Mount Moriah, The Temple Mount Brief Overview

Mount Moriah also known as the Temple Mount could be the most contentious site, in one of the most contentious cities on earth, Jerusalem. Though the historic and religious significance varies, the Temple Mount is central to belief and worship of Jews and Muslims and to a lesser extent nonProtestant denominations of Christianity.

The Temple Mount is situated in the south east quadrant of the old city. East of the Temple Mount lies the Kindron Valley, or Valley of Josaphat, which divides the Mount of Olives from the Old City of Jerusalem. On it western side, the Tyropoeon Valley separates Mount Moriah from the western side where Christ (outside the Ancient cities gates) was crucified and Mount Zion, site of the last supper. To give you an idea, it’s about 1,500 feet from the Dome of the Rock to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. There’s lots of historical and spiritually significant sites in a very small area.

Overtime, ethno-religious communities including Muslims, Christians, Armenians, and Jews settled in around holy places and communities. For example, the Christian quarter’s main attraction is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the site where Jesus Christ is believed to have been crucified, entombed, and resurrected.

To really understand the importance of Mount Moriah to the Jewish people let’s turn to one of the most renowned Jewish philosophers and exegetes, Moses Maimonides.

On Mt. Moriah, Maimonides writes,

“Isaac was prepared as a sacrifice on the Temple's [future] site, as it is said (Genesis 22:2): ‘Go to the land of Moriah,’ and in Chronicles (II 3:1), it is said: ‘Then, Solomon began to build the House of the Lord in Jerusalem, on Mt. Moriah, where [the Lord] appeared to David, his father, in the place that David had prepared, in the threshing floor of Ornan, the Jebusite. It is universally accepted that the place on which David and Solomon built the Altar, the threshing floor of Ornan, is the location where Abraham built the Altar on which he prepared Isaac for sacrifice.Noah built [an altar] on that location when he left the ark. It was also [the place] of the Altar on which Cain and Abel brought sacrifices. [Similarly,] Adam, the first man, offered a sacrifice there and was created at that very spot, as our Sages said: ‘Man was created from the place where he [would find] atonement.”

In other words, God formed man from the clay of the earth on Mt. Moriah. Abraham, the father of the Hebrews and Arabs, was prepared to sacrifice his Son Isaac upon an altar on this very spot. Later, the first and Second Temple stood again, at this very location. Get it? For pious Jews, this is the most holy place on earth.

But Mount Moriah holds a special place in Islam too. In Quran, Surah 17:1 God took “[Muḥammad]” by night from the Sacred Mosque to the Farthest Mosque whose surroundings We have blessed.”

During the Night Journey, According to Muslims, God transported the Prophet Muhammad from Mecca to Jerusalem, to the Farthest Mosque, where he prayed with other prophets before ascending to the heavens. The Masjid al-Aqsa named in Surah 17:1 came to refer to the entire Temple complex known as the Haram al-Sharif or 'Noble Sanctuary.' This includes the dome of the Rock, the Al Aqsa Mosque, and the madrasas that surround them. The Haram al-Sharif as it stands today, originated shortly after the Arab army’s conquests of Jerusalem. In his book A History of The Arab Peoples, Albert Hourani gives a masterful summary of what occurred on Mt. Moriah under new rulers.

“The holy places of the Jews and Christians still had a hold over the imagination of the new rulers: ‘Umar had visited Jerusalem after it was captured, and Mu‘awiya was proclaimed caliph there. Then in the 690s there was erected the first great building which clearly asserted that Islam was distinct and would endure. This was the Dome of the Rock, built on the site of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem, now turned into a Muslim haram; it was to be an ambulatory for pilgrims around the rock where, according to Rabbinic tradition, God had called upon Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. The building of the Dome in this place has been convincingly interpreted as a symbolic act placing Islam in the lineage of Abraham and dissociating it from Judaism and Christianity. The inscriptions around the interior, the earliest known physical embodiment of texts from the Qur’an, proclaim the greatness of God, ‘the Mighty, the Wise’, declare that ‘God and His angels bless the Prophet’, and call upon Christians to recognize Jesus as an apostle of God, His word and spirit, but not His son.”

For traditional Christians, the importance of Mt. Moriah subsided with the coming of Jesus Christ. The Old Testament and Christ’s historic connection with the Temple remains; however, the Temple Mount, like the Old Testament, was superseded by prominent sites associated with the life and resurrection of Jesus Christ namely: Bethlehem, Gethsemane, and the Holy Sepulchre.

But, the Temple Mount plays a critical role for both Jews and Christians in the end-times, for different reasons. Jews believe that the coming Messiah will play a central role in the rebuilding of the Third Temple in Jerusalem. Christians believe that the Messiah has come and his ultimate sacrifice was the final atonement for human sin.

​​Differing perspectives between Christian Zionists and traditional Christians are beyond the scope of this video. But what can be said, is that many Christian Zionists and Jews share a similar enthusiasm for the restoration of the Third Temple which necessitates the destruction of the al Aqsa mosque and the Dome of the Rock.

Jewish sources:
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2022%3A1-19&version=NI

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Chronicles+3&version=KJV

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ezra%201-6&version=KJV

https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/1007195/jewish/Beit-Habechirah-Chapter-2.htm

https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/2261/jewish/Why-On-Earth-Do-We-Need-a-Third-Temple.htm

https://penelope.uchicago.edu/josephus/war-6.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maimonides

Christian Sources:

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+2%3A21-39&version=KJV

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%202%3A41-52&version=kjv

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2021%3A12-13%2CMark%2011%3A15-18&version=kjv

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2027%3A51&version=kjv

Muslim Sources:

https://quran.com/en/al-isra

https://archive.org/details/AHISTORYOFTHEARABPEOPLESALBERTHOURANI/page/n29/mode/2up?q=moriah

Christian Zionism in the news:

https://www.newsweek.com/pro-trump-pastor-hopes-israel-war-sparks-jesus-return-1833972

https://www.timesofisrael.com/as-he-takes-on-trump-pence-brings-starkly-different-approach-to-jewish-concerns/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2020/08/25/pompeo-israel-christian-zionism-republican-national-convention/

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/feb/16/mike-pompeo-israel-biblical-claim-palestine-not-occupying