Israel 2014 #4

#4 … Wednesday - April 30^th [The Temple Mount area]

First: The Temple Mount.  There is no other spot in all of Israel that conjures up such passion as the remnant of the site where the Jewish Holy of Holies once sat.  For many people, their first view of the Temple Mount is from the Mount of Olives to the east.  And for us to grasp the size of this, consider the fact that 40 American football fields could fit within its borders!

The site of the Temple of Solomon, and of the later Temple built by Herod the Great (during Jesus time), is now an enormous stone platform upon which stands the golden covered Dome of the Rock and the smaller Al Aqsa Mosque

However, before the Muslims built the Mosque, Solomon had built the First Temple on the threshing floor that his father David had purchased from Arunah the Jebusite (2 Samuel 24:18-25). 

This site is also where God stayed the hand of Abraham as he took his son Isaac to the place of sacrifice (2 Chronicles 3:1), where God stopped the plague against the Israelites (2 Samuel 24:15-18), and the place that He brought His people back to after their captivity in Babylon (Ezra).  More can be read about the Temple Mount at this website: http://www.bibleplaces.com/templemount.htm

• A simple lesson here is Christianity is about a relationship with God through Jesus.  As a follower of Christ we are indwelt by the presence of God and there is no particular place that we have to go and worship.  We can worship the Lord 24/7 wherever we are and at any time!!

Second: The Pool of Bethesda.  In John 5:1-18 we read how Jesus healed a man who had been paralyzed for a number of years.  Today, the Church of St. Anne sits here near the site and the pool has been excavated so you can actually see it.  The pool was associated with healing and had continued to be so throughout the early centuries following the time of Christ. 

This picture from the scale model of 1^st century Jerusalem shows what they would have looked like back in the day --- with the Roman fortress of Antonio in the back ground and the Temple Mount just to the left.

• Another simple lesson: For hundreds of years skeptics said there was no “five column covered colonnade” as John 5 described it.  The problem was that they hadn't dug deep enough or long enough!   God’s word is accurate and has always been verified by history and archaeology working together.  Anyone with an open mind will learn that God’s word is truth!

Third: The Western / Wailing Wall.  The temples built by Solomon and Hero shard more than the same site, they shared a similar fate: both were utterly destroyed in war.  Nothing remains of the original buildings of which the rabbis said, “He who has never see the Temple has never seen a beautiful thing in his life.”  The wall where Jews pray today, the Western Wall, is actually only a small portion of the western retaining wall of the platform on which the Temple originally stood.

It is nick-named the Wailing Wall by Westerners because of the fervent prayers and crying that the Jews offer up as they stand in front near it.  It is the closed original spot by which Jews can get to the location of the former Holy of Holies --- remember the Muslims have their Golden Dome just above where this is, nearly on the same location of where the Temple used to be.

Fourth: The City of David and Hezekiah’s Tunnel: The location of the former king’s refuge is mentioned in Genesis 14:17-24; Judges 19:10-12; 2 Samuel 5:5-16; 6:1-12; and 2 Samuel 24:18-25.  The fertile spring of Gihon attracted settles as early as the 4^th millennium B.C.  Current excavations are taking place and this is one of the truly hot archaeological digs in Israel today.

Fifth: Hezekiah’s Tunnel.  This is always one of the highlights of any trip to Jerusalem.  At the end of the 8^th century B.C. King Sennacherib and the Assyrian Army conquered all of the Northern Kingdom of Israel which had separated from Judah after the death of Solomon.  Sennacherib then marched to Jerusalem, the capital of the Southern Kingdom, and besieged the city in 701 B.C. 

King Hezekiah of Judah prevented the besieged city of Jerusalem from falling into the hands of the enemy by cutting a long aqueduct of bring water from the only fresh water source of the city which lie outside the walls; the Gihon Spring.  The aqueduct brought the water to the Pool of Siloam.  It was a brilliant engineering feat as he had a tunnel of 1,733 feet long (1/3 of a mile) through solid rock from two ends and meeting in the middle. People enjoy wading water up to their waist in dark tunnels as it gets them into the feel of history from so long ago.

By cutting this tunnel, the people within the city walls had water to drink.  This allowed them to hold out as God delivered the nation from the Assyrians (2 Chronicles 32:9-23, 30).  This story is recorded in the annuals of the Assyrian king and it shows the historical accuracy of the Bible.

• Two thoughts here: One, God has given man an incredible creative spirit!  That spirit can be used for good or evil, depending on our relationship to the living God.  Two, God promises to meet the needs of his people and to see us through our difficulties if we will but obey Him.