The Temple Mount In The News

The Temple Mount in Jerusalem was in the news again recently. The site is generally considered as being in Jerusalem but is administered by a Jordanian organization, which is allowed by Israel to keep the peace. Jews and other non-Moslems are allowed to visit the Temple Mount during certain hours, aside from having the Western Wall area just below the Temple Mount, but Moslems took exception to an Israeli government minister visiting the site. Does anyone remember how Ariel Sharon, former Israeli Prime Minister, taking a highly-publicized walk on the Temple Mount in 2000 led to the Second Intifada?

The Temple Mount, as the name implies, is the retaining wall of the final Jewish Temple in Jerusalem, and the elevated area that it encloses. The final Temple was the Third Temple. It was destroyed by the Romans a few decades after the time of Jesus in punishment for an uprising against Roman rule.

Image from Google Earth.

Jesus himself foretold the coming destruction of the Temple, which seemed ludicrous to the religious establishment. He said the Temple would be so completely destroyed that "not one stone would remain upon another". Indeed what happened is that, during the uprising, the wooden parts of the Temple caught fire. The heat melted gold objects in the Temple so that gold flowed down between the foundation stones. After the fire went out the Romans, looking for the gold, pried the foundation stones apart so that indeed "not one stone remained upon another".

The original Temple, or Solomon's Temple, was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, when the Jews were taken into exile in Babylon. Persia later conquered Babylon and the Jews that wanted to were allowed to return. They built the Second Temple on the site of the one that had been destroyed. But the Second Temple was not as elaborate as the First.

After a few centuries King Herod, ruler of the Jews as long as he stayed in favor with the Romans, decided to dismantle the Second Temple to build one that would be at least as grand as the First Temple. 

The First and Second Temples were at the top of a hill called Mount Moriah. Herod surrounded Mount Moriah with a retaining wall made of massive stones. Then he filled in the gaps with soil and built the magnificent Temple atop the new Temple Mount. The Temple was destroyed as described above but the retaining wall and the Temple Mount remain to this day.

The Temple Mount is surely the most valuable piece of real estate in the world. Many places across the world are considered as sacred, but most sacred places are sacred to only one religion. The Temple Mount is so sacred that it is sacred to three religions. Jews, Christians and, Moslems all consider the site as highly sacred. There were no Moslems when Herod's Temple was built but Moslems had control of the site for many centuries after the end of the Roman Empire and built the two mosques that stand on the site today.

After the Second World War the world powers supported the nation of Israel being reestablished as a homeland for the Jews. There were already Jews in Palestine but this officially brought it back to being a nation, just as it had been in ancient times. The Arab Palestinians who lived there were, of course, not pleased at all and the new state was attacked almost immediately. There was another war, in 1967, in which Israel captured the Old City of Jerusalem, including the Temple Mount, and that is where the present troubles begin.

Here is our visit to it, which includes my own spiritual theory about the Temple Mount. This is "Esau And The Temple Mount":

www.markmeeksideas.blogspot.com/2016/02/esau-and-temple-mount.html?m=0 

The general consensus among students of Bible prophecy is that the Temple must be rebuilt for the End Times because the Antichrist will go into the Temple of God and claim to be God. The Bible does not state that the Temple will be rebuilt but the implication is that it must be. Honestly I have some doubt over whether the Temple must be rebuilt, or if that prophecy might mean any prominent cathedral. As it is now the Temple Mount works like an open-air Temple. Here is a link to my point of view:

www.markmeeksideas.blogspot.com/2021/10/does-temple-really-have-to-be-rebuilt.html?m=0

If you are interested in the Temple Mount you will probably also be interested in "The Tomb Of The Patriarchs". Here is a link to it:

www.markmeeksideas.blogspot.com/2017/05/the-tomb-of-patriarchs.html?m=0

Grand Island, NY, the large island in the Niagara River formed where the river splits in two and later comes back together again, was considered as a possible homeland for the Jews before Israel was reestablished in 1948. It was to be named "Ararat" but not many Jews took an interest.

Image from Google Earth