Print Page - Temple Mount Updates - Earthquake at Temple Mount creates 6'x5' hole

http://www.templeinstitute.org/images/temple-mount-hole.jpg

Temple Institute Alert - as posted at: The Temple Institute: The Holy Temple: Temple and Temple Mount News (http://www.templeinstitute.org/news.htm)

reprinted from Arutz 7
11 Adar 5768, 17 February 08 11:15

by Ezra HaLevi

(IsraelNN.com) An earthquake shook Israel at 12:37 PM Friday. The only damage reported in Israel was on the Temple Mount and near Shechem (Nablus).

The earthquake measured 5.3 on the Richter scale; its epicenter was located in northeastern Lebanon. Earlier last week a quake measuring 4.1 was felt in northern Israel, also originating from Lebanon, near its northern city of Tyre.

A large hole opened up on the Temple Mount during the quake, which was soon covered by officials from the Wakf Islamic Authority that administers the mosques built atop Judaism's holiest site.

The only other reported damage in the Holy Land was incurred between Palestinian Authority-controlled Shechem (Nablus) and Jenin, where an old home collapsed, blocking the main road to the village of Khufin. The village is not far from the site of the Biblical Joseph's Tomb, which was set ablaze by Muslim vandals last week.

At least five people were injured and two homes were destroyed in southern Lebanon as a result of Friday's quake.

Wakf Officials Blame Israel

Wakf officials tried to blame Israel for the 6-foot by 5-foot hole, which is about three feet deep, claiming it was caused by Israel, which it accuses of tunneling beneath the Temple Mount. They demanded an end to all Israeli excavations in the area.

Though several excavation projects are taking place around the Western Wall Plaza, none of them entail tunneling past the wall itself and beneath the mount. The Wakf's official position is that there was never a Jewish Temple on the Temple Mount and has gone to great efforts to erase archaeological evidence of Judaism's historical ties to the site.

Western Wall Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz issued a statement rejecting the Muslim claims. "These are mendacious reports without a grain of truth," he said, adding that work in the Temple Mount compound would be contrary to Jewish law. "Such claims are a desecration and cause hatred and incitement for no reason whatsoever," Rabbi Rabinowitz said. He stressed that work on the Rambam (Mughrabi) Gate ramp to the Temple Mount is vital for the safety of those who visit the Western Wall and called on the authorities to finish the work speedily.

Thanks for this update. Of course the Jews did it. Muslims claim they are responsible for everything that goes wrong in their world. I wonder if Global Warming will be blamed on the Jews too...

Where exactly was the hole that opened? Right on the Temple Mount? Archaeologists who have studied the cavernous space beneath the Mount/Dome say it's so weak it won't take much pressure to collapse it. When the Muslims were building their new mosques on the Mount, they destroyed Solomons Stables at its southeast corner (supposedly where Jesus' brother James was killed when his enemies threw him off the Mount). The construction by the Muslims caused a huge bulge to appear on the southside wall near the southeastern corner. Jordanian and Egyptian engineers repaired it and said the biggest cause of these problems were old age and the weather.

I can't remember where I read this but when the Muslims conquered Jerusalem in the seventh century, friendly Christians (and perhaps Jews) filled them in on the history of the Mount. They knew that Jews and Christians were waiting for a sign from God to rebuild. They knew the history but I guess now they forgot. Or probably they don't care. Their motto could be gimme gimme everthing!

The Temple Mount Archaeological Destruction (http://www.har-habayt.org/)

The Temple Institute: The Temple Mount: Mount Moriah: Recent Visit: Elul 24, 5767/September 6, 2007 (http://www.templeinstitute.org/elul_24_5767.htm)

After the opening picture of this next link below...the Muslims have no cause or rights to complain.

The Temple Institute: The Temple Mount: Mount Moriah: Recent Visit: Elul 24, 5767/September 6, 2007 (http://www.templeinstitute.org/elul_24_5767-b.htm)

The Temple Institute: The Temple Mount: Mount Moriah: Recent Visit: Elul 14, 5767/August 28, 2007 (http://www.templeinstitute.org/recent_visit_elul_14_5767.htm)

Eventually, the diggings by the Muslim "construction" will happen upon one of the Mount's water cisterns, and we will be reading how that the hole that has existed for almost 3,000 years now...was somehow recently furrowed by the Jewish conspiracy. I expect that drop to be as many as 180 feet down when one of these Mt. Moriah / Temple water cisterns are eventually found. It should be conservatively, in the range between 80-130 feet deep from the surface on which the Muslims are digging, as I understand it. And it can even -- in our age of technology -- be something as dramatic as a video of a tractor or bulldozer going down into the cavern head-first with driver, with shrieks as the earth collapses beneath them, etc., when it happens.

The location of such a deep and large cistern, unlike this first alert "pock-hole", will potentially be used as a primary point of reckoning to determine the precise location of the Herodian Temple...so it will be something to watch for.

Peace.

City of David Dig Reveals Information on Ancient Postal System

reprinted from Arutz 7
23 Adar 5768, 29 February 08 02:18

by Ezra HaLevi

(IsraelNN.com) Artifacts from City of David excavations in Jerusalem reveal an interesting tidbit of information about the ancient postal system in Israel.

In an archaeological excavation being carried out at the "Spring House," near the Gihon Spring in the City of David - in the valley east of JerusalemÕs Old City, soil was excavated which contained pottery shards that date to the Iron Age 2 (eighth century BCE).

"Whereas during the ninth century BCE, letters and goods were dispatched on behalf of their senders without names, by the eighth century BCE the clerks and merchants had already begun to add their names to the seals," concluded the Antiquities Authority.

Wet sifting and sorting through the soil revealed three fragments of clay stamps used to seal letters or goods in ancient times. Two more stone seals were recently found as well. All of the objects bear Hebrew names and all date to the eighth century BCE.

Among them is a seal that was discovered intact, bearing the Hebrew name "Rephaihu (ben) Shalem", who lived in the City of David in Jerusalem during this period. The seals were primarily used by public officials, according to Professor Ronny Reich of the University of Haifa and Eli Shukron of the Israel Antiquities Authority, who oversee the dig.

"In contrast with the large cluster of bullae (seals) that was found two years ago, in which all of its items contain graphic symbols (such as a boat or different animals - fish, lizards and birds) but are of an earlier date (end of the ninth-beginning of the eighth century BCE), the new items indicate that during the eighth century BCE the practice had changed and the clerks who used the seals began to add their own names to them."

The Israel Antiquities Authority, together with the Nature and Parks Authority and the Elad Association, discovered the seals during ongoing intensive excavations being carried out on the eastern side of the Old City of Jerusalem.

1st Temple Seal Found in City of David

reprinted from The Jerusalem Post
Feb. 28, 2008

by Etgar Lefkovits

An ancient seal bearing an archaic Hebrew inscription dating back to the 8th century BCE has been uncovered in an archeological excavation in Jerusalem's City of David, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced Thursday.

The find reveals that by 2,700 years ago, clerks and merchants had already begun to add their names to the seals instead of the symbols that were used in earlier centuries.

The state-run archeological body said the seal, which was discovered near the Gihon Spring in the City of David outside the walls of the Old City, bears the Hebrew name Rephaihu (ben) Shalem, a public official who lived in the Jerusalem neighborhood during this period.

The excavation, which is being carried out by Haifa University Professor Ronny Reich and Eli Shukron of the Israel Antiquities Authority, also uncovered pottery shards that date back to the Iron Age 2 (8th century BCE), which they used to date the seal, as well as fragments of three bullae, or pieces of clay that were used to seal letters or goods.

The discovery revealed an interesting development in the ancient world: whereas during the 9th century BCE letters and goods were dispatched on behalf of their senders without names, by the 8th century BCE the clerks and merchants had already begun to add their names to the seals, the archeologists said.

"In contrast with the large cluster of bullae that was found two years ago, in which all of its items contain graphic symbols [such as a boat or different animals - fish, lizards and birds] but are of an earlier date [end of the 9th-beginning of the 8th century BCE], the new items indicate that during the 8th century BCE the practice had changed and the clerks who used the seals began to add their names to them," Reich said.

The excavation, which is being conducted together with the Nature and Parks Authority and the support of the City of David Foundation, is one of several digs taking place in the City of David.

Police Prevent Muslims from Paving Road leading to Temple Mount

reprinted from Ynet News
Mar. 7, 2008

Several Islamic Movement activists arrived at the Temple Mount compound Friday morning and attempted to pave the road leading to the place.

A police force prevented the activists from doing so. (Aviram Zino)

(Activists now...but the Palestinian Authority, perhaps, later?)

Police Stop Islamic Work on Temple Mount

reprinted from The Jerusalem Post
Mar. 4, 2008

by Etgar Lefkovits

Police on Tuesday stopped Wakf Muslim trust officials from performing unauthorized construction work on the Temple Mount.

Officers blocked workers from continuing unauthorized "surfacing work," said Jerusalem police chief Cmdr. Aharon Franco. "It is our duty to ensure that the status quo is maintained on the Temple Mount."

He said Wakf officials had planned to carry out the work as a result of the tensions in east Jerusalem over the recent violence in the Gaza Strip and that the unusual police intervention sparked opposition on the holy site.

According to decades-old regulations, Israel maintains overall security control at the site, while the Wakf is charged with day-to-day administration.

Independent Israeli archeologists have long charged Islamic officials with destruction of antiquities at the site and blamed the government and the Antiquities Authority for turning a blind eye due to the political sensitivities involved.

Antiquities Authority spokeswoman Yoli Shwartz said Tuesday that the police had alerted the Authority about the issue, and that it would be "examined" in the coming days.

Palestinian Authority Jerusalem Affairs Minister Adnan Husseini said police stopped the "restoration work" of "deteriorated tiles" on the northern side of the Temple Mount.

"They are not digging or doing anything there but restoration," Husseini said.

Franco said that maintaining Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem, including its Temple Mount, were "top police goals."

To that end, Franco said, police worked to keep the Temple Mount open to people all of faiths over the last year, after years when restrictions were imposed on Jewish and Christian visits due to concerns over Palestinian violence there.

More than 5,200 Israeli Jews visited the Temple Mount in 2007, an increase of 6.3 percent over 2006, while nearly 240,000 foreign tourists visited the ancient compound last year, a 41.4% increase over a year earlier.

Another Second Temple Quarry Uncovered

Blog from Leen Ritmeyer (posting on quarry will eventually phase out)...Dr Leen Ritmeyer’s blog (http://blog.ritmeyer.com/)

Temple Mount quarry found
May 20th, 2008 by Leen Ritmeyer

It was reported today that another quarry has been found in Jerusalem, whose stones may have been used in the construction of Herod’s Temple Mount. The largest stone is said to measure 0.69 x 0.94 x 1.65 m. It has been suggested that these stones may have been used to build the Western Wall, but that is doubtful. The measurements given are of an unfinished stone. These quarry blocks needed trimming to make them suitable for building and that would make them smaller. The average height of the stone courses in the Temple Mount walls is 104-112 cm and the unfinished stone is only 94 cm high. It is possible, however, that stones coming from this quarry may have been used for the buildings and porticoes that stood on top of the Temple Mount and that is very exciting.

Last year, a quarry was found which produced much larger stones and these may indeed have been used in the construction of the Temple Mount walls. Although archaeologists are quick to claim that these stones were used in the Western Wall, we need to realize that identical stones were built in the southern, eastern and northern walls of the Temple Mount as well. There is no way of knowing where the stones of these quarries have been placed.

How were stones quarried? I have written extensively about the quarrying and transportation of these large stones in The Quest, pp. 132-137 and also in Secrets of Jerusalem’s Temple Mount, pp. 53-58.

...

Quarrying was done by digging channels in the rock, which were later filled with dry wooden beams. Once these were wedged into place, water was poured over the dry wood, causing it to swell. The expanding wood caused the stone to split off the quarry bed.

Projections were left on either side of the stones, which were used to lift the stones sufficiently high to put a roller underneath. Using oxen and replacing the rollers, the stones were brought to the building site.

One can see how much work was involved in the quarrying and transportation of one stone! It is amazing to realize that it took only eight years to build all the retaining walls of the Temple Mount. Truly, whatever one might say about Herod’s character, he was a master builder!

from The Jerusalem Post
May. 20, 2008

by Etgar Lefkovits

For the second time in the past year, archeologists have uncovered a Second Temple Period quarry whose stones were used to build the Western Wall, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced Monday.

The latest archeological discovery was made in the city's Sanhedria neighborhood, located about two kilometers from the Old City of Jerusalem.

The quarry was uncovered during a routine "salvage excavation" carried out by the state-run archeological body over the last several months ahead of the construction of a private house in the religious neighborhood.

The quarry is believed to be one of those used to build the Jerusalem holy site because the size of the stones match those at the Western Wall.

"Most of the stones that were found at the site are similar in size to the smallest stones that are currently visible in the Western Wall, and therefore we assume that the stones from this quarry were used to build these structures," said Dr. Gerald Finkielsztejn, director of the excavation.

The stones were dated by pottery found at the site, he added.

"This is a rather regular quarry except that there are really big stones," Finkielsztejn said.

The largest of the stones found at the quarry measures 0.69 x 0.94 x 1.65 m, while some of the stones were apparently ready for extraction but were left in place.

The quarry was probably abandoned at the time of the Great Revolt against the Romans in 66-70 CE, he said.

Last year, archeologists unearthed an ancient quarry that supplied enormous high quality limestones for the construction of the Temple Mount in an outlying neighborhood of Jerusalem.

Dozens of quarries have previously been found in Jerusalem, but these are the first two that archeologists have uncovered which they believed used in the construction of the Temple Mount.

A few dozen quarries were likely used in the building of the Temple Mount, said Prof. Amos Kloner, a former Jerusalem district archaeologist at the Israel Antiquities Authority.

He said it was "no surprise" that the first two had been found, and noted that the neighborhood where the latest quarry was found was in itself built on top of a quarry.

Second Temple Quarry Used For Kotel Discovered

from Arutz 7
15 Iyar 5768, May 20, 2008

(IsraelNN.com) A Second Temple Period quarry that was used to mine the stones that built the Western Wall has been discovered in Jerusalem's Sanhedria neighborhood.

The Antiquities Authority says the quarry was revealed during the excavation stages routinely carried out before the building of a new home.

"Most of the stones that were found at the site are similar in size to the smallest stones that are currently visible in the Western Wall, and therefore we assume that the stones from this quarry were used to build these structures," Dr. Gerald Finkielsztejn told the Jerusalem Post. The stones were also dated by the pottery found at the site.

This is the second such quarry discovered in the past year.

The Temple Institute has put just forth the following:

http://www.templeinstitute.org/events.htm#guidebook

Official Wakf Document:
King David Purchased the Temple Mount
and King Solomon Built the Holy Temple

As suspicions arise that the lame-duck Israeli government led by Ehud Olmert is working feverishly to arrive at an eleventh hour agreement with the Palestinian Authority's Abu Mazen to divide the city of Jerusalem, which would include relinquishing complete control of the Temple Mount to Palestinian and Moslem hands, the Temple Institute has just acquired a copy of the OFFICIAL 1925 SUPREME MOSLEM COUNCIL (WAKF) GUIDE BOOK TO THE TEMPLE MOUNT in which the Temple Mount's clear and unshakable connection to the G-d of Israel and His people Israel is openly admitted.

This admission contradicts the current Palestinian/Moslem claim that the Holy Temple never stood upon the Temple Mount, and that the Mount is the sole possession of the Moslem nation.

At this time, when the cowardly government of Ehud Olmert is all too willing to accept the deceitful Moslem claim at face value in an attempt to pull the wool over the eyes of its own people, (and all nations which desire the rebuilding of G-d's Chosen House), and rob them of this most holy site on earth, it is essential to expose the current Moslem lie. And what better way than through their own words. To read more, and to view a fascimile of the entire 1925 guidebook, please click

The Temple Institute: The Official 1925 Supreme Moslem Council Guide Book to the Temple Mount (http://www.templeinstitute.org/wakf-1925-guidebook.htm)

The Temple Institute has acquired a copy of the Official 1925 Supreme Moslem Council (Wakf) Guide Book to the Temple Mount. Of particular interest is page four, paragraph two, in which the booklet admits proudly to the Temple Mount's inexorable connection to the Holy Temple built by King Solomon on land purchased by King David, complete with a reference to II Samuel 24:25.

In recent years the Moslem Wakf has come to deny the historic existence of the Holy Temple, claiming that the Temple Mount belongs solely to the Moslem nation, and that there exists no connection between the Jewish nation and the Temple Mount. It is clear from this pamphlet that the revised Wakf position strays from traditional Moslem acknowledgment of the Mount's Jewish antecedents. The current denial of historical reality is merely one tool in the war being waged by Moslems against the G-d of Israel and the entire "infidel" world.

A second reference to the Second Temple is made on page sixteen, again in the second paragraph describing the underground chamber known as Solomon's Stables. Quoting the Jewish historian Josephus, the document cites the "conquest of Jerusalem by Titus in the year 70 AD."

To download a fascimile of the entire sisteen page guidebook, please click

http://www.templeinstitute.org/1925-wakf-temple-mount-guide.pdf

San Remo Convention - World War I Document Archive (http://wwi.lib.byu.edu/index.php/San_Remo_Convention)
San Remo Convention
From World War I Document Archive
Extract
From: The Israel-Arab Reader, edited, Walter Laqueur, New York, Bantam Books, 1976, pps 34-42. {NB: This is an edited version of the complete San Remo Agreement, and the elipses found within form part of Dr. Laqueur's editorial process.}
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"The San Remo Conference decided on April 24, 1920 to assign the Mandate [for Palestine] under the League of Nations to Britain. The terms of the Mandate were also discussed with the United States which was not a member of the League. An agreed text was confirmed by the Council of the League of Nations on July 24, 1922, and it came into operation in September 1923."

The Council of the League of Nations:
Whereas the Principal Allied Powers have agreed, for the purpose of giving effect to the provisions of Article 22 of the Covenant of the League of Nations, to entrust to a Mandatory selected by the said Powers the administration of the territory of Palestine, which formerly belonged to the Turkish Empire, within such boundaries as may be fixed by them; and

Whereas the Principal Allied Powers have also agreed that the Mandatory should be responsible for putting into effect the declaration originally made on November 2nd, 1917, by the Government of His Britannic Majesty, and adopted by the said Powers, in favour of the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, it being clearly understood that nothing should be done which might prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country; and
Whereas recognition has thereby been given to the historical connexion of the Jewish people with Palestine and to the grounds for reconstituting their national home in that country;

Edited by Sekhmet so to get to the point. I now return to the San Remo Convention-World War I Document {Archived}.

Article 9.

The Mandatory shall be responsible for seeing that the judicial system established in Palestine shall assure to foreigners, as well as to natives, a complete guarantee of their rights.

Respect for the personal status of the various peoples and communities and for their religious interests shall be fully guaranteed. In particular, the control and administration of Waqfs shall be exercised in accordance with religious law and the dispositions of the founders.

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Regarding your point about the 1925 Waqfs statement. Do you really count statements made while being occupied that are favorable to the intents of the occupiers? I do not as a rule. To be fair one should know the whole history. Not just that which is pleasing to self.

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And again no I am not Muslim however outside of myself it is my understanding that I am only the second member of my family to speak/read Arabic and Farsi or use too anyway :-\. Since my first cousin 3 times removed followed in my grandfather 4 times removed steps. On second thought maybe I am the third member of the family.

In regard to the issue at hand...

The 1925 Supreme Muslim Council sets up a precedent for the Muslims to be challenged by their own past rulings that disown the future ages of disinformation.

In other words, even in a Muslim religious court, a case can be made by this 1925 document as to allowing the Temple Mount to be at least equally divided with Israel, even if the Muslims wish to keep the Dome of the Rock.

This is in line with the prophecy of Ezekiel 42:20, in which a wall of partition might be made on the Temple Mount, and both a Jewish Temple and a Dome of the Rock co-exist. If...if this is to be the case, we can see the aspect of eventual co-existence, in part, to be yet achieved in Muslim Religious Courts or debates, is to be won because of Muslim Supreme Council rulings in print in 1925, etc., that favors the Jews and recognizes their inheritance to the Mount.

The facts are the facts. If we can seek and obtain even half a Jewish Temple Mount, archaeologists and the whole -- computerized or televised -- world will finally get to behold, once and for all, the Ark of the Covenant seen by Moses and King David as it is brought up from beneath the Temple Mount.

Then, the de facto building of the Temple can begin, and the red heifer can be sacrificed, and we can perhaps observe the building and operation of Temple operations and preparations in a way no other generation has ever seen before...from the ground up, and on instant replay whenever we would so desire and at our leisure.

October 15th [2008], the first day of Chol Hamoed, (1st day of the intermediate days of Sukkot), the designated day for the biblically commanded Hakhel ceremony:

"'At the end of [every] seven years, at an appointed time, in the Festival of Sukkot, [after] the sabbatical year, when all Israel comes to appear before HaShem, your G-d, in the place He will choose you shall read this Torah before all Israel, in their ears.'" (Deuteronomy 31:10)

...People interested in participating in this once-in-seven-years mitzvah, (which in accordance with halachah - Jewish law - requires a ritual immersion prior to ascending), were asked to register in advance with the Temple Institute for the purpose of expediting the police security arrangements at the Moghrabi Gate entrance to the Temple Mount.

Two aliyot (ascents) were scheduled, one at 7:30 AM and a second ascent at 12:30 PM to accommodate those arriving from afar. An unprecedented four hundred Jews showed up at 7:30 AM and were ushered onto the Temple Mount. This was the largest gathering of Jews on the Temple Mount at one time since its liberation from the Moslems in 1967 - a true Hakhel, (literally, assembly). Once on the Mount the group was, with the prior consent of the police, able to read aloud the prescribed Hakhel ceremony passages from the book of Deuteronomy. Both the size of the assembly and the public Torah service that took place were unprecedented milestones in the ongoing efforts to spiritually liberate the Temple Mount from Moslem oppression. History was made.

The Temple Institute: Hakhel 5769 on the Temple Mount (http://www.templeinstitute.org/hakhel-on-the-temple-mount-5769.htm)

Thousands Gather for Temple Congregation Ceremony - Jewish World - Israel News - Arutz Sheva (http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/127978)

And 5 were measured for future readings in authentic 1st century garb at an unknown time in the future, including the infamous Rabbi Shlomo Riskin of Jerusalem Post fame.

The Third Temple - Opinion - Arutz Sheva (http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/8210)

As combining two prayers may go:

"May HASHEM speedily rebuild His Temple...next year in Jerusalem."

Biblical Archaeology would learn a whole new world of information for it.

Peace.

Dream Come True: Buried Treasure Found Outside Temple Mount

by Hillel Fendel

(IsraelNN.com) A 1,300-year-old treasure of 250 gold coins has been unearthed at the archaeological dig just below Dung Gate outside the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The excavation, which has already provided a series of fascinating finds, has been underway for two years at the Givati car park just outside and below the southern part of the Old City.

The stash was discovered Sunday by Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) archaeologists, in a joint project with the Nature and Parks Authority that is sponsored by "Elad," the City of David Association. The coins were found amidst the ruins of an impressively large building in the process of being uncovered. The building is dated from the end of the Byzantine period, around the seventh century C.E.

Dr. Doron Ben-Ami and Yana Tzachnovitz, who are leading the excavation, explained, “As no pottery was found near the treasure, it can be assumed that it was hidden in a concealed niche in a wall of the building. It appears that as the building collapsed, the coins piled up among the ruins.”

The only other treasure of gold coins found from the same period in Jerusalem includes only five coins – compared to the 264 found now. The image of Caesar Heraclius, who ruled the East Roman Empire from 610 to 641, is engraved on the coins.

The archaeologists, whose excitement at finding the coins can barely be overstated, are still hoping to find answers to these questions: What was the nature of this building? Under what circumstances was it destroyed? Why were the coins buried there? How is it that they were forgotten, abandoned, or rendered inaccessible?

Searching for the answers to these and other riddles, the combing of the site continues.

FROM WND'S JERUSALEM BUREAU
More Bible proof: Temple relics unearthed
Archaeologists discover official seals from Kingdom of Judah

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Posted: February 23, 2009
10:39 pm Eastern

© 2009 WorldNetDaily

JERUSALEM – Israeli archaeologists yesterday announced the discovery of a large building dating to the time of the First and Second Temples associated with Hezekiah, the King of Judah.

The Israeli government's Antiquities Authority oversaw the excavation in the southern Jerusalem village of Umm Tuba. The agency said its archaeologists unearthed the remains of an ancient building consisting of several rooms arranged around a courtyard, containing pottery and other artifacts from the First and Second Temple Periods.

The finds include official government seals bearing the names of Ahimelekh ben Amadyahu and Yehokhil ben Shahar, who were high-ranking officials in Hezekiah's government. The life of Hezekiah, the son of King Ahaz is detailed in the biblical books of Kings, Isaiah and Chronicles. Hezekiah was the 13th king of independent Judah.

Archaeologists also found a Hebrew inscription – dating 600 years after the Kingdom of Judah seals – on a fragment of a jar neck, characteristic of the beginning of the Hasmonean period. The ancient building was partially destroyed during the Babylonian conquest of Jerusalem.

The finds are the latest in a mountain of unearthed remains giving a clearer picture of the Jewish presence in Jerusalem during the First and Second Temple periods.

...

Holiest site

The Temple Mount is the holiest site in Judaism. The First Temple was built there by King Solomon in the 10th century B.C. when the Kingdom of Israel was united. After the kingdom split into two entities, Israel and Judah, the temple was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 B.C. The Second Temple was rebuilt in 515 B.C. after Jerusalem was freed from Babylonian captivity. That temple was destroyed by the Roman Empire in A.D. 70. Each temple stood for a period of over four centuries.

...According to the Talmud, the world was created from the foundation stone of the Temple Mount. The site is believed to be the biblical Mount Moriah, the location where Abraham fulfilled God's test to see if he would be willing to sacrifice his son Isaac.

Jewish tradition holds Mashiach, or the Jewish Messiah, will return and rebuild the third and final Temple on the Mount in Jerusalem. The Kotel, or Western Wall, is the one part of the Temple Mount that survived the destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans and stands today in Jerusalem.

Throughout all notorious Jewish exiles, thorough documentation shows the Jews never gave up hope of returning to Jerusalem and re-establishing their Temple. To this day, Jews worldwide pray facing the Western Wall, while Muslims turn their backs away from the Temple Mount and pray toward Mecca. The Al Aqsa Mosque was constructed around A.D. 709 to serve as a shrine near another shrine, the Dome of the Rock, which was built by an Islamic caliph.

[It was only ] About 100 years ago, [that] the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem became associated with the place Muslims came to believe Muhammad ascended to heaven. Jerusalem, however, is not mentioned in the Quran.

... historically, Muslims did not claim the Al Aqsa Mosque as their third holiest site and admitted the Jewish Temples existed.

According to research by Israeli author Shmuel Berkovits, Islam previously disregarded Jerusalem. He points out in his book "How Dreadful Is this Place!" that Muhammad was said to loathe Jerusalem and what it stood for. Berkovits wrote that Muhammad made a point of eliminating pagan sites of worship and sanctifying only one place – the Kaaba in Mecca – to signify the unity of God. As late as the 14th century, Islamic scholar Taqi al-Din Ibn Taymiyya, whose writings influenced the Wahhabi movement in Arabia, ruled that sacred Islamic sites are to be found only in the Arabian Peninsula and that "in Jerusalem, there is not a place one [that Islam ] calls sacred, and the same holds true for the tombs of Hebron."

[Hence, all Isalamic claims otherwise are a farce, and a Public Relations spin -- Brianroy].

It wasn't until the late 19th century – incidentally when Jews started immigrating to Palestine – that some Muslim scholars began claiming Muhammad tied his horse to the Western Wall and associated Muhammad's purported night journey with the Temple Mount.

A guide to the Temple Mount by the Supreme Muslim Council in Jerusalem published in 1925 listed the Mount as the site of Solomon's Temple. The Temple Institute acquired a copy of the official 1925 "Guide Book to Al-Haram Al-Sharif," which states on page four, "Its identity with the site of Solomon's Temple is beyond dispute. This, too, is the spot, according to universal belief, on which 'David built there an altar unto the Lord.'"

[] - squared brackets and inserted words above, mine. -- Brianroy

http://www.cityofdavid.org.il/ArticleDetails_eng.asp?id=223

May 19, 2009 Press Release from the City of David

"1st Temple seal discovered with name "Shaul"

A bone seal, engraved with the name Shaul, from the time of the First Temple, was found in the IAA excavations in the walls around Jerusalem National Park, in the City of David.

Today (Tuesday, 19 May 2009) the Knesset presidium, headed by Speaker Reuben Rivlin, visited the City of David in Jerusalem. A Hebrew seal that dates to the time of the First Temple was displayed for the first time during the visit. The seal was found in an excavation that is being conducted in the Walls Around Jerusalem National Park, on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority and in cooperation with the Nature and Parks Authority, under the direction of Professor Ronny Reich of the University of Haifa and Eli Shukron of the IAA, and underwritten by the ‘Ir David Foundation'.

The seal, which is made of bone, was found broken and is missing a piece from its upper right side. Two parallel lines divide the surface of the seal into two registers in which Hebrew letters are engraved:

????

????. . .

A period followed by a floral image or a tiny fruit appear at the end of the bottom name.

The name of the seal’s owner was completely preserved and it is written in the shortened form of the name ???? (Shaul). The name is known from both the Bible (Genesis 36:37; 1 Samuel 9:2; 1 Chronicles 4:24 and 6:9) and from other Hebrew seals.

According to Professor Reich, “This seal joins another Hebrew seal that was previously found and three Hebrew bullae (pieces of clay stamped with seal impressions) that were discovered nearby. These five items have great chronological importance regarding the study of the development of the use of seals. While the numerous bullae that were discovered in the adjacent rock-hewn pool were found together with pottery sherds from the end of the ninth and beginning of the eighth centuries BCE, they do not bear any Semitic letters. On the other hand, the five Hebrew epigraphic artifacts were recovered from the soil that was excavated outside the pool, which contained pottery sherds that date to the last part of the eighth century.

It seems that the development in the design of the seals occurred in Judah during the course of the eighth century BCE. At the same time as they engraved figures on the seal, at some point they also started to engrave them with the names of the seals’ owners. This was apparently when they started to identify the owner of the seal by his name rather than by some sort of graphic representation.”

It appears that the “office” which administered the correspondence and received the goods that were all sealed with bullae continued to exist and operate within a regular format even after a residential dwelling was constructed inside the same “rock-hewn pool” and the soil and the refuse that contained the many aforementioned bullae were trapped beneath its floor. This “office” continued to generate refuse that included bullae, which were opened and broken, as well as seals that were no longer used and were discarded into the heap of rubbish that continued to accumulate in the vicinity."

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General Biblical Archaeology Discussion Topics
=> Jerusalem/Temple Mount => Topic started by: Brianroy on Feb 19, 2008, 12:26 AM

The Biblical Archaeology Society Forum

General Biblical Archaeology Discussion Topics => Jerusalem/Temple Mount => Topic started by: Brianroy on Feb 19, 2008, 12:26 AM

General Biblical Archaeology Discussion Topics
=> Jerusalem/Temple Mount => Topic started by: Brianroy on Feb 19, 2008, 12:26 AM