The Temple Mount

Yesterday we went to the archeological park in Jerusalem, which contains the Temple Mount of Jesus' time. It was unearthed as recently as the 1970's. The Temple was constructed by Herod, who was half Jewish by heritage. The building is a monumental structure, massive even by todays standards. The majority of the stones used to construct the Temple are believed to be even larger than those that were used to construct the pyramids. When the Roman's destroyed Jerusalem around 70 A.D. to eradicate the Jewish rebellion, they actually left a portion(the portion we see today) standing to show the rest of the world what a mighty civilization they had destroyed. The rest of the Temple complex and the city was demolished, fulfilling Jesus' prophecy in Matthew 24:2.

Vern preparing to teach our lesson on the steps of the Temple Mount.

Jesus is believed to have taught his sermon in Matthew 23 from these steps. There is also speculation that the Pentecost sermon, and some of Paul's teaching took place here.

Note the view from the Temple Mount. It was located at one of the highest points within Jerusalem, a common practice at the time for a place of worship. It looks directly down to the City of David. In verse 4 of Matthew 23, Jesus refers to people being crushed with impossible burdens while the pharisee's do not lift a finger to help them. This was probably a reference to the people who would have been carrying water up to the Temple Mount from the City of David(because the pharisee's declared that the only water they could use to purify themselves had to come from the Pool of Siloam in the City of David.). This would have been a very difficult task(I can attest to the steepness and difficulty of the climb from the City of David to the Temple Mount). Later in Chapter 23, in verse 25, Jesus makes reference to the bowl shape of Jerusalem, which is easily distinguishable from the Temple Mount.Road the Jesus likely took en route to the Temple. Note that even the stones in the road were destroyed by the Romans, again fulfilling Jesus prophecy in Matthew 24:2. Interesting to note: The Romans were meticulous when it came to destroying a civilization. The city of Jerusalem consisted of many limestone structures. The Romans set fire to the city(more difficult than you would think, considering that the city was made of stone), by stuffing the cracks in the stone with wood and piling wood around the structures. When they set fire to the wood, it heated up the water inside of the limestone, causing it to explode. Ingenius.

Biblical geography is fun!

We will be traveling for the next four days to Cesearea, Nazereth, The Sea of Galilee, Mt. Carmel, the Meggido Valley, and a couple other sites that I can not remember off the top of my head. We won't have internet access, so I won't be posting until we return.

Leave comments for us to come back too!

Alexander