Chapter 5.11
Dome of the Rock
Well
of Souls – Jew’s House of Prayer – Crusaders – Ark of the Covenant – Red Heifer
The
Dome of the Rock is not a mosque for pubic worship, but a shrine for pilgrims.
Image from
Wikipedia
First Word
King Solomon built the first
Temple in 950 BC; some 3000 years ago, which was destroyed by the Babylonians
in 586 BC.
King Herod built the
second Temple seventy years later on the original foundations when the Jews
returned from exile.
From various time periods, there was located within the Temple Mount
area about 100 different structures which have come and gone, all of which are
a DESECRATION to this Holy Site including the current Dome of the Rock.
Muhammad
In 610 A.D Muhammad who
was alone in the wilderness near Mecca reported that the Angel Gabriel appeared to him, instructing him to "Recite! Recite! Recite!” Then the angel recited three verses and when
Muhammad awoke, he had memorized these verses. This memorization continued for 10 days. This would become the verbally transmitted Qur’an, which the verses later on would be written down
and divided up into “Surah’s”.
Muhammad believed himself to be a
messenger of God and was the SEVENTH and last in a progressive line of prophets
beginning with Abraham and ending with prophet number six; Jesus. (Seven is seen as the Biblical
number for “completion”.) His Revelation was… God’s people; the Jews and
Christians have all gone astray and need to be restored to the proper path;
thus the birth of Islam.
The Platform & Stone
The Platform or Temple Mount was constructed
and enlarged under the rule of Herod the Great as part of the rebuilding
process of the second Temple. This
re-constructed Second Temple would include the western wall also known as the
Wailing Wall. This would be the same
Temple where Jesus worshipped and prophesized of its future destruction; the
Second Temple was demolished in 70 AD.
Matthew 24:1-2 – Jesus Prophecy; the destruction
of the Temple
1 Jesus left the temple and was
going away, when his disciples came to point out to him the buildings of the temple.
2 But he answered them, “You see all
these, do you not?
TRULY, I SAY TO
YOU, THERE WILL NOT BE LEFT HERE ONE STONE UPON ANOTHER THAT WILL NOT BE THROWN
DOWN.”
(ESV)
The Midrash is a Hebrew Book
that provides a method for interpreting teachings, stories and difficult text
of the Hebrew Bible. It says that when
the Ark of the Covenant was taken away and there remained a STONE
that was there from the time of the early prophets. This Stone or “Foundation Rock” is located at the
highest point in the center of the first and second temples. This places it in the Holy of Holies, on which the Ark
of the Covenant rested. Jewish Tradition
holds this “Foundation Rock” site as
the Holiest spot on earth.
Side Note: The actual
dimensions of the rock that you see
today is much larger than that of the Holy of Holies and could not possible fit
inside, but this is because of erosions and other factors that removed the dirt
that covered it. When covered to its
proper level of about 3 fingers in height, only 2 ½ inches was actually exposed
within the Holy
of Holies.
There is a cave or cavity
beneath the rock accessible only by a staircase known as the ‘Well of Souls”
which purpose is not fully understood to this day; the Crusaders’ used it as a
confessional. Muslims say the cave was made when the rock and earth tried to rise up with Mohammad as he went to Heaven and the
Angel Gabriel stopped its upward motion.
Jews House of Prayer
A Caliphate is an Islamic
state and is led by a political and religious leader called a Caliph. On Mount Moriah in 638 AD, The Jews showed Caliph Omar ibn al-Khattab where the Holy Temple had
once stood on the debris strewn deserted Temple Mount. Omar cleared the mount to put up a building that faced Mecca AND at the request of the Jewish people ordered another
building as a Wooden Temporary HOUSE
OF PRAYER for
the Jews until their Temple could be re-built; it did NOT face Mecca.
The Dome, this HOUSE OF PRAYER was complete in 691 AD by Umayyad Caliph
Abd el-Malik, a Muslim who was actually a follower of the Jewish
faith. He ordered his citizens to pray
with their faces towards Jerusalem and ordered them to make pilgrimages to
Jerusalem instead of Mecca. He returned
the management of the Temple Mount to
the Jews. The Muslims removed his name from
the Dome of the Rock and from their writings to blot out his existence.
Manuscripts indicate that the Jews used
the remains of the original temple to build their “House of Prayer”. Today the remains can still be observed in
the structure of the Dome of the Rock. The main entrance faces South not South-East
toward Mecca. It had FOUR PILLARS that represent
the four camps of the Israelites in the wilderness as they encamped around
their portable Tabernacle;[1] they
line up E-W-S-N on which the dome rests.
Beginning in 1520 the exterior was covered
with tiles which took some 7 years to complete. Centuries later the inside was
decorated with mosaic, faience and marble. The walls were of motif designs of vessels and
winged crowns as well as vegetative scrolls, palms, grapes and figs which are
all mentioned in the Torah. The
mosaics contain no human figures, nor animals. Remember the Jew’s commandment to “MAKE NO
GRAVEN IMAGE”.[2]
It has twelve pillars with palm trees on the capitals
which is another Jewish motif; these pillars represent the twelve
tribes of Israel. The
Octagonal base with the Spherical cupola symbolized the transition from Earth
to Heaven.
For the Jew and Christian
The Dome over the Rock was built from
688 to 691 AD on the highest point of the Temple Mount and rises up some 67.2
feet. It was built as a symbol of
oneness and continuity of the Abrahamic people; Jewish, Christian and Muslim
Faiths. The direction of this rock is
where Jews would pray toward from every place in the world.
In 1099 the Crusaders
had made the Dome of the Rock structure into a Christian Church and Jerusalem became primarily Christian and the
shrine was renamed “Templum Domini” or Temple of the
Lord and a CROSS was placed on top of the Dome, but by 1187
it was re-consecrated as a Muslim shrine (Not
a Mosque) and the Cross was taken off the top and replaced with the Islamic
crescent.
In 1982 a gate and tunnel was discovered
that was built by King Herod which led directly up to the Holy of Holies that
was used by the priest to avoid coming into contact with ordinary Jews, thus
keeping themselves Holy and purified. It
is called the “Gate
and Tunnel of the Priest.” So
we now know exactly where the Holy of Holies was located.
The Jew as well as the Christian feel connected
to this Rock. It is believed that this
is the very rock where Abraham prepared to offer his son ISAAC
as a sacrifice to God;[3]
when God intervened. I ponder this, just
to think that this place is where Isaac was to be sacrificed and then later a
temple was built around it and this rock was in the Holy of Holies and on it rested the Ark of the Covenant.
For the Muslim
This is where Abraham prepared to
offer his son ISHMAEL
as a sacrifice to God; when God intervened. Muslim legend has it that the angel Gabriel took Muhammad on a night journey from Mecca to
the rock on Mount Moriah, riding on a winged horse named El Burak
which means “lighting”; there Muhammad
talked with all the prophets that had gone before him, including Abraham, Moses
and Jesus and then ascended into the seventh heaven on
a golden
ladder made of light and saw Allah
sitting on His throne surrounded by angels.
There Muhammad received instructions for
his followers as well as for himself and returned to Mecca on his winged steed
before dawn. Muslim tradition has it
that the rock bears the hoof print of the winged horse as it leapt into the sky. Other writing say it bears the foot print of Mohammad when he pushed down on the rock to keep it from rising up with
him to Heaven. Even more writings say it bears the fingerprints of Michael the high Arch Angel as he held down the rising rock.
The Dome located over the Rock used the
measurements of the Dome of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher therefore they
have almost identical domes, however the Dome of the Rock’s elevated position
and its magnificence is a way of showing that Islam is superior over
Christianity. Today a Mosque is sought
to be built in every major city in the USA to show domination.
The Kiblah is the direction
that should be faced when a Muslim prays during salat. It was fixed as the direction of this
rock until Mohammad received a revelation from Allah to change the
direction of the Kiblah from Jerusalem to face Mecca.
Renovations
In 1993 the dome was covered with gold with a donation
of 8.2 million dollars from King Hussein of Jordan. After the 6 day war, in an effort to “Keep the
Peace”, the authority to manage the Temple Mount was given over to the Muslims
where at this writing it still remains today. Limited access and strict security screening
is required of all non-Muslims.
The following is inscribed on the walls of the dome; “It is not befitting to Allah that He should beget a son.” (God has no
companion) This rejects
Jesus Christ as the Son of God, making it BLASPHEMY to suggest that
God has a son, and that is why the Muslims hate the Infidel Christians
today. There are other inscriptions
denouncing the Christian doctrines of the Trinity and the divinity of Jesus,
while emphasizing the unity of God and affirming Jesus’
status as only a prophet.
Quran 19:33–35 – It is not fitting that God should have a Son
33. "So
peace is upon me the day I was born, and the day I die, and the day I shall be
raised alive!"
34. Such is
Jesus, son of Mary. It is a statement of truth, about which they doubt.
35. It is not befitting
to Allah that He should beget a son. Glory be to Him! When He
determines a matter, He only says to it, "Be", and it is.
The Third Temple
The Re-building of
the Holy Temple depends on the finding of an unblemished RED HEIFER (parah adumah) deemed to be of
absolute Divine origin; an absolute rarity; a biological anomaly. God has ordained that its ashes alone are the
single missing ingredient for the reinstatement of Biblical purity; then
after that, the building of the third Holy Temple can begin which will give God
more honor than the previous Temples. God told Moses to have the children of Israel
bring him a RED HEIFER; he alone would understand what this Red Heifer represented.
This Holy Cow under Jewish law requires keeping the young cow under strict
care until it reaches THREE
YEARS of age. During this
time, leaning on the cow, riding it even once or even putting a piece of cloth
on its back disqualifies it from becoming a Red Heifer. The color is not actually a bright red, but is
closer to an “earth brown red” which must be consistent over the entire body
down to and including the hoofs and even the eye lids.
Kosher: Once
found Kosher it is ritually slaughtered
outside of the camp. A ritually pure “Kohen” slaughters the heifer, and sprinkles
its blood in the direction of the Temple seven times. The ceremony of the burning of the red heifer itself takes place on the Mount of Olives. Cedar wood, hyssop, and wool dyed scarlet
are added to the fire, and the remaining ashes are placed in a vessel
containing pure water. (Red is considered
the color of sin.)
Unblemished: The Red Heifer was
to be unblemished with no defect and on which a yoke had never been placed. The Temple Institute says that the cow must also have red hoofs and cannot have
even two gray hairs and that all the hairs must be straight.
Ashes: When we think of
roasting a cow, we are thinking of the meat, but the product that is desired here
is not the meat but the ASHES. Each time a heifer
was burned, one third of the ashes was removed and kept by the priests for use
by future generations. The ashes were
mixed in a solution of water. It was
called the "Waters of
Sanctification" and the priest was sprinkled with it every day during his
time of separation, sanctification and purification. This was in case he had unknowingly walked
over a grave or had come near the dead, thus making him unclean.
Priest: When the Priest performs the ritual, he
becomes ritually unclean, and must then bathe himself and his clothes in a
ritual bath. He is deemed impure until
the evening. He would then withdraw into
a chamber made entirely of stone, including stone vessels to prevent himself
from coming in contact with anything that could contaminate him and make him
unclean. (In
Jewish law, stone does not act as a carrier of ritual impurities.)
Water was drawn from a
“living natural spring” source such as from the Shjiloach
(Siloam) spring in the city of David located at the foot of the Temple Mount. (Rainwater is not accepted) It had to be drawn by someone who was pure
enough to go draw it. This is a complex
procedure utilizing children to draw and carry the water for the ceremony. The children were born and reared in
isolation for the specific purpose of ensuring that they never came into
contact with a corpse. This emphasizes
how important the purification and sanctification process is considered.
Nine Red Heifers have
been slaughtered during the period extending from Moses to the destruction of the
Second Temple. Moses prepared the first; Ezra
the second and Simon
the Just prepared two and Yochanan the
High Priest prepared two and Elioenai ben
HaQayaph and Hanameel the Egyptian prepared one each.
The TENTH and FINAL Red Heifer: Ten is the Biblical number for “The Law”, i.e. the Ten Commandments; there
were ten linen curtains in the Tabernacle which represented the
Law. Jesus fulfilled the law when he was
nailed to the cross.
Josephus 4.4.4:79-81 – Red Heifer was killed outside the camp.
79 He brought a
HEIFER that
had never been used to the plough or to do husbandry that was complete in all
its parts, and entirely of a RED color, at a little distance from the camp,
into a place perfectly clean. This
heifer was slain by the high priest and her blood sprinkled with his finger seven times before the tabernacle of God.
80 After this the entire heifer
was burnt in that state, together with its and entrails; and they threw cedar
wood, and hyssop, and scarlet wool, into the midst of the fire: then a clean
man gathered all her ashes together, and laid them in a place perfectly
clean.
81 When therefore any persons were defiled
by a dead body, they put a little of these ashes into spring water, with hyssop, and, dipping
part of these ashes
in it, they sprinkled them with it, both on the third day; and on the seventh,
and after that they were clean. Then he
enjoyed them to do also when the tribes should come into their own land.
Dual Perspectives
For the Jew, the
“Purification” provided through the Red Heifer signals
the way for the commencement of the re-building of the Third and final Holy
Temple. This will usher in for the FIRST TIME the appearance of the Jews long-awaited
Messiah.
For the Christian who believes
the Messiah is Jesus Christ and has already come, believes it points toward the
“Rapture”[4] or
catching away of His saints at His SECOND coming and
bringing the onset of His millennial reign on
earth and then Armageddon.
At the Return of Christ
When Christ returns for His millennial reign,
the Ark of
the Covenant that sits on the
ROCK will not be present; it will not
even be thought of because Christ will be on the throne in Jerusalem. There
will be no need to make a new Ark; and they won’t.[5]
Ark of the Covenant
It is believed that the second
temple did NOT contain the Ark of
the Covenant as it had been hidden away before it was built; the Holy of Holies was actually EMPTY.
The Dead Sea Scrolls are the final
reference to the Ark of the Covenant and its location.
The Jeremiah letter: Jeremiah
came and found a cavern in the rock, and there he brought in the Tabernacle,
and THE ARK, and the Alter of
Incense; and he made fast the
door. “Yea, and the place shall be unknown until God gather the people
again together, and mercy come; and then shall the Lord disclose these things”.
Other writings not found in the
Bible indicate that the Knights Templar from
1118 to 1127 excavated tunnels under the Temple Mount and found vast wealth
including the Ark. More writing suggest that Solomon,
concerned about an invading army, for protection built a replica
of the Ark of the Covenant and
that the real Ark was sent to Ethiopia for safe keeping with his son that he
fathered with the Queen of Sheba and
is under guard there even today awaiting its return.
There are now reports that The Temple
Institute is now in possession of
the original Ark claiming it was never lost; only hidden. I have followed this for years and have never
seen a picture of it yet, but it’s Fun to
ponder; one day we will all see. SELAH, ponder this
1 Esdras
54 Babylonians
took all the holy vessels of the Lord, both great and small, and the ARK of God,
and the King’s treasures and carried them away into Babylon.
2nd Maccabees 2:4-10 (Dead
Sea Scrolls) The Jeremiah Letter
4 Jeremiah came
and found a cavern in the rock, and there he brought in the (tent) Tabernacle, and the Ark, and the Alter of Incense;
and he made fast the door – “Yea, and the place SHALL
BE UNKNOWN until
God gather the people again together, and mercy comes; and then shall the Lord
disclose these things”. The glory of the
Lord and the cloud shall appear, as they were shown before Moses and Solomon.
The Take Away
This Holy Rock on Mt. Moriah
was FIRST a place of worship for the Jebusites,
then became the site for Two Jewish Temples, next a sanctuary for the Roman god
Jupiter, then later the Muslim's Dome of the Rock, next occupied by the
Christians, and then finally reverted back to a Muslim shrine again.
Previous
writings indicated that the foundations of Solomon’s Temple on the Temple Mount
ended about 150 feet from the Dome of the Rock which would remain under the
control of the Muslims (The Gentiles) “until their time
is fulfilled,” but the recent finding of the “Gate and Tunnel of the Priest”
leading to the Holy of Holies and “The Rock” disputes this theory. NOTE: Anybody
that was not a Jew was referred to as a Greek
or Gentile, so that would include Muslims.
The Latest
information says that the Dome of the Rock is exactly on the spot of the Holy
of Holies and the dome must be dismantled and perhaps re-assembled in Mecca.
Will Israel trust God and rebuild the
prophetic third temple on the exact foundations of the first and second temples
which would involve REMOVING the Dome over the Rock or
will they cave in with fear that it would force an all-out war with the
Muslims. Will they choose to build the
Temple somewhere else, or not at all? It’s easy for us to say just “TRUST GOD” because we don’t live in Jerusalem where
all the conflict will take place.
Pray for the Peace of
Jerusalem
[1] Numbers 2:3 - East side of the Temple; Judah -- Numbers 2:18 - West side of the Temple; Ephraim -- Numbers 2:10 - South side of the Temple; Reuben, -- Numbers 2:25 - North
side of the Temple; Dan,
[2] Exodus 20:3-4 – Do not make any graven image to
worship
[3] Genesis 22:9-13 – Abraham prepared Isaac as a
sacrifice
[4] 1 Corenthians 15:52 – We
will be changed in the twinkling of an eye into a glorified body -- 1
Thessalonians 4:16-17 – Christians will be Raptured in the Air
[5] Jeremiah 3:16-17 – The
Ark will no longer be remembered or a new one made
No comments:
Post a Comment