The Temple Mount, The Western Wall, and the Garden Tomb

On 9/11 we visited the Temple Mount. Because of the emotionally charged date, as we entered dozens of Muslims were shouting “Allah Akbar!” (Allah is great) at us. (Quite the eerie reception) Nevertheless, we journeyed on and learned that the Al-Aqsa mosque is the third holist site in the world for Muslims. It was built in 690AD but destroyed by an earthquake and rebuilt. The iconic Dome of the Rock with the huge gold dome (donated by King Husain of Jordan) is actually a women’s chapel built directly on the same spot as Herod’s temple—The holiest site of all Judaism. Even today, the Western wall (Wailing wall) of the ancient Temple Mount still stands and Jews still weep over the destruction the opulent temple by the Romans in 70AD. During that time, there were three courts for the Gentiles, women and the Jews. The Royal Stowa was where the Al-Asqa mosque stands today and was the heart of commerce. Herod completely leveled out the Temple Mount, making it the flattest place in Jerusalem, in order to accommodate his grandiose building projects.

Muslims claim that Muhammad ascended up to heaven at the spot of the Dome of the Rock, but they only made that story up after they had built the Dome. Muslims assert their sovereignty by building mosques at the holiest of foreign sites. For example, this purposed 13-story mega mosque planned to be built just two blocks away from Ground Zero in NYC. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Park51

Reverting back to the history of the Temple Mount, French crusaders conquered Jerusalem from the Muslims in 1098 and changed the Dome of the Rock into a Christian church. It was changed back when the Ottoman Empire controlled Jerusalem for 400 years—until 1917. After WWI the British controlled Israel until the Six-Day war happened in 1967, when Israel became a Jewish state again. (Israel declared independence and every Muslim country around it declared war instantly and attacked, but Israel prevailed)

Additionally, we visited the tunnels underground following the Western Wall, which used to be a street. Huge aqueducts followed this path, connecting the upper city with the Temple Mount. Then we visited ruins of wealthy homes in Jerusalem at the time of its destruction in 70AD. The homes even had Mikvahs in them—Jewish purification baths. Jesus refers to this practice when he teaches on salvation and purification in John 3:1-3. Jerusalem was destroyed because the Jews gave over to infighting and Jesus predicted that the Temple would be destroyed. Titus, who would later succeed his father as Emperor of Rome, sieged Jerusalem for months and eventually burned the city and also took Masada (rock fortress), the last Jewish stronghold.

Finally, we visited the Garden Tomb, which is a possibility of where Jesus was buried. It’s a very peaceful spot that includes many similar things to the burial place of Jesus yet it doesn’t originate to the 1^st century and it is very far outside the city. One important quote I remembered, “Romans always crucify near a busy road, to show the people the punishment of transgressing the law.”

Overall, these two days spent in Jerusalem were eye opening—especially for some of the teachings of Jesus. Jerusalem is clearly not the city of brotherly love, but it is the City of God, unique only because of the One whom bestowed favor on it, quite similar to us.