Trip to Holy Land - Day Eleven Part A

Today, May 15, 2014, is Israeli Independence Day.  Tarek informed us that to the Palestinians, it is the day they lost their country.

Again, we got an early start.  We headed for Old City Jerusalem and entered through the Dung Gate, called this because that is where refuse is removed.
There are actually 11 gates in the old city wall with seven open for use:  Zion Gate, also spelled "Sion" Gate; St. Stephen's Gate, also known as the Lions' Gate (due to two lions on the wall on either side of the entry; Herod's Gate, also known as the Flower Gate; Damascus Gate, also known as the Shechem Gate; New Gate; and Jaffa Gate.

Upon entering the Dung Gate, we were now in the Jewish Quarter.

 

It is very interesting how the city has been divided throughout the

ages into four uneven quarters, although the current designations

were introduced only in the 19th century.  Today, the Old City is

roughly divided into the Muslim Quarter, the Christian Quarter, the

Jewish Quarter, and the Armenian Quarter.  The current population

of the Old City resides mostly in the Islamic and Christian

quarters.  As of 2007, the total population was 36,965; the

breakdown of religious groups in 2006 was 27,5000 Muslims,

5,681 Christians, 790 Armenians, and 3,089 Jews.

After entering into the Jewish Quarter, we went through

security where we were divided between the men and women. 

 We then passed a cemetery on a terraced hillside.

We then went down many steps to the Kotel or Western Wall 

Tunnel.

This is an underground tunnel exposing the full length of the Western Wall.  It is located under buildings of the Old City of Jerusalem.  While the open-air portion of the Western Wall is approximately 200 feet long, the majority of its original length is hidden underground.  The tunnel allows access to an additional 1,591 feet of the wall.

 

 Tarez showed us the model of the temple mount with removable

sections so we could see where the wall is.  Most of the Western

Wall is in the Muslim Quarter.  The visible Western Wall used to

be the Moroccan Neighborhood, but as is shown in the picture, the

houses were razed in 1967 and it is now the Jewish Quarter.   

 

In looking at this picture, part of the tunnel is actually underneath

the wall that you are looking at ahead which is only part of the

original wall surrounding the temple.  Why was only this part

saved when the temple was destroyed in 70 AD by the Romans?

 (This is the wall that is visible above us.)

 The Roman leader Titus Flavious asked his four commanders to

destroy the city and the wall.  Three did, but one didn’t complete

the destruction of the wall, claiming that it should be left as

evidence of their conquest.  

  Since there is no temple, the Jews use the wall as their place to

pray, and actually by going underneath in the tunnel which extends

beyond that above, they can get nearer to where the Holy of Holies

in the temple was located which they claim is where the Dome of

the Rock owned by the Muslims is today. 

The sign states that this is all as it was in the day of King Herod. 

No later repairs.  These concrete supports are used to reinforce

the ancient streets which are above in Jerusalem's Muslim

Quarter.  At the end of this tunnel is the northern exit.

This tunnel, all along the temple mount wall, used to be the 

main road in Roman times. 

 These were columns that were along the colonnaded street.

-->Tareq gave us a little history lesson so that we could understand what we were seeing.  The original temple built by King Solomon was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BC.  The 2^nd Temple was dedicated about 515 BC.  King Herod (who came to power about 37 BC) extended the foundation of the temple with massive retaining walls which took more than 40 years to complete.  His stones have his signature “carved frame” appearance. 

 This entire foundation is on bedrock.  Then King Herod used huge stones--the largest was nearly 33 feet long!  They were chiseled square and were excavated.  These are the original stones.  Each layer of the wall which is basically a retaining wall is indented one inch to keep the wall in place.  The chiseled square areas in the huge stones are for lifting and moving the stones.

We saw a short video on how they might have moved those heavy stones with pulleys and animals, rolling heavy stones on logs, etc.  (Brother Thompson mentioned that this is similar to the way the early pioneers built the Salt Lake Temple).   

 (We had our devotional for today while standing on stairs and in the tunnel.)

 When Jesus was alive he wept on the Mount of Olives and knew that Jerusalem and the temple would be destroyed, “not one stone standing on another.”  The temple and city were destroyed just as he prophesied, but this little portion of the wall by the temple was preserved. 

(When the people pray and put their prayers on little papers, some of them have fallen through the cracks down here.)

 

 We now were in the area called "The Cave" because of its location under the Temple Mount.  The Jews formerly had their synagogue in Jerusalem because it was considered the closest place to the Holy of Holies--the inner sanctuary of Solomon's Temple which could be entered only by the High Priest on Yom Kippur.  As the sign says,  now the whole passage functions as a large cistern serving the visitors to the Temple Mount (or the former place where Solomon's Temple used to be.)

Ladies were seated and praying, rocking and reading scriptures at the wall.  It is the closest point to the Holy of Holies, so it is especially sacred to them.
These people are so devoted to their beliefs that they would come to this fairly dark tunnel to pray and read their scriptures is amazing!   In 324 AD (Byzantine Period) Constantine made Christianity the official religion.  Many Christian churches were built on the Temple Mount and around the country.  Because of the prophesy of Jesus, Jews did not build anything on the mount and the Temple Mount remained desolate. 

In 638 the Muslims came.  They declared that Muhammad had ascended into heaven from a rock on the Temple Mount (supposedly the rock where Abraham was to sacrifice his son).  They built the Dome of the Rock Mosque over the rock.  To Muslims that rock is the center of the universe.  After the holy places of Mecca and Medina, the place of Muhammad’s ascension is the 3^rd holiest site for Muslims. 

 Later the Al-Aqsa Mosque was built at the southern end of the Temple Mount.  Arabs have controlled the Temple Mount since 1187 (when the Crusaders were defeated) and it is still a Muslim holy place. (Back side of the mosque.)

(Front side of the Al-Aqsa Mosque.)

At the end of the tunnel, we suddenly noticed that the iron gate 

wouldn't let us out.  That was a little frightening.  But after a few

 stressful minutes, the guard came with the keys and did their

security check to let us out. 

  We left the tunnel, walked along the Via Dolorosa (the pathway on which Jesus carried his cross) to the SE corner.  I will talk more about Via Deolorsa later.

We had to hurry to get into the security line to go into the Temple Mount.  The area is not open on Fridays because that is the Muslim holy day, so we had to go today (Thursday).  In addition, if you aren’t in by 10:00 am, they close the door and you are out of luck.  They don’t allow tourists on the mount for their Muslim noon prayers.  
From where we were in line, we could look down to see the people congregating in front of the Western Wall where they were praying and reading their scriptures. 

 According to the Torah, Jews are forbidden to go to the Temple Mount because they don’t know exactly where the Holy of Holies was and they might step on that site!  Instead, Jews pray at the Western Wall – waiting for their Messiah.   

 The men and women are divided when approaching the Western Wall.

 The place where their books of scripture are kept.

Joyce snapped this great picture of one of the Jewish men walking towards the Wall.

Getting through security into the Temple Mount area, we noticed many soldiers with machine guns in the area. 

The Temple Mount has been one of the most hotly disputed religious sites of worship for the past few centuries and has been one of the main points of tension between Israel and Palestine, as both Jewish and Muslim authorities have been locked in a stalemate over what to do with what is believed to be a temple visited by the presence of God.

In Judaism and Christian Zionism, the ancient site was the location of two previous temples and prophecies suggest a third temple will be built there, which will unite people from all nations, serving as a major religious center when Jesus returns.  For Muslims, the temple is referred to as the Noble Sanctuary and is where it is believed the Prophet Muhammad ascended into heaven.

 There are frequent problems in this area, so that is why security is so high.

 

 Since the Temple Mount is under Muslim rule, the first thing that happened was that they pointed to about half of our group of 32 and told them to come with them.  I couldn't figure out what was happening, and fortunately George and I weren't in the half that had to go with the Arab men.  

Why did they need to go with them?  Tarek called them Arab money changers because they forced all those who they had picked out of the group to buy a scarf wrap (costing $7.00 American) to cover their knees!  The women with shorter sleeves were also required to buy a wrap!  

I called this picture of my two brothers, "The Bobbsey Twins," because they both ended up having to buy the scarves.  We got a real kick out of this!

Yes, it started getting a little more expensive for Jerry when Shelly had to buy one, too, to cover her arms!  Like I said, Tarek said this was just a way for the Arab storekeepers to make money. 

 Later on, after leaving the area, we took a picture of all of those "offenders" who had to buy the "skirt" to cover their knees.

We first passed the Al Aqsa Mosque where the Muslim men worship.  It was destroyed and rebuilt several times.  It is supposed to be the site where Muhammad did his night journey and was told how to pray – 5 times a day.  He came back to have a group prayer with all of the prophets (from Adam to Jesus). 

No shoes are allowed in a mosque.  Floors are covered with carpets.   In 1969 an Australian tourist set fire to the mosque.  Now non-Arabs are not allowed to enter the Mosque.  This Mosque is used for worshiping by the Muslim men.  

 We held a brief devotional on these steps, and again one of the Arab men came and told our group to cover our legs!

The Dome of the Rock built on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem in AD 691, is an impressive structure, easily seen in many photographs of Jerusalem.  Not only is it on top of Mount Moriah, but it was also built on an elevated platform raising it up another 16 feet above the rest of the Temple Mount area.

  
While many people mistakenly refer to the Dome of Rock as a mosque, it was actually built as a shrine for pilgrims, although it is located near an important Muslim mosque, Al-Aqsa, which we passed when we first came in.

 

It has a beautiful façade.  Unfortunately, the Muslims have ruled that tourists are not allowed inside.  Originally, the dome was covered with pure gold, but after the Dome was raided, it was replaced with silver.  Now gold plating covers the dome.  Jordan’s King Hussein was the last one who paid to have the dome plated.  Crusaders put a cross on the dome but Saladin, the first sultan of Egypt and Syria in the 1100s, had it removed. 

Inside at the center of the Dome is the highest point of Mount Moriah.  It has a bare rock which measures about 60 feet by 40 feet and rises about 6 feet from the floor of the shrine.   This rock is where Jews and Christians believe Abraham was prepared to offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice to God.  (Genesis 22:1-14)  It is also considered to be the location of the threshing floor of Araunah, the Jebusite, where David built an altar to the Lord (2 Samuel 24:18).  

Some even believe the rock might have been the location of the Holy of Holies that was a part of the Jewish Temple where the Jewish High Priest would enter once a year to make atonement for Israel's sins.  The platform or Temple Mount area that houses the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque was built in the first century AD under the rule of Herod the Great as part of his rebuilding of the second Jewish Temple.  Jesus worshiped at Herod's Temple, and it was there that He prophesied its destruction.  (Matthew 24:1-2)  Jesus' prophecy was fulfilled when the temple was destroyed by the Roman army in 70 AD. 

After Muslims took control of Jerusalem in AD 637, Islamic leaders commissioned the building of the Dome of the Rock in AD 685. It took almost seven years to complete and today is one of the world’s oldest Islamic structures.  You can not pray, or take out a Bible (at the temple).  Since 2000 they have restricted access to the principle buildings there.  They do not allow anyone other than Muslims to go into the structure – while previously it was allowed.   While the Muslim men worship at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the women worship at Dome of the Rock.

 As the place where the Jewish temple once stood, the Temple Mount is considered to be the holiest place in Judaism and is the place where Jews and some Christians believe that the third and final temple will be built.  Many Jews are making preparations for the Third Temple to be built on the site, and Christians also look with interest on those preparations. According to the prophecy of Daniel 9:27, there will be another Temple built here.  

 However, this area is also the third holiest site in Islam.  According to Muslim legend, the Prophet Muhammad was taken to Mount Moriah by the angel Gabriel, and from there Muhammad ascended into heaven and met all the prophets that had preceded him, as well as seeing God sitting on His throne surrounded by angels.

As you can see, because of its importance to both Jews and Muslims, the Temple Mount area is a highly contested religious site over which both the Palestinian Authority and Israel claim sovereignty.  

The "Dome of the Chain," is a small structure which slightly resembles the Dome of the Rock.   The dome owes its name to the tradition according to which King Solomon would test witnesses by having them hold the chain.  Those who would bare false witness would be struck by lightning through the chain while those who spoke truthfully would leave unharmed.  According to Muslim tradition, on Judgment Day, the chain will be hung from the center of the dome and will once again be used to judge the righteous from the sinners.

It is still unclear, however, what was the this smaller dome’s practical function and there are many speculations.  For instance, some believe it was built to mark the ‘Naval of the World’ as many believe this area to be the geographical and spiritual center of the world, while others claim that it was merely a treasury.

The unusual shape of the open structure includes a nearly 43-feet diameter dome sitting upon 11 external and 6 internal pillars.  Its construction is attributed to the same person who built the Dome of the Rock.

 El Kas, or The Cup, used for Muslim purification.  Men and women are not allowed to pray unless they are clean.  This cleansing area sits in front of Al-Aqsa and between the Dome of the Rock and the El Aqsa Mosque.

 After our visit to the Temple Mount, we  departed through the Al-Asbat Gate (one of 10 gates on the mount – named after the tribes of Israel) 

and out the Lions’ Gate of the old city.   

 

 Notice the lions on either side of the gate.

 We boarded the bus again.  Tareq told us that everyone used to live inside the city walls and they closed the gates at night.  In the 1800s, a very nice neighborhood was built outside the wall – but the residents would go into the city to sleep at night!   

 Now it is a very exclusive neighborhood – owned mainly by American Jews who come only occasionally to that home, so it is a security problem.   

We saw the neighborhood with the windmill. 

 

 We passed a modern mall near the Jaffa Gate – with expensive stores.  There are some trees! 

Passing by the Israeli Parliament building (Knesset), which was built in the shape of the Arc of the Covenant.

Next up:  We visit Israeli National Museum and Shrine of the Book