The Temple Mount.
After a yummy breakfast at our hotel,The Olive Tree Hotel, we're off to the Old City of Jerusalem to explore the Temple Mount! Yay! How exciting!
So there we are, before 8am in the morning, standing in line at the Dung Gate to go into the City. This being Israel, it takes some time to go through security to get in but before too long we are standing inside the Old City and it is lovely!
The entrance to the Western Wall Plaza is situated directly behind the Dung Gate but for today we are specifically going to see The El Aksa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount.
Some Biblical facts:
Jewish tradition identifies the Mount with Mount Moriah where the binding of Isaac took place as Abraham prepared to sacrifice his son (Genesis 22:1-22).
According to the Hebrew bible, the Temple Mount was originally a threshing floor owned by Araunah, a Jebusite. David bought the property from Araunah, for fifty pieces of silver, and erected an altar (Samuel 24:18-25) to worship the Lord. YHWH instructed David to build a sanctuary on the site, outside the city walls on the northern edge of the hill. The building was to replace the Tabernacle, and serve as the Temple of the Israelites in Jerusalem.
Eventually David’s son Solomon built the Temple (1 Kings 6).
Solomon’s temple was destroyed in 587 BC by Nebuchadnezzar the 2nd and Jews were taken captive into Babylon. In 537 BC when the Jews returned from captivity, they built a smaller Temple under the direction of Zerubabel.
Herod the Great reconstructed a much larger Temple, beginning in 20 BC. Construction was completed in 64 AD, only 6 years before its destruction in 70 AD by Rome, when it was razed to the ground by the armies of Titus, the army commander and son of Roman Emperor Vespasian.
Jesus prophesied that not one stone of the Temple would be left standing. The siege lasted six months.
Waiting to go onto the Temple Mount through the Dung gate The Western wall from above.
When the Muslims invaded in 638 AD, they took over the Holy Sites because that is what new religions do when they enter a new area. Just as God told the children of Israel to do when they took over new areas. ‘Destroy their Holy sites and their altars.’ Therefore, the Muslims took over the Temple Mount.
The Muslim security checks to make sure you are suitably dressed as the Temple Mount is a holy site and your arms and legs have to be covered. For those who are not suitably dressed, they give you, men and women, a long skirt to wear. The El Aksa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock.
On the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem stands the Dome of the Rock. It is an Islamic Shrine, which initially was completed in 691 AD. It was built on the site of the Roman temple, which in turn had been built on the site of the Second Jewish Temple, which was destroyed by Rome in 70 AD.
The site’s great significance for Muslims derives from traditions connecting it to creation as well as to the belief that the Prophet Muhammad started his Night Journey here when he fell asleep in Mecca and was taken on a heavenly journey on a winged horse from the rock at the center of the structure. He was offered wine and milk by the Angel Gabriel and chose the milk. He was then accepted as the representative of Islam.
According to Jewish tradition, the rock bears great significance as the Foundation Stone from which the world expanded at creation and where God gathered dust to create Adam. It is also regarded as the site where Abraham attempted to sacrifice his son and is the place where God’s divine presence is manifested more than in any other place.
El Aksa Mosque
North West stairway in the Temple Mount leading to the center platform. The bottom row of stairs aligns with the top of the West Wall of the First Temple.
The Sheep Gate (inside from the Lion’s Gate or St. Stephen’s Gate).
The Sheep gate is the gate through which all the sacrificial lambs would be led into the city and immediately up onto the Temple Mount. More importantly for us though, it is the entrance that marks the last walk of Jesus from prison to execution. Our sacrificial Lamb, made His way through this gate to be judged.
Friendly Israeli police officer on the way to the Sheep gate.
The Lion’s Gate or St. Stephen’s Gate or Sheep Gate.
Also known as the Lion's Gate - so named after the carvings of the ferocious looking animals on either side of it.
Lastly, it is also called St.Stephen's Gate because it is believed that Stephen was led out of these gates to be stoned to death.
On our way through the Muslim Quarter of the city to the Pools of Bethesda.
Pool of Bethesda – John 5:2-4
The ruins of the Byzantine Church adjacent to the Pool of Bethesda. According to the Hebrew or Aramaic language, the name of the pool means either house of mercy or house of grace.
The Church of Saint Anne.
A Roman Catholic church which is located at the start of the Via Dolorosa near the Pool of Bethesda.
It is also near the Church of the Condemnation and Flagellation in the Muslim Quarter of the old city in Jerusalem.
The Mount of Olives and the Kidron Valley.
Just beyond the eastern wall of Jerusalem lies the Mount of Olives, a mountain range and the Kidron Valley, which lies between the Mount of Olives and Jerusalem. If Jesus stepped onto the Mount of Olives today this is what He would see.
There is a Muslim graveyard in front of the Eastern Wall. It was placed there to prevent the Messiah from coming…It is prophesied that He will enter in through the Eastern Gate.
Why did they build it there? They know that according to the Law of Moses, a Holy person cannot walk through the cemetery and go up on the Temple Mount because then he would be unclean.
Of course, who can prevent prophecy from being fulfilled? Who can stop the Resurrection and the Life?
Some Biblical facts
David fled to the Mount of Olives (2 Samuel 15:30).
Prophecy about the return of Jesus on the Mount of Olives (Zechariah 14:4). Jews believe that the Messiah will come on the Mount of Olives and Christians believe that Jesus, the Messiah, will come back on the Mount of Olives. When He comes, His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives and it will split in two. One part will move towards the south and one part will move to the north, which will create a big valley. The Bible says that water will flow from the Temple Mount and flow towards the eastern regions. (Ezekiel 47). That is only possible if this mountain splits in two.
The question is…will God restore the Garden of Eden?
Jesus triumphal entry (Matthew 21:1). Jesus prophetic discourse about the end of times (Matthew 24:3). It was here on the Mount of Olives that Jesus stood and wept as He looked out over Jerusalem. He knew the terrible destruction that would take place in Jerusalem (Luke 19:41-44).
Jesus ascension from the Mount of Olives (Luke 24:50-53; Acts 1:9-12).
The view from the Mount of Olives.
The Kidron Valley lies between the city walls and the Mount of Olives.
Dominos Flevit Church.
Translated from Latin, it means, "The Lord Wept".
It is fashioned in the shape of a teardrop to symbolize the tears of Christ.
Here according to Luke 19, Jesus was overwhelmed by the beauty of the Second Temple and predicting it's future destruction, wept openly over Jerusalem
The Garden of Gethsemane.
On the Mount of Olives is the Garden of Gethsemane. It was in this garden near Jerusalem (Matthew 26:30, 36) that Jesus liked to pray. It was the scene of Christ’s agony and His betrayal (Matthew 26:36-56; Luke 22:39-54; John 18:1-12).
Gethsemane means ‘oil press’. It was in the Garden of Gethsemane that Jesus agonized in prayer. So deep was His agony that He was ‘pressed’ until water and blood began to pour from his pores. His obedience to His Father won out over the weakness of His flesh and for that, we will be forever thankful.
We walked down the Mount of Olives to the Garden of Gethsemane. At the entrance was this reconstruction of the whipping post.
As I stood looking out at these wonderful ancient olive trees...I could not contain the emotions that welled up in me...a deep reverence that was humbling gripped my heart and I wept...
The Old City of Jerusalem.
The Old City was divided into four quarters – The Jewish section, the Armenian section, the Christian section and the Muslim section.
In 1948 the people who lived in the Jewish quarter were Jews from all over the world who didn’t speak Hebrew well and were not trained to defend anything. Many were survivors from the war. They were busy studying the bible and the commentaries to the bible and so they could not defend the Jewish quarter and basically were kicked out. All the synagogues and study centers were destroyed and the Arabs from the Hebron area took over the houses that had been lived in by Jews.
In the Six-Day War of 1967, when the Israelis managed to push back the Jordanians to the western side of the Jordan River, they also decided to take back the Jewish quarter because it had been theirs for hundreds and hundreds of years. They moved the people who had taken Jewish property out by force and having reclaimed their quarter, they used the opportunity to go digging – their focus was to uncover their past from 2000 years ago when Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans. The Jewish quarter became a huge Archaeological dig. Once having found those, they built houses on top of that and many houses in the Jewish quarter have a museum in their basement.
The Cardo.
One of the things that they uncovered was the ‘Cardo’, the main thoroughfare of the city leading to the Damascus Gate during the time of Emperor Hadrian in 135 AD. They had found a mosaic map in a Byzantine church, which revealed where everything had been at that time and it was what helped them to identify the ‘Cardo’.
The mural at the end of the ‘Cardo’.
The Upper Room and the place where King Davids’ grave is commemorated.
The Cenacle also known as the Upper Room is a room in the David’s Tomb Compound in Jerusalem traditionally held to be the site of the Last Supper. (Mark 14:15; Luke 22:12)
The Cenacle (Latin for dining room).
Our very last stop for the day was the Church of St. Peter in Gallicantu, also known as the House of Caiaphas or the Church of the Cockcrow where Peter denied Jesus.
The Church. It stands on the hillside of the eastern slope of Mount Zion.
According to Christian tradition, the church is built on the house of Caiaphas, the high priest.
It is believed that Jesus was held in a cave-like dungeon, the old cistern, (often referred to as the Sacred Pit) underneath the house, the night before His crucifixion.
Jesus was bound and lowered down through a hole to a dungeon where prisoners were kept.
We walked down into the Sacred Pit and in the corner is a small podium and our tour guide. Elin, read to us from Psalm 88:6-18:
"You have laid Me in the lowest pit, in the darkness, in the depths. Your wrath lays heavy upon Me, and You have afflicted Me with all Your waves. Selah. You have put away My acquaintances far from Me; You have made Me an abomination to them; I am shut up, and I cannot get out; My eyes waste away because of affliction.
Lord, I have called daily to You; I have stretched out My hands to You. Will You work wonders for the dead? Shall the dead arise and praise You? Selah. Shall Your loving-kindness be declared in the grave? Or Your faithfulness in the place of destruction? Shall Your wonders be known in the dark? And Your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?
But to You I have cried out, O Lord, and in the morning, My prayer comes before You. Lord, why do You cast off My soul? Why do You hide Your face from Me? I have been afflicted and ready to die from My youth; I suffer Your terrors; I am distraught. Your fierce wrath has gone over Me; Your terrors have cut Me off. They come around Me all day long like water; They engulfed Me altogether. Loved one and friend You have put far from Me, and My acquaintances into darkness.
Upon hearing this cry of desolation, you became more aware, perhaps for the first time, how Jesus would have felt that night, imprisoned and chained, alone in deep darkness…knowing what the next day would bring…and you weep…
