The Temple Mount--Where it IS. Where it ISN'T. What is it FOR?

Jesus said he would save Jacobs linage that he would gather the remnant in Jerusalem after the destruction in 70 AD. destroying the Levitical stronghold on the world.

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Matthew 16:18

“And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

John 2 18-25

18 The Jews then responded to him, “What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?”

19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”

20 They replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?”

21 But the temple he had spoken of was his body.

22 After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.

23 Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, many people saw the signs he was performing and believed in his name.

24 But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all people.

25 He did not need any testimony about mankind, for he knew what was in each person.

Isaiah 53 3-12

3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.

8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.

9 And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.

****10 Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.

12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great,
and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

John 1:29

John Testifies About Jesus
29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

Hebrews 13:12

12 And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood.

Matthew 27

50 And Jesus cried out again with a loud [agonized] voice,

and gave up His spirit [voluntarily, sovereignly dismissing and releasing His spirit from His body in submission to His Father’s plan].

51 And [at once]

the veil [of the Holy of Holies] of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; the earth shook and the rocks were split apart.

52 The tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints (God’s people) who had fallen asleep [in death] were raised [to life];

53 and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection, they entered the holy city (Jerusalem) and appeared to many people.

Mt. Moriah is the name given to a mountainous region in the Book of Genesis, where the binding of Isaac by Abraham is said to have taken place.

Genesis 22:1-14

22:1 And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.

2 And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.

3 And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him.

4 Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off.

5 And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.

6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together.

7 And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?

8 And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.

9 And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.

10 And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.

11 And the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.

12 And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.

13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son.

14 And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-jireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen.

2 Samuel 24:15-25

15 So the Lord sent a plague on Israel from that morning until the end of the time designated, and seventy thousand of the people from Dan to Beersheba died.

16 When the angel stretched out his hand to destroy Jerusalem, the Lord relented concerning the disaster and said to the angel who was afflicting the people, “Enough! Withdraw your hand.”

The angel of the Lord was then at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

17 When David saw the angel who was striking down the people, he said to the Lord, “I have sinned;
I, the shepherd, have done wrong.
These are but sheep. What have they done? Let your hand fall on me and my family.”

David Builds an Altar

18 On that day Gad went to David and said to him, “Go up and build an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.”

19 So David went up, as the Lord had commanded through Gad.

20 When Araunah looked and saw the king and his officials coming toward him, he went out and bowed down before the king with his face to the ground.

21 Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?”

“To buy your threshing floor,” David answered, “so I can build an altar to the Lord, that the plague on the people may be stopped.”

22 Araunah said to David,
“Let my lord the king take whatever he wishes and offer it up. Here are oxen for the burnt offering, and here are threshing sledges and ox yokes for the wood.

23 Your Majesty, Araunah gives all this to the king.” Araunah also said to him, “May the Lord your God accept you.”

24 But the king replied to Araunah, “No, I insist on paying you for it. I will not sacrifice to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.”

So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen and paid fifty shekels[e] of silver for them.

25 David built an altar to the Lord there and sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings.

Then the Lord answered his prayer in behalf of the land, and the plague on Israel was stopped.

2 Chronicles 3:1

Then Solomon began to build the house of Yahweh at Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where Yahweh appeared to David his father, which he made ready in the place that David had appointed, in the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

Leviticus 17:11

11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.

Micah 2:12

Deliverance Promised

12 “I will surely gather all of you, Jacob;
I will surely bring together the remnant of Israel.
I will bring them together like sheep in a pen,
like a flock in its pasture;
the place will throng with people.

Micah 1:4-6

Judgment Against Israel

4 The mountains will melt beneath Him, and the valleys will split apart, like wax before the fire, like water rushing down a slope.

5 All this is for the transgression of Jacob and the sins of the house of Israel. What is the transgression of Jacob?

Is it not Samaria? And what is the high place of Judah? Is it not Jerusalem?

6 Therefore I will make Samaria a heap of rubble in the open field, a planting area for a vineyard. I will pour her stones into the valley and expose her foundations.…

Ezra 2:1-17

2 Now these are the children of the province that went up out of the captivity, of those which had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away unto Babylon, and came again unto Jerusalem and Judah, every one unto his city;

2 Which came with Zerubbabel: Jeshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reelaiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai, Rehum, Baanah. The number of the men of the people of Israel:

3 The children of Parosh, two thousand an hundred seventy and two.

4 The children of Shephatiah, three hundred seventy and two.

5 The children of Arah, seven hundred seventy and five.

6 The children of Pahath-moab, of the children of Jeshua and Joab, two thousand eight hundred and twelve.

7 The children of Elam, a thousand two hundred fifty and four.

8 The children of Zattu, nine hundred forty and five.

9 The children of Zaccai, seven hundred and threescore.

10 The children of Bani, six hundred forty and two.

11 The children of Bebai, six hundred twenty and three.

12 The children of Azgad, a thousand two hundred twenty and two.

13 The children of Adonikam, six hundred sixty and six.

14 The children of Bigvai, two thousand fifty and six.

15 The children of Adin, four hundred fifty and four.

16 The children of Ater of Hezekiah, ninety and eight.

17 The children of Bezai, three hundred twenty and three.

Ezra 3 8-13

8 Now in the second year of their coming unto the house of God at Jerusalem, in the second month, began Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and the remnant of their brethren the priests and the Levites, and all they that were come out of the captivity unto Jerusalem; and appointed the Levites, from twenty years old and upward, to set forward the work of the house of the Lord.

9 Then stood Jeshua with his sons and his brethren, Kadmiel and his sons, the sons of Judah, together, to set forward the workmen in the house of God: the sons of Henadad, with their sons and their brethren the Levites.

10 And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, they set the priests in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites the sons of Asaph with cymbals, to praise the Lord, after the ordinance of David king of Israel.

11 And they sang together by course in praising and giving thanks unto the Lord; because he is good, for his mercy endureth for ever toward Israel. And all the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid.

12 But many of the priests and Levites and chief of the fathers, who were ancient men, that had seen the first house, when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice; and many shouted aloud for joy:

13 So that the people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people: for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the noise was heard afar off.

Ezra 6 3-10

3 In the first year of Cyrus the king the same Cyrus the king made a decree concerning the house of God at Jerusalem, Let the house be builded, the place where they offered sacrifices, and let the foundations thereof be strongly laid; the height thereof threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof threescore cubits;

4 With three rows of great stones, and a row of new timber: and let the expenses be given out of the king’s house:

5 And also let the golden and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took forth out of the temple which is at Jerusalem, and brought unto Babylon, be restored, and brought again unto the temple which is at Jerusalem, every one to his place, and place them in the house of God.

6 Now therefore, Tatnai, governor beyond the river, Shethar-boznai, and your companions the Apharsachites, which are beyond the river, be ye far from thence:

7 Let the work of this house of God alone; let the governor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews build this house of God in his place.

8 Moreover I make a decree what ye shall do to the elders of these Jews for the building of this house of God: that of the king’s goods, even of the tribute beyond the river, forthwith expenses be given unto these men, that they be not hindered.

9 And that which they have need of, both young bullocks, and rams, and lambs, for the burnt offerings of the God of heaven, wheat, salt, wine, and oil, according to the appointment of the priests which are at Jerusalem, let it be given them day by day without fail:

10 That they may offer sacrifices of sweet savours unto the God of heaven, and pray for the life of the king, and of his sons.

Haggai 1

7 Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Consider your ways.

8 Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the Lord.

9 Ye looked for much, and, lo, it came to little; and when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it. Why? saith the Lord of hosts. Because of mine house that is waste, and ye run every man unto his own house.

10 Therefore the heaven over you is stayed from dew, and the earth is stayed from her fruit.

11 And I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the corn, and upon the new wine, and upon the oil, and upon that which the ground bringeth forth, and upon men, and upon cattle, and upon all the labour of the hands.

12 Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the Lord their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the Lord their God had sent him, and the people did fear before the Lord.

13 Then spake Haggai the Lord’S messenger in the Lord’S message unto the people, saying, I am with you, saith the Lord.

14 And the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came and did work in the house of the Lord of hosts, their God,

15 In the four and twentieth day of the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king.

Zechariah 1

16 Therefore thus saith the Lord; I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies: my house shall be built in it, saith the Lord of hosts, and a line shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem.

17 Cry yet, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts; My cities through prosperity shall yet be spread abroad; and the Lord shall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet choose Jerusalem.

ST. JEROME: COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH

INCLUDING ST. JEROME’S TRANSLATION OF ORIGEN’S HOMILIES 1–9 ON ISAIAH

https://biblia.com/api/plugins/embeddedpreview?resourceName=LLS:JEROMECOMMIS

The Pact of Umar (also known as the Covenant of Umar, Treaty of Umar or Laws of Umar

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

Capture of Jerusalem: The Treaty of Umar

https://www.islamicity.org/11511/capture-of-jerusalem-the-treaty-of-umar/

Revitalization of the City

Umar immediately set about making the city an important Muslim landmark. He cleared the area of the Temple Mount, where Muhammad ﷺ ascended to heaven from.

Umar and his army (along with some Jews) personally cleaned it and built a mosque – Masjid al-Aqsa –

Eutychius' account of how Omar found the Temple, written in 867 C.E.
The following is taken from JERUSALEM, by F. E. Peters, Princeton Univ. Press, 1985, pp. 189-190. Peters here quotes D. Baldi, ENCHIRIDION LOCORUM SANCTORUM, 1955, pp. 447-448, reprinted, Franciscan Printing Press, Jerusalem, 1982. Baldi gives Eutychius's account from his history of the world, written in 867 C.E., in Arabic, NAZM AL GAWAHIR (Chaplet of Pearls), also known in Latin as ANNALES or EUTYCHII HISTORIA UNIVERSALIS.

* * * * *
"Sophronius is already known to us, and it is the Jerusalem patriarch who quite naturally looms large in two Christian accounts of the same events in Jerusalem in 638. The first, from about A.D. 876, is by the Christian historian Eutychius, the later patriarch of Alexandria, who lived under Islam and was well instructed on the Arab tradition:

"Then Umar said to him [Sophronius]: 'You owe me a rightful debt. Give me a place in which I might build a sanctuary [masjid].' The patriarch said to him: 'I will give to the Commander of the Faithful a place to build a sanctuary where the kings of Rum were unable to build. It is the rock where God spoke to Jacob and which Jacob called the Gate of heaven and the Israelites the Holy of Holies. It is in the center of the world and was a Temple for the Israelites, who held it in great veneration and wherever they were they turned their faces toward it during prayer. But on this condition, that you promise in a written document that no other sanctuary will be built inside of Jerusalem.' Therefore Umar ibn al-Khattab wrote him the document on this matter and handed it over to him.

"They were Romans when they embraced the Christian religion, and Helena, the mother of Constantine, built the churches of Jerusalem.

The place of the rock and the area around it were deserted ruins and they [the Romans] poured dirt over the rock so that great was the filth above it.

The Byzantines [Rûm], however, neglected it and did not hold it in veneration, nor did they

build a church over it because Christ our Lord said in his Holy Gospel

'Not a stone will he left upon a stone which will not be ruined and devastated.'
For this reason the Christians left it as a ruin and did not build a church over it.

So Sophronius took Umar ibn al-Khattab by the hand and stood him over the filth. Umar, taking hold of his cloak filled it with dirt and threw it into the Valley of Gehenna.

When the Muslims saw Umar ibn al-Khattab carrying dirt with his own hands, they all immediately began carrying,
dirt in their cloaks and shields and what have you until the whole place was cleansed and the rock was revealed.
Then they all said: 'Let us build a sanctuary and let us place the stone at its heart.'
'No,' Umar responded. '

We will build a sanctuary and place the stone at the end of the sanctuary.' Therefore Umar built a sanctuary and put the stone at the end of it."

https://avande1.sites.luc.edu/jerusalem/sources/eutychius.htm

Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem

https://israeljerusalem.com/dome-of-the-rock.htm

Aelia Capitolina
Former Roman colony

Aelia Capitolina was a Roman colony founded during Emperor Hadrian's visit to Judaea in 129/130 AD, centered around Jerusalem, which had been almost totally razed after the siege of 70 AD. Wikipedia

In 130 AD, Emperor Hadrian began to build a Roman colony named Aelia Capitolina, on the ruins of Jerusalem.

After the Roman destruction of 70 A.D., the 10th Legion set up an encampment south of the Hippicus Tower on the Western Hill of Jerusalem.

After nationalistic uprisings, Hadrian flattened the city and in 135 A.D. built a new one on its ruins and called it Aelia Capitolina.

The major buildings in this city were the Damascus Gate in the north, a Temple of Aphrodite,
two forums (market places) and there may have been a Temple of Jupiter on the Temple Mount.

The Temple Mount during the Roman period

https://www.ritmeyer.com/2014/12/02/the-temple-mount-during-the-roman-period/

16- Salem, Jebus or Jerusalem

When Abraham entered the land of Canaan around 2000 BC the city of Jerusalem was called Salem (Genesis 14).

After Abram returned from defeating Kedorlaomer and the kings allied with him,
the king of Sodom came out to meet him in the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley).

Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High, and he blessed Abram,
saying, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High,
Creator of heaven and earth. And blessed be God Most High, who delivered your enemies into your hand.” Then
Abram gave him a tenth of everything. -

Genesis 14:17-20

Melchizedek’s city was called Salem, or Shalem, which is also the name of the God whose worship was centered in the city.

The full name of this God was “God Most High, Creator of Heaven and Earth” since he was the God of creation. It is interesting to note that Abram recognizes this God in verse 22 when he swears by his name and, at the same time, calls him “Lord” which is the word YHWH, the name of the covenant God of Israel:

Abram said to the king of Sodom,
“I have raised my hand to the Lord (YHWH), God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth, and have taken an oath that I will accept nothing belonging to you.” - Genesis 14:22-23

The name of the city Jerusalem was originally “Yerushalem”.

We already know that “shalem” comes from the name of the God worshipped in the city by Melchizedek.

(The Jews taught that Melchizedek was Noah’s son Shem, who, according to biblical
records, was still alive at this time.)

The word “yeru” means “foundation stone” or “cornerstone.”

The name Jerusalem, then, means “the foundation stone of Shalem” and refers to the original cornerstone laid by the Creator of the Universe when he built the earth.

https://generationword.com/jerusalem101/16-salem-jebus.html

The following is an anti-clockwise list of gates which open onto the Al-Aqsa Compound.

Currently eleven gates are open to the Muslim public.

Non-Muslims are only permitted to enter through the Moroccan (or Magharibah) gate.[1]

The keys to all the gates,

with the exception of the Moroccan gate are held by the Islamic Waqf;
they can only open or close gates with the permission of Israel.

Gate of the Tribes (Bab al-Asbat)

Gate of the Tribes
The Gate of the Tribes (Arabic: باب الأسباط Bāb al-ʾAsbāṭ, Hebrew: שער השבטים) is located at the north-eastern corner of the compound. Its name refers to the

Twelve Tribes of Israel ("Bani Isra'il") who left Egypt and came to the Holy Land/Bayt al-Maqdis to find the Promised Land.

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

Gates of the Temple Mount

https://madainproject.com/gates_of_temple_mount#moroccans-gate

original link by Expedition Bible

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrqRoLxa178

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