become a byword among all who are round about us. Now therefore, O our God, hearken to the prayer of thy servant and to his supplications, and for thy own sake, O Lord, cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary, which is desolate. O my God, incline thy ear and hear; open thy eyes and behold our desolations, and the city which is called by thy name; for we do not present our supplications before thee on the ground of our righteousness, but on the ground of thy great mercy. O LORD, hear; O LORD, forgive; O LORD, give heed and act; delay not, for thy own sake, O my God, because thy city and thy people are called by thy name." (Daniel 9:3-19)God was about to move to return the Jews from their long exile, and Daniel was God's instrument in prayer for this great work to begin. Incidentally, another part of the answer to Daniel's' prayer was an immediate revelation from the angel Gabriel (Daniel 9:24-27) which we now call the Prophecy of the Seventy Weeks. All subsequent Jewish history - until the final coming of Messiah and His kingdom - was to be accomplished in but 490 years of prophetic history, Daniel was told. We now know how all details of 69 of those 70 weeks have come to pass with complete accuracy in every detail.
Why Seventy Years?
God can be exacting in the details of his work and in the fulfillment of specific prophecies. Israel had forgotten to allow the land to rest every seventh year as God had clearly ordained to Moses at Sinai
"Say to the people of Israel, When you come into the land which I give you, the land shall keep a sabbath to the LORD. Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard, and gather in its fruits; but in the seventh year there shall be a sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a sabbath to the LORD; you shall not sow your field or prune your vineyard. What grows of itself in your harvest you shall not reap, and the grapes of your undressed vine you shall not gather; it shall be a year of solemn rest for the land. The sabbath of the land shall provide food for you, for yourself and for your male and female slaves and for your hired servant and the sojourner who lives with you; for your cattle also and for the beasts that are in your land all its yield shall be for food." (Leviticus 25:2-7)
Israel had forgotten to rest the land every seventh year, for 490 years, so God collected on behalf of the land,
He (Nebuchadnezzar) took into exile in Babylon those who had escaped from the sword, and they became servants to him and to his sons until the establishment of the kingdom of Persia, to fulfil the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its sabbaths. All the days that it lay desolate it kept sabbath, to fulfil seventy years. (2 Chron. 36:20-21)
And this whole land shall be a desolation and an astonishment, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. Then it will come to pass, when seventy years are completed, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity,' says the Lord: 'and I will make it a perpetual desolation. (Jeremiah 25:10-12)A Strange Prophecy Concerning Cyrus
One of the most amazing prophecies in the entire Bible concerns the return of the Jews from captivity and the building of the Second Temple. Isaiah the prophet, writing in 700 B.C.E. records the Lord as saying:
Sing, O heavens, for the LORD has done it; shout, O depths of the earth; break forth into singing, O mountains, O forest, and every tree in it! For the LORD has redeemed Jacob, and will be glorified in Israel. Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, who formed you from the womb: "I am the LORD, who made all things, who stretched out the heavens alone, who spread out the earth Who was with me? who frustrates the omens of liars, and makes fools of diviners; who turns wise men back, and makes their knowledge foolish; who confirms the word of his servant, and performs the counsel of his messengers, who says of Jerusalem, 'She shall be inhabited,' and of the cities of Judah, 'They shall be built, and I will raise up their ruins'; who says to the deep, 'Be dry, I will dry up your rivers'; who says of Cyrus, 'He is my shepherd, and he shall fulfil all my purpose'; saying of Jerusalem, 'She shall be built,' and of the temple, 'Your foundation shall be laid."'
Thus says the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped, to subdue nations before him and ungird the loins of kings, to open doors before him that gates may not be closed: "I will go before you and level the mountains, I will break in pieces the doors of bronze and cut asunder the bars of iron, I will give you the treasures of darkness and the hoards in secret places, that you may know that it is 1, the LORD, the God of Israel, who call you by your name. For the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel my chosen, I call you by your name, I surname you, though you do not know me. I am the LORD, and there is no other, besides me there is no God; I gird you, though you do not know me, that men may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides me; I am the LORD, and there is no other. If form light and create darkness, I make weal and create woe, I am the LORD, who do all these things. "Shower, O heavens, from above, and let the skies rain down righteousness; let the earth open, that salvation may sprout forth, and let it cause righteousness to spring up also; I the LORD have created it.
"Woe to him who strives with his Maker, an earthen vessel with the potter! Does the clay say to him who fashions it 'What are you making'? or 'Your work has no handles'? Woe to him who says to a father, 'What are you begetting?' or to a woman, 'With what are you in travail?"' Thus says the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker "Will you question me about my children, or command me concerning the work of my hands? I made the earth, and created man upon it; it was my hands that stretched out the heavens, and I commanded all their host. I have aroused him (Cyrus) in righteousness, and I will make straight all his ways; he shall build my city and set my exiles free, not for price or reward," says the LORD of hosts. (Isaiah 44:23-45:13).Cyrus the Great, Cyrus the Persian, father of Cambyses of Media, would later conquer the mighty city of Babylon (at age 62) on the night of Belshazzar's feast (Daniel 5) in 539 B.C.E., by diverting the Euphrates River and sending troops through the river channels under the walls. When Isaiah wrote of him, Cyrus had not been born by a good twenty years! Yet Isaiah named him by name and commissioned him - a gentile no less - to play a major role in the restoration of the Jews to their homeland. (Isaiah 48:14ff also talks about Cyrus as foreordained of God to conquer Babylon).
Rulers of Babylon and Persia Ruler Dates of Rule Biblical Significance Merodach-Baladan II
(Marduk-apal-iddin)721-689 B.C.E. 2 Kings 20: 12: Isa. 39: 1
Hezekiah's IllnessNabopolassar 625-605 B.C.E. - Nebuchadnezar II
(Nebuchadressar II)605-652 B.C.E. 2 Kings 24-25. Dan. 1-4
Conquered IsraelEvil-Merodach
(Amel-Marduk)562-560 B.C.E. 2 Kings 25:27-30: Jer. 52:31-34
Liberated Jehoiachin from prisonNergal-Sharezer
(Neriglissar)560-556 B.C.E. Jer. 39:3.13
A royal prince in BabylonLabashl-Marduk 556 B.C.E. - Nabonidus
(Nabu-na'ld)556-539 B.C.E. - Belshazzar
(Bel-shar-usur)556-539 B.C.E.
(co-regent Nabonldus)Dan. 5: 7:1
Belshazzar's feast. Fall of Babylon- Persian Rulers - Cyrus 539-530 B.C.E. 2 Chr. 36:22-23: Ezra 1. Isa. 44:28ff. Dan. 1:21, 10:1
Permitted Jews to rebuild templeCambyses 530-522 B.C.E. - Darius I
Hystaspes522-486 B.C.E. Ezra 4-6: Neh. 12:22: Hag. 1-1, Zech. 1:1.7
Zechariah's visions and prophecies: HaggaiXerxes I
(Ahasuerus)486-465 B.C.E. Ezra 4:3-6:
The time of the book of EstherArtaxerxes I
Longimanus464-423 B.C.E. Ezra 4:7-23: 7: 8:1, Neh. 2:1-8
Ezra goes to Jerusalem, Nehemiah builds wallsDarius II
Nothus423-404 B.C.E. - Artaxerxes II
Mnemon404-359 B.C.E. - Artaxerxes III
Ochus359-338 B.C.E. - Arses 338-335 B.C.E. - Darius III
Codomanus335-331 B.C.E. - Alexander the Great 331 B.C.E. Beginning of World Dominion of Greece
When the prophecy of Isaiah was given the First Temple, that of Solomon, was still standing, the city of Jerusalem had not been destroyed and would not be for at least another hundred years, and the people were not in exile. Yet all these multiple predictions were to be literally fulfilled as Isaiah prophesied.
The Response of Cyrus
There is extra-biblical evidence that Cyrus was aware of the prophecies. The first-century Jewish writer Flavius Josephus wrote:
...by reading the book which left behind of his prophecies; for this prophet said that God had spoken thus to him in a secret vision "My will is, that Cyrus, whom I have appointed to be king over many and great nations, send back my people to their own land, and build my temple." Accordingly, when Cyrus read this, and admired the divine power, an earnest desire and ambition seized upon him to fulfil what was so written. (Flavius Josephus, Antiquities, xi, Chapt. 1-2)
Almost all that is known about the history of the Jews between 538 B.C.E., when Cyrus conquered Babylon and 457 B.C.E. when Ezra came to Jerusalem, is known from the book of Ezra the scribe. Ezra records Cyrus' decree of 538 which allowed the Jews to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple:
In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing: "Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever is among you of all his people, may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and rebuild the house of the LORD, the God of Israel he is the God who is in Jerusalem; and let each survivor, in whatever place he sojourns, be assisted by the men of his place with silver and gold, with goods and with beasts, besides freewill offerings for the house of God which is in Jerusalem." (Ezra 1:14)
Added details of the decree of Cyrus, evidently not part of his public proclamation but added to the official record are given in Ezra 6:3-5:
In the first year of Cyrus the king, Cyrus the king issued a decree: Concerning the house of God at Jerusalem, "let the house be rebuilt, the place where sacrifices are offered and burnt offerings are brought; its height shall be sixty cubits and its breadth sixty cubits, with three courses of great stones and one course of timber, let the cost be paid from the royal treasury. And also let the gold and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took out of the temple that is in Jerusalem and brought to Babylon, be restored and brought back to the temple which is in Jerusalem, each to its place; you shall put them in the house of God."
The majority of Jews living in Babylon were prosperous and assimilated and unwilling to undertake the hardship and danger of moving back to their ruined homeland. Ezra tells us that 42,360 Jews chose to return plus 7,3000 servants, and 200 singers; 736 horses, 245 mules, 435 camels, and 6,720 donkeys. (2:64-66). With them went some of the sacred temple vessels, 1000 basins of gold, 1000 basins of silver, 29 censers, 30 bowls of gold, 2,410 bowls of silver, and a thousand other (major) vessels - totaling 5,469 in all (1:9-11).
According to their ability the Jews contributed to the treasury 277,550 ounces of silver and 6,250 pounds of silver (2:69) for the treasury. This would be about $80 million at today's prices.
The journey is 530 direct miles, but about 900 miles by road and took about 4 months, (7:8-9). After the Jews arrived in Jerusalem they "gathered as one man" And,Then arose Jeshua (the high priest) the son of Jozadak, with his fellow priests, and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel with his kinsmen, and they built the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt offerings upon it, as it is written in the law of Moses the man of God. They set the altar in its place, for fear was upon them because of the peoples of the lands, and they offered burnt offerings upon it to the LORD, burnt offerings morning and evening. And they kept the feast of booths (the 15th to the 22nd day of the seventh month), as it is written, and offered the daily burnt offerings by number according to the ordinance, as each day required, and after that the continual burnt offerings, the offerings at the new moon and at all the appointed feasts of the LORD, and the offerings of every one who made a freewill offering to the LORD. From the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt offerings to the LORD.
But the foundation of the temple of the LORD was not yet laid. So they gave money to the masons and the carpenters, and food, drink, and oil to the Sidonians and the Tyrians to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea, to Joppa, according to the grant which they had from Cyrus king of Persia. (Ezra 3:2-7)The altar was erected on the first day of the seventh month which is the beginning of the Feast of Trumpets (Numbers 29:1-6), an interesting foreshadowing of Israel's final regathering.
The temple foundation was laid some months later:Now in the second year of their coming to the house of God at Jerusalem, in the second month, Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Jeshua the son of Jozadak made a beginning, together with the rest of their brethren, the priests and the Levites and all who had come to Jerusalem from the captivity. They appointed the Levites, from twenty years old and upward, to have the oversight of the work of the house of the LORD. And Jeshua with his sons and his kinsmen, and Kadmiel and his sons, the sons of Judah, together took the oversight of the workmen in the house of God, along with the sons of Henadad and the Levites, their sons and kinsmen.
And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the LORD, the priests in their vestments came forward with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise the LORD, according to the directions of David king of Israel; and they sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the LORD, "For he is good, for his steadfast love endures for ever toward Israel." And all the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid. But many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers' houses, old men who had seen the first house, wept with a loud voice when they saw the foundation of this house being laid, though many shouted aloud for joy; so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shout from the sound of the people's weeping, for the people shouted with a great shout, and the sound was heard afar. (Ezra 3:8-13)As is always the case, the work of God in the world always meets with opposition from the Enemy, no matter what form it takes, or the period of history. Ezra recorded four different attempts originating in the counsels of Satan to stop the work. First, Samaritan enemies of Benjamin and Judah tried to join the work force and to undermine the efforts. When this attempt failed, these enemies mounted a campaign of discouragement. Next the enemies of Israel wrote letters to Xerxes I (Ahasuerus) and his successor Artaxerxes I Longimanus (who later followed Cyrus, Cambyses and Darius I Hystaspes as successors to the throne of Persia). Finally force was even used. Work on the temple was stopped for 16 years (until 520 B.C.E.).
Stirred up and encouraged by the prophet Haggai, and Zechariah the son of Iddo, the elders of the Jews were able to obtain a written reversal of the order to stop work, and in fact a new decree from Darius allowing the work to proceed and in fact providing the Jews with tax revenues for their work:...Moreover I make a decree regarding what you shall do for these elders of the Jews for the rebuilding of this house of God; the cost is to be paid to these men in full and without delay from the royal revenue, the tribute of the province from Beyond the River. And whatever is needed young bulls, rams, or sheep for burnt offerings to the God of heaven wheat, salt, wine, or oil, as the priests at Jerusalem require--let that be given to them day by day without fail, that they may offer pleasing sacrifices to the God of heaven, and pray for the life of the king and his sons. Also I make a decree that if any one alters this edict, a beam shall be pulled out of his house, and he shall be impaled upon it, and his house shall be made a dunghill. May the God who has caused his name to dwell there overthrow any king or people that shall put forth a hand to alter this, or to destroy this house of God which is in Jerusalem. I Darius make a decree; let it be done with all diligence." (Ezra 6:8-12)
Haggai's exhortations delivered between August and December, 520 B.C.E. challenged the people to put the building of the temple above their own home building:
Thus says the LORD of hosts: "This people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the LORD." Then the word of the LORD came by Haggai the prophet, "Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins? Now therefore thus says the LORD of hosts: "Consider how you have fared. You have sown much, and harvested little; you eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill; you clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; and he who earns wages earns wages to put them into a bag with holes." Thus says the LORD of hosts: "Consider how you have fared. Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, that I may take pleasure in it and that I may appear in my glory, says the LORD. You have looked for much, and, lo, it came to little; and when you brought it home, I blew it away.
"Why?" says the LORD of hosts. "Because of my house that lies in ruins, while you busy yourselves each with his own house. Therefore the heavens above you have withheld the dew, and the earth has withheld its produce. And I have called for a drought upon the land and the hills, upon the grain, the new wine, the oil, upon what the ground brings forth, upon men and cattle, and upon all their labors."
Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the LORD their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the LORD their God had sent him; and the people feared before the LORD. Then Haggai, the messenger of the LORD, spoke to the people with the LORD's message, "I am with you, says the LORD." And the LORD stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came and worked on the house of the LORD of hosts, their God, on the twenty-fourth day of the month, in the sixth month. (Haggai 1:2-15).The Greater Glory of the Second Temple
In his second of four messages to the people Haggai that assured that the very modest temple they were building would enjoy a greater glory and importance than the splendid Temple of Solomon which preceded it:
"Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to all the remnant of the people, and say, 'Who is left among you that saw this house in its former glory? How do you see it now? Is it not in your sight as nothing?' Yet now take courage, O Zerubbabel, says the LORD; take courage, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest; take courage, all you people of the land, says the LORD; work, for I am with you, says the LORD of hosts, according to the promise that I made you when you came out of Egypt. My Spirit abides among you; fear not.
For thus says the LORD of hosts: Once again, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land; and I will shake all nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in (or, "the one desired by all the nations," referring to the Messiah), and I will fill this house with splendor, says the LORD of hosts. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, says the LORD of hosts. The latter splendor of this house shall be greater than the former, says the LORD of hosts; and in this place I will give prosperity, says the LORD of hosts."' (Haggai 2:2-9).Malachi the prophet, a contemporary of Haggai, predicted that the Messiah of Israel would come into this very temple bringing it honor and glory beyond the wealth that can be measured in gold or silver. Christians believe that Malachi's prophecy has a double fulfillment the first of which took place when Jesus led by his forerunner John the Baptist came to this temple:
"Behold, I send my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming," says the LORD of hosts. "But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap; he (Messiah) will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, till they present right offerings to the LORD. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the LORD as in the days of old and as in former years." (Malachi 3:14)
The temple was completed four years later, in 516. God was pleased with the newly built Second Temple in spite of its modest size and beauty. Once again He again took up His abode with His people. However this Temple was without the Ark of the Covenant. A seven branched Menorah stood in the Holy place instead of the ten lamp stands in Solomon's Temple.
The apocryphal book of 1 Maccabees provides some details of its furnishing:They renewed the sacred vessels and the lamp-stand, and brought the altar of incense, and the table to the temple. They burnt incense on the altar and lit the lamps on the lamp-stand to shine within the temple. When they put the Bread of the Presence on the table and hung the curtain their work was completed. (1 Maccabees 4:49,50).
But in general, of the Temple built by Zerubbabel little is known. Israeli archaeologist Benjamin Mazar writes:
It is most difficult to determine, even in general outlines, the stages in the historical development of the Temple Mount and its fortifications during the long era of the Second Temple, from Zerubbabel at the end of the sixth century B.C.E. up to the commencement of Herod's building project at the end of the first century B.C.E. The literary sources are insufficiently clear, and archaeological data are very few and problematic.
No Kings in Israel
Israel's exile for seventy years in Babylon marked a new era of government for God's chosen people. They had entered what Jesus would later call "the times of the gentiles," (Luke 21:24). Since the last King (Jeconiah) sat on the throne of Israel, that people have had no king over them to the present day. Israel has been subject to foreign control as vassals. Jerusalem has been "trodden down by the gentiles" with more yet to come. After the Babylonians came the Persians, then the Greeks, followed the Romans.
One legitimate king, doubly heir to the throne of Israel, rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday on the foal of a donkey. Acclaimed by the people, this Man was rejected by the leaders and put to death. Israel would wait at least 20 centuries for their rightful king's return.
After the Romans came the Arabs, the Turks, the French and British. In spite of national independence and statehood in 1948 Israel has no central authority figure in charge. This situation will soon change! A king and a priest in the line of David is due to return to the throne of a united, restored Israel in the near future. All the prophets speak of this event:But there will be no gloom for her that was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he will make glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined...For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called "Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David, and over his kingdom, to establish it, and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and for evermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this. (Isaiah 9: l-7)
Haggai's fourth message to the people, brought to them in October of 520 B.C.E., was brief,
"Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, I am about to shake the heavens and the earth, and to overthrow the throne of kingdoms - I am about to destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the nations, and overthrow the chariots and their riders - and the horses and their riders shall go down, every one by the sword of his fellow. On that day, says the LORD of hosts, I will take you, O Zerubbabel my servant, the son of Shealtiel, says the LORD, and make you like a signet ring; for I have chosen you, says the LORD of hosts." (Haggai 2:23)
This message promised Israel final overthrow of all her enemies and a special royal blessing (symbolized by the king's signet ring) for Zerubbabel. Earlier God had sworn that no king in the blood line of Jeconiah would sit upon the throne of Israel:
"As I live says the LORD, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, were the signet ring on my right hand, yet I would tear you off and give you into the hand of those who seek your life, into the hand of those of whom you are afraid, even into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of the Chaldeans. I will hurl you and the mother who bore you into another country, where you were not born, and there you shall die. But to the land to which they will long to return, there they shall not return." Is this man Coniah a despised, broken pot, a vessel no one cares for? Why are he and his children hurled and cast into a land which they do not know?
O land, land, land, hear the word of the LORD! Thus says the LORD: "Write this man down as childless (without a royal heir), a man who shall not succeed in his days; for none of his offspring shall succeed in sitting on the throne of David, and ruling again in Judah." (Jeremiah 22:24-30)Joseph, husband of Mary was of the line of Jeconiah (Matthew 1:12,16), but not the biological father of Jesus. The blood line or genetic heir was in the line of Mary. Jerubbabel (Luke 3:27) was a descendant of David and in the line that would lead to Mary.
Zechariah the prophet lived and wrote during early Second Temple times. One of his most interesting prophecies concerning Messiah centers around the future re-unification of the offices of King and Priest in Israel. Messiah, the Branch, would not only be the priestly king in the line of Joshua, he would be given the task of building a final temple in Israel (see Chapter 14):And the word of the LORD carne to me (Zechariah): "Take from the exiles Heldai, Tobijah, and Jedaiah, who have arrived from Babylon; and go the same day to the house of Josiah, the son of Zephaniah. Take from them silver and gold, and make a crown, and set it upon the head of Joshua, the son of Jehozadak (a descendant of Zadok, son of Phinehas, son of Eleazar, son of Aaron), the high priest; and say to him, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, "Behold, the man whose name is the Branch: for he shall grow up in his place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD.
"It is he who shall build the temple of the LORD, and shall bear royal honor, and shall sit and rule upon his throne. And there shall be a priest by his throne, and peaceful understanding shall be between them both."' And the crown shall be in the temple of the LORD as a reminder to Heldai, Tobijah, Jedaiah, and Josiah the son of Zephaniah.
"And those who are far off shall come and help to build the temple of the LORD - and you shall know that the LORD of hosts has sent me to you. And this shall come to pass, if you will diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God." (Zechariah 6:9-15)Nehemiah and the Walls of Jerusalem
Nehemiah held the office of cupbearer to King Artaxerxes I in the Persian capital of Susa. A relative from Jerusalem visited him and gave a report of the ruined condition of the city. He told him how vulnerable the city was to attack because the walls were still debris. This disturbed Nehemiah to such a degree that he made a personal visit to Jerusalem. The King gave him permission to leave and even provided him with an armed escort. Nehemiah also had royal letters ordering the provincial authorities to provide him with timber and other materials he required (Nehemiah 1:1-2:8).
He arrived in Jerusalem in 445 B.C.E., 16 years after the temple had been completed and placed in service. By moonlight he began to inspect the walls and gates. Nehemiah then called the leading and produced the letters from the king. Based upon this they accepted him as their governor. Nehemiah then outlined his plans for the urgent task of rebuilding the fortifications and securing the city. Work was done on a voluntary basis.
Nehemiah's arrival provided a new enthusiasm to the those in Jerusalem but it also caused intense, hostile reaction from the enemies of God's people. The main adversaries were Sanballat, the local governor of Samaria, Geshem, leader of the Edomites, and a wealthy apostate Jew named Tobiah.
© Copyright 1997 MANNA. Used with permission. Bible Maps Program for Mac and Windows (http://www.elnet.com/~manna/biblemaps)
These opponents began by verbally attacking the project but when the walls were half way complete they resorted to force. Nehemiah countered by providing full-time armed patrols. Each worker was given a weapon to defend himself. Nehemiah 2-6). In spite of the intense opposition the walls were built in 52 days by the united labor force.
When the walls around Jerusalem had been finished, Nehemiah and Ezra instructed the people from the Scriptures, reviewing their national history in detail in a great prayer (Neh. 9:6-38) which ended by the Jews making a new covenant with God. This was signed and sealed by the priests, nobles, and leaders of the people. The people took responsibility for the support and upkeep of the temple also, ending with the promise "We will not neglect the house of our God." (10:32-39). The closing chapters of Nehemiah tell of the dedication of the walls and gates and give us important clues concerning life in Jerusalem immediately after the end of the Babylonian exile.Alexander the Great and His Successors
Daniel's detailed predictions about a long line of rulers in the Middle East, especially those of Daniel Chapter 11, have been fulfilled in such incredible detail that critics of the Bible have long attempted to assign a late date to this book. If that were the case, Daniel would have been merely a historian, not a prophet of God. Yet it is very clear from a careful study of history that Daniel lived nearly 300 years before Alexander the Great and his successors, about whom he wrote these words given to him by the angel Gabriel:
"...in the first year of Darius the Mede, I (Gabriel) stood up...And now I will show you the truth. Behold, three more kings shall arise in Persia (see Table) - and a fourth (Xerxes the Great) shall be far richer than all of them - and when he has become strong through his riches he shall stir up all against the kingdom of Greece. Then a mighty king (Alexander) shall arise, who shall rule with great dominion and do according to his will. And when he has arisen, his kingdom shall be broken and divided toward the four winds of heaven, but not to his posterity, nor according to the dominion with which he ruled; for his kingdom shall be plucked up and go to others besides these. (Daniel 11:14)
As God had foreordained, Alexander conquered the Persians by defeating the Persian armies at the Battle of Arbela in 331. He extended his territory as far as India and Egypt. Trained under Aristotle, this son of Phillip of Macedon sought to indoctrinate all of his empire with Greek culture, philosophy and religion. This effort is referred to as "Hellenization," and has had far-reaching consequences. Even our New Testament was not to be written in Hebrew but in the Greek language.
Alexander died in a Babylon in a drunken stupor at the age of 33, disillusioned, it is said, because he had no more worlds left to conquer. His body was taken to Alexandria, Egypt and buried there in a casket of glass and gold. The site of Alexander's tomb the subject of ongoing searches today.
Upon his death, Alexander's empire was divided among his five generals (diadochoi). Seleucus received Babylon, Ptolemy Lagi was given Egypt, Antigonus took Phrygia, Lysimachus inherited Thrace and Bythinia, and Cassander assumed control of Greece proper, and Macedonia. As far as biblical history related to the Jews is concerned, only Seleucus and Ptolemy are of importance. These men and their heirs squabbled back and forth for the next 150 years and Israel just happened to be on the paths of their armies, caught in the middle as it were. Seleucus added Syria and Phoenicia to his territory. Ptolemy Lagi annexed Palestine to Egypt. Little Judah was caught in the middle.
The first century of rule by the Ptolemies was a golden age of peace for the Jews it was an era of peace and prosperity for them. The great library of Alexandria was established in this period and Jewish scholars favorably treated in Egypt began to translate the Hebrew Bible into Greek resulting in the Septuagint.
After a season of tranquillity for the Jews, the Selucids of Syria grew envious, and in 198 B.C.E. took control of Palestine. This brought the Jews under the rule of Antiochus the Great. Thus begun one of the most oppressive periods of Jewish history in the on-going "times of the gentiles." Selucid sovereignty was to give way to the Romans in 63 B.C.E. but not before great damage was done to the Jews in Israel.The Desecration by Antiochus Epiphanes
In 175 B.C.E. the Selucid throne was assumed through treachery by an 8th king, Antiochus IV, a son of Antiochus the Great. He took upon himself the title Epiphanes (the illustrious one). But because he was so corrupt, he was popularly known as Antiochus Epimanes (the madman). Sometimes erratic, sometimes eccentric he was wantonly cruel and brutal to the Jews. This man is responsible for the most vile outrages against the Jews ever perpetrated. For this reason Daniel (and later Jesus, referring to Daniel) spoke of him as "the abomination that makes desolate."
Prior to his reign the Jews had lived peaceably with Greek culture and customs, however Antiochus determined to force Greek polytheistic religion upon the strictly monotheistic Jews. The Jews actively resisted. Angered at the Jews for some insult they had given him, Antiochus defied the high priests in Jerusalem and entered into the sacred temple. (See Appendix D for details). Antiochus actually erected a pagan altar in the temple at Jerusalem and offered upon it a sow in sacrifice, an unclean animal. He took the broth of the sow and sprinkled it throughout the sanctuary, thus defiling the whole sanctuary. Then, as a final insult, he erected a statue of Jupiter in the holy place.
This, of course, brought to an end the twice-daily sacrifice called "the continual burnt offering," which Daniel had predicted was to be taken away for a definite period of time. The apocryphal Book of the Maccabees records that the offering was taken away for a period of a little over three years. Finally Judas Maccabaeus and his sons rose in revolt and led the people of Israel to retake Jerusalem, cleansed the sanctuary and restored the offerings at the end of eleven-hundred and fifty days, exactly as predicted by Daniel.
The Book of 1 Maccabees records some of Antiochus' deeds:On his return from the conquest of Egypt, in the year 143 (169 B.C.E.), Antiochus marched with a strong force against Israel and Jerusalem. In his arrogance he entered the temple and carried off the golden altar, the lamp-stand with all its equipment, the table for the Bread of the Presence, the sacred cups and bowls, the golden censers, the curtain and the crowns. He stripped off the gold plating from the Temple front. He seized the silver, gold, and precious vessels, and whatever secret treasures he found, and took them all with him when he left for his own country. (1 Maccabees 1:21)
Alexander the Great and Jerusalem
A fascinating aside regarding the conquests of Alexander the Great is the account of how Jerusalem was spared. During his long siege of Tyre, Alexander sought the help of neighboring peoples. The Samaritans accepted, but the Jews refused because of previous oaths to their Persian overlords. The Samaritans, long rivals of the Jews, sought Alexander's permission to destroy the temple in Jerusalem.
Jaddua, the high priest in Jerusalem donned his priestly garments and together with notables from the city set out to meet Alexander and his generals. According to Josephus (Antiq. VIII, p l40-146), Jaddua showed Alexander the scroll of Daniel and read for him the predictions that he, Alexander, was to overwhelm the Persians and rule the world. Not only was the city and temple spared, but the flattered Alexander showed favor the Jews and added three Samaritan districts to their precincts.Maccabean Revolt
Daniel the prophet had also predicted the deeds and exploits of the Maccabees which brought about the restoration of temple worship,
...but the people who know their God shall stand firm and take action. And those among the people who are wise shall make many understand, though they shall fall by sword and flame, by captivity and plunder, for some days. When they fall, they shall receive a little help. And many shall join themselves to them with flattery; and some of those who are wise shall fall, to refine and to cleanse them and to make them white, until the time of the end, for it is yet for the time appointed. (Daniel 11:32-35)
In 168 B.C.E. the Jewish war of independence, also known as the Maccabbean revolt, broke out in Israel. (The Maccabee family line is usually referred to as the "Hasmonean" period from references in Josephus and the Mishnah). A godly priest, Mattathias, withdrew to Modein (near Lod) with his five sons to avoid the persecutions of Antiochus. Pursued by his Hellenizing enemies, he killed a traitorous Jew thus precipitating a war of revolt. Mattathias did not live much longer, but the cause of freedom for the Jews was taken up by his third son, Judas Maccabaeus.
The Selucid Kings
The Maccabees
The Ptolemaic Kings
(see: The House of Ptolemy: web site).
Seleucus I (Nicator)
321-281 B.C.E.
Mattathias 166
Ptolemy I Satrap of Egypt
323-305/4 BC
Antiochus I (Soter)
281-261
Judas Maccabeus 166-160
Ptolemy I (Soter I)
305/4-283
Antiochus II (Theos)
261-246
Jonathan
160-143
Ptolemy II (Philadelphus)
283/3-246
Seleucus II (Callinicus)
246-225
Simon
143-135
Ptolemy III (Euergetes)
246-222
Seleucus III (Soter)
225-223
John Hyrcanus
1135-104
Ptolemy IV (Philopater)
222-205/4
Antiochus III (The Great)
223-187
Aristobulus
104-103
Ptolemy V (Epiphanes)
205/4-180
Seleucus IV (Philopater)
187-175
Alexander Janneus
103-76
Ptolemy VI (Philometor)
180-145
Antiochus IV (Epiphanes)
175-163
Salome Alexandra
76-67
Ptolemy VII (Neos Philopater)
145-144
Antiochus V (Eupater)
163-162
Hyrcanus II
67 (3 months)
Ptolemy VIII (Euergetes II or Physcon) restored
145-116
Demetrius I (Soter)
162-150
Aristobulus
67-63
Cleopatra III and Ptolemy IX (Soter II or Lathyrus)
117/6-108/7
Alexander Balas
150-145
Romans
Cleopatra III and (Alexander I)
107/6-102/1
Demetrius II (Nicator)
145-139-
Ptolemy X (Alexander I) and Cleopatra Berenice
102/1-89/8
(Antiochus VI [Epiphanes
Dionysus]
145-142)-
Ptolemy IX (Philometor Soter II "Lathyrus"), restored (2nd reign)
89/8-82/1
Antiochus VII (Sidetes)
139-129-
Cleopatra Berenice and Ptolemy XI (Alexander II)
80
Demetrius II (Nicator)
129-125-
Ptolemy XII (Neos Dionysus "Auletes")
81/0-69/8
Antiochus VIII (Grypus)
125/4-113-
Bernice IV (at first with Cleopatra Tryphaena)
58-56
Antiochus IX (Philopater
Cyzicenus)
113-111
Berenice IV and Archelus
56-55
Antiochus VIII (Grypus)
111-95- Ptolemy XII (Neos Dionysus "Auletes") restored.
55-52/1
Seleucus VI
95-54- Cleopatra VII (Philopator Nea Thea)
52/1-31/0
Antiochus X (Eusebes)
94-83- Ptolemy XV (Caesar Philopator Philometor "Caesarion")
30 BC
Tigranes, King of Armenia
83-69- ROMANS
Antiochus XIII (Asiaticus)
69-65- -
Romans
- -
Initially the Jewish revolt under Judas met with great success. The Syrians were defeated at Emmaus, at Hebron and at Jerusalem. Jerusalem was taken and the temple was cleansed and rededicated in 165 on the 25th day of Kislev. The rededication of the temple is celebrated to this day by the Jews as the Feast of Lights, or Hanukkah, which falls in December. Antiochus died the next year bringing great rejoicing in Israel (and in Syria). Peacemaking attempts by the Lysias, successor to Antiochus, were rejected by Judas. However Judas was killed soon after at the Battle of Adasa in 160 B.C.E.
Jonathan, another son of Mattathias assumed leadership over the movement but intrigue and treachery resulted in his capture. Another son, Simon, took over declaring independence in 142, however Simon was assassinated in 135. Israel knew a brief period of independence however the Romans had been drawn in to the latter day politics of the revolt (Dan. 11:35). Simon was followed by John Hyrcanus who assumed the office of high priest and took over control of the military as well. After Hyrcanus came Alexander Jannaeus, his son, who in his rage against the Pharisees enlisted the help of foreign troops. Six thousand Jews were killed and a civil broke out which was to last six years and cost 50,000 lives. Both internal factions of the Jews finally appealed to Rome to arbitrate the dispute. Pompey came, in 63 B.C.E. killing 12,000 Jews and bringing an end to the Hasmonean Dynasty and ushering in the Roman Empire as the appointed steward of the Holy Land. The Romans entered the Holy of Holies, but Pompey did not touch the temple treasures.
Aristobolus I, son of Hyrcanus, was the first of the Maccabean rulers to take the title "King of the Jews." After a short reign his brother Alexander Janneus succeeded him. However the precedent set by Aristobolus gave precedent for Herod the Great to claim to be a legitimate king of the Jews.
There is much interest today in modifications to the Second Temple and changes on the Temple Mount during the 100-year Hasmonean period. Tuvia Sagiv's studies are especially helpful in recovering for us this lost period of the history of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount.Herod the Great
Herod the Great was the son of Antipater, governor of Idumea. Herod married Marianne, granddaughter of Hyrcanus thus linking himself with the Jews. In reality he can be considered the one of the last descendants of Esau, brother and rival of Jacob.
After Augustus confirmed Herod as king, Herod began a frenzy of construction. He built whole cities, temples, gymnasiums, and palaces. The money came from all kinds of taxes imposed upon the people. Josephus says in The Jewish Wars,The people of Judea, who at the beginning of his rule were in a good economic condition, were humbled to the ground and turned into miserable paupers. he had the leaders killed, in order to confiscate their property.
Herod's Jerusalem main palace the seat of his government is what is now the Citadel at the Jaffa Gate. North of the Temple Mount he enlarged a fortress built by Hyrcanus, renaming it the Fortress Antonia in honor of his Roman benefactor.
He built a palace at Masada, another at Jericho, and the Herodium at Bethlehem. The large coastal city, Caesarea, popular with tourists today, was another of his works, dedicated to Augustus Caesar (Octavian) who was invited to its dedication. Herod built a great building over the cave of Abraham at Hebron. To this day many Herodian ruins are extant in Israel.
Nearly all of Herod's grandiose building programs were intended to impress foreigners in and around Israel. His ambitious building program on the Temple Mount was the one exception to the rule. Nearly 600 years after Second Temple had been dedicated, Herod determined to impart the splendor of Solomon's Temple to the existing edifice--to his own honor and glory of course. The Talmud (Bava Basra 3b-4a) tells how this came about:
Herod learned that the Torah requires that a Jewish king may be only a person "from among your brethren" (Deut. 17:15), which implies that a non-Jewish slave like Herod could not become king of Israel. Not surprisingly, Herod became furious at this interpretation that disqualified him from the monarchy. "Who taught this?" he demanded. When he heard that it was the Sages, he ordered that they be killed. Hardly a sage was left by the time his rage had stilled...
Josephus reports (Josephus, Antiq. 15:38-425; Wars,5:184-247) that many Jews who heard of Herod's plans were shocked; they feared he would destroy the old building and not build a new one. Herod was sincere, however. He prepared all the building materials in advance before beginning the work in 19 or 20 B.C.E. (see John 2:20). Some 10,000 (to 18,000) workmen were employed, plus 1000 priests, since only priests were allowed to work on the sanctuary proper. The major work occurred in the first three years although the workers continued improvements there for many years, well beyond Herod's death in 4 B.C.E. to 64 C.E., just four years before it was to be destroyed by Titus. Herod's work more than doubled the size of the Temple building and the Temple Mount itself was greatly expanded to a plaza area measuring about 2,575 by 985 feet, with eight gates. Most of the enlargement was to the South by means of fill and underground vaults and supports. Josephus has much to say about Herod and his building program. When finished the new temple itself had a portal 65 feet high and a terraced roof 165 feet above the ground. Golden needles were emplaced around the edges of the roof to ward off birds and their droppings, and a vine of gold was placed in front of the now-imposing edifice.
When the Temple had been enlarged and decorated Herod offended the people by mounting a Roman golden eagle over the gate. When Herod lay dying some years later two fearless sages and their followers tore down the eagle. The men were dragged to Herod's deathbed where the tyrant gave orders for them to be burned alive. (The records of the long reign of cruelty and violence of King Herod are enough to fill several books).
Herod's enlargements to the Temple Mount are the subject of vigorous discussion and debate in Israel in our time. The following notes by Prof. George Knight of Hardin-Simmons University, Abilene, Texas are helpful:"...the complex constructed under the instigation of Herod the Great was an entirely different, larger and grander structure than the previous one. As a part of his campaign to impress and obligate folk to him, Herod the Great undertook many enormous building projects, including the port of Caesarea Maritima and the fortress of Masada. However, nothing else approached the undertaking of building a new temple for the Jews in Jerusalem beginning in 20 B.C. In order for the structure to achieve Herod's purposes, it had to be large. To accomplish that primary goal, the entire mountain was extended. (The major primary source for this information is the first-century writer Flavius Josephus. He devoted a portion of Antiquities 8:3:6-9 and Wars of the Jews 1:7:6 to a detailed description of the temple and its construction. Josephus is accused of exaggeration in some of his descriptions, but his overall reports are of value in understanding the temple of Jesus' day).
The expansion of the area was achieved by building huge retaining walls to the east over the slopes of the Kidron and to the west into the Tyropoeon Valley. These walls were, in places, more than 80 feet high and sat on foundations some 50 feet deep. The area was then filled in and paved over, making an area of more than 35 acres upon which to build the new complex.
The plan of the new complex had the "temple" proper located to the western part of the area facing the east and enclosed in a series of terraces and walls. The interior dimensions of the building appear to have been left much as the previous structures with the hekal being 60 feet long and 30 feet wide while the debir remained 30 feet by 30 feet, although it appears that the height increased to 90 feet. The porch was described by Josephus as measuring 150 feet high and 150 feet wide, all covered with gold that reflected the sun so brightly that a person could not look directly upon it. The furniture of the holy place was the same as Zerubbabel's and the holy of holies remained empty, still separated by a veil. Directly in front of the building was now an altar of burnt sacrifice measuring 75 feet square.
Several different plans of the arrangement of the courts in the temple have been suggested over the last century because the sources are unclear and at points contradictory. (See for example W. F. Steinspring, "Temple, Jerusalem," Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible, George A. Buttrick, ed. Nashville: [Abingdon Press, 1962], 4:534-560. See 4:556 for the suggestion by Vincent-Steve and page 558 for the attempt by Schick. Another possibility is given in Alfred Edersheim, The Temple, [ rev. and ill, with introduction by John J. Bimson Grand Rapids: Kregel, 19971,31]. Although the details are difficult to explicate, the overall understanding of the relationship of the courts to the temple proper is rather clear. Mound the sanctuary and in front was the court of the priests. Beyond that was the court of Israel, which was limited to Jewish men. A semicircular set of stairs led down to another level that was occupied by the court of women, as close to the sanctuary and altar as Jewish women could go. From this terrace apparently there were stairs that led down to the next level. Entry to these stairs and thus the court was protected by a stone partition four and one-half feet high that had inscribed on it warnings in Greek and Latin prohibiting Gentiles from entering. Beyond this partition was the court of Gentiles, which was a large part of the temple enclosure and was accessible to all people. In Mark 11 Jesus referred to this area as having become used as a marketplace and otherwise unsuitable for worship. By Jesus' time the rest of the temple platform included many other structures that added to the impressive complex. Inside the walls there were porticoes with colonnaded walkways, the best known of which is the Royal Porch or Portico of Solomon. It was located on the southern side and apparently served many purposes, including a business center, a place for exchange, and perhaps the meeting place for the Sanhedrin. Many gates were located in the walls and archaeological investigation has established a magnificent entry from the south up a monumental staircase that led into the two Huldah gates through underground passages that brought visitors into the temple court from below. One gate led through the western wall over a viaduct into the upper city, and another led through the southwestern part of the wall down a huge staircase that turned into the Tyropoean Valley. Another famous gate was the main gate in the eastern wall that led into the Kidron Valley and thus to Bethany. One other feature requiring mention was the Antonia fortress at the northwest corner of the temple that housed Roman soldiers and some Roman government offices. The entire complex was destroyed along with the city by the Roman general Titus in A.D 70.
Herod's temple, the temple of Jesus' day, was a huge and magnificent structure, a wonder of the ancient world. It was an architectural marvel of overwhelming proportions that called attention not only to Jerusalem as the place where the Jewish people carried out their rituals of sacrifice but also to Herod the Great as the builder. In Mark 11 Jesus called for the temple to be a place of worship and a place for all nations because He came to seek and save those who were lost. While He began in Jerusalem and Judea, He pointed the disciples to the ends of the earth." (Biblical Illustrator, Vol. 25. No. 2 Winter 1998-99).
Model of Jerusalem and the Second Temple (Roman Period). At the Holyland Hotel in Jerusalem. Looking Southwest.
The Christian Era
Important events in the life of Jesus Christ took place in the Temple area. Jesus was brought to the Temple to be dedicated at the age of eight days (Luke 2:27). When He was twelve Luke records that Jesus confounded the elders with His wisdom. (Luke 2:41-50)
Several of the most famous incidents in the life and ministry of Jesus took place in the Temple area. His public teachings often took place there when he was in Jerusalem several times each year, and his white-hot polemic denunciation of the Pharisees took place in the Courts.
Many people think of Jesus as someone meek and mild who would never raise His voice or be upset at anything. Consequently, they have a hard time understanding the Gospel accounts of Him going into the temple on two different occasions and disrupting the activities of the moneychangers. John records what occurred on the first occasion, at the beginning of his ministry:
Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the moneychangers doing business. When He had made a whip of cords, He drove all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers' money and overturned the tables. And He said to those who sold doves, "Take these things away! Do not make My Father's house a house of merchandise!" (John 2:13-16).
Three years later, during Passion Week just after entering Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, Jesus again cleansed the temple, this time temporarily halting the sacrifices:And Jesus entered the temple of God and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. He said to them, "It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer'; but you make it a den of robbers." (Matthew 21:12,13. Compare Mark 11:15-19, Luke 19:4548)
Second Temple Destruction Predicted by Jesus
During his final week in Jerusalem Jesus wept over Jerusalem,
At that very hour some Pharisees came, and said to him, "Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you." And Jesus said to them, "Go and tell that fox, 'Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I finish my course. Nevertheless I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the day following; for it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem.'
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, killing the prophets and stoning those who are sent to you! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not! Behold, your house is forsaken.
And I tell you, you will not see me until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!"' (Luke 13:31-35)Luke's account adds details about the coming destruction of the city and the temple:
And when he drew near (on Palm Sunday) and saw the city he wept over it, saying, "Would that even today you knew the things that make for peace! But now they are hid from your eyes. For the days shall come upon you, when your enemies will cast up a bank about you and surround you, and hem you in on every side, and dash you to the ground, you and your children within you, and they will not leave one stone upon another in you; because you did not know the time of your visitation." (Luke 19:41-44)
As the Shekinah glory left the First Temple as recorded by Ezekiel, Jesus as God's prophet announced at this time that the Second Temple was from that point on to be left desolate, until He returned. Soon, the Second Temple would also be destroyed as the First had been.
In the last week of His life Jesus pronounced judgment upon the Temple on a second occasion:Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came to Him to show Him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said to them, "Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down." (Matthew 24: 1-2)
According to Jesus, not one stone would be left upon another when the Temple was destroyed. Jesus also predicted the destruction of the city of Jerusalem:
But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near. Then let those in Judea flee to the mountains, let those who are in the midst of her depart and let not those who are in the country enter her. (Luke 21:20-22).
The prophet Daniel had also predicted the destruction of the Second Temple:
And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself; and the people of the prince who is to come (the Romans) shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. (Daniel 9:26)
Daniel's prediction said that the Messiah would come to Jerusalem and be cut off (put to death) followed by yet another destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple.
And so there was to be a Second 9th of Av catastrophe on the Temple Mount. It was to come 655 years after the first.
The Destruction of the Second Temple
"Sorely have they afflicted me from my youth," let Israel now say - "Sorely have they afflicted me from my youth, yet they have not prevailed against me. The plowers plowed upon my back; they made long their furrows." The LORD is righteous; he has cut the cords of the wicked. May all who hate Zion be put to shame and turned backward! Let them be like the grass on the housetops, which withers before it grows up, with which the reaper does not fill his hand or the binder of sheaves his bosom, while those who pass by do not say, "The blessing of the LORD be upon you! We bless you in the name of the LORD!"
(Psalm 129. A Psalm of Ascents)
Prelude to the Second Desolation of Jerusalem
Samuel, Kings and Chronicles, as well as most every one of the prophets of Israel, give us copious amounts of information telling us why it was that Israel was taken into exile in Babylon and why the magnificent First Temple should be destroyed. The terrible loss of life and all the associated suffering which took place especially on the 9th of Av, 586 B.C.E. were followed by a slow restoration. By the time of Yeshua (Jesus), 600 years later, Israel enjoyed a modest place among the nations of the Middle East. Gone was the great military prowess she had enjoyed under King David. Gone was the King - Israel had been a vassal state under foreign dominion for centuries. However, a respectable Temple stood in Jerusalem. Sacrifices and offerings and the externals of her religion were in place. The priesthood was corrupted and the number of the godly who were faithful to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was very few. There was little evidence of real spiritual life from God. Demonic activity and occult practices were at an all time high, as the Christian gospels reveal, and the Jews were not highly regarded by the Greeks and Romans for their religion, or for their exemplary lifestyles. The internal politics of a once unified people was divided into factions of Herodians, Hellenists, Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, Scribes. Thankfully, a tiny believing remnant remained faithful to the Holy One of Israel.
The four Christian gospels say very little about the Temple in the days of Jesus. Except for a few brief words from Jesus there was no extensive public warning that the Second Temple was to be destroyed. The analysis of why this happened would be explained afterward, after resurrection of Jesus. It was then that the Apostles (all Jews) confronted the nation with her grievous sins.
The life of Jesus seemed unimportant to the Romans and to many of the Jewish people at the time Jesus the Christ taught and walked among his own people. The resurrection of this same Jesus and His ascension after a number of public appearances was followed 50 days later by the birth of church on Pentecost Sunday. This took place on the Temple Mount. However, it was not long before persecution drove the apostles and church leaders North to Antioch. The Jewish people were accustomed to outspoken sect leaders and false messiah so Jesus was soon forgotten and his qualifications as a true prophet of God were ignored. The hundreds of new followers of Jesus after the Day of Pentecost were of course originally all Jews.Caligula
Shortly after the death and resurrection of Jesus, the mad Emperor Gaius Julius Caesar Germanicus - nicknamed Caligula ("little boots") - attempted to desecrate the Temple. Everywhere else in the Roman empire subjugated peoples had been forced to conform to the cult of Rome and acknowledge not only Caesar as Lord but also fall into line by adopting the Roman pantheon of gods. The Jews had been left alone and it was time they began to conform. Caligula gave an order to set up his statue in the Holy of Holies in the Temple:
Now Caius Caesar did so grossly abuse the fortune he had arrived at, as to take himself to be a god, and to desire to be so called also, and to cut off those of the greatest nobility out of his country. He also extended his impiety as far as the Jews. Accordingly he sent Petronius with an army to Jerusalem to place his statues in the temple, and commanded him that, in case the Jews would not admit of them, he should slay those that opposed it, and carry all the rest into captivity. (Ref. 1)
The Roman writer Tacitus adds that Caius commanded the Jews to place his effigies in the Temple. Josephus records that the Jews pleaded with Petronius not to do this. The Jews in their stubborn monotheism were willing to sacrifice their whole nation before they would allow the Temple to be defiled. Petronius marveled at their courage and ceased with the process so confrontation was temporarily averted. An enraged Caligula commanded that Petronius be put to death. Josephus records that Caligula himself died soon thereafter and due to bad weather at sea, the letter ordering Petronius' death arrived three weeks after the news arrived of Caligula's death. Petronius was not executed and the Temple was spared this particular abomination.
Revolt and Turmoil
To enforce their rule the Romans were forced to brutally repress the rebellions led by various "messiahs" - Theudas, James and Simon. One Jewish group, the Zealots, in existence since the turn of the century, gained enough strength by 50 A.D. that they were able to raid Jerusalem. The Roman procurator Gessius Florius (62-64), whose headquarters were in Sebaste (Samaria), had taken advantage of the instability by taxing the Temple treasury for his own benefit. He was the most cruel of all Roman leaders to date. Florius met the Zealots in Jerusalem by killing 3600 Jews as he pillaged the upper market place. The Zealots in response destroyed the northern portico of the temple adjacent to the Antonia fortress thus preventing Florius from reaching the Temple where he wanted to seize the temple treasures.
Florius was driven from the city eventually and the high priest Eliezer ben-Hananiah persuades the priests to cease offerings to the health of the Emperor. This gave Rome even more reason to crack down.
At the outset of the revolt Herod Agrippa II (grandson of Herod the Great) gained control of the Upper City but the high priest Eliezer took over the Lower City and a civil war began. Agrippa gathered the people in the Chamber of Hewn Stone in a futile effort to restore peace. The rebels set fire to the palaces of the king, his sister Bernice, and to the house of the high priest. Agrippa fled from Jerusalem allowing the Zealots to capture Fortress Antonia and Herod's palace. The former was set on fire and burned.
As the civil war raging in Jerusalem intensified Cestius Gallius, procurator of Syria attacked Jerusalem in 66 A.D. from Mt. Scopus and the ascent of Beth-Horon, but a Jewish group led by Simon Bar-Giora harassed the soldiers of Gallius from the rear and captured all their arms. The rebels had a respite for four years during which time they were able to complete the third wall.
The struggles between the Zealots and the Roman soldiers from Syria destroyed the food stocks of the Zealots who then robbed the homes of the local Jewish population. The inhabitants of Jerusalem died in great numbers by famine as had happened when Nebuchadnezzar attacked Jerusalem centuries earlier (Jer. 52:6,7). Greater disaster was soon to come.
The Second Temple Destroyed - As Predicted
During the last days of his life Jesus had assembled his disciples together on the Mt. of Olives overlooking the Temple. The disciples were uncertain and anxious about the future especially in light of Jesus' cleansing of the Temple and stopping the sacrifices, and his astonishing statements delivered in holy anger denouncing the Pharisees. The disciples opened the conversation by talking about the beauty of the temple and its courts. Jesus opened his amazing and detailed reply by predicting the soon-coming destruction of that magnificent building:
Jesus left the temple and was going away, when his disciples came to point out to him the buildings of the temple. But he answered them, "You see all these, do you not? Truly, I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another, that will not be thrown down." As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, "Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the close of the age?" (Matthew 24:1-3)
Both the Temple and the City of Jerusalem were indeed about to be destroyed. With four Legions, Titus the Roman General, later to become Caesar, began the siege of Jerusalem in April, A.D. 70. He posted his 10th legion on the Mount of Olives, directly east of and overlooking the Temple Mount. The 12th and 15th legions were stationed on Mount Scopus, further to the east and commanding all ways to Jerusalem from east to north. The 5th legion was held in reserve.
The Second 9th of Av - 70 C.E.
On the 10th of August, in A.D. 70 - the 9th of Av - in Jewish reckoning, the very day when the King of Babylon burned the Temple in 586 B.C., the Temple was burned again. Titus took the city and put it to the torch, burning the Temple.
Jewish historian, Flavius Josephus was present in Jerusalem when the city was captured and the Temple was burnt. He described the event in this manner:The Romans, though it was a terrible struggle to collect the timber, raised their platforms in twenty-one days, having as described before stripped the whole area in a circle round the town to a distance of ten miles. The countryside like the City was a pitiful sight; for where once there had been a lovely vista of woods and parks there was nothing but desert and stumps of trees. No one - not even a foreigner - who had seen the Old Judea and the glorious suburbs of the City, and now set eyes on her present desolation, could have helped sighing and groaning at so terrible a change; for every trace of beauty had been blotted out by war, and nobody who had known it in the past and came upon it suddenly would have recognized the place: when he was already there he would still have been looking for the City. (Ref. 3)
Josephus speaks of the house to house fighting that occurred:
These Romans put the Jews to flight, and proceeded as far as the holy house itself. At which time one of the soldiers, without staying for any orders, and without any concern or dread upon him at so great an undertaking, and being hurried on by a certain divine fury, snatched some what out of the materials that were on fire, and being lifted up by another soldier, he set fire to a golden window, through which there was a passage to the rooms that were round about the holy house, on the north side of it. As the flames went upward, the Jews made a great clamour, such as so mighty an affliction required, and ran together to prevent it; and now they spared not their lives any longer, nor suffered anything to restrain their force, since that holy house was perishing . . . thus it was the holy house burnt down . . . Nor can one imagine any thing greater or more terrible than this noise; for there was at once a shout of the Roman Legions, who were marching all together, and a sad clamour of the seditious, who were now surrounded with fire and sword . . . the people under a great consternation, made sad moans at the calamity they were under . . . Yet was the misery itself more terrible than this disorder; for one would have thought that the hill itself, on which the Temple stood, was seething hot, as full of fire on every part of it. (Ref. 4)
And Josephus lists the horrendous outcome:
To give a detailed account of their outrageous conduct is impossible, but we may sum it up by saying that no other city has ever endured such horrors, and no generation in history has fathered such wickedness. In the end they brought the whole Hebrew race into contempt in order to make their own impiety seem less outrageous in foreign eyes, and confessed the painful truth that they were slaves, the dregs of humanity, bastards, and outcasts of their nation.
. . . It is certain that when from the upper city they watched the Temple burning they did not turn a hair, though many Romans were moved to tears. (Ref. 5)The prediction of Jesus with regard to the city and the Temple were now fulfilled:
As the flames shot into the air the Jews sent up a cry that matched the calamity and dashed to the rescue, with no thought now of saving their lives or husbanding their strength; for that which hitherto they had guarded so devotedly was disappearing before their eyes. (Ref. 6)
Jerusalem was totally destroyed and as Jesus had predicted - not one stone was left upon another. When the Temple was set on fire the Roman soldiers tore apart the stone to get the melted gold. The Menorah and vessels were carried to Rome and the treasury was robbed.
As Daniel had predicted the Temple was destroyed after the Messiah had come, not before.Bible scholar Ray C. Stedman comments on the predictions of Jesus and their fulfillment in history a few years later,
In Luke 21:20 we have other details of this predicted overthrow of the city and the Temple. There Jesus adds, "But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near." Forty years later the Roman armies under Titus came in and fulfilled the prediction to the very letter. With Titus was a Jewish historian named Josephus who recorded the terrible story in minute detail. It was one of the most ghastly sieges in all history. When the Romans came the city was divided among three warring factions of Jews who were so at each others' throats that they paid no heed to the approach of the Romans. Thus Titus came up and surrounded the city while it was distracted by its own internecine warfare. The Romans assaulted the walls again and again, and gave every opportunity to the Jews to surrender and save their capital from destruction.
During the long siege a terrible famine raged in the city and the bodies of the inhabitants were literally stacked like cordwood in the streets. Mothers ate their children to preserve their own strength. The toll of Jewish suffering was horrible but they would not surrender the city. Again and again they attempted to trick the Romans through guile and perfidy. When at last the walls were breached Titus tried to preserve the Temple by giving orders to his soldiers not to destroy or burn it. But the anger of the soldiers against the Jews was so intense that, maddened by the resistance they encountered, they disobeyed the order of their general and set fire to the Temple. There were great quantities of gold and silver there which had been placed in the Temple for safekeeping. This melted and ran down between the rocks and into the cracks of the stones. When the soldiers captured the Temple area, in their greed to obtain this gold and silver they took long bars and pried apart the massive stones. Thus, quite literally, not one stone was left standing upon another. The Temple itself was totally destroyed, though the wall supporting the area upon which the Temple was built was left partially intact and a portion of it remains to this day, called the Western Wall. (Ref. 2)A Temple Legend
Flavius Josephus also recorded a legend that sprung up about the Temple. While the Temple was on fire and there was tremendous looting, killing and rape many rushed to the Temple to die rather than become Roman slaves. When the flames leaped through the roof and the smoke had risen in thick columns one of the priests supposedly climbed to the top of the main tower. He had in his hand the key to the sanctuary. When he reached the top he cried out, "If you, Lord, no longer judge us to be worthy to administer Your house, take back the key until You deem us worthy again." As the legend goes, a hand appeared from heaven and took the key from the priest.
A Second Exile for Israel
When the Temple was destroyed in A.D. 70 the period of the second exile began. The Jewish people were soon to be scattered throughout the earth. For the next 1900 years the Jews would have no authority in the land God gave to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. However during most of the period of this Second Exile there have always been some Jews living in Jerusalem. Although most of the nation was in exile from their land, the Jews did not forget Jerusalem or the Temple Mount. Their daily prayer was for the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem. The traditional Jewish prayer book contains the following passage:
Because of our sins we were exiled from our country and banished from our land. We cannot go up as pilgrims to worship Thee, to perform our duties in Thy chosen house, the great and Holy Temple which was called by Thy name, on account of the hand that was let loose on Thy sanctuary. May it be Thy will, Lord our God and God of our fathers, merciful King, in Thy abundant love again to have mercy on us and on Thy sanctuary; rebuild it speedily and magnify its glory.
For the next two thousand years, the Temple Mount would lack any Jewish presence. The destruction of the Temple in A.D. 70 caused the beginning of the scattering of the Jews throughout the world. During this period, the Temple Mount was for the most part neglected and profaned. Though this time constituted a period of neglect some significant events concerning Jerusalem and the Temple Mount did occur. More information on this time period of Temple Mount history is given in Tuvia Sagiv's writings.
Hadrian
In the first hundred years after the city and Temple were destroyed, there was high expectation among the Jews that they would once again return to their land and rebuild that which was devastated. The Court of 70 Elders, the Sanhedrin, was intact and many Jews still lived in small communities in Israel. Their hopes were dashed by the Emperor Hadrian when he decided to establish a new city on the ruins of Jerusalem. The Old City was plowed up to make way for the new Roman city to be named Colonia Aelia Capitolina.
Second Jewish Revolt
Hadrian's actions, particularly his attempted to eradicate all traces of a Jewish city named Jerusalem, caused ongoing rebellion among the Jews. In response, there were large scale mass murders of Jews in Caesarea and other communities by the Romans. These murders sparked a larger rebellion led by a man named Simon Bar Kochba (A.D. 132-135). Bar Kochba rallied the people and massacred the famous 12th legion of the Roman army. Jerusalem was liberated for three years and Rabbi Akiva proclaimed Bar Kochba as the Messiah who was to deliver the Jewish people.
The Jews proceeded to set up an independent government. Coins were struck that commemorated the "First Year of the Deliverance of Israel." One coin showed the facade of the Temple. It is possible that Bar Kochba attempted to rebuild the Temple. One later historical work (Chronicon Paschale) describes Hadrian as the one who destroyed the Temple of the Jews. The Roman historian Dio Cassius also said that Hadrian built his Temple to replace the one of the God of Israel. Some, therefore, assume that the Chronicon is not referring to the destruction of the original Temple by Titus in A.D. 70 but to a later destruction by Hadrian of a partially restored Temple built by Bar Kochba.
Within three years of Jerusalem's liberation under the Bar Kochba revolt, Rome marched against the rebels and killed Bar Kochba. The Sanhedrin officially labeled him a false Messiah and Jerusalem was again in Roman hands. Jewish Jerusalem was once again blotted out and Aelia Capitolina was built on its site as had been planned. Because the war had cost the lives of Roman heroes, the Jews were thenceforth forbidden to enter Jerusalem upon penalty of death. Hadrian attempted to destroy every connection Jerusalem had with the Jewish people. Christians of Jewish background were also excluded from the city, but gentile Christians were able to remain.
In an effort to leave no trace of the Second Temple, Hadrian erected a Temple to Jupiter Capitolinus on the site. An equestrian statue of Hadrian was also built on the site. The next Emperor, Antonius Pius (A.D. 138-161), added another statue. The Jews were only allowed to enter the city on special occasions to mourn on the Temple Mount.Constantine and the "Christian" Roman Empire
In A.D. 324 Emperor Constantine and his mother Queen Helena were converted to Christianity. Aelia Capitolina was renamed Jerusalem and the title of "Holy City" was restored to her. It was now, however, considered the Holy City of Christianity, not the national capital of the Jews. The pagan temple Hadrian was destroyed and the church of Holy Zion was built on the Temple Mount. These conditions lasted under A.D. 362 when the Roman emperor Julian the Apostate permitted the Jews to return.
A Plan to Rebuild
There was one occasion after the destruction of the Second Temple when the Jews were able to formulate plans to rebuild their temple. The man behind this project was the Roman Emperor, Flavius Claudius Julianus, a nephew of Constantine - also known as Julian the Apostate because of his opposition to Christianity. Julian planned the project in the last year of his reign in A.D. 363. Julian rescinded all the anti-Jewish laws that his uncle Constantine had instituted. He issued an edict that the Temple be rebuilt in Jerusalem. This caused a great deal of excitement among the Jews. From far and wide, Jews came to Jerusalem to help in the rebuilding work. Julian supplied the necessary funds and appointed Alypius of Antioch, the Roman Governor of Great Britain, to carry out the project. Jews from all over gave from their wealth upon the projected work of rebuilding the Temple. The roads to Jerusalem were filled with multitudes of Jewish men and women who had hopes of seeing a Third Temple built.
Then sudden tragedy struck. The foundations of the Second Temple were barely uncovered when flames of fire burst forth from under the ground. The flames were accompanied by large explosions. The cause for the flames were probably the result of noxious gas in the subterranean passages catching fire. The workmen fled and the building was stopped, never again to be restarted. Many believed that the explosion and fire were a demonstration of the anger of God.
With their hopes dashed, the Jews were then driven into Exile and became wanderers in foreign lands. They were people without a homeland. For some eighteen centuries they would be dispersed and persecuted. Throughout time their thoughts were of the Temple which once stood in Jerusalem and prayers for its restoration.Visible Remains of the Temple
From ancient records we can glean some information about visible remains of the Temple after its destruction. Eusebius, bishop of Caesarea (A.D. 260-340) testified that he could still see the remains of the sanctuary. He said that the large stone blocks were hauled away to build sanctuaries and theaters. During this period of exile the city was visited by a pilgrim known as the traveler of Bordeaux. He gave the following testimony in A.D. 333:
At the side of the Sanctuary, there is a pierced stone. Jews visit there once a year, pour oil over it, lament and weep over it, and tear their garments in token of mourning. Then they return home.
The once-a-year visit was probably on the 9th of Av, the Jewish date of the destruction of both Temples. The pierced stone, or a rock with a hollow in it, is not identified. It is assumed by some to have been the foundation stone upon which the Holy of Holies was built. In the Talmud we find a reference to the "Foundation Rock" which the Holy of Holies had rested (Yoma 5:2).
Early church father John Chrysostom wrote:The Jews began uncovering the foundations by removing masses of earth, intending to go ahead and build ...You can see the bared foundations if you visit Jerusalem now...Some of its parts (sanctuary) are razed to the ground.
The Jews were allowed to enter the city only one day a year during this period of exile. In A.D. 392 the Christian leader Jerome wrote concerning this day:
On the anniversary of the day when the city fell and was destroyed by the Romans, there are crowds who mourn, old women and old men dressed in tatters and rags, and from the Top of the Mount of Olives this throng laments over the destruction of its Sanctuary. Still their eyes flow with tears, still their hands tremble and their hair is disheveled, but already the guards demand pay for their right to weep. (Ref. 7)
In the sixth century the Pilgrim of Piacenze mentions the ruins of the Temple of Solomon. From these accounts we can deduce that there were at least some visible remains of the Temple foundation through the sixth century.
Cursed of God?
In the early years, the Christians looked upon the Temple Mount as a place that God had cursed. As Christianity gained foothold in the Roman world the Temple Mount was left to become a desolate rubble heap. In A.D. 534, over the site of Solomon's elaborate palace, the Emperor Justinian built mighty substructures as foundations for the New Church of St. Mary. While other holy sites in Jerusalem were explored and identified, the Temple Mount was neglected.
The Scourge of Anti-Semitism
One of the tragedies of this period was the anti-Semitism that arose among the "Christians." Concerning the Jews, early Christian leader John Chrysostom falsely wrote:
They sacrificed their sons and daughters to devils: they outraged nature and overthrew their foundations the laws of relationship. They are become worse than the wild beasts, and for no reason at all, with their own hands, they murder their offspring, to worship the avenging devils who are foes of our life...They know only one thing, to satisfy their gullets, get drunk, to kill and maim one another. (Ref. 8)
Chrysostom delivered eight sermons which expressed intense hatred of the Jews. His accusations were nothing but outright lies. The purpose of these falsehoods was to keep the Christians in Antioch from having any contact with the Jews. In another act of anti-Semitism, Bishop Ambrose of Milan ordered a synagogue to be set on fire. When Emperor Theodosius demanded an explanation the Bishop wrote him back:
I declare that I have set fire to the synagogue, or at least that those who did acted on my orders, so that there would be no place where Christ is rejected . . . Moreover, the synagogue was in fact destroyed by the judgment of God. (Ref. 8)
This desecration even angered the Romans. The bishop was required to rebuild the synagogue and those who had participated in its destruction were punished.
These, and others, failed to realize that it was God who had scattered the Jewish people and that He had ultimate purposes in doing so. The Jews would be a blessing to each city in which they were scattered to be regathered by God at the right time.
Preparations for a Third Jewish Temple
The 137th Psalm, a hymn of the exiles of Jerusalem during the Babylonian captivity,
eloquently expresses the yearnings of the Jewish people for their homeland, their city and
their temple - then and now.
Jerusalem, "City of Peace" has known nearly two dozen wars and destructions
since its existence was first known to us from the Biblical record. Abraham's meeting with
Melchizedek about 2000 BC reveals that there was in the city (known then as
"Salem"), even at that early date. A righteous Gentile king, Melchizedek, ruled
there as "priest of God Most High" (El Elyon). Abraham's family had
lapsed into idolatry living in Babylon (Ur of the Chaldees), in spite of his legitimacy of
his being in the line of Noah's son, Shem. It is possible that Melchizedek was Abraham's
teacher and spiritual mentor who gave Abraham additional information, and possibly even
ancient documents, concerning the God of the land of Israel who had called him there.
During the time period after 70 A.D. Jerusalem should have long since fallen into
oblivion. This city with no natural wealth, no oil reserves, and no great strategic
military value. Ancient trade routes passed up and down the coastline of the Mediterranean
Sea or along the Jordan Valley. The "King's Highway" ran North and South on the
plateau of Jordan - Jerusalem was out of the way. Why should anyone pass by there?
Today, centers of modern commerce and trade are in Tel Aviv or Haifa. Jerusalem is more of
a city of religion, art, culture, and museums than an economically viable regional
marketplace or a center of business activity. Yet Jerusalem thrives in our time as a city
full of mystical attractiveness and endless fascination.
As never before in history, Jerusalem is at the center of today's headlines. The city
which grew up around the small walled-village captured by King David from the Jebusites
3000 years ago is the focal point of never-ending debate among the great superpowers. No
other city has been desired and fought over has Jerusalem. In its history Jerusalem has
been fought over by armies of the Assyrians, Babylonians, Egyptians, Greeks, Ptolemies,
Seleucids, Romans, Byzantines, Persians, Arabs, Seljuks, Crusaders, Mongols, Mamelukes, by
the Turks, the British, and the Jordanians. Today the nations of all the world consider it
their responsibility and obligation to meddle in her politics and destiny.
As a religious center Jerusalem remains sacred to (and fought over by) all three
monotheistic religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. It is an open secret that the
Pope aspires to set up his world headquarters there, having claimed for many years that
the Holy Land has all along really been under Roman Catholic "stewardship." UN
debates, Arab neighbors, and the PLO urge the "internationalization" of this
modest city, though it is no secret that the actually want the city all to themselves
without any Jews. All the while, religious pilgrims from all nations continue to flock to
the Holy City in droves numbering millions per year.
Thus all the eyes of the world are upon Jerusalem, City of Peace, today as never before.
This is a city that has been besieged about forty different times and destroyed (at least
partially) on thirty-two different occasions. The rulership of Jerusalem has changed hands
some twenty-six times. Since 1948 Jerusalem has experienced four wars.
From the time of the establishment of the State of Israel in May of 1948 until 1967, the
city was divided. Walls, barbed-wire fences and a desolated strip of non-man's land cut
through the very heart of the city, especially excluding the Jews from the Old City and
the Temple Mount. During that time the Jewish Quarter was levelled and its synagogues
burned. Jewish graves and monuments were desecrated or turned into latrines.
In June of 1967 the Jews were involved in a war that resulted in the liberation of the Old City of Jerusalem. On the third day of the Six Day War, Israeli paratrooper Motta Gur, mounted on a half-track, announced that the Temple Mount has been regained. On June 7 of that year the Israeli troops moved into the Old City and stood at the Western Wall (Wailing Wall) for prayer. Rabbi Shlomo Goren declared:
"We have taken the city of God. We are entering the Messianic era for the Jewish people, and I promise to the Christian world that what we are responsible for we will take care of."
The city of Jerusalem was reunified and the Star of David flew again from its ramparts.
On Saturday June 17, 1967, shortly after the end of the Six Day War, Defense minister
Moshe Dayan entered the Al-Aksa Mosque for a historic meeting. In a gesture of good will,
Dayan sat down on the prayer carpet with five leaders of the Supreme Muslim Council (the
Waqf) of what had been Jordanian-controlled Jerusalem. That discussion fixed Israel's
policy regarding the Temple Mount, a policy that remains unchanged to this day.
Dayan had ordered the Israeli flag removed from on top of the Dome of the Rock on the
afternoon of the Old City's liberation. His discussion with the Muslims led to further
concessions. The administrative control over the Temple Mount was to be the sole
responsibility of the Supreme Muslim Council - the (Jordanian) Waqf. Though the Jews would
be permitted free access to the Mount, prayer by Jews was prohibited. Dayan refused to
permit any Jewish identification with Judaism's holiest site. To him, the Temple Mount
held only historic interest. He said:
"I have no doubt that because the power is in our hands we must take a stand based on yielding. We must view the Temple Mount as a historic site relating to past memory."
The government of Israel then allocated responsibility of the Temple Mount area to
different groups. Israel's Department of Antiquities were given the south, southeast, and
southwest area of the Temple Mount to explore archaeologically. The top of the Temple
Mount, however, site of the First and Second Temples, was given over to the Muslims to
administrate. To the present day, the PLO Muslim Waqf allows tourists to visit the Mount a
few hours per day - but they do not allow any freedom of worship or any non-Muslim
archeological activity there. The entire area is treated as if it were a gigantic outdoor
mosque. To this day, visitors who stroll out of very limited areas - to view over the wall
at the Pinnacle of the Temple, or to see the interior of the Golden Gate, for example -
will be quickly restrained by an Arab guard.
Shortly after the Temple Mount was recaptured, Rabbi Shlomo Goren, then chief chaplain of
the Israeli army, and one of the leading advocates for the rebuilding of the Temple,
attempted to establish a Jewish identity on the Mount. The Western Wall below the Mount
was all Israel actually possessed and to Goren that was not enough. He believed regaining
Jewish presence on the Mount would be a major step towards Israel's long-awaited
redemption. On August 15, 1967, Goren led demonstrative Jewish prayers on the Temple Mount
compound. His actions caused shockwaves and much apprehension among Muslims as to the fate
of their sacred sites.
Goren prayed within the Temple Mount courtyard, but this was contrary to the newly agreed
arrangement with the Israeli government. The Waqf responded by locking the entrance gate
above the Western Wall that leads to the Temple Mount. The keys to that gate were
confiscated soon thereafter by the government of Israel and Jewish military police have
been on duty at the entrance gate ever since.
The two chief Rabbis of Israel (Sephardic and Askenazi) then compiled a joint statement
forbidding Jews to visit the Temple Mount. There position was that the Jewish people were
ceremonially unclean and might accidentally tread on the place where the holy of holies
stood in the Temple.
The Temple Mount had become a political issue as far back as 1930 when Mufti Haj Arain
El-Husseini turned Solomon's Stables into a shooting range and whipped up a frenzy over
Jewish prayer at the Western Wall. The current PLO-controlled Supreme Muslim Council looks
to a 1931 decision that the Temple Mount is exclusive Waqf property. The Waqf - who
nomimally owe their allegiance to Jordan - do not accept the reunification of Jerusalem.
Islamic preachers during the regular Friday day of prayer on the Mount regularly and
routinely denounce Israel the right of the Jews to exist, frequently delivering
inflammatory polemics designed to foster Arab hatred towards the Jews.
Prior to 1967 the central structure on the Mount for the Muslims was the Al-Aksa Mosque.
After the city was recaptured in 1967, the Waqf began to term the entire Temple Mount as
Al-Aksa. In effect, they annexed the entire Mount.
The rabbinical prohibition against Jews walking around on the Temple Mount has now been extended. The rabbis next declared that there was to be no exploration, excavation, or even prayer on the Temple Mount. Yet they continued to acknowledge that the Temple Mount is the center of Jerusalem:
The Temple Mount is the red-hot heart of the city. This doesn't mean that everyone who lives here turns up there in the course of a day, a week, a month or a year, or even turns his mind to it. He may go through years without giving it a thought, just as a Roman might not think of St. Peter's. Some young Jerusalemites, who can't remember a time when Jews couldn't freely and safely go to the Wall, do take it for granted. Yet even they know that Jerusalem, unlike Rome, is contested. They believe too that whoever holds the Holy Places, and especially the Temple Mount, possesses the upper hand in city, and therefore the country. (Ref. 1)
In their attempts to minimize tensions between Jew and Arab concerning the Temple Mount a ban on Jewish entry was formally posted at the entrance gate by the Chief Rabbinate of Israel.
NOTICE AND WARNINGEntrance to the area of the Temple Mount is forbidden to everyone
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Jews were thus officially banned from setting foot on the Temple platform. In practice
many Orthodox Jews observe the ban while other Jews do not. The stated reason for the ban
is that gentiles, as well as Jews, are regarded as "unclean" today and are thus
unfit to walk on the sacred mount. The Mount is considered so sacred that one is forbidden
even to fly over it because the holiness of the site extends into the heavens. Therefore
the Orthodox Jew is allowed only to admire the mount from a distance. This ban will stay
in effect, many believe, until the Messiah comes. Because of the ban the Jews pray and
celebrate at the Western wall, an area in earlier times known as the "Wailing"
wall.
Other devout Jews have disputed the reasons for the Rabbinical ban claiming that the
Temple Mount foundations are indeed defiled and must be ceremonially cleansed. Until the
new temple is completed and ready to be placed into service it is permissible for unclean
persons to visit there and even to work on the building of the Third Temple. First the
temple must be cleansed - then the people - is their argument.
We know from history that when the Herodian Temple stood, stone plaques, some in Latin,
others in Greek, were placed in the Court of the Gentiles warning any Gentile not to enter
the precincts of the Temple at the risk of losing his life.
No Gentile is to be approach within the balustrade
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While there were no such signs in later times, for example when the enclosure became a
sacred place for Islam, Muslims were no less jealous to guard the area from the steps of
non-Muslims and threats to kill people trying to enter are recorded in the reports of
travelers who came to Jerusalem in the past. The restrictions were partially lifted in the
middle of the nineteenth century but were clamped down again when Arab nationalism rose to
a peak under the then Jerusalem Mufti, Haj Amin el Husseini, during the thirties of the
twentieth century.
The Waqf these days only permits very limited access to the Temple Mount as noted.
Sometimes for only a few hours a day and at other times no access whatsoever. Any attempts
by Jews or Christians to pray, read from the Bible, sing or speak openly about their faith
are immediately squelched by the ever-zealous and ever-present Arab guards, most of whom
are ill-tempered, rude, and disrespectful to tourists. In all fairness, it should be added
that those visitors who treat the Muslim guides, guards, and care-takers with courtesy and
respect will often receive a warm response. As the Bible says, "Love covers a
multitude of sins."
The ministry of religious affairs have not been sympathetic to those who wish freedom
of access on the Temple Mount. On June 27, 1967, the day the law regarding the Holy Places
was adopted, the Israel Minister of Religious Affairs said "it is our standing afar
and our disinclination to enter that illustrate our awe and reverence over the site of our
former Temples."
After the city of Jerusalem was reunified in 1967 the Knesset passed a law which
guaranteed freedom of access and worship in all the holy sites. This law is enforced with
sensitivity and diligence all over Israel---with one notable exception, and that is the
Temple Mount. Though freedom of worship is said to be guaranteed, any open display of
non-Islamic worship is not allowed. The carrying of a Jewish prayer book or the attempt to
pray on the Mount is strictly taboo. The police believe that such an act is a threat to
the peace because of Muslim reaction, and indeed the Muslims regard such actions by
non-Muslims are acts of disrespect for Allah. Hence the Temple Mount is treated
differently by the government from all the rest of the holy sites in Israel.
On at least four different occasions the High Court of Justice has heard pleas from Jews
to permit freedom of worship on the Temple Mount. Each time they have been denied. One of
the reasons that this has not caused more of a furor is a ban on the entrance to the
Temple Compound that has been published by the chief Rabbinate of Israel. The holy site is
off limits to those who may transgress its sacred ground.
Former chief Rabbi Shlomo Goren believed otherwise. It was his opinion that only a small
part of the Temple Mount area, some 15%, is off limits to the people. Goren attempted to
measure the area to pinpoint where a worshipper can or cannot stand. It was his contention
that worshippers should be allowed in the large area of the Temple Compound that is not
the sacred portions. The problem is that there is no consensus of opinion as to where to
measure to indicate what parts are sacred and what parts are not.
Chief Rabbi Mordechai Eliahu suggested that if a synagogue were to be built, it should be
done on the eastern wall of the Temple Mount. Such a synagogue stood there until the 16th
century. The entrance to the synagogue could be from outside the wall preventing people
from walking upon the prohibited areas of the Mount.
The following section contains illustrative quotes from the literature of various
groups who have been involved one way or another in plans for the rebuilding of the Temple
in recent decades. This author does not necessarily endorse nor condemn these statements,
they are merely offered in the interest of giving a broad picture of the complexities of
Temple Mount politics at the present time.
The various Jewish groups change frequently. Some fade away or move to other pursuits,
others join forces for a time - but nothing remains very static for very long.
A project to rebuild the Temple of God in Israel is now being started. With Divine Guidance and Help the "Temple" will be completed. Jews will be inspired to conduct themselves in such a moral way that our Maker will see fit to pay us a visit here on earth. Imagine the warm feeling that will be ours when this happy event takes place. "THIS IS MY GOD" is the book that was the inspiration for this undertaking. God will place in the minds of many person in all walks of Jewish life the desire to participate in this work. Executive talent, Administrations, and Workers on all levels are needed. All efforts will be anonymous. GOD will know those desiring to participate.
Please write to Box M-917, The Washington Post. Under no circumstances send contributions. "GOD'S WILL WILL PREVAIL."
The above advertisement appeared in the Washington Post, on May 21, 1967---before
Jerusalem was liberated. The caption letters were 72 points - one inch - high. The ad
occupied a space of eleven by eight inches.
Although the ban on visiting the Temple Mount is in effect it has not stopped those in
Israel for thinking about the realization of a long lost dream, the rebuilding of the
Temple. Once the city of Jerusalem was retaken this was no longer a pipe dream. Time
magazine reported:
Since the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in AD 70, Conservative and Orthodox Jews have beseeched God four times a week to 'renew our days' as they once were---a plea for the restoration of the Temple. Although Zionism was largely a secular movement, one of its sources was the prayers of the Jews for a return to Palestine so that they could build a temple . . . Learned Jewish opinion has long debated when and how the temple can be rebuilt. The great medieval philosopher Maimonides, in his Code of Jewish Law, argued that every generation of Jews was obliged to rebuild the temple if its site was ever retaken, if a leader descended from David could be found, and if the enemies of Jerusalem were destroyed. (Ref. 7).
Number 20 of the 613 commandments in the Torah (according to Maimonides) calls for the
building of a Temple building in Jerusalem if one does not exist or orders the maintenance
of a Temple if it exists. Orthodox Jews during the diaspora call for the eventual building
of the Temple in Jerusalem.
The question arises as to the incentives the Jewish people would have for constructing a
new Temple. Why would they want to rebuild it? Two reasons come to mind. (1) The
fulfillment of a national dream of the Jewish people. (2) A rallying point for the
nation's religious and cultural heritage.
For centuries the Jews did not possess their homeland---they forced to wander as strangers
and vagabonds across the face of the earth. Deep within the Jewish heart has been a
longing for a return to the land and a rebuilding of the Temple. The temple is also a
symbol of prosperity granted them from heaven, and a reminder of better days that the
nation had in the days of David and Solomon. Desire for the restoration of the Temple has
been the prayer of the Orthodox Jew since the destruction of the Second Temple in AD 70.
A rebuilt temple could also be a unifying force for this small beleaguered nation. During
their relatively new existence as a reborn nation Israel has experience a series of major
wars. A house of worship, especially a house of prayer for all the peoples as they First
and Second Temples had been, could serve as a rallying point for Jews worldwide. Not only
would this help unify the many Jewish factions that exist in Israel today, but the Jewish
people feel deeply that the redemption of all mankind is tied to the redemption of their
land. When Messiah comes, he will be the King and Savior of all the nations.
For a number of years, especially back in the '70's, there were rumors that precut stones have been cut in America and shipped to Israel for the building of the Third Temple. Evangelist John Wesley White wrote:
Late in 1979 I was riding in Indiana with a local Presbyterian minister. At a certain point along the highway he informed me that we were driving past the gate of a company which purportedly handled a highly classified order of the finest building stones in the world. Sixty thousand tons of pre-cut stones had been shipped on 500 rail cars. They were allegedly bought by the Israeli Government, and had already arrived in Israel. (Ref. 8)
Such claims are highly unlikely! Anyone who has ever visited Israel will immediately be
impressed that stones are everywhere. In fact, Israel actually exports them, and they have
the highest quality of pure white limestone in abundance! Whether precut stones have
already been made in Israel is another matter. Though rumors abound, no concrete evidence
has come forward to support this idea.
During 1982 military action in Lebanon, the Israeli Army discovered and captured huge
stores of Russian and Syrian weaponry stored in secret bunkers and tunnels in preparation
for a Northern invasion. It was also reported by very reliable sources that a large supply
of the famous Lebanese Cedar was also recovered and is safely stored away for use in
construction of the Third Temple.
If a new Temple is to be constructed then there must be a functioning priesthood to
perform the proper rites and ceremonies. Such a priesthood is now in the works. In an old
stone building in the Old City of Jerusalem, a small group of young scholars are preparing
for the building of the Third Temple and the coming of the Messiah.
The founder of one particular yeshiva (school) is Motti Hacohen. Hacohen knew he was a
priest but that never affected his life very much. Until, that is, the day he looked up
from his opened Talmud while he was studying at a Yeshiva on the Golan Heights and saw a
friend pouring over a tractate dealing with the laws of the temple and the priesthood.
Hacohen asked him why he was studying such obscure laws. His friend responded, "Why
aren't you?"
He told Hacohen that he should be more interested in the Temple regulations seeing that he
was from the priestly line. Hacohen decided to take up the challenge.
Hacohen then began a search for a yeshiva that could teach him matters concerning the
rebuilding of the Temple. Finding none that would satisfy his needs Hacohen founded the
Tora Kohanim.
On Good Friday, 1990, one hundred fifty devout Jews, members of the Yeshivot Ateret
Cohanim, moved into four buildings in the Christian quarter of Jerusalem causing a protest
from both Muslim and Christian groups. The site of the building, just around the corner
from the church of the Holy Sepulchre, was chosen to help create Jewish settlements in the
Old City of Jerusalem geographically near the Temple Mount. (The city is presently divided
into separate quarters for Christians, Muslims, and Jews and each district's residents are
very sensitive to outsiders moving into their territory for any reason).
The problem of restoring the sacrificial system is one that devout Jerusalem Jews have been researching with great zeal and diligent. In an article called, the "Significance of Sacrifice," Jewish writer Pinhas H. Pell writes:
Ambivalence in regard to the sacrificial cult permeates Jewish thought and literature from the time of the ancient pre-exilic prophets through the Psalms to the rabbis of the Talmud and Midrash and the major medieval philosophers, down to contemporary religious thinkers. It left its imprint on the liturgy and has been (and still is to some extent) the subject of heated debates.
It is generally thought that sacrifices of life were among the earliest and most profound expressions of the human desire to come as close as possible to God. While in English the verb "to sacrifice" means "to make sacred," the Hebrew word for "sacrifice" (korban, le-hakriv) is from the same root as "to come near, to approach. . . . "
Sacrifices do indeed present an esthetic, sometimes a moral problem to many modern Jews who are unable to envision being spiritually uplifted at the sight of slaughtered animals, spilled blood and burning incense. Yet, with all the reservations prophets, rabbis and philosophers have expressed about sacrifices they are indisputably an integral part of Torah legislation, as well as Jewish history in the First and Second Temples and are included in Jewish aspirations concerning the third temple, for whose speedy rebuilding Jews pray daily according to their traditional prayer book. (Ref. 9)
The Jerusalem Post reports:
The modern Jew found it difficult to face the binding obligation to rebuild the sanctuary, combined with the great dreams linked with it. He has suppressed the demands they make on him.
He was hesitant to use religious language to describe the historic return to Zion and to national sovereignty. There are indeed a few exceptions to this, as for example, "the Third Temple," once used by Ben-Gurion or the excessive use of prophetic terminology of the "ingathering of the exiles" during the years of mass aliya.
Far beyond the formal commandment, the yearning to behold an actual concrete expression of a central religious and national focal point permeates all Jewish history.
Another argument is that the rebuilding as postulated by Maimonides requires a certain order of events: 1) coming to the land; 2) appointment of a king from the house of David; 3) blotting out the descendants of Amalek; and only then 4) the building of the Temple. The counter argument claims that, while this is indeed the ideal order of events, the events themselves are not necessary mutually interdependent and one must carry out whichever is possible at the time. (Ref. 10)
Time magazine observed:
Next week Israel's Ministry of Religious Affairs will sponsor a first-ever Conference of Temple Research to discuss whether contemporary Jews are obligated to rebuild the Temple. However, several small organizations in Jerusalem believe the question is settled. They are zealously making preparation for the new Temple in spite of the doctrinal obstacles and the certainty of promoting Muslim fury.
Two Talmudic schools located near the Western Wall are teaching nearly two hundred students the elaborate details to Temple service. Other groups are researching the family lines of Jewish priests who alone may conduct sacrifices. Former Chief Rabbi Shlomo Goren, who heads another Temple Mount organization, believes his research has fixed location on the ancient Holy of Holies so that Jews can enter the Mount without sacrilege.
No group is more zealous than the Temple Institute, whose spiritual leader, fifty-year-old Rabbi Israel Ariel, was one of the first Israeli paratroopers to reach the Mount in 1967. "Our task," states the institute's American- born director, Zev Golan, "is to advance the cause of the Temple and prepare for its establishment, not just talk about it."
One difficulty is the requirement that priest purify their bodies with the cremated ashes of an unblemished red heifer before they enter the Temple. Following a go-ahead from the Chief Rabbinate, institute operatives spent two weeks in August scouting Europe for heifer embryos that will shortly be implanted into cows at an Israeli cattle ranch.
But historian David Solomon insists that a new Temple is essential: "It was the essence of our Jewish being, the unifying force of our people . . . but sooner or later, in a week or a century, it will be done. And we will be ready for it." He adds with quiet urgency, "Every day's delay is a stain on the nation." (Ref. 11)
There were more expressions of Jewish desire to build upon the Temple Mount during 1990:
According to tradition, no Jew may step foot on the site of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem.
But this week, leading Israeli rabbis, including the former Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Shlomo Goren ruled that while Jews may not step on holy soil, they are obliged to pray at a sanctuary to be established adjoining the site of the Holy of Holies.
The ruling touched off a storm in Muslim circles. Previously Jews had been forbidden to even enter the Temple Mount. Muslims were allowed total control of the area. The temple Mount includes the Dome of the Rock and the El-Aksa Mosque.
According to Rabbi Goren, a 1967 survey of the Temple Mount shows the exact location of the First and Second Temples as well as the site of the Ark of the Covenant.
By elimination, the rabbi determined the exact areas on the Temple Mount where a Jewish sanctuary could be constructed without violation of the ancient decree not to tread on holy soil.
The synagogue of course would not interfere with Muslim areas of the Mount, Rabbi Goren said.
Earlier efforts by Jews to pray on the Temple Mount touched off clashes with police and Arabs on the Mount. Mayor Teddy Kollek said he feared that Jews praying on the Temple Mount might encounter violence, since Muslims would interpret the Jewish presence as provocation.
But Jews and Muslims conduct prayers side by side at the Cave of Machpeleh in Hebron, site of the tombs of the Patriarchs.
Kollek voiced opposition to the rabbinical action, declaring that "the clam in Jerusalem is a direct result of the 1967 decision not to alter the status of the rights of the various religious groups."
The action by Israel's rabbinate calling for a sanctuary to be built on the Temple Mount is a religious edict that has the authority of . . . Jewish Law. (Ref. 6)
One of the main issues surrounding a Third Temple is the long lost Ark of the Covenant.
What will be its place, if any, in the Third Temple? The last mention of the Ark is 2
Chronicles 35:3 where it is placed back into the Temple in the realm of King Josiah. There
was no ark in the Second Temple. There is no concrete evidence today that the Ark still
exists or that someone has it. Does the Ark exist? If it does will it appear before the
Third Temple is consecrated?
Most Orthodox Jewish believers in Jerusalem who are working towards the building of the
Third Temple believe that the Ark of the Covenant is safely hidden in a chamber under the
Temple Mount. They feel certain God has preserved the Ark for 25 centuries and that it
will be available when the Temple is restored. The issue of the Ark, its history and
present location (if it exists at all) is reserved for a later discussion.
Some rabbis claim that one of the things necessary for a Third Temple is the ashes of
the Red Heifer. Of all the sacrifices for sin mentioned in the Old Testament, only the
slaying of the Red Heifer was "outside the camp," i.e., not in the temple.
Numbers Chapter 19 describes this offering, and instructions for preparing water for
ritual purification from the ashes of the sacrificed animal after it had been burned.
Red heifers without spot or blemish are today being bred and raised by at least one group
in the United States, Rev. Clyde Lott who writes in a new 1995 Jewish publication,
"The Restoration." (Ref. 12)
American amateur archaeologist Vendyl Jones of Arlington, Texas, has for many years been
searching in caves near Qumran for the ashes of the last red heifer sacrificed before the
destruction of the temple in AD 70.
Authorities at The Temple Institute have stated, however, that Third Temple sacrifices and
ritual cleansing can be accomplished (restored) without these old ashes if they are not
found.
Where is the Actual Temple Located? by YISRAYL HAWKINS
According to the Scriptures and verified by archaeology and the historical works of men.
There are three principal conjectures as to the original, and hence the FUTURE Temple location.
1. Northern Location aligned with the East
Gate (North of the Dome of the Rock) placing the Holy of Holies over the Dome of
the Tablets/Spirits
--as supported by Dr. Asher Kaufman
2. Central or Traditional Location (Dome of the Rock) placing the Holy of
Holies over the As-Sakhrah
--as supported by Traditional Judaism, Dr. Leen Ritmeyer, etc.
3. Southern Location (South of the Dome of the Rock) placing the Holy of
Holies over the Al Kas fountain
--as supported by Dr. Bagatti, Tuvia Sugiv, etc.
The original Temple location has been hidden and protected for nearly 1900
years --UNTIL NOW! The Third Temple with its inner court will be built
soon on the "greatly exalted mountain" in Yerusalem [Yechetzqyah
(Ezekiel) 40:2; Tehillim (Psalm) 48:1-2; 24:3; 2:6] in the same location as the
previous two Temples. According the following prophecy, the Dome of the Rock and
other structures will be left standing (on the south [Yechetzqyah
(Ezekiel) 40:2]) unharmed before, during, and after this great rebuilding project
--a Peaceful Solution!
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The Scriptures document well that the previous Temples were built according to a certain pattern, and as part of this pattern they had to be built in a certain place. If it is not built in the correct location, exactly according to the Pattern of Yahweh, and if it is not built according to its correct dimensions as it is written, it will not be a Temple of Yahweh --but a temple of man. According to the Scriptures, men of The Faith were instructed and inspired by our Heavenly Father whose Name is Yahweh, to operate according to the Law and the Prophets [Yeshayah (Isaiah) 8:20]; NOT as it was in the days of Noah, and is now, lawlessness --according to traditions devised in the imaginations of the hearts of men. [Berashit (Genesis) 6:5 & 8:21; Zecharyah (Zechariah) 7:11-13; Yeshayah (Isaiah) 29:13; Yeremyah (Jeremiah) 17:9]
Many prophecies show that this Temple will be rebuilt in these last days. And there is a specific last days prophecy and vision of the future Temple and Temple complex sent from Yahweh to one of His Temple priests, also called a prophet, [Yechetzqyah (Ezekiel) 1:3 -priest; 2:5 -prophet; 40:2-...] showing that this Temple will be rebuilt with the inner court, with a pavement in the outer court AREA on the east and north. [Yechetzqyah (Ezekiel) 40:17-19] Notice it does not mention a pavement on the south side --just outside the inner court, because that is where the Moslem Mosque sits; as described in the Scriptures --"like a building of a city on the south", [Yechetzqyah (Ezekiel). 40:2 & Revelation. 11:1-2] hence the outer court will not be built at this time.
Yechetzqyah (Ezekiel) 40:2-5
2 In the visions of Yahweh, He brought mea into the land of Israyl, and set me upon the greatly exalted mountain; and on it like a building of a city on the south b.
3 When He took me there, then behold, a man, whose appearance resembled bronze. With a line of flax and a measuring reed in his hand, he stood at the gate.
4 Then the being said to me: Son of man, look with your eyes and hear with your ears, and fix your mind on everything that I show you; for the purpose that I show this to you, were you brought here. Declare all that you see to the house of Israyl.
5 And behold, there was an adjoining separation (a dividing structure) around the House (The Temple). In the being's hand was a measuring reed six long cubits (about 10 1/2 feet), each cubit (about 18 inches) with a handbreadth (about 3 inches). So he MEASURED the separation's width to the structure (the Dome of the Rock) one reed (10 1/2 feet), and the height, one reed.
--The Prophet literally viewed the Dome of the Rock (located south of the inner court in the outer court area) and the other structures built on the Mount on the south. This Prophet from the past in his vision of the future saw what will be at the time of the building of the Third Temple! "Arabic QUBBAT AS-SAKHRAH, also called MOSQUE OF OMAR ...The Dome of the Rock was built between AD 685 and 691 by the caliph 'Abd al_Malik ibn Marwan, not as a mosque for public worship but rather as a mashhad, a shrine for pilgrims. It is virtually the first monumental building in Islamic history and is of considerable aesthetic and architectural importance; it is rich with mosaic, faience, and marble, much of which was added several centuries after its completion. Basically octagonal, the Dome of the Rock is more typically Roman or Byzantine than Islamic. A wooden dome approximately 60 feet (18 m) in diameter and mounted on an elevated drum rises above a circle of 16 piers and columns. Surrounding this circle is an octagonal arcade of 24 piers and columns. The outer walls repeat this octagon, each of the eight sides being approximately 60 feet (18 m) wide and 36 feet (11 m) high. Both the dome and the exterior walls contain many windows." [Encyclopędia Britannica CD, "Dome of the Rock"] b- "city on the south" --Many have presumed that this refers to the ancient city of Yerusalem being located exclusively to the south, not understanding that most of early Yerusalem was to the west of the Temple Mount. "Since 1967 archaeological excavations have been going on in various places in Jerusalem and the finds have been astonishing. They include discoveries that considerably enhance our knowledge of the First Temple period and cast light on the scope of the city's boundaries during that era. The fact is that finds from the First Temple period have turned up all over the western hill. ...Consequently, a good part of the western hill must have been included in the fortified city of Jerusalem at that time. ...it proves that by the end of the First Temple period organized settlement extended to the western hill. We are therefore able to state with confidence that the city covered the broad area suggested by a minority of scholars." "...today we know that the city's walls in the First Temple period encompassed a broader area than was originally believed, including the western hill. So if the walls reconstructed by Nehemiah followed a course similar to the walls at the end of the First Temple period, they must have embraced the southern hill (the City of David) and the western one." [In The Shadow Of The Temple, The discovery of Ancient Jerusalem, "The Boundaries of Jerusalem", p.34 & "The Persian and Hasmonean Eras", p.60] "Hezekiah reinforced the walls of Jerusalem and included in the city part of the western hill, the Mishneh (II Kings 22:14) or "second" Jerusalem, which was already settled in his time." [Encyclopaedia Judaica CD, "Jerusalem, History, David and First Temple Period, Under The Kings of Judah"] Nehemyah clearly rebuilt and restored the outer walls and gates of the city which included the northern and eastern Temple Mount walls as well as the southern and western city walls. [Nechemyah (Nehemiah) 3:1-32] Without a doubt we see that Yechetzqyah was not referring to a condensed form of the city of ancient Jerusalem in verse 40:2 but was obviously speaking of the future (present) structures a short distance to the south of the inner court the first being the massive Dome of the Rock..
a- "Ezekiel was a functioning priest probably attached to the Jerusalem Temple staff. He was among those deported in 597 to Babylonia.... It is evident that he was, among his fellow exiles, a person of uncommon stature." [Encyclopędia Britannica CD, "Ezekiel"] "Ezekiel was immersed in the whole range of Israel's prophetic tradition. ...prophesying under seizure by "the hand of YHWH" (cf. Elijah [I Kings 18:46] and Elisha [II Kings 3:5]), transportation by the "windx of YHWH" (cf. Elijah, I Kings 18:12; II Kings 2:16). He is the only prophet after Moses who not only envisions the future but lays down a blueprint and a law for it." [Encyclopaedia Judaica CD, "Ezekiel, Influences Upon The Prophet"] [x wind, i.e. ruach meaning spirit]
Again, notice this vision was for a future
time. To this day it is admitted that this Temple was never
built! According to this vision,to the South of the Temple inner court,
where they were standing, was the MOSLEM MOSQUE (or shrine) called The Dome
of the Rock! Notice verse 5 again: "And the separation's
WIDTH (between the dividing wall by the inner court wall) to this
structure (The Dome of the Rock) was one reed" which is
about 10 1/2 feet!
It is acknowledged (with much bafflement) that when the exiles returned from Babylon and
rebuilt the Temple (the Second Temple complex), it was not Yechetzqyah's plan that was
used. Many still do not understand what the Second Temple builders understood;
that Yechetzqyah's vision was not for those who came out of the Babylonian captivity for
the building of the Second Temple, but for the far future and the Third Temple --for today!
"The least influential part of Ezekiel's prophecy was his program for
the future (chs. 40-48). Medieval exegetes were painfully aware of the contradictions
in detail between what Ezekiel laid down and what the community of the Restoration did;
they "saved" Ezekiel by declaring his program to be purely messianic... The
authorities of Second Temple times may also have thought so; in practice, they made the
Torah their rule, and ignored Ezekiel's program entirely." [Encyclopaedia
Judaica CD, "Ezekiel, Ezekiel's Message And Its Effects"] This
confusion has led many in the past to speculate that a future coming messiah will "do
it all for them" (an idea that runs rampant through much of the world to this day).
No, the Temple will not descend from heaven. Yahweh has always worked through His
authorized men, and this Third Temple, the Temple to be built now in these last days, will
be no different. [Shemot (Exodus) 18:19-20; 25:8-9; See also:
A Heaven-Sent Temple: In
Halakha by Yisrael Ariel, Director, The Temple Institute, Jerusalem, Israel]
The Encyclopaedia Judaica and many other
references concerning this prophecy admit that the prophet Yechetzqyah (Ezekiel) describes
in great detail in his vision a FUTURE Temple complex which to this
present day has not been built!
"A Messianic Priestly Code
(Kaufmann; chs. 40–48). Following the general topical order of the priestly writings
in the Pentateuch, a description of the future sanctuary, regulations for
the cult and its personnel, and provisions for settlement in the land are set out in
detail. Modernization and rectification of past wrongs are pervasive motives.
A VISIONARY TRANSPORTATION TO THE FUTURE TEMPLE
(40:1–43:12; a counterpart to chs. 8–11). A blueprint of the Temple area is
narrated as a tour through its courts, gates, and rooms, the prophet being guided by
an angelic “man” with a measuring rod and line. The design appears to follow the
latest form of the Solomonic Temple..." [Encyclopaedia Judaica
CD, "Ezekiel, Prophecies of Israel's Restoration"]
Did you notice? This FUTURE Temple will NOT be modeled after the Hellenistic
--Greco-Roman architecture of Herod; [Encyclopaedia Judaica CD,
"Architecture And Architects, In Antiquity; and also: History: Second Temple
Period (The Hellenistic-Roman Period), Erez Israel, Herod's Rule"] but the same pattern as used for Solomon's Temple. "Original
Israelite elements are also contained in the design of the Temple, particularly in the
Holy of Holies, which continue the tradition of the early Tabernacle." [Encyclopaedia Judaica, Vol. 15, 947, "Temple, First Temple, Structure, The
Ground Plan of the Temple"] "The
descriptions of the Temple found in Jewish literature, talmudic and other, from the end of
the Second Temple period reflect, for the most part, the building as it was after the
Herodian reconstruction." [Encyclopaedia Judaica, Vol.
15, 962-963, "Temple, Second Temple, Structure, Reconstruction by Herod"] Herod and his minions did not fully understand this pattern --this plan of
Yahweh.
Again, please understand "the dimensions are not arbitrary but were arrived at through precise planning." [Encyclopaedia Judaica, Vol. 15, 947, "Temple, First Temple, Structure, The Detailed Plan of the Temple"] Yahweh has a certain pattern, or plan. This same pattern was always revealed to only a chosen few at the proper time.
Shemot (Exodus) 25:8-9
8 And let them make Me a Sanctuary, that I may dwell among them.
9 According to all that I show you, after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all its furnishings, EXACTLY so shall you make it.Dibre Hayamim (I Chronicles) 28:19
19 David said: All this is written because Yahweh made me understand all the details of this plan (pattern), for His hand was upon me.
The Ancient East Gate
Solomon's Temple, as well as Zerubabel's Temple, was built according to the same
pattern used for the Tabernacle. One element of the Temple pattern was that it
faced to the east, with an east inner court gate and an east outer court gate. "There is no doubt that the building was oriented from east to west, so that
the porch faced eastward. Evidence of this can also be found in the words of
Ezekiel." [Encyclopaedia Judaica, Vol. 15, 951, "Temple,
First Temple, Structure, The Temple's Site and Orientation"; See also:
Yechetzqyah (Ezekiel) 11:1; 40:3; 47:1] The prophecy shown to us in the
Book of Yechetzqyah (Ezekiel) for the building of the future Temple with its gates, is
according to this same pattern: facing east with its line of eastern gates. At the end of this straight
line of gates (west to east) was another gate: the eastern (old city) Temple Mount
enclosure gate.
The Temple Mount enclosure is called Har HaBayit* ["Mount (Mountain)
of the House" or "the Temple Mount"] in Hebrew and Haram al Sharif
("Noble Enclosure") in Arabic. Today, a gate is indeed
visible in the eastern wall of this Temple Mount enclosure. "The
eastern wall of the Temple Mount contains a magnificent gate that appears from the outside
to be composed of two arches but is actually a complex structure built into the wall.
...The earliest identification of this gate can be found in the writings of tenth-century
Arab historians and geographers who referred to it by two names, one for each of its
arches: the Gate of Mercy and the Gate of Repentance. ...The name used by the
Christians (and translated into all the languages of Europe) is the Golden Gate."
[In The Shadow Of The Temple, The discovery of Ancient
Jerusalem, "The Start of the Moslem Age" p. 282-283; See also:* "Har HaBayit Yahweh" i.e.
"Mount of the House of Yahweh" -Dibre Hayamim (II Chronicles) 33:15]
Since the location of the ancient East Gate in the Temple Mount enclosure that led
to the Temple precincts is one of the keys to finding the ORIGINAL location of the
previous Temples and the future Third Temple, some have speculated on the
existence of yet another gate in the eastern wall located across from the present
Dome of the Rock (traditional location). They do this in order to give some credence to
their idea of the original Temple location, but to no avail. No such gate has been found!
Even though the traditionalists admit that a gate across from their supposed
location in the eastern wall has not been found, they also grant the fact that there has
indeed been an ancient gate discovered north of the traditional location!
"The location of the gate to the Temple court in the eastern wall is,
as yet, undetermined. The only visible entranceway, the Golden Gate, dates from
the Omayyad period (seventh century A.D.). The arch of another gate lies directly
beneath the blocked entranceway of the Golden Gate, but the location of this lower gate
precludes its being Herodian." [Secrets of Jerusalems's Temple
Mount, "Reconstructing Herod's Temple Mount in Jerusalem", p. 37-38] Even the Mishnah admits to only one original gate which led to the inner
Temple Mount area from the east; called Shushan. "The Mishnah (Mid. 1:3)
mentions only five gates to the Temple Mount: the two gates of Huldah on the south,
Coponius Gate in the west..., the Gate of Tadi in the north, and the Shushan Gate
in the east. This description fits the archaeological findings except
for the western side."* [Encyclopaedia Judaica Vol.
15, 963, "Temple, Second Temple, Structure, Reconstruction by Herod"]
*The Mishnah mentions five gates, the five gates that gave one access to the inner Mount itself, whereas Josephus describes all the gates; including those which led to the other public areas of the Temple Mount surround, which was sealed off from the inner Mount. "If a person standing in the vicinity of these public institutions wished to to reach the Temple's precincts, he had to leave the compound and re-enter it through one of the gates specifically designed for that purpose, since there was no direct access between these two sections of the Temple Mount. The Mishna, by its nature, deals only with the aspects of the Temple Mount related to halakhah, so the Midot Tractate mentions the five gates that led to the sanctifed area. Josephus, on the other hand, described all the gates of the Temple Mount, not only those leading to the Temple's precincts." [In The Shadow Of The Temple, The Discovery Of Ancient Jerusalem, "The Gates of the Temple Mount", p. 136]
The walls and gates around the Old City were repaired and partially rebuilt by Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent (1537-1541) after the Ottoman conquest of Israel. [Encyclopaedia Judaica CD, "Jerusalem, History, Under Ottoman Rule (1517-1917) Suleiman The Magnificent And His Work"] However, this east wall, and the eastern gate to the old city and the Temple Mount enclosure, was the only one not rebuilt by him.
The present eastern Temple enclosure wall of the
old city is believed to have been built upon, and its gate constructed along with the
rebuilding and repairs done to the other old city walls in the 7th century by Abd al-Malik
(5th Umayyad caliph (685-705)). [Encyclopaedia Judaica CD,
"Jerusalem, History, Arab Period, Umayyad Rule"; & Jerusalem, An
Archaeological biography, p. 180] (Abd al-Malik is also known to
have built the Dome of the Rock and the Mosque of al-Aqsa. [Encyclopaedia
Judaica CD, "Temple Mount"]) It was this newer East
Gate (above ground level today) which came to be called the Golden Gate. It was
walled up by the Arabs and has remained closed now for many centuries.
What is not commonly known is that this east old city wall along with the present day East
Gate was built on top of the old existing city wall with its ancient East Gate.
"When Herod enlarged the Temple Mount, he did not change the line of the
eastern wall (the steep slope of the Kidron Valley was too close to the existing wall to
move it). So the line of the eastern wall was pre-Herodian--perhaps even
Solomonic." [Secrets of Jerusalems's Temple Mount,
"Locating The Original Temple Mount", p. 66] The
ancient East Gate built into this wall was sealed up but left intact, and is presently
below ground. The top of this ancient wall is seen today at the present
ground level of the East Gate. "Monolithic stones in the wall just above
ground have been identified as 6th Century BC masonry from the time of Nehemiah".
[Biblical Archaeological Review, Mar/Apr 1992, p. 40] Discovered in April 1969 below ground, beneath the the present Golden Gate
built into the wall, were five wedge-shaped stones set in a massive arch. "Then
I noticed with astonishment that on the eastern face of the turret wall, directly
beneath the Golden Gate itself, were five wedge-shaped stones neatly set in a massive arch
spanning the turret wall. Here were the remains of an earlier gate to Jerusalem, below
the Golden Gate, one that apparently had never been fully documented." [Biblical Archaeology Review, Jan./Feb.1983, p. 30]
The stones of the arch are definitely not Herodian; "they are flat, with
no margins, bosses or decorations and there appears to be no frame of any kind". [Jerusalem: An Archaeological biography, p. 183]
Here, beneath the present day East Gate, were the remains of an ancient
gate to Jerusalem which had been buried over and forgotten in the midst of
time. "To his astonishment, directly beneath the arches of the Golden Gate he
found five wedge-shaped stones set neatly in a massive arch. Here, beneath the
Golden Gate, were the remains of an earlier gate to Jerusalem that had been hitherto
unknown." [Jerusalem: An Archaeological biography, p. 181]
"Sha'ar Harahamim (the Golden Gate) is located on the northern half of the eastern wall. At the southern base of the gate is the remains of an older gate that has been sealed. It is upon this that Sha'ar Harahamim has been built. This earlier gate cannot be seen from the outside as the Moslems have covered it with a big grave that is built up against the structure of Sha'ar Harahamim. During the Six-Day War this grave was damaged (probably from mortar fire) and for over a year afterwards the interior of the grave was visible and photographed. These photographs reveal the remains of an arch, the area under which has been sealed by small stones. Sha'ar Harahamim today has been sealed up and a Moslem graveyard lies at the foot of the section of the wall where the gate is. There has been much research into finding the eastern entrance to Har Habayit that according to most sources was in line with the entrance to the Temple." [Har Habayit Archaeological Summary, 9. "The Golden Gate (Sha'ar Harahamim) and Sha'ar Hakohen"]
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Here, beneath the present day East Gate, were the remains of an ancient gate to Jerusalem which had been buried over and forgotten in the midst of time. The stones of the arch are definitely not Herodian; "they are flat, with no margins, bosses or decorations and there appears to be no frame of any kind". |
"The Second Temple, as well as Solomon's Temple before it, faced east; that is, it was entered from the east. The only clearly visible entrance to the Temple Mount from the east is through the blocked Golden Gate. ...the mid-point of the Golden Gate is located about 348 feet (106 meters) north of the line running through the center of the Dome of the Rock in an east-west direction. This fact is, of course, consistent with the placement of the Temple north of the Dome of the Rock, in the northern part of the Temple Mount. Moreover, it now seems clear that before the Golden Gate was constructed, the entrance to the Temple Mount from outside the city was in exactly the same location. Recently, part of an arch was discovered directly beneath the Golden Gate. This partial arch definitely belongs to an older gate, a gate that may date even to Solomonic times" [Biblical Archeology Review,Vol IX No.2, Mar./Apr. 1983, "Where the Ancient Temple of Jerusalem Stood, Extant "Foundation Stone" for the Ark of the Covenant Is Identified", p. 45; See also: Biblical Archeology Review, Jan./Feb. 1983, "The Undiscovered Gate Beneath Jerusalem's Golden Gate"; Jerusalem: An Archaeological Biography, p. 179-183 & 70-73]
This ancient eastern wall and gate, which has so recently been re-discovered, was part of the ancient walls and gates of the old city as refortified by King David and by his son, King Solomon, [Sefer Melakim (I Kings) 3:1, 9:15; & Encyclopaedia Judaica CD, "Jerusalem, History, David and First Temple Period, Conquest By David & Under Solomon"] as reinforced by Hezekyah, [i.e. Chezekyah (Hezekiah); See: Dibre Hayamim (II Chronicles) 32:5; Encyclopaedia Judaica CD, "Jerusalem, History, David and First Temple Period, Under the Kings of Judah"] and then rebuilt and restored by Nehemyah! [Nechemyah (Nehemiah) 3:29 & 2:13, 17-20; 3:1-32; 4:1-23; 6:1, 15; 7:1...] "Nehemiah's Account of the Walls: The most complete Scriptural description we have of the walls and gates of Jerusalem is that given by Nehemiah. His account is valuable, not only as a record of what he did, but of what had been the state of the walls before the exile. It is perfectly clear that considerable traces of the old walls and gates remained, and that his one endeavor was to restore what had been before..." [International Standard Bible Encylopaedia, "Jerusalem, Parts VI,12."] Yes, these very stones in this area of the wall have indeed been dated to the time of Nehemyah, when the Second Temple was built. [Biblical Archaeological Review, Mar/Apr 1992, p. 40] Nehemyah's repair work was built upon "considerable surviving elements of the wall" and upon "pre-existing gates". [Digging Up Jerusalem, "The Post-Exilic Period", p. 182] Some 600 years after Nehemyah, King Herod rebuilt and repaired the old city walls and gates. However, according to Josephus, this ancient eastern Temple Mount enclosure wall was the only one not entirely rebuilt by Herod the Great. [Wars V, 184-189]
"The arch of another gate lies directly beneath the blocked entranceway of the Golden Gate, but the location of this lower gate precludes its being Herodian. This lower gate is flush with the Golden Gate that is visible today. The Golden Gate protrudes from the line of the wall, so the lower gate does also. But none of the other gates of the Herodian enclosure wall around the Temple Mount protruded from the wall as this one does. In fact, gates set flush in the wall are also the rule in other Herodian sacred precincts such as the ones at Damascus and Hebron." [Secrets of Jerusalems's Temple Mount, "Reconstructing Herod's Temple Mount in Jerusalem", p. 37-38] This unquestionably confirms that this ancient gate below the Golden Gate is much older than any of the other gates on the Mount!
"THE NORTHERN PART OF
THE EASTERN WALL
...The Golden Gate may have been built over the original Temple Mount's Eastern Gate.
Ritmeyer identifies two monoliths (large, upright stone blocks),
visible only from inside the Golden Gate, as the jambs for the Eastern Gate. These
monoliths are about 12 and 15 feet high. Ritmeyer also identifies the lowest course
visible above ground on either side of the outside of the Golden Gate as sixth-century
B.C. masonry from the time of Nehemiah, characterized by large, bulging bosses" [Secrets of Jerusalems's Temple Mount, "Locating The Original Temple
Mount", p. 80]
DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT THIS MEANS? A section of Nehemyah's RESTORATION of this ANCIENT WALL and ENTRANCE GATE on its ORIGINAL FOUNDATION IS STILL THERE!
Yes! Underneath the present East Gate (rebuilt in the 7th century) under the present day ground level is a very much intact ancient east wall and gate! Please understand --this means that this closed underground gate beneath the new East (Golden) Gate is the ancient Shushan Gate!
"It is called 'the Shushan Gate', from the sculptured representation over it of the city to which so many Jewish memories attached. From this gate an arched roadway, by which the priests brought out the 'red heifer', and on the Day of Atonement the scapegoat, is said to have conducted to the Mount of Olives. Near the spot where the red heifer was burned were extensive lavatories, and booths for the sale of articles needed for various purifications.
* Jewish tradition mentions the following five as the outer gates of the Temple: that of Shushan to the east, of Tedi to the north, of Copponus to the west, and the two Huldah gates to the south. The Shushan gate was said to have been lower than the others, so that the priests at the end of the 'heifer-bridge' might look over it into the Temple. In a chamber above the Shushan gate, the standard measures of the 'cubit' were kept.
The Holy Place itself faced east-wards, and was approached from the east; but most assuredly the ministering priests and the worshippers looked not towards the east, but towards the west." [The Temple: Its Ministry and Services, Ch. 1 "A First View of Jerusalem, and of the Temple, The Shushan Gate", p. 36-37]
With Herod's abominable Greco-Roman refurbishing of the Second Temple and precinct areas there was a series of five Gates (at different levels) that ran in a straight line from the East (Shushan) Gate to the entrance of the Temple! These gates were called as follows; "the Eastern Gate, the gate of Chayl*, the gate of the Women's Courtyard, the gate of Nicanor and the gate of the entrance hall. So if the temple was built on flat ground, one would have been able to see through all the gates at once". [Mishneh Torah, Commentary Halachah 5 & 6]
*The Temple Mount of Herod had the 500 by 500 cubit soreg designating the original outer courtx area. "At the end of the court was a soreg (a stone lattice work) which surrounded the consecrated area--the Temple Mount proper in the narrow mishnaic sense, i.e., the "500 cubits by 500 cubits" (Mid. 2:1). According to the Mishnah (Mid. 2:3) the height of the soreg was 10 handbreadths (70 cm. = 28 in.), but Josephus states that it was 3 cubits (1.5 m. = 5 ft.); this latter measurement seems more appropriate for a fence to which were attached plaques written in Greek and Latin forbidding gentiles to pass that point on pain of death. Remains of these inscriptions bearing the Greek text (one complete plaque and one partly preserved) have been discovered in Jerusalem (in 1870 and 1936). Beyond the soreg were 14 steps and then the hel [Chayl] ("rampart"), which was 10 cubits (5 m. = 17 ft.) broad (Mid. 2:3; Wars 5:195-7). Beyond the hel [Chayl] were the wall of the main forecourt (azarah), and the Court of the Women (ezrat nashim). In the outer court were the store-chambers for the shekels and the Temple vessels, and also "shofarot" (chests in the form of horns, i.e., narrow at the top, where the opening was, and wider lower down) for the donations (terumot) of the people (Shek. 2:1).." [Encyclopaedia Judaica CD, "Temple, Second Temple, Structure, The Temple Square"; (x "the great court" - I Kings 7:12, 9; Ezekiel 42:15-20, 8)]
[Many erroneously think that the Mishna describes the original entire Temple Mount area as being 500 by 500 amah (cubits) when in reality it was merely describing the dimensions of the Outer Court soreg area as located on the northern portion of the Temple Mount.]
During the time of the First Temple, one standing on the Mount of Olives could look over this Eastern Gate (also called Shushan or HaKohan gate) into the huge area presently north of the Dome of the Rock and see all the gates (at different levels) in a perfect line: the East (or Shushan) Gate --Outer Court Gate [see * above] --Inner Court Gate --Temple Entrance. "All the walls which were there were high, except the wall in the east, so that the priest who burned the heifer, standing on the top of the Mount of Olives, and directing himself to look, saw through the gateway of the sanctuary, at the time when he sprinkled the blood." [Mishnah, Middot 2:4]
The Gate found underneath the present day Golden Gate is the ancient Shushan Gate noted in the Mishnah. [Mishnah, Middot 1, 3] This Gate was also called the East Gate. [Nechemyah (Nehemiah) 3:29; Yechetzqyah (Ezekiel) 43:1, 2, 4] Going out this East or Shushan Gate to the east was a causeway supported by arches that ran across the Kidron Valley, and was known as the Causeway of the Heifer, since the High Priest used this path to reach the Mount of Olives where the ritual burning of the Red Heifer took place, to purify the pilgrims with its ashes. [Parah 111, 6; Shekalim 4, 2]
"Charles Warren examined the gate in 1867-69 and found a wall descending 13 m below the level of the gate, the wall of the Temple Mount at this point is thus 20 m high. 80 m further north Warren found the base of the wall at a depth of 40 m. Schick cleaned the gate in 1891. It is to be hoped that this magnificent gate will again serve its original purpose, making possible pilgrimages to the Temple Mount from the Mount of Olives." [This is Jerusalem, "Ch. VI, The Gates And Walls Of Jerusalem In Our Time, The Mercy Gate", p. 247]
"During the period of the Second Temple, the Mount of Olives was of great importance in Jerusalem: the red heifer was burnt upon it; a bridge, or possibly two such bridges, connected its slopes with the Temple Mount. During the period of the Roman procurator Felix, thousands gathered upon it, there to be beguiled into believing the words of a false Egyptian prophet (Jos., Ant. 20:169; Wars 2:262). During the siege of Jerusalem, the Tenth Roman Legion encamped on it (Wars 5:70, where the location of the Mount of Olives is clearly established as being six ris (=3,707 ft.; 1,110 meters) east of Jerusalem, across a deep valley called Kidron)." [Encyclopaedia Judaica CD, "Mount of Olives"]
Dr. Asher S. Kaufman concluded that the original site of the Temple was at the northwest corner of the Temple Mount; north of the Dome of the Rock. He has determined that the east-west line aligning the Mount of Olives with the Eastern Gate and the Temple bisect on a small shrine called the Dome of the Spirits. The Holy of Holies is thought to have been located on the bedrock covered by this small cupola. He noted that the bedrock inside this little domed area is the only such bedrock appearing on the Temple Mount --it sticks up from the surface. The rest of the area around the Dome of the Rock has been paved. This is the "Eben Shetiyyah" (Foundation stone) that was the floor in the ancient Holy of Holies. [Biblical Archeology Review, Vol IX No.2, Mar./Apr. 1983, "Where the Ancient Temple of Jerusalem Stood, Extant "Foundation Stone" for the Ark of the Covenant Is Identified", p. 42-59; See also: Jerusalem: An Archaeological Biography, p. 70-73]
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The EAST Gate in Alignment with the Holy
of Holies! The east-west axis of the Dome of the Tablets lines up exactly with the Ancient Eastern Gate located underneath the Southern side of the present day East Gate! The dome (in the background) marks the place (red arrow) where the Holy of Holies was located! "At the southern base of the gate is the remains of an older gate that has been sealed". |
Herod's Reconstructions and Additions to the Mount
According to Rabbi Moses ben Maimon (Maimonides) in referring to Talmudic writings from the times before the destruction of Herod's refurbished Temple in 70 A.C.E., the Temple was not built in the center of the Temple Mount (in the Dome of the Rock location [Encyclopaedia Judaica CD, "Temple Mount"]). He states that the Temple Courtyard was not situated directly in the center of the Temple Mount. Rather, it was set off farther from the southern wall of the Temple Mount than from the wall of any other direction. [Mishnah, Middot 2:1] This explains why the entire inner court fits perfectly in the area north of the Dome of the Rock and west of the present day East Gate! This is fully understood when one studies Herod's rebuilding of (as well as additions to) the Temple Mount. Herod rebuilt the west and north retaining walls as well as making a southern extension to the Temple Mount. Most of the enlargement to the south was by means of fill and underground vaults and supports. The Temple Mount area was rebuilt primarily to accomodate the large amount of people coming for the Holy days as commanded in the Law, [i.e. the three traveling feasts: Pasach (Passover), Succot (Tabernacles) and Shabaut (Weeks) and the other Holy days: Deuteronomy 16:16; Leviticus 23]. Only by adding this southern extension to the Temple Mount and building a huge entryway and exit on the south could the considerable number of worshipers be accommodated. This southern area of Herod's extension of the Temple Mount became the main public area, and hence it is written concerning the area outside of the northern 500 by 500 cubit (soreg) area "it was largest on the south; next largest on the east; then on the north; smallest on the west." [Mishnah, Middot 2:1; See also: Encyclopaedia Judaica CD, "Temple, Second Temple, Structure, The Temple Square"] "From the Mishna we also know that 'the two Hulda Gates in the south that served for coming in and going out' were the main gates to the Temple Mount. ...The two gates in the southern wall are about 70 meters apart and served the pattern established for entry and exit: 'Whoever it was that entered the Temple Mount came in on the right and went around and came out on the left...'" [In The Shadow Of The Temple, The discovery of Ancient Jerusalem, "The Gates of the Temple Mount", p. 135-136] The entry and exit gates were built on the far south because only this southern area (the largest area on the Mount) could withstand the many thousands who came to the Temple for "The place where there was most measurement there was also most service." [Mishnah, Middot 2:1]
"Ever since first being built by Solomon, the Temple stood at the top of a hill that came to be known as the Temple Mount. The summit of this mountain was a relatively small area... As a result of this topography, the masses that streamed to the Temple were forced to crowd into the small area of the summit, most of which was occupied by the Temple itself. The first builders of the Temple Mount dealt with this problem by constructing retaining walls on the slopes to support an esplanade around the Temple and make it possible for more people to take part in the events centering on it. This same solution was adopted by Herod and his engineers in enlarging the Temple Mount to its present dimensions. ...the pilgrimage to Jerusalem on the Jewish holidays and festivals was actively promoted and soon became the goal of Jews everywhere. This custom brought crowds of pilgrims from abroad and within the country as well. Some scholars have estimated the number of pilgrims during the Roman period at 80,000-100,000 people on each festival. This swarm of visitors turning up on the holidays presented the city fathers with a major logistical headache. Above all it was imperitive that this huge congregation be able to visit the Temple Mount at one and the same time. Jerusalem was then one of the largest cities in the world with a population of 150,000-200,000. Add to this number the tens of thousands of pilgrims from outside the city and you have a constituency of over 200,000 people massed together in one spot. And equivalent volume of traffic to a single site is rare even in our day. Thus the extension of the Temple Mount was designed to host this formidable crowd on an esplanade so that it could witness the ritual ceremonies performed in the Temple's courts." [In The Shadow Of The Temple, The Discovery of Ancient Jerusalem, "Herod's Monumental Enterprise", p. 74-75] "According to Josephus, the pilgrims making sacrifices and assembling in the Temple square numbered 255,600 reckoned by the number of sacrifices at Passover. These were made by heads of families only; the total number of people gathering at Jerusalem on the festivals reached a million." [This Is Jerusalem, "The Temple Mount, Temple Courtyard", p. 95] "Herod's other project in Jerusalem concerned the eastern hill of the city. He transformed the old Baris fortress into a much larger structure, with high towers dominating the Temple area, and called it Antonia, in honor of the triumvir Mark Antony. In the Temple area itself, the esplanade was enlarged, especially on its southern side, and it was given the trapezoid shape which is still preserved." [Encyclopaedia Judaica CD, "Jerusalem, History, Second Temple Period, Herodian Period"]
The evidence clearly points to the original northern Temple complex location on the Mount, yet some still think that the northern side of the Temple Mount including the northern portion of the eastern wall beyond the east gate was "in toto" a Herodian extension. These theorists have their own preconceived notions on the origins of the northern wall and what they speculate to be the original Temple complex location without any evidence; and yet it is admited that this "northern wall" has not been studied at length! "The Northern Wall of the Temple Mount has been little studied, its situation being unfavourable for investigation." [Jerusalem Revealed , Archaeology In The Holy City 1968-1974, "The Architecture of Jerusalem in the Second Temple Period", p. 17] Herod refortified the northern Temple Mount; but to proclaim that this northern area is "entirely Herodian" is without merit. The ancient foundation and line of the northern Temple Mount wall, as well as the northern corner of the east wall were no doubt established in First Temple times though Herod obviously rebuilt it.
This northern wall of the ancient city and the
Temple Mount was defensively the "weak side". "...this side must
always necessarily have been the weak side for defense because it was protected by no, or
at best by very little, natural valley..." [International
Standard Bible Encylopaedia, "Jerusalem, Parts VI,18"]
The northern wall of the city, including the Temple Mount enclosure wall
(which was originally part of the northern wall of the ancient city), had to be rebuilt
and refortified (including the Birah (Baris) fortress located on the north-western corner
of the Mount) after the extensive destruction caused by "ramming engines" when
Jerusalem was besieged. "The invasion of the Parthians, Rome's enemies, into
Syria in 40 B.C. enabled the Hasmonean, Antigonus, to reestablish his sovereignty over
Jerusalem (40-37 B.C.). He remained in power for only a brief period, while Herod was busy
securing effective Roman support for a counterattack. Anthony and Cleopatra saw in Herod a
useful instrument against the Parthians, and the Roman Senate crowned him King of the Jews
and Friend of Rome. With Roman help, Herod besieged Jerusalem. Josephus gives a dramatic
account of the siege, then of his successful assault on the city, in which the walls
north of the Temple were smashed with the use of ramming engines, and finally of the
capture of the Upper city and the Temple (Antiquities: XIV:487)." [The Mountain Of The Lord, Excavating in Jerusalem, "F. Herod's
Period", p.76] Herod built the western retaining wall [no
doubt upon ancient lines] as well as rebuilt the northern wall to the Temple Mount
including a fortress he named Antonia. "ANTONIA, fortress north of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, known after the return from
Babylon as "The Citadel" (Heb. birah). Herod fortified it and renamed it in
honor of Mark Antony. According to Josephus, it was situated at the corner of the
northwestern colonnade of the Temple Mount." [Encyclopaedia
Judaica CD, "Antonia"; And see: "Birah" in the Heb. of Nechemyah
(Nehemiah) 7:2] "The fortress was built on a hill 25 m high, in
the north-west part of the Temple Mount, as a defense for it. The length of the
fortress, from east to west, was about 115 m; on the western side its width from north to
south was 35 m and in the east 42 m. During the time of Nehemiah this was the
site of the Hananel Tower, also called Birah i.e., tower; it was also known as the Tower
of the Hundred. Nehemiah appointed Hananiah commander of the Birah. The
Hasmoneans called the fortress Baris, and Herod named it Antonia in honor of Mark Antony,
ruler of Rome, who appointed Herod over the Jews..." [This is
Jerusalem, "The Temple Mount, The Antonia Fortress", p. 99]
This fortress was built on the north-western corner on top of the previous
structure called originally the Birah, and by Josephus, the Baris
fortress. "...the Letter of Aristeas, an Alexandrian, recounts the journey
of Philadelphus (285-246 B.C.), an official of the court of Ptolemy II, from Alexandria to
Jerusalem. Aristeas describes Jerusalem and the Temple in glowing terms, as well as the
fortress known as the Birah. This citadel, known since the time of Nehemiah (2:8), stood
at the northwestern end of the Temple Mount and protected the sanctuary. It contained a
garrison which, according to Aristeas, consisted of five hundred men. The citadel was
called Baris by Josephus (Antiquities XV:403); Herod would transform it into a massive
stronghold and rename it the Antonia in honor of his patron, Mark Anthony." [The Mountain Of The Lord, Excavating in Jerusalem, "1 The Letter of
Aristeas" , p.65] "The fortress rebuilt by Herod was
that formerly built on the same spot and called Baris. This fortress,
Josephus goes on to say, "was erected on a great precipice," and " stood at
the junction of the northern and western cloisters, that is, on the north-west angle of
the enclosure of the Temple;" and that "it had passages down to both cloisters,
through which the guard (for there always lay in the tower a Roman legion) went several
ways among the cloisters with their arms on the Jewish festivals, in order to watch the
people." Josephus, in his description of the siege of the Temple by
Pompey, BC 63, says that the Roman Commander found it impossible to attack it on any other
quarter than the north, on account of the frightful ravines on every other side..."
[Ordinance Survey of Jerusalem]
The Baris which Herod built Antonia upon was in the same area where the ancient towers of
"the Mea" (i.e. Hammeah) and Hananayl stood. (The towers which had
been rebuilt west of the Sheep Gate by Nehemyah.) [Nechemyah
(Nehemiah) 3:1; 12:39; See also: Encyclopaedia Judaica CD, "Jerusalem, History, David
and First Temple Period, Under Solomon"]. "Sheep
Gate: This last gate was the point from which the circuit of the repairs was traced.
The references, <Neh 3:1,31; 12:39>, clearly show that it was at the eastern
extremity of the north wall. ...this side must always necessarily have been the weak
side for defense because it was protected by no, or at best by very little, natural
valley... West of the Sheep Gate two towers are mentioned <Neh 3:1; 12:39>. Of
these HANANEL was more easterly than HAMMEAH, and, too, it would appear from <Zec 14:10>
to have been the most northerly point of the city. Probably then two towers
occupied the important hill where afterward stood the fortress Baris and, later, the
Antonia. At the Hammeah tower the wall would descend into the Tyropoeon to join the
eastern extremity of the first wall ..." [International
Standard Bible Encylopaedia, "Jerusalem, Parts VI, 18"]
If the Baris was located next to or even in the same place as the Dome of the Rock as some claim, rather than farther north as many ancient writers proclaimed, there would have been no reason for Herod to extend the western wall as far as he did! "Herod's other project in Jerusalem concerned the eastern hill of the city. He transformed the old Baris fortress into a much larger structure, with high towers dominating the Temple area, and called it Antonia, in honor of the triumvir Mark Antony." [Encyclopaedia Judaica CD, "Jerusalem, History, Second Temple Period, Herodian Period"] "At the north-west corner the bedrock projected above the surface of the precinct. It was cut away to create a more or less level surface, leaving an exposed scarp up to 10m high. Above that scarp stood a massive fortified tower which Herod had built on the site of an earlier Hasmonean structure shortly before commencing work on the Temple. This new fortress he named Antonia after his Roman overlord, Mark Antony. The extent of the Antonia has been more precisely defined by our recent discovery of extensive remains of its southern wall incorporated into Mamluk buildings now occupying part of the site. Details in Josephus's account of the siege of Titus show that the north wall of the Temple enclosure adjoined Antonia. A north-west corner stone of the enclosing wall, with typical Herodian marginal draft on both north and west outer faces verifying that it is in situ (see p. 204), confirms Josephus's account." [Mamluk Jerusalem, An Architectural Study, "The Pre-Mamluk Development of Jerusalem, Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine Remains (37B.C.-A.D.638)", p. 43; And See: Mamluk Jerusalem, An Architectural Study, "14 Al-Jawiliyya, IV Architecture, Earlier Remains (i) Herodian Tower Antonia", p.204] The ancient Birah (Baris) was used exclusively to protect the Mount and the City; whereas this fortress called Antonia was used to defend both the inner city and the entrance to the Mount, as well as to enforce the public order (i.e. "watch the People") on the Mount. In order to adequately "watch the people" it was necessary to have this fortress overlooking the very courts of the Temple precincts which was not possible if the Temple was in any other location but on the northern side of the Mount. The northern wall of the outer court was very close to the farthest extremity of the northern Temple mount wall, which contained the fortress of Antonia. In fact, one of the ancient inscriptions warning the Gentiles not to enter the outer court was found in the courtyard of the Antonia fortress! "This courtyard formed part of the Antonia fortress, and the inscription on the Temple partition prohibiting the entry of strangers was found at this place." [This is Jerusalem, "Ch. VIII, The Christians In Jerusalem And Their Holy Sites, Christian Churches And Chapels In Jerusalem, p. 299]
The Temple precincts of 500 by 500 long (royal) cubits were without question located on the northern portion of the Herodian Mount. Quite simply, due to the topography of the Mount, it can only fit in this location. "The area of the Temple Mount and Herod's Temple was originally broader in the north and narrower toward the south, due to the topography of the site." [This is Jerusalem, "Ch. II, Jerusalem During The Second Temple Period, The Temple Mount", p. 93]
Remember the prophet Yechetzqyah (Ezekiel) describes in great detail a FUTURE temple with its inner court and outer court on on the Northern part of the present Temple Mount. This prophecy took place over 2,500 years ago! "Ezekiel's prophecies conclude with a vision of a restored Temple in Jerusalem. The Temple's form of worship would be reestablished in Israel." [Encyclopędia Britannica CD, "Ezekiel"]
"A Messianic Priestly Code
(Kaufmann; chs. 40–48). Following the general topical order of the priestly writings
in the Pentateuch, a description of the future sanctuary,
regulations for the cult and its personnel, and provisions for settlement in the land are
set out in detail. Modernization and rectification of past wrongs are pervasive motives.
A VISIONARY TRANSPORTATION TO THE FUTURE TEMPLE
(40:1–43:12; a counterpart to chs. 8–11). A blueprint of the Temple
area is narrated as a tour through its courts, gates, and rooms, the prophet
being guided by an angelic “man” with a measuring rod and line. The design
appears to follow the latest form of the Solomonic Temple.... The prophet witnesses the
return of the divine Majesty through the east gate, by which it had exited in 11:1, into
the inner sanctum." [Encyclopaedia Judaica CD, "Ezekiel,
Prophecies of Israel's Restoration"]
""It had a wall around it, five hundred cubits long (875 feet) and five hundred cubits wide, to make a separation between the holy and the common" (Ezekiel 42:20). This is echoed by the Mishnaic passage in Middot 2:1: "The Temple enclosure was five hundred by five hundred cubits." It formed a square which encompassed the Temple's structures and its Inner Courts, and was bounded by the Soreg or balustrade." [The Mountain Of The Lord, Excavating in Jerusalem, "What Were The Inner Courts Of The Sanctuary Like?, b. The Inner Core of the Temple" , p.113]
This 500 by 500 cubit outer court area (Herod's soreg area) was on the north of the Temple Mount and the GREATER PART of the Temple Mount OUTSIDE of the outer court area was on the SOUTH. Yechetzqyah's Temple vision shows that within this 500 by 500 long cubit area the inner court will be built. This vision shows that to the south of the inner court the outer court only extends ONE REED--about 10 1/2 feet! This MEANS that The Dome of the Rock was built on what is known as the SOUTH Outer Court Area! Yes, there are PAVEMENTS extending only on the east side and on the north side. There is no pavement on the west side, because the Building (with the Priests' Kitchens) will take up this area, just as Yechetzqyah 41:12 states. There is NO PAVEMENT on the SOUTH SIDE [Yechetzqyah (Ezekiel) 40:17-19], because that is where the Moslem mosque sets!
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In the March/April 1983 issue of the Biblical Archaeology Review, Vol. IX, NO. 2, Dr. Asher S. Kaufman--in his article on pages 40-58: Where the Ancient Temple of Jerusalem Stood; extant 'Foundation Stone' for the Ark of the Covenant Is Identified--has PROVEN that the First and Second Temples sat EXACTLY IN LINE with the Golden Gate: the EAST GATE. Following is a diagram of the "First and Second Temples superimposed on Temple Mount Platform", found on page 57 of this article, showing a straight line running FROM the Golden Gate on the EAST, directly TO the 'Dome of the Tablets', which now sits NORTHWEST of the Dome of the Rock. The DOME OF THE TABLETS, as Dr. Kaufman has also proven, is THE FOUNDATION STONE upon which the Ark of the Covenant rested INSIDE the Holy of Holies! |
The original Temple entrance, the inner court, and the outer court gates lined up in a straight line west to east with the east old city Temple Mount enclosure gate. Dr. Kaufman has proven in this article, the original Temple Site is approximately 330 Feet (100 Meters) NORTHWEST of the Dome of the Rock. The Dome of the Rock was built SOUTH of it!
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Examine the diagram of Yechetzqyah's PATTERN; his PLAN which Yahweh gave to him, SUPERIMPOSED on the Temple Mount Platform over Kaufman's First and Second Temple diagrams. As you can see, Yechetzqyah's Temple is a LARGER STRUCTURE than the first and second temples, due to the fact that Yechetzqyah's CUBIT is a larger cubit. But as you can also SEE, these MEASUREMENTS fit EXACTLY the area of vacant ground lying NORTH of The Dome of the Rock. |
The prophet speaks of this future Temple's outer court (outer dimensions) as being 500 by 500 cubits. [Yechetzqyah (Ezekiel) 42:15-20]
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Yechetzqyah, in his VISION, was standing on the Temple Mount IN OUR DAY next to the rebuilt inner court and the Dome of the Rock. The outer court of the Temple will NOT be REBUILT at the time Yechetzqyah's Temple is, only the inner court! The outer court area is being displayed to show that this future pattern will indeed fit in its entirety on the Temple Mount as it had in the past, but it will NOT be built at this time! |
The prophet speaks of this future Temple's outer
court (outer dimensions) as being 500 by 500 long cubits as measured by the reed.
[Yechetzqyah (Ezekiel) 42:15-20] Many are confused by the use of the word translated as reed (or rod) in these
Scriptures. They think that this is referring to 500 by 500 REEDS (rods) (1
reed being 6 long cubits i.e. 10 1/2 feet) when in reality the scripture is speaking
of the 500 by 500 long CUBITS measured with the measuring reed which is 6 long
cubits. [500 reeds would equal 3000 long cubits, making the Temple
complex ridiculously out of proportion to the Temple Mount and known Temple precinct size,
as well as the camp of Israyl.]
"The Temple enclosure [soreg1 on the Temple Mount] was 500 cubits by 500 cubits; it [the
Temple Mount2
outside the soreg] was largest on the south; next largest on the
east; then on the north; smallest on the west. The place where there was most
measurement there was also most service." [Mishnah, Middot
2:1; See also: Encyclopaedia Judaica, Vol. 15, 965, "Temple, Second Temple,
Structure, The Temple Square"]
1The Temple Mount of Herod had the 500 by 500 cubit soreg designating the outer court area. "At the end of the court was a soreg (a stone lattice work) which surrounded the consecrated area the Temple Mount proper in the narrow mishnaic sense, i.e., the "500 cubits by 500 cubits" (Mid. 2:1) ...to which were attached plaques written in Greek and Latin forbidding gentiles to pass that point on pain of death. Remains of these inscriptions bearing the Greek text (one complete plaque and one partly preserved) have been discovered in Jerusalem (in 1870 and 1936)." [Encyclopaedia Judaica, Vol. 15, 965, "Temple, Second Temple, Structure, The Temple Square"]
[Many erroneously think that the Mishna describes the original entire Temple Mount area as being 500 by 500 amah (cubits) when in reality it was merely describing the dimensions of the Outer Court soreg area as located on the northern portion of the Temple Mount.]
2This is speaking of the Temple Mount --not the 500 by 500 cubit outer court square, (Herod's soreg) because it is written: "All who entered the Temple inclosure entered by the right, and turned and went out by the left" [Mishnah, Middot 2:2] Speaking of the south Temple Mount entrance and exit gates on Herod's massive south addition and extention of the Mount. "From the Mishna we also know that "the two Hulda Gates in the south that served for coming in and going out" were the main gates to the Temple Mount. ... The two gates in the southern wall are about 70 meters apart and served the pattern for entry and exit: "Whoever it was that entered the Temple Mount came in on the right and went around and come out on the left..." [In The Shadow Of The Temple, The Discovery of Ancient Jerusalem, "The Gates of the Temple Mount" p. 135]
As part of this pattern, the Temple and its sacred
precincts must be double the size in cubits of the Tabernacle and its sacred precincts.
"On comparing the Temple (as described in I Kings 7 and II Chron. 2 and
by Josephus 7:3) with the Tabernacle, the first thing that strikes us is that all the
arrangements were identical, and the dimensions of every part were exactly double those of
the preceding structure. Thus, the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle was a cube of 10
cubits each way; in the Temple it was 20 cubits. The Holy Place was 10 cubits wide by 20
cubits long and 10 cubits high in the Tabernacle; in the Temple these dimensions were
exactly double. The porch in the Tabernacle was 5 cubits deep; in the Temple it was 10.
Its width in both instances being the width of the house." [King
Solomon's Temple, A Study Of Its Symbolism, p. 26]
The Tabernacle's inner court --inner dimensions in Exodus 27:18
is 100 by 50 cubits. In the future Temple of Yechetzqyah it is doubled!
In Yechetzqyah 40:47, the east half of the inner dimension of the inner court is
100 by 100 cubits. This dimension doubled (for the western half which contains the Temple)
gives the inner dimension of the inner court to be 200 (east to west) by 100 (north to
south) cubits. In fact, the layout of the whole 25,000 by 25,000 cubit area, [Yechetzqyah (Ezekiel) 48:20] with the rebuilt city
of 4,500 by 4,500 cubits, follows this exact same cubit by cubit pattern on top of the
Mountain. The reason it could not be referring to 500 by 500 reeds as some speculate
is that it would not fit on the present Mount. However the 500 by 500 cubit outer
court will fit there perfectly "cubit by cubit" just as it had in Solomon's day.
Some think the city of Yerusalem and the Temple Mount will be relocated. No!
The city all nations will come to is in the one, same, past, present and
future location --Yerusalem. [Tehillim (Psalms) 68:29; 125:2] The Temple will be in the midst of Yerusalem (the camp). [Tehillim (Psalms) 116:19; Bemidbar (Numbers) 2;Yechetzqyah (Ezekiel) 43:7] Also, contrary to opinion, Yerusalem (with the Temple in the midst) will
indeed be in the center or midst of the 25,000 by 25,000 cubit holy offering (terumah)
area situated in the center of the 25,000 by approximately 150,000 cubit area. [Yechetzqyah (Ezekiel) 48:8, 20] [A few corruptions
and mistranslations of the book of Yechetzqyah by those who have no understanding of
Yahweh's pattern has brought mass confusion to the understanding of these key texts.]
This future Temple with its inner court and outer court, with the outer dimensions
being 500 by 500 cubits as measured by the reed [Yechetzqyah
(Ezekiel) 42:15-20] (with their gates) fits perfectly on
the Temple Mount aligned with the ancient and the present day East Gate.
Again, the fact that the Temple Enclosure was 500
cubits by 500 cubits is admitted also in the Mishnah!. "The Temple enclosure
[soreg on the Temple Mount] was 500 cubits by 500 cubits; it [the Temple
Mount outside the soreg] was largest on the south; next largest
on the east; then on the north; smallest on the west. The place where there was most
measurement there was also most service." [Mishnah, Middot
2:1; See also: Encyclopaedia Judaica, Vol. 15, 965, "Temple, Second Temple,
Structure, The Temple Square"]
[Many erroneously think that the Mishna describes the original entire Temple Mount area as
being 500 by 500 amah (cubits) when in reality it was merely describing the dimensions of
the Outer Court soreg area as located on the northern portion of the Temple Mount.]
The traditional and southern Temple conjectured locations do not measure up. The 500 by 500 square long cubit outer court did not and will not fit in these locations! They do not have the largest area of the Temple Mount, the area of most service, "on the south; next largest on the east; then on the north; smallest on the west." "The area of the Temple Mount and Herod's Temple was originally broader in the north and narrower toward the south, due to the topography of the site." [This is Jerusalem, "Ch. II, Jerusalem During The Second Temple Period, The Temple Mount", p. 93]
The Rock under the Dome of the Rock
The following reference admits that the rock is located "approximately in the
center of the Temple Mount" and that this rock was "believed to be"
the even shetiyyah (foundation stone) of Herod's Temple! This is
interesting since it is also admitted in the Mishnah that the Temple complex was not
built in the center of the Temple Mount but on the North! [Mishnah,
Middot 2:1]
"In 684 (or 687) the Ummayyad caliph Abd-al-Malik began to build the Dome of the Rock (wrongly called the Mosque of Omar); a shrine over the rock believed to be the even shetiyyah of Herod's Temple, located approximately in the center of the Temple Mount. This monumental piece of architecture of octagonal shape was completed in 690–91. Abd-al-Malik built the Mosque of al-Aqsa in about 700 on the spot where Omar is supposed to have offered his prayers. (According to some historians, al-Aqsa was only completed in 795 by his son Al-Walid.) The present building was constructed in 1033. After the conquest of Jerusalem by the crusaders, the Dome of the Rock was converted into a church and called Templum Domini (the Temple of the Lord) and al-Aqsa became a church called Templum Solomonis (Solomon's Temple). They were reconverted into Muslim houses of worship after Saladin's conquest of Jerusalem in 1187 and have remained so ever since." [Encyclopaedia Judaica CD, "Temple Mount"]
"The Christian Arabic historian Eutychius, who wrote in Egypt at the beginning of the tenth century, says that Omar refused to pray in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, whereupon Sophronius showed him the site of the Holy Rock identified with the talmudic Even ha-Shetiyyah, the site of the Temple Holy of Holies, on which the world was believed to be founded. Muslim writers, on the other hand, relate how the Christians attempted to deceive the caliph when he asked about the site of the Rock..." [Encyclopaedia Judaica CD, "Jerusalem, History, Arab Period"]
These traditions and deceptions of man continue today! The position held by many that this Temple complex is "too large to fit on the present Temple Mount site" is no more than conjecture and opinion. In reality, the Temple complex fits PERFECTLY in only one location --North of the Dome of the Rock.
How could the belief of a few Arabs and then later the Crusaders be transferred in the minds of our people as fact? The Encyclopaedia Judaica even admits that the origin of this thought or belief "is not fully clear"! "The relationship of the even shetiyyah to the rock presently housed under the Dome of the Rock (the "Mosque of Omar") built on the Temple Mount is not fully clear. Muslim tradition identifies the two, and this is the view most widely held today. The major difficulty here is the size: the rock housed in the Dome of the Rock measures approximately 58 by 51 feet, an area larger than the entire Holy of Holies in which the even shetiyyah was found." [Encyclopaedia Judaica CD, "Even Shetiyyah"]
"Was the Rock indeed the site of the Holy of
Holies in the Temple? Several problems arise in connection with this.
1. Acording to Josephus (Wars, V, 5) the Holy of Holies in Herod's Temple measured 10 m x
10 m, whereas the Rock within the Dome of the Rock is 17.7 m x 13.5 m.
2. The High Priest used to place the pan of incense on the Rock of the Foundation, as
stated in the Mishnah (Yoma V, 2): "...there was a stone from the time of the earlier
Prophets, called the shethiyah, three fingers above the ground, on which he would place
(the pan of burning coals)". The Rock, therefore was three fingers high, but the
Rock within the present Dome is one to three meters high." [History confirms that
this rock under the Dome of the Rock was MUCH larger than this for many a pilgrim flocked
to this site to get a "piece of the rock".] "The Crusaders chipped of
fragments of the Rock and sold them as souvenirs to devout pilgrims, who paid their weight
in gold. To put a stop to this trade, the Crusader kings surrounded the Rock with an iron
screen, sections of which exist to this day. [This is Jerusalem, Ch.
IX, "The Temple Mount And Jerusalem Under The Moslems", p.333] This once massive (now mangled) rock could never have been the spot of the Holy
of Holies!
The rock (Sakhrah) located today under the Dome of the Rock (Qubbat As-Sakhrah), was in reality in pre-Herodian times nothing more than the base for a podium for public announcements and teaching. [similar to: 2 Chr. 6:13; Neh. 8:4] In the Herodian period, however, this rock became the designated area for promoting merchandising on the Temple Mount. Rather than teaching the people the knowledge of the great 613 Laws of mercy and to seek Yahweh, bringing their sacrifices --which brought to mind one's sin (i.e. the breaking of the Law), and therefore one's repentance; the teachers of Israyl allowed this podium upon the rock for promoting merchandising in the outer court area (within the soreg) of our Father's House! They exchanged profane coins for shekels at a profit, and the buying and selling of animals for sacrifice, and therefore (in their eyes) atonement, at greatly inflated prices. [Hos. 6:1; 6-7; Jer. 7:11; Matt. 21:12-13; Mark 11:15-17; Luke 19:45-46; similar to "the church's" selling of indulgences] During this time period this rock was called "sakhrah" (vowel pointed as: "sekhorah"), which carries the meaning of "to merchandize" in Hebrew, and refers to the profit acquired by commerce. ["sekhorah - merchandise" -The New Brown-Driver-Briggs-Gesenius Hebrew-English Lexicon p. 695b; "sekhorah - merchandize, traffic, as a concr. merchants." -Gesenius Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon, p. 583; from the root "sakhar ...seat of commerce...wealth, profit acquired by commerce." -The Analytical Hebrew And Chaldee Lexicon, p. 575] The Arabs quite easily took this Hebrew word, "sakhrah", referring to this place, and used the similiar sounding Arabic "sakhrah", meaning rock, in its place.
Temple Prophecies
The prophecy and curse written in Micahyah 3:12 concerning the destruction of the Temple site on the Temple Mount and Yerusalem came to pass because Israyl went back again to transgressing the Law [Micahyah (Micah) 2:1-7; 3:1-12] and obeying the gods, the elohim of the surrounding nations. [Debarim (Deuteronomy) 29:24-29] They also defiled the Holy Temple precincts just as they did with the first Temple. In first Temple times "Ezekiel said that Judah was guiltier than Israel had been and that Jerusalem would fall to Nebuchadrezzar and its inhabitants would be killed or exiled. According to him, Judah trusted in foreign gods and foreign alliances, and Jerusalem was a city full of injustice. Pagan rites abounded in the courts of the Temple." [Encyclopędia Britannica CD, "Ezekiel"; Yechetzqyah (Ezekiel) 2; 5:5-17;8:5-18 etc.] "In chapters 6 and 7 Ezekiel prophesies that Jerusalem's "altars shall become desolate," its people will be "scattered through the countries," and "because the land is full of bloody crimes and the city full of violence," Yahweh "will put an end to their proud might and their holy places shall be profane." In chapter 8 he attacked the people of Jerusalem for their idolatry, as manifest by the women sitting before the entrance to the north gate of the Temple of Yahweh weeping in cultic despair for the Mesopotamian fertility deity Tammuz's "annual death."" [Encyclopędia Britannica CD, "Biblical Literature and Its Critical Interpretation Ezekiel, Prophetic themes and actions"]
As shown above, one of the Gods (elohim) of the
surrounding nations which was worshiped at Yerusalem against the express command of Yahweh
was Tammuz; who was known among the Cananites, and then the people of Israyl in their god
worship, as Adon (Lord) or Adonai (My Lord) (Gr. Adonis) --just as is said today 'Lord'.
"Adon, 'Lord,' of the god Tammuz" [A
Dictionary of the Bible, Vol. 1, p. 40] "After the
Babylonian Exile in the 6th century B.C., Adonai ("My Lord") and Elohim
("God") were gradually substituted for "Yahweh." [The
Encyclopaedia Americana International Edition, Vol. 16, p. 13]
Israyl and the Hebrew people have not, as a people, been blessed above all
peoples these last 2400 years because of this lord god worship. Israyl the people
and Israyl the land were given over to the surrounding lord god worshiping nations to do
with as they willed for a limited time period. The extent of the destruction
in the area of the Temple Mount was also done for another purpose. Zion was
"plowed like a field" and became "like the high places of a forest" to
hide (seal up) the knowledge of the original Temple location!
These things were not to be understood UNTIL NOW. "And the whole
vision has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to
one who is learned saying; Read this, I ask you, but he says; I cannot, for it is
sealed." [Yeshayah (Isaiah) 29:11]
"..seal the book to the time of the end; many will run to and
fro, and knowledge will be increased." [Daniyl
12:4]
Micahyah (Micah) 3:12
12 Therefore because of you, Zion will be plowed like a field, Yerusalem will become heaps of rubble, and The Mountain of The House of Yahweh* like the high places of a forest.
[See also Matt. 24:1-2; * "Har HaBayit Yahweh" i.e. "Mount of the House of Yahweh" aka "the Temple Mount" -Dibre Hayamim (II Chronicles) 33:15]
This was allowed and ultimately brought to pass to hide the correct location! In order for this to be successful, all outward signs of the original Temple precincts, meaning all the land that could lead one to distinguish the correct location, was made to look "plowed like a field" and like "the high places of a forest." If the rock under the Dome of the Rock was anything other than a "big rock" --it would have been leveled!
The Mountain of the House of Yahweh had to become like the high
places of a forest. This is the reason why in 1967 the Mount was given over to the
Arabs. No one man --no organization of, by and for man (by man's authority)
would be able to discern the correct location without someone of, by and for Yahweh
to come and show them the will of Yahweh! This area was hidden and protected for a
purpose! And revealed for a purpose! It will be built according to the
precepts in the Law, and has been revealed according to what is written in the prophets.
Today the world's so-called scholars do not keep the Law, and they do not believe, nor do
they understand, the prophecies. Yet, even they admit that the Temple plan
written in Yechetzqyah was never carried out! STUDY! This prophecy,
clearly written of in the Scriptures of Yechetzqyah, specifically lays out the plan for
the FUTURE Third Temple and the surrounding city of Yerusalem and consecrated areas
that will eventually be rebuilt and resanctified.
This same pattern was always revealed to only a chosen few at the proper time.
Shemot (Exodus) 25:8-9
8 And let them make Me a Sanctuary, that I may dwell among them.
9 According to all that I show you, after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all its furnishings, so shall you make it.
Dibre Hayamim (I Chronicles) 28:19
19 David said: All this is written because Yahweh made me understand all the details of this plan (pattern), for His hand was upon me.
And again in these last days concerning the FUTURE Temple, notice that someone must show this PATTERN to the House of Israyl!
Yechetzqyah (Ezekiel) 43:10-11
10 Son of man, show the HOUSE to the House of Israyl, so that they may be ashamed of their iniquities; and let them MEASURE THE PATTERN.
11 And if they are ashamed of all that they have done, show them the form (pattern) of the House, and the arrangement of it --its exits and its entrances; all forms of its ordinances, and all forms of its Laws. Write these in their sight, that they may keep the whole form of it with all its ordinances, that they may do them.
Who in these days has the knowledge and authority to show Israyl this pattern? Most reference books admit that the prophet Zecharyah who wrote the book of Zecharyah prophesied not just of contemporary times, but prophesied of a far future Israyl and Yerusalem --a time when Yahweh's work would be revived by two men --a time when the Temple would be rebuilt and the knowledge of Yahweh would be increased.
"According to dates mentioned in chapters 1-8, Zechariah was active from 520 to 518 BC. A contemporary of the prophet Haggai in the early years of the Persian period, Zechariah shared Haggai's concern that the Temple of Jerusalem be rebuilt. Unlike Haggai, however, Zechariah thought that the rebuilding of the Temple was the necessary prelude to the eschatological age, the arrival of which was imminent. Accordingly, Zechariah's book, and in particular his eight night visions (1:7-6:8), depict the arrival of the eschatological age (the end of the world) and the organization of life in the eschatological community. ...Other visions announced the rebuilding of the Temple and the world's recognition of Yahweh". [Encyclopędia Britannica CD, "Zechariah, Book of"]
Zecharyah (Zechariah) 1:14-16
14 Then the malak who was speaking with me said: Cry out; This is what Yahweh of hosts says! I am zealous for Yerusalem; for Zion, with great zeal!
15 And I am exceedingly angry with the complacent heathen; for I was only a little angry, but they added to the distress.
16 Therefore, this is what Yahweh says: I have returned to Yerusalem with mercies! My House will be rebuilt in it, says Yahweh of hosts: and a measuring line will be stretched out over Yerusalem!
If He has returned to Yerusalem, and since He always works "through men", who is it He has returned with? That is: Who is He working with today? And why was there a lapse in the knowledge of Yahweh in the land of Israyl and in Yerusalem? If He is returning to Yerusalem (verse 16) it is obvious that He was not there, and neither were his servants working there. The following scripture, which is an admitted latter day prophecy, shows that there will be two men in these last days who are indeed authorized to revive this great work.
Zecharyah (Zechariah) 4:12-14
12 Then I spoke to him again, and said to him; What are these two olive branches (trees -v.4:3) which through the two golden pipes (of their throats), empty the golden oil (the Law and the Prophets) through them?
13 He answered me, and said: Do you not know (understand) what these are? And I said: No, my ruler.
14 Then he said; These are the two anointed ones (having authority) who stand (minister) for the Supreme Ruler of the whole earth.
[The above scripture is speaking of the two men [Yeshayah (Isayah) 43:1-10; 44:1-8, 21, 24-28; 45:1-6] who have established this organization --the great congregation called the House of Yahweh, and whose work is even now bringing forth knowledge of the Temple of Yahweh; which was originally also called Bayit (House) of Yahweh. (The Temple represented the great congregation and was called by the same name.) --See the following: [ARCHAEOLOGY and the TEMPLE INSCRIPTIONS]]Yeshayah (Isayah) 43:1, 10
1 But now, this is what Yahweh says, Who created you, O Yaaqob, and He who formed you, O Yisrayl: Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are Mine.
10 You are My witnesses, says Yahweh, and My servants whom I have chosen; so you may know and believe Me, and understand that I am He! Before Me there was no god formed, nor will there be after Me.
11 I, even I, am Yahweh; and beside Me there is no savior.
12 I have declared, and I have saved, and I have showed; and no strange god is among you! Therefore, you are My witnesses, says Yahweh: that I am Yahweh!
Prophecies concerning the rebuilding of the future Temple and inner court by HIS SERVANTS in the last days:
Tehellim (Psalms) 102:12-18 [Heb.102:13-19]
12(13) But You, O Yahweh, have sat enthroned from eternity, and the remembrance of Your Name endures to all generations.
13(14) You will arise and have mercy on Zion, for it is time to honor her; the appointed time has come!
14(15) How Your servants take pleasure in HER STONES, and show honor to her dust (foundations).
15(16) THEN will the nations reverence Your Name, O Yahweh, all kings of the earth will reverence Your glory;
16(17) For You, O Yahweh, have REBUILT Zion, and You appear in Your glory.
17(18) You will regard the prayer of the destitute; You will not despise their prayer.
18(19) This will be WRITTEN FOR A FUTURE GENERATION, and A PEOPLE NOT YET CREATED will praise You, O YahwehYeshayah (Isaiah) 60:2-10, 13
2 For behold, the darkness will cover the earth, and deep darkness will cover the people; but Yahweh will arise over you, and His glory will be seen upon you.
3 The Gentiles will come to your light*, and the kings to the brightness of your rising.
4 Lift up your eyes around you, and see. They all gather together, they come to you; your sons will come from afar, and your daughters will be nursed at your side.
5 Then you will see, and shine forth; and your heart will swell with joy; because the forces of the Gentiles will come to you.
6 The multitudes of camels will cover you, the dromedaries of Median and Ephah; all they from Sheba will come, they will bring gold and incense, and they will proclaim the praises of Yahweh.
7 All the flocks of Kedar will be gathered together to you, the rams of Nebayoth will be at your service; they will ascend with acceptance on My altar, and I will glorify the House of My glory.
8 Who are these who fly like a cloud, and like the doves to their resting places?
9 Surely the isles; countries, will gather to Me, with the ships of Tarshish first, to bring your sons from afar, their silver and their gold with them; to the Name of Yahweh your Father, to the Holy One of Israyl, because He has glorified you.
10 The sons of the strangers will rebuild your walls, and their kings will serve you; for in My wrath I struck you, but in compassion I have had mercy on you.
13 The glory of Lebanon will come to you, the fir tree, the pine tree, and the box tree together, to beautify the place of MY SANCTUARY; and I will make the place of My feet glorious.* See: Yeshayah (Isaiah) 8:20
Zecharyah (Zechariah) 1:16
16 Therefore, this is what Yahweh says: I have returned to Yerusalem with mercies! My House will be rebuilt in it, says Yahweh of hosts: and a measuring line will be stretched out over Yerusalem!Zecharyah (Zechariah) 6:15
15 And they who are afar off will come and help build The House of Yahweh. Then you will know that Yahweh of hosts has sent me to you. And this will surely be, IF you will diligently obey the voice of Yahweh your Father.
Many are waiting for Yliyah (Elijah) to appear, but will they recognize Yliyah?
Malakyah (Malachi) 4:1-6 [Heb. 3:19-24]
1(19) For, behold, the day comes that will burn like an oven; and all the proud, yes, and all who do wickedly, will be stubble --the day that comes will burn them up, says Yahweh of hosts; and it will leave them neither root nor branch.
2(20) But for you who revere My Name (YAHWEH), the light of righteousness will arise with healing in its wings; and you will go out, leaping like calves released from the stall.
3(21) And you will tread down the wicked; for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I will do this, says Yahweh of hosts.
4(22) Remember the LAW of Mosheh My servant, which I commanded through him in Horeb for all Israyl, with the statutes and the judgments.
5(23) Behold, I will send YLIYAH3 4 (the strength of Yahweh --the correct teaching of the Law and the Prophets) before the coming of the great and dreadful day of Yahweh;
6(24) And it will turn the hearts of the fathers (teachers) to the children (converts), and the hearts of the children (converts) to their fathers (teachers); before I come and strike the earth with a curse; (cherem: utter destruction in The Day of Yahweh).[ YLIYAH 3 - Traditionally and erroneously represented as Elijah. This word is composed of two parts: 'yl, (the original 'yl i.e. alef, yod, lamed) meaning: strength, power and might ["strength, power" -The New Brown-Driver-Briggs-Gesenius Hebrew-English Lexicon p. 43a; "It is commonly thought that the term derived from a root yl or wl, meaning "to be powerful" -Encyclopaedia Judaica CD, "God, names of, EL"; & "#410-el from #352-'yl" -Strong's Hebrew Dictionary]; and yah, which is the first syllable and representation of the Name of Yahweh. ["The true pronunciation of the name YHWH was never lost. Several early Greek writers of the Christian Church testify that the name was pronounced "Yahweh." This is confirmed, at least for the vowel of the first syllable of the name, by the shorter form Yah, which is sometimes used in poetry (e.g., Ex. 15:2) and the-yahu or-yah that serves as the final syllable in very many Hebrew names." -Encyclopaedia Judaica CD, "God, names of, YHWH"] Yliyah literally means strength of Yahweh. The strength of Yahweh which is conveyed to His people is the correct teaching of the Law and the Prophets as taught by His anointed ones. [Isa. 8:20; Ps. 105:4; Mic. 5:4(3); I Chr. 16:11; Prov. 24:5; Zech. 8:9; Matt. 5:17; Acts 24:14; Acts 9:22; Rev. 3:8]
ha-nabia 4 - Usually translated as "the prophet" but also can be applied to those whom Yahweh made known His will and has authorized to bring forth the correct interpretation of the Law and the Prophets. ["The idea of a prophet is sometimes more widely extended, and is applied to any one admitted to the familiar intercourse with [Yahweh], to whom [Yahweh] made known his will" -Gesenius Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon, p. 528b; "nabia - spokesman, speaker, prophet" -The New Brown-Driver-Briggs-Gesenius Hebrew-English Lexicon p. 611b; root "nub: Action of speaking by inspiration; producing exteriorly the spirit with which one is filled." -Hebraic Tongue Restored, p. 396; See Zecharyah 4:12-14]. ]
The following scripture shows that for a period of time there were no righteous teachers in Yerusalem --there were none to guide her.
Yeshayah (Isaiah) 51:17-18
17 Awake! Awake! Stand up, O Yerusalem, which has drunk at the hand of Yahweh the cup of His fury; you have drunk the dregs from the cup of trembling, and drained them out.
18 There are none to guide her among all the sons she has brought forth; nor are there any who take her by the hand among all the sons she has brought up
Yes --there were none to guide her --there were none to guide her and take her by the hand...UNTIL NOW!
"Come let us reason together..." [Yeshayah (Isaiah) 1:18]
Understanding and proving the correct location of the Holy Temple can only come by believing the prophecies that Yahweh had the prophets of old write for these last days --A PEACEFUL SOLUTION. There is no need for war or even one death --either Jew or Arab --with each one's worship protected without fear. This Temple represents our Father Yahweh and His pattern (the plan of salvation) which is contained in His Law. This work, or project, is larger than any group or even nation; nor will any group or nation be able to stop this from going forth. Proving this location, and hence the prophecies, takes away all the stumbling blocks about who is right, and now focuses our minds on building with all our efforts combined. This, the greatest building project of our time, can come into being if our hearts are right --whether we are Jews, Christians, or Arabs --let us all prove we want peace not just with our mouths but with our actions. If we can start here, side by side without fear and hatred, who knows how far this example may take us? Let us all stand together and now prove our hearts' intentions before we consume ourselves in hatred and fear. Let us show our belief in the right of all mankind to exist in peace.
WE, the House of Yahweh, are ready to build the Temple with its inner court NOW! All of these MEASUREMENTS have been checked over and over, And WE DO HAVE these MEASUREMENTS: The Excavations; the Gates; the Courts; The House of Yahweh with the Vestibule, the Holy Place, and the Most Holy Place. Our staff of engineers, construction experts and Priests are ready to work on this project. We can build the inner court NEXT TO the Dome of the Rock NOW with no harm to this Muslim structure.
[Not to scale]
The inner court (outer dim. 200 x 350 cubits), Temple and altar rebuilt in its original location north of the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount in the old city of Yerusalem.
The outer court of the Temple complex will NOT be
REBUILT at the time this Temple is, only the inner court! There was ample space
around the inner court (shown above) for the entire outer court area to be built.
The entire 500 x 500 royal cubit* complex could
only fit on the northern portion of the Temple Mount. Due to
the topography of the Mount, it can only fit in this location. "The area of the
Temple Mount and Herod's Temple was originally broader in the north and narrower toward
the south, due to the topography of the site." [This is
Jerusalem, "Ch. II, Jerusalem During The Second Temple Period, The Temple
Mount", p. 93; * The royal (or long) cubit being the standard cubit plus a
handbreadth (about 21 in.) -Yechetzqyah (Ezekiel) 43:13, 40:5]
We have new information proving this location! We will be revealing this in the near
future in Yerusalem --to those involved in this great work!
Dibre Hayamim (I Chronicles) 22:1 --First Temple
1 David said then; This is the place for The House of Yahweh our Father, and this is the place for the Altar of burnt offering for Israyl!Ezrayah (Ezra) 5:15 --Second Temple
15 ...let The House of Yahweh be rebuilt on its original site.Yechetzqyah (Ezekiel) 43:10-11 --Third Temple
10 Son of man, show the HOUSE to the House of Israyl, so that they may be ashamed of their iniquities; and let them MEASURE THE PATTERN.
11 And if they are ashamed of all that they have done, show them the form (pattern) of the House, and the arrangement of it --its exits and its entrances; all forms of its ordinances, and all forms of its Laws. Write these in their sight, that they may keep the whole form of it with all its ordinances, that they may do them.Zecharyah (Zechariah) 1:14-16 --Third Temple
14 Then the malak who was speaking with me said: Cry out; This is what Yahweh of hosts says! I am zealous for Yerusalem; for Zion, with great zeal!
15 And I am exceedingly angry with the complacent heathen; for I was only a little angry, but they added to the distress.
16 Therefore, this is what Yahweh says: I have returned to Yerusalem with mercies! My House will be rebuilt in it, says Yahweh of hosts: and a measuring line will be stretched out over Yerusalem!Zecharyah (Zechariah) 6:15 --Third Temple
15 And they who are afar off will come and help build The House of Yahweh. Then you will know that Yahweh of hosts has sent me to you. And this will surely be, IF you will diligently obey the voice of Yahweh your Father.
In the March/April 1983 issue of the Biblical Archaeology Review, Vol.
IX, NO.2, former Hebrew University physicist Dr. Asher S. Kaufman--in his article on pages
40-58: Where the Ancient Temple of Jerusalem Stood; extant 'Foundation Stone' for
the Ark of the Covenant Is Identified--has shown that the First and Second
Temples, including Herod's abominable refurbishing of the Second Temple, sat IN LINE
with the ancient EAST GATE.
Dr. Kaufman's research builds upon details given in the Mishnah tractate known as Middot (Measurements), calculations of angles of line-of-sight between the Mount of Olives where the red heifer was sacrificed, and the eastern court of the Temple, as well as physical evidence discovered around the outside of the platform. He believes [and as we have shown, the prophecies also verify] that the Temple was built on the northwestern corner of the platform only about 330 feet from the rock (or platform base) which is presently covered by the Muslim Dome of the Rock. He believes that the bedrock identifiable within a small cupola at this site, known in Arabic as the Dome of the Tablets, was the Foundation Stone within the Holy of Holies.
*** It should be noted that although we agree with Asher Kaufman's information on the Northern Temple location we do not support all of his views. ***
Insert by Peter Salemi- Interesting, the
book of Revelation talks about the temple in Jerusalem to be measured at the time when the
beast power occupies It, and that the court of the Gentiles which is in the
south part of the temple mount was left for the Gentiles, or the Dome of the
Rock
"And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise,
and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that
worship therein.
" But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for
it is given unto the Gentiles:...the beast
[European Power, King of the North] that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make
war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.
"And their dead bodies [The Two Witnesses] shall lie in the street of the great
city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.[Jerusalem]"
(Rev 11:1-2, 7-8).
The Abomination of Desolation, The Great Tribulation, and the Third Temple
By Peter Salemi
End time prophecies are racing into fulfillment in these modern times. Jesus Christ was the greatest prophet that ever lived, and forth told world events. He spoke of the "abomination of desolation" that was written by Daniel the prophet. What is this mysterious abomination of Desolation?
Christ specifically was referring to Daniel's prophecy in Daniel 9:27; 11:31 and 12:2. Of Daniel’s prophecy Kitto writes: ""This appears to have been a prediction of the pollution of the temple by Antiochus Epiphanes, who caused an idolatrous altar to be built on the altar of burnt offerings, whereon unclean things were offered to Jupiter Olympius, to whom the temple itself was dedicated" (Encyclopedia of Biblical Literature, John Kitto, Vol. 1, p. 22).
Of the abomination of desolation and the one who puts it in
place, Daniel wrote, "Yea, he magnified himself even to the prince of the host, and
by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of the sanctuary was cast
down" (Daniel 8:11).
The Critical and Experimental Commentary says, "Though robbed of
its treasures, it was not strictly ‘cast down’ by Antiochus; so that a fuller
accomplishment is future. Antiochus took away the daily sacrifice for a few years; the
Romans, for many ages, and ‘cast down’ the temple; and Antichrist, in connection
with Rome, the fourth kingdom, shall do so again, after the Jews in their own land, still
unbelieving, shall have rebuilt the temple and restored the Mosaic ritual" (Faussett,
Vol. 4, p. 427, emphasis mine). Yes Antiochus Epiphanes did fulfill this prophecy but only
as a FORUNNER! In verse 17 of Daniel 8 we read "" ...the time of the end shall
be the vision." Antiochus Epiphanes was only a type of an end time "little
horn" who would desecrate the temple once again.
A second forerunner of this prophesied event took place
shortly after Christ’s warning prophecy of Matthew 24:15, at the destruction of
Jerusalem by the armies of Titus. "This may with probability be referred to the
advance of the Roman army against the city with their image-crowned standards, to which
idolatrous honours were paid, and which the Jews regarded as idols. The unexpected retreat
and discomfiture of the Roman forces afforded such as were mindful of our Saviour’s
prophecy an opportunity of obeying the injunction which it contained, (i.e., Christ’s
warning {Mat. 24:16} that they should ‘flee to the mountains.’)" (Kitto,
Vol. 1, pp. 22, 23).
There was another later and more specific abomination of the holy place
accomplished by emperor Hadrian, who with "...studied insult to the Jews, set up the
figure of a boar over the Bethlehem gate of the city which rose upon the site and ruins of
Jerusalem (Euseb. Chron., 1, i. p. 45, ed. 1658), but he erected a temple to Jupiter upon
the site of the Jewish temple and caused an image of himself to be set up in the part
which answered to the most holy place" (ibid., Vol. 1, p. 23).
These abominations, which took place over a vast span of time in
history, are not the fulfillment of Christ’s end-time prophecy! Notice again the time
setting of Christ’s Olivet prophecy:
"When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation...stand
in the holy place...then let them which be in Jerusalem flee into the
mountains...for then shall be GREAT TRIBULATION such as was not since the beginning of the
world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
"And except those days should be shortened [by Divine intervention
God’s heavenly signs, plagues, and the Second Coming of Christ], there should no
flesh be saved [alive], but for the elect’s sake, those days shall be shortened"
(Matthew 24:15-22).
Now for there to be a "holy place" there must be a rebuilding of a third temple which is prophesied to happen. We also read in Daniel 12:11 that at the time of the Abomination of Desolation that the "daily sacrifices" are to be taken away indicating that the temple will soon be built. But what will be this abomination that makes desolate, and starts the Great Tribulation that is going to come upon our people the USA and the British, Northwestern Europe and the Jews.
Paul makes light of it in his letter to the Thessalonians: "Now we
beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering
together unto him,
"That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word,
nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. [obvious time
setting]
"Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come
a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
"Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that
is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is
God.
" Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
" And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
" For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let,
until he be taken out of the way.
" And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume
with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
" Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and
lying wonders,
" And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they
received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
" And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a
lie:
" That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in
unrighteousness" (2 Thess 2:1-12). Notice that this man sits in the Temple of God
proclaiming that he is God, and this man, Jesus Christ will destroy at his second coming.
There can be nothing more abominable than that! This man is identified as the Second beast
of Revelation 13 in verse 11:"And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth;
and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.
"And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth
and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.
" And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from
heaven on the earth in the sight of men,
" And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he
had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that
they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live"
(Rev 13:11-14). Notice the similarities between the two scriptures that show that it is
speaking of the same individual. This person is a false Christian leader who will proclaim
himself to be God in the Temple of God in Jerusalem. This leader is identified as the
Pope! Go To Who,
What is the Beast of Revelation
The Good News of the Temple Mount
Even though the temple mount has been fought over for centuries, there is a bright and glorious future for the temple mount at the second coming of Jesus Christ.
Isaiah writes: " And it shall come to pass in the last days, that
the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and
shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.
" And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of
the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we
will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the
LORD from Jerusalem.
" And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall
beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not
lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more...And I looked,
and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand,
having his Father's name written in their foreheads." (Isaiah 2:2-4; Rev 14:1).
Jesus will finally stand on the temple mount and will rule all nations on the Throne of
David, see Isaiah 9:6-7. All the nations of the world will come to Jerusalem to learn of
God and his laws by the teachings of Jesus Christ. The Temple mount will be the
Headquarters of the entire world. There we will go and " it shall come to pass, that
every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go
up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of
tabernacles" (Zechariah 14:16). There all people will go and keep the Feast of
Tabernacles, and worship Jesus Christ. What a wonderful future the Temple Mount has, and
what assurance we have from God in the midst of all the turmoil over the Temple Mount,
that this place in the midst of all this evil, has a great future.
"Let Us Rise Up and Build"
"Jerusalem and the Temple Mount"
Conference speech by Gershon Salomon
Given via video in January to the
"Redemption Process at the Climax of the Ages Prophecy Conference"
in Orlando, Florida [audio only at this time]
