History

The Western Wall, the Kotel, is the most important site in the world for the Jewish people, being the last remnant of the Holy Temple. Jews from around the world gather at the wall to pray. People write notes to God and place them between the ancient stones of the Wall.

Many important events took place on Mount Moriah, known as the Temple Mount. Mount Moriah is the place God told Abraham to go and offer his son Isaac for sacrifice, where the binding of Isaac took place.

Later on, the Holy of Holies – the core and heart of the First and Second Temples was built on this place.

According to the Hebrew Bible Solomon’s Temple was built atop what is known as the Temple Mount in the 10th century BC and was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BC. After the Jews came back from the Babylonian exile, they rebuilt the Temple known as and the Second Temple and it was dedicated in 516 BC.

Around 19 BC Herod the Great began a massive expansion project on the Temple Mount. In addition to fully rebuilding and enlarging the Temple, he expanded the platform on which it stood,

The Second Temple was destroyed by the Romans, along with the rest of Jerusalem, in 70 CE during the First Jewish-Roman War. The Western Wall is the part of the retaining wall around the temple that remained standing. Most of the Jews were exiled from the land, but close to a million remained in Israel and settled in villages.

After the Romans defeat of the Bar Kokhba revolt in 135 CE, Jews were banned from Jerusalem. The Romans changed the name of Jerusalem to Aelia Capitolina the name of the land of Israel to Palastina in an attempt to minimize Jewish identification with the land of Israel and Judah.

When the Roman Empire adopted Christianity under Emperor Constantine I in 325 AD, Jews were given permission to enter the city once a year, on the ninth of the month of Av to attend at the Wall a Memorial and mourning of the destruction of both temples that occurred on the same date. In 425 CE, the Jews of the Galilee wrote to Byzantine empress Aelia Eudocia seeking permission to pray by the ruins of the Temple. Permission was granted and they were officially permitted to resettle in Jerusalem.

Middle Ages 500–1500

Several Jewish authors of the 10th and 11th centuries write about the Jews coming to the Western Wall for devotional purposes. Samuel ben Paltiel (980-1010) wrote about a Rabbi giving money for oil at “the sanctuary at the Western Wall.” Benjamin of Tudela (1170) wrote “In front of this place is the Western Wall, and hither come all the Jews to pray before the Wall in the open court.” Obadiah of Bertinoro (1488) states “the Western Wall, part of which is still standing, is made of great, thick stones, larger than any I have seen in buildings of antiquity in Rome or in other lands.”

Muslim Rule

In the 12th century, after Muslim Saladin conquered Jerusalem in 1187, in 1193; Saladin’s son and successor al-Afdal established the land adjacent to the Wall as a charitable trust. Named after the mystic Abu Madyan Shu’aib, it was dedicated to Moroccan settlers and houses were built just feet away from the Wall (only 4 meters (13 ft) away from the wall). This became known as the Moroccan Quarter, and it stood until 1948.

Ottoman Occupation

During the Turkish Muslim Ottoman rule from 1517 to 1917, the Turks welcomed Jews after they were expelled from Spain by Ferdinand II and Isabella in 1492. Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent was impressed by Jerusalem and ordered a huge fortress wall built around the Old City, which still stands today. In the late 16th century, Suleiman also gave Jews the right to worship at the Western Wall.

At this point in history, the Wall became a popular destination for Jews for prayer because of the freedoms Suleiman granted them. Rabbi Gedaliah of Semitzi visited Jerusalem in 1699 and recorded that the scrolls of halacha (law) are brought to the Western Wall on memorial days of national tragedy.

During the 19th century, as the world became more global and more and more Jews came to perform their devotions at the Wall, foot traffic at the Western Wall began to build up.

Tensions increased during this period because of the noise from visitors that upset those who lived in homes nearby who were not Jewish. This gave rise to Jews pursuing to acquire land near the Wall.

Over the years, many Jews and Jewish organizations tried to purchase homes and land near the Wall, but without success because of tensions, lack of funds, and other problems.

In 1869 Rabbi Hillel Moshe Gelbstein settled in Jerusalem, and was successful in acquiring nearby courtyards that were set up as synagogues. He started a custom of bringing tables and benches near the Wall for study, a custom that was banned in the late 1800s by a formal decree, which also forbade Jews from lighting candles at the Wall. However, this decree was overturned around 1915.

Under British Rule

In December 1917, British forces under Edmund Allenby captured Jerusalem from the Turks. Allenby pledged, “That every sacred building, monument, holy spot, shrine, traditional site, endowment, pious bequest, or customary place of prayer of whatsoever form of the three religions will be maintained and protected according to the existing customs and beliefs of those to whose faith they are sacred”.

There was a renewed hope for the Jews to be given possession of at the Wall. Unfortunately, Jewish-Arab tensions kept this from happening and several deals for the purchase of land and homes near the Wall fell through.

In early 1920, the first Jewish-Arab dispute over the Wall occurred when the Muslim authorities were carrying out minor repair work on the Wall’s upper courses. The Jews, while agreeing that the work was necessary, appealed to the British that the repairs be made under supervision of the newly formed Department of Antiquities. They claimed that the Wall was an ancient relic. Tensions arose over the divider separating the men’s and women’s prayer sections being placed at the Wall, which resulted in the constant presence of a British soldier. They made sure Jews did not sit at the Wall or place a separation device at the sight.

Around this time, Arabs began worrying about Jews taking possession of more than just the Kotel, but also of pursuing the Al Aqsa Mosque. The Jewish National Council reassured the Arabs that “no Jew has ever thought of encroaching upon the rights of Moslems over their own Holy places, but our Arab brethren should also recognize the rights of Jews in regard to the places in Palestine which are holy to them.”

In August of 1929, Jews started protests in Tel Aviv against acts of harassment ordered by Mufti Amin al-Husayni (Muslim cleric in charge of Jerusalem’s Islamic holy places,) that included having mules go through the alley in front of the Western Wall, often dropping excrement, and attacks on Jews praying at the wall. They were shouting, “The Wall is ours.” The next day, the Jewish fast of Tisha B’Av, 300 youths raised the Zionist flag and sang Hatikva at the Wall. The next day, on August 16, an organized mob of 2,000 Muslim Arabs descended on the Western Wall, injuring the beadle and burning prayer books, liturgical fixtures and notes that were placed in the cracks of the Western Wall. The riots spread and a few days later, the tragic Hebron Massacre (the killing of sixty-seven or sixty-nine Jews on August 24, 1929) occurred.

Following the riots, a British commission approved by the League of Nations undertook to understand the rights and claims of Jews and Muslims in connection with the Western Wall. In 1930, the Shaw Commission concluded that the Wall and the adjacent area belonged solely to the Muslim waqf (an Islamic religious trust or “Islamic Religious Endowments” organization, best known for controlling and managing the current Islamic edifices on and around the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem.) After that decision, Jews still had the right to “free access to the Western Wall for the purpose of devotions at all times,” with a set of stipulations like forbidding the blowing of the Shofar, and some restrictions on certain holidays and rituals.

David Yellin, Head of the Hebrew Teachers Seminary, member of the Ottoman parliament, and one of the first public figures to join the Zionist movement openly, testified before the Commission. He stated:

“Being judged before you today stands a nation that has been deprived of everything that is dear and sacred to it from its emergence in its own land – the graves of its patriarchs, the graves of its great kings, the graves of its holy prophets and, above all, the site of its glorious Temple. Everything has been taken from it and of all the witnesses to its sanctity, only one vestige remains – one side of a tiny portion of a wall, which, on one side, borders the place of its former Temple. In front of this bare stone wall, that nation stands under the open sky, in the heat of summer and in the rains of winter, and pours out its heart to its God in heaven.”

Captured by Jordan

In the War of Independence of 1948, Jordan captured the Old City’s Jewish Quarter, destroyed many Jewish homes, and many Jews were killed or driven out of their homes. From 1948 until 1967, the Western Wall was under Jordanian rule and Jews were not allowed into the Old City and/or the Wall, despite the Article VIII of the 1949 Armistice Agreement that provided for Israeli Jewish access to the Western Wall.

Liberation

During the 1967 Six-Day War which the Jordanians joined against Israel’s advice, Jordan lost the battle over Judea and Samaria, and in the bitter fighting in the streets of Old City of Jerusalem. A group of Israeli paratroopers managed to get to the Old City through the Lion’s Gate and liberate the Western Wall and Temple Mount. Jerusalem was reunified, and Jews were once again allowing to pray freely at the Kotel (The Wall) the paratroopers wept loudly in pain over their comrades who had fallen along the way. The words of the Kaddish (prayer of mourning the dead) was heard by the stones of the Western Wall’s after 19 years of silence, tears of mourning, shouts of joy, and the singing of “Hatikvah” (the Israeli anthem.)

Following Israel’s victory during the 1967 Six-Day War, the Western Wall came under Israeli control. Brigadier Rabbi Shlomo Goren proclaimed after its capture that “Israel would never again relinquish the Wall”, which was supported by Israeli Minister for Defense Moshe Dayan and Chief of Staff General Yitzhak Rabin. In the 48 hours after this liberation, the military – without explicit governmental orders – demolished the entire Moroccan Quarter as well as a mosque near the Kotel, all in order to make way for the Western Wall Plaza. The plaza expanded the narrow sidewalk in front of the Kotel from accommodating a maximum of 12,000 people to accommodate more than 400,000 people.

Israeli rule 1967–present

The new plaza created in 1967 is used for worship and public gatherings, including Bar mitzvah celebrations and the swearing-in ceremonies of newly full-fledged soldiers in the Israel Defense Forces. Tens of thousands of Jews flock to the wall on the Jewish holidays, and particularly on the fast of Tisha B’Av (the 9^th of the Hebrew month of Av) which marks the destruction of both Temples, and on Jerusalem Day, which commemorates the reunification of Jerusalem in 1967 and the delivery of the Wall into Jewish hands.

Conflicts over prayer at the national monument began little more than a year after Israel’s victory in the Six-Day War, once again made accessible to Jews, on the issue of separating the area into a section for men and a section for women, as the Ministry of Religious Affairs requested. The Knesset committee on internal affairs backed the Ministry of Religious Affairs.

The Kotel Today

Today, several areas of the Western Wall provide accommodations for different religious observances, in order to hold different types of services and activities. These include Robinson’s Arch and Wilson’s Arch.

Robinson’s Arch

At the southern end of the Western Wall, Robinson’s Arch along with a row of vaults once supported stairs ascending from the street to the Temple Mount. Because it does not come under the direct control of the Rabbi of the Wall or the Ministry of Religious Affairs, the site has been opened to religious groups that hold worship services that would not be approved by the Rabbi or the Ministry in the major men’s and women’s prayer areas against the Wall.

Wilson’s Arch

In 2005, the Western Wall Heritage Foundation initiated a major renovation effort under Rabbi-of-the-Wall Shmuel Rabinovitch. Its goal was to renovate and restore the area within Wilson’s Arch, the covered area to the left of worshipers facing the Wall in the open prayer plaza, in order to increase access for visitors and for prayer.

The restoration to the men’s section included a Torah ark that can house over 100 Torah scrolls, in addition to new bookshelves, a library, heating for the winter, and air conditioning for the summer. A new room was also built for the scribes who maintain and preserve the Torah scrolls used at the Wall. New construction also included a women’s section, overlooking the men’s prayer area, so that women could use this separate area to “take part in the services held inside under the Arch” for the first time.

Muslims

In December 1973, King Faisal of Saudi Arabia stated that “Only Muslims and Christians have holy places and rights in Jerusalem”. The Jews, he maintained, had no rights there at all. As for the Western Wall, he said, “Another wall can be built for them. They can pray against that. Raed Salah, leader of the northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel wrote that:

“The Western Wall – all its various parts, structures and gates – are an inseparable part of the al-Aqsa compound…The Western Wall is part of Al-Aqsa’s western tower, which the Israeli establishment fallaciously and sneakily calls the ‘Wailing Wall’. The wall is part of the holy al-Aqsa Mosque PA-appointed Mufti of Jerusalem, Sheikh Ekrima Sa’id Sabri, believes that the Wall belongs to the Muslims alone. In 2000 he related that “No stone of the Al-Buraq wall has any relation to Judaism. The Jews began praying at this wall only in the nineteenth century, when they began to develop [national] aspirations.” A year later, he stated:

“There is not a single stone in the Wailing Wall relating to Jewish History. The Jews cannot legitimately claim this wall, neither religiously nor historically. The Committee of the League of Nations recommended in 1930, to allow the Jews to pray there, in order to keep them quiet. But by no means did it acknowledge that the wall belongs to them.”

As we saw from the history above, these claims are not true.

In November 2010, an official paper published by the PA Ministry of Information denied Jewish rights to the Wall. It stated that “Al-Buraq Wall is in fact the western wall of Al-Aksa Mosque” and that Jews had only started using the site for worship after the 1917 Balfour Declaration.

As we saw in the history above, Jews longed to come and worship at the Wall since the time they were expelled from the Land but were not permitted by the different conquerors, including the Muslims.

The Biblical Background of Jerusalem

From the beginning the Lord, God of Israel had a plan and purpose for the city He chose to be His dwelling place, the Holy City, Jerusalem.

Jerusalem is mentioned more than 800 times in the Bible. [Read more…] about Jerusalem: From the Beginning to the Destruction of the First Temple

The Second Temple Period (536 BC-70 AD)

Persian Rule (536-333 BC)

After the fall of Judah in 586 BC. the Babylonian Empire under the rule of the mighty king Nebuchadnezzar continued to expand and gain power. But according to the Word of God, Babylon would be destroyed.

After the death of the great Babylonian ruler Nebuchadnezzar, his empire started to decline. Nebuchadnezzar was followed by Amil-Marduk (called Evil-merodach in 2 Kings 25:27), who ruled for less than two years. Then came a series of bad and corrupt rulers culminating with Nabonidus, who ruled for sixteen years, from 555 to 539 BC. He spent most of his time at the Oasis in Arabia and left the affairs of state in Babylon in the hands of Belshazzar, his son. Under Belshazzar, the empire reached the height of corruption.

As Babylon was declining, two nations in the east and north of the Persian Gulf were coming to power: the Medes and the Persians, with king Cyrus who united them under his rule. He spent two year conquering the nations of northern Mesopotamia and Asia Minor, and then moved in on Babylon. Without much fighting he took over the Babylonian Empire. (Daniel 5)

The Persian Empire was now great with conquered territories throughout the ancient Near East, including the land of Israel. Under the Persian rule, Israel enjoyed a reasonable amount of freedom and peace.

King Cyrus allowed the Jews to return to their homeland and rebuild the Temple (2 Chronicles 36:22-23; Ezra). Zerubbabel led the first group of 50,000 returning to the Land.

Without much wealth and with much opposition from local non-Jewish residents, the people returning from exile became discouraged. The Lord sent the prophets Zechariah and Haggai to encourage the people to get busy building the Temple. It took about twenty years to complete the rebuilding of the Temple. The restored temple marked the renewed Jewish life after the devastation of the exile. Unlike the first temple that was built by a great king, the second temple was built by the people themselves who were determined to keep it. (Neh 10:32-39).

In 458 BC, Ezra led a second group of about 2,000 back to the Land. In 445 BC, King Xerxes allowed Nehemiah to return to rebuild the city of Jerusalem despite opposition from some of the locals. After these and other delays, the temple was completed in 516/515 B.C.E, during the time of the Persian king Darius (525-486 B.C.E.). (read Ezra and Nehemiah for more details)

Greek Rule (333-323 BC)

Alexander the Great from Macedonia was probably the greatest military leader of all time. In 333 BC He defeated the mighty Persian army when he was only in his twenty’s. He believed he was the son of the Greek god Zeus. But died a sudden death in 323 BC at the age of thirty-three as a mere mortal. By the time Alexander died at age thirty-three in 323 B.C.E., he had conquered the entire area from Macedonia to India. Israel was part of this new empire.

Alexander’s policy was not to destroy the cities he conquered but to “Hellenize” them. To establish a Greek colony, Greek culture, Greek language, Greek philosophy, Greek gods and Greek practices, and that’s what he started in Jerusalem just before he died.

Ptolemy Dynasty (King of the South – 301-198 BC)

After Alexander’s death, his kingdom was divided among his generals who fought over the control of his empire. Ptolemy took control of Egypt and established the Ptolemaic dynasty. He was officially crowned in king in 305 BC. In Daniel 11, the Ptolemaic dynasty is called the “King of the South.”

Seleucid Dynasty (King of the North – 198-164 BC)

The Greek generals who succeeded Alexander and ruled from Syria were called the “Seleucids.” This is the “King of the North” mentioned in Daniel 11. Their dynasty was from 198-164 BC.

During this period, small Israel was caught in the middle and changed hands between the Ptolemaic Empire and the Seleucids five times. At that time the influence of Hellenism was still small in Jerusalem and allowed for a certain degree of Jewish autonomy, allowing the High Priest to maintain his the role in the affairs of Judea. In 201 BC the Seleucid king Antiochus III, invaded Judea and conquered it. By 198 BC the Seleucids gained complete control over Judea and Jerusalem.

With the rise of the son of Antiochus III, Antochus IV Epiphanes came to power (ruled from 175 BC until 164) and things changed for the worst for the Jews.

Antiochus’ ambition was to Hellenize all the territories under his rule, which included Israel and Jerusalem. He forbade the Jews to practice their ancient faith; like circumcision, observing the Sabbath, celebrating the feasts, keeping dietary laws, studying the Torah, or in any way worshipping God. The sanctuary in Jerusalem was desecrated and its name was changed to “Zeus Olympius”.

Antiochus erected a statue of Zeus in the Temple bearing his own image. He built a new altar to Zeus on which he offered a sacrificial pig. He then poured the pig’s blood over the Torah.

Antiochus built shrines and altars throughout the land and forced the people to make sacrifices to the Greek gods. Those who disobeyed were tortured or killed. Their bodies were mutilated, many were crucified. Babies who were circumcised were strangled and their mothers crucified with the dead bodies of their children wrapped around their necks.

The Maccabean Era (164-63 BC)

Unfortunately, many of the leaders in Israel embraced Hellenism. However, the ones faithful to God rebelled. The revolt started in 167 BC when one of the king’s officers erected a pagan altar and commanded the people to sacrifice a pig as a show of loyalty to Antiochus. The King’s officer ordered an elderly priest named Mattityahu the Hashmonai to be the first to obey in order to set an example for the rest of the town of Modi’in. But he refused and when another Jew was willing to do it, Mattityahu killed him and the king’s officer. He and his five sons fled into the hills, and Judah the Maccabee; one of Mattityahu’s sons took the lead to start the revolt against Antiochus and the Greek army. Judah’s brilliant tactics and the divine intervention of God, gave the Maccabees the victory over the Greek armies at Bet-Horon, Emmaus and finally at Mt. Zion. They captured the Temple in Jerusalem and in Dec. 164 BC, exactly three years after the altar to Zeus had been set up, the Temple in Jerusalem was cleansed, and sacrifices to God on a clean alter were resumed, as well as the other religious ceremonies. That rededication of the Temple is still commemorated each December as Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights.

The Maccabees continue fighting the Greek army and had many additional victories in Gilead, Transjordan and Galilee. Eventually Judah Maccabee was defeated in one of the battles north of Jerusalem and was killed in 160 BC. He was buried in the family sepulcher in Modi’in. Jonathan, Judah’s brother succeeded him and the descendants of his brother Simeon became the leader of the Hasmonean dynasty in Judea.

The Hasmoneans reestablished Jewish sovereignty over Israel, with Jerusalem as the capital of the independent Jewish state. The Hasmonean dynasty maintained their independent rule for about 100 years from about 164-63 BC. It was during this time that the Sadducees and the Pharisees emerged along with other factions and groups, mentioned in the New Testament.

The Hasmonean descendants, who were from the tribe of Levy, appointed themselves also as kings. Their reign has been generalized as cruel and oppressive with never ending conflict. After the last queen died, her younger son Aristobulos rebelled against his older brother John Hyrcanus who was the rightful heir. The brothers met in battle near Jericho with Aristobulus gaining the victory. As the Hasmoneans were allies of the Romans, both brothers sent their delegates to the Roman general Pompey, who favored Hyrcanus over Aristobulus, considering the weaker older brother a more reliable ally of the Roman Empire.

In the fighting Pompey defeated the Jewish armies, and took the fortresses of Judea. It took him, however, three months to break through the fortifications of the Temple Mount and take control of Jerusalem and the Holy Temple. In June, 63 BC, on a Sabbath, Pompey entered the most sacred place in the Temple, the Holy of Holies. Aristobulus and his sons Alexander and Antigonus were captured in 63 BC until Julius Caesar released them in 49 BC in order to turn Judea against Pompey.On his way back to Judea, Aristobulus was poisoned by Pompay’s men. His son Antigonus became king and high priest in 40 BC.

Antigonus and his supporters led a rebellion against the Romans in Jerusalem until the Romans took over the city and reached the inner courtyard of the Temple. Antigonus was taken to Antioch and executed, ending Hasmonean rule in Judea. .

Roman Rule (63 BC-312 AD)

Herod (37-4 BC)

There was a power struggle between Pompey and Julius Caesar; Caesar emerged as the winner. He appointed a governor to keep watch over Judea, which became a Roman province. It was a son of an Idumean who had been forced to covert to Judaism, a man named Herod. After Caesar’s death, Cassius, Mark Antony and Octavian all struggled for control of the Roman Empire. They all kept Herod in power and eventually Rome appointed Herod King of Judea.

Herod had complete authority in the country’s internal affairs, and he used it ruthlessly. He established an enormous secret police force and brutally killed anyone suspected of plotting against him. He became one of the most powerful monarchs in the eastern part of the Roman Empire. A great admirer of Greco-Roman culture, Herod launched a massive construction program, which included the cities of Caesarea and Sebaste and the fortresses at Herodium and Masada. Herod was a very good administrator who was totally loyal to Rome. He built numerous monuments to Caesar and held festivals throughout the land which he dedicated to Caesar. Herod is best known for expanding the Temple in Jerusalem. This was a major building project he began in 20 BC and was not finished until 64 AD, many years after Herod had died. Herod’s expanded Temple was a magnificent structure and one of the wonders of the ancient world.

Herod appointed the High Priest to serve in the Temple regardless of his lineage or character. Most were servants who wouldn’t dare to oppose him. As a result, Temple administration and worship in the time of Jesus was very corrupt. The Sadducee priests in Jerusalem made a fortune from the Temple activities.

God chose this time and place to send His Son into the world. Yeshua/Jesus was born in Bethlehem, just 8 kilometers (5.5 miles) south of Jerusalem when Herod was king of Judea. On the 8th day after birth, Yeshua’s parents, Joseph and Miriam took baby Yeshua to be circumcised in the Temple and dedicated Him there. At age twelve they went up to Jerusalem for the holiday. Yeshua was found in the temple discussing Torah with the Rabbis. (Luke 2) for more of the events of Yeshua’s life, death and resurrection, read the Gospels in the New Testament. And for the events of the early body of believers, read the book of Acts

Herod ruled from 37-4 BC. From all we know about Herod, he was a charming, clever, cruel, paranoid, and an evil genius.

Before Herod died in 4 BC, he divided his kingdom among three of his sons. Archelaus (4 BC-6 AD) was given the area that included Judea and Samaria. This means he had to administer Jerusalem. He was an incompetent, unwise man who sought to rule by cruel force. Jews and Samaritans hated him. Augustus realized that Archelaus could never keep the peace and banished him from his position.

In 6 AD Augustus took direct Roman rule over Judea and Jerusalem and appointed Roman governors.

One of the most famous Roman governors was Pilate who was governor from 26-36 BC. Pilate was a cruel, cold-blooded, weak administrator. He executed prisoners without trials, slaughtered any group that he perceived as a threat, oppressed the residents of Jerusalem robbed the treasury of the Temple and mocked the Jews and their sacred Temple. God used Pilate to fulfill His divine plan of redemption of Israel and the word by offering His beloved Son to die on the cross for the sins of all humanity. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)

After Yeshua’s death and resurrection at Passover, His disciples stayed in Jerusalem, as He instructed in Luke 24:49 and Acts 1:8, until they were endued with power from above, at Pentecost (Shavuot) when the Holy Spirit fell on them in the upper room (located in today’s old city of Jerusalem around the area of the Temple Mount.) The first church (body of believers in Yeshua) was established in Judah. The number of believers in Yeshua (mostly Jews) grew but were still a small minority among the other Jewish factions such as Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes and the Scribes. Judah was under Roman rule at that time.

As long as the Jews obeyed Roman law and paid their taxes, they enjoyed religious freedom and Jewish Temple worship. There was ongoing rebellious fighting from the militant Jewish Zealots against the Roman soldiers, which resulted in brutal acts by the Romans to enforce their rule and repress the rebellious attempts. There was also fighting between the Zealots and the local Jewish population as the Zealots would raid and rob their homes for food and supplies they needed.

Destruction of Jerusalem and the Second Temple

Vespasian, who was acclaimed Emperor in 69 A.D., left for Rome to secure his throne and gave his son Titus the responsibility for ending any Jewish civil war and rebellion against Rome. In April, 70 A.D, the Roman General Titus, with his legions began the siege of Jerusalem, and on the 10th of August, 70 A.D. (the 9th of Av of the Jewish calendar, the same day when the First Temple was destroyed by the king of Babylon in 586 B.C.) the Second Temple was destroyed as Titus set Jerusalem and the Temple on fire.

Jerusalem was devastated and the Holy Temple was totally destroyed, just as Yeshua had prophesied in Matt. 24:2 – not one stone was left upon another. When the Temple was set on fire the Roman soldiers tore apart the stone to get the melted gold. The temple treasury was robbed, the Menorah (Temple candelabra) and vessels were carried to Rome in triumph. Most of the Jews were taken captive to Rome.

After the destruction of Jerusalem and the Second Temple in 70 A.D. the second exile of the Jews from the Land of Judah began, and they were scattered throughout the earth. Some million Jews remained in the land in villages along the plains of Judah, growing crops and having small businesses. However, the burden of taxation to the Romans and the expropriation lands by the Romans choked from them any remaining of freedom, and frustration mounted. A generation later the sparks of revolt started to flare up again against Roman rule by a charismatic leader, Shimon Bar-Kochva (132-135A.D) who was backed by the famous religious leader Rabbi Akiva. At that time Hadrian was the Roman Emperor who decided to build up Jerusalem as a Roman city by the name of Colonia Aelia Capitolina, and build on the vacant Temple mount a Roman temple as part of his vision of a united Roman Empire.

Hadrien’s action aroused the anger of the Jews and caused ongoing rebellion against the Romans. In response, the Romans murdered large numbers of Jews in cities and communities. These murders sparked a larger scale rebellion led by Bar Kochva who massacred the famous 12th legion of the Roman army. Jerusalem was liberated for three years and Rabbi Akiva proclaimed Bar Kochva as the Messiah who was to deliver the Jewish people and build the new Temple. Bar Kochva started to establish a system of an alternative government by issuing coins and weights and measures for trade. One coin showed the facade of the Temple. Another showed an article from the Temple.

Hadrian, being a brilliant military commander, figured out the strategy of the Jews and within three years of fighting conquered Jerusalem again and killed Bar Kochva, who was pronounced by the Sanhedrin Rabbis as a false Messiah.

In Hadrian’s attempt to erase all traces of a Jewish city named Jerusalem as being connected with the Jews, renamed Jerusalem again Aelia Capitolina and Jews were forbidden to enter the city, including Jewish Christians. After the massacres, persecution and devastation and the exile of Jews by Hadrian and the Romans from the land of Israel and Judea, he also wanted to eradicate all traces of connection of the Jews to the Land of their forefathers, and renamed the land “Palestine” after the Philistines, an ancient enemy of Israel who occupied the southern coast area of Israel and no longer existed for more than 600 years.

Hadrian erected on the Temple Mount a temple to Jupiter and a statue of himself. (The next Emperor, Antonius Pius, added another statue.) Jews were allowed to enter the city and the Temple Mount only on memorial days to mourn the destruction of the Temple.

Although most of the nation was in exile from their Land, the Jews did not forget Jerusalem or the Temple Mount. Their daily prayer was for the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem. The traditional Jewish prayer book contains the following passage:

Because of our sins we were exiled from our country and banished from our land. We cannot go up as pilgrims to worship You, to perform our duties in Your chosen house, the great and Holy Temple which was called by Your name, on account of the hand that was let loose on Your sanctuary. May it be Your will, Lord our God and God of our fathers, merciful King, in Your abundant love again to have mercy on us and on Your sanctuary; rebuild it speedily and magnify its glory.

For the next two thousand years, while most of the Jewish people were in exile and the remaining Jews in the Land were not allowed to go up to Jerusalem, the Temple Mount was for the most part neglected and profaned. Though this time constituted a period of neglect some significant events concerning Jerusalem and the Temple Mount did occur…