Temple Mount

Temple Mount (Part 1): If it is absurd and doesn’t make sense, it must be God.

July 7, 2017 By Bella Davidov Leave a Comment

An aerial view of the Temple Mount as it stands today.

According to the Word of God, God said to King David that his son Solomon would build him a sanctuary. King Solomon built the first Holy Temple atop what is known as the Temple Mount in the 10^th century BCE.

On the 1^st of August, Israel will observe the 9^th of the Hebrew month of Av. On this day both temples were destroyed. The 3 weeks before the 9^th of Av are known as the time “Between the Straits” which is a time mourning the destruction of the Second Holy Temple and the 2000 year exile from the Land of Israel, until Israel became a nation again in 1948. It is also the date that many other tragedies befell the Jewish people. The Jewish sages say that those who mourn the destruction of Jerusalem will merit seeing it rebuilt with the coming of the Messiah (of course, we know that the Messiah has already come the first time, and will come again.) [Read more about the 9^th of Av]
Three days after the beginning of the weeks of “Between the Straits”, on July 14^th, three Muslim terrorists who were Israeli citizens from the Arab town of Umm al-Fahm, northwest of Haifa, walked toward the Lions’ Gate and opened fire at Israeli troops guarding the Temple Mount, then fled into the Temple Mount. The troops chased them, engaged and shot the terrorists dead inside the complex.
Immediately, Israel installed metal detectors at the gates to the Muslim-administered sites on the Temple Mt. The move rocked the Muslim world, perceiving it as an Israeli attempt to take over control over the Muslim holy sites.
Logically, Israel assumed that the world would understand that measures have to be taken to prevent further attacks, and that Israel has no intention of taking over the Muslim sites, as Israel had announced many times.
Nevertheless, the metal detectors set off widespread protests and a wave of violence that set a Palestinian terrorist on a murder spree against a family of Israeli residents of a settlement in the West Bank, murdering 3 members of the Jewish family. Then there was another incident in Jordan when an Israeli guard in the Israeli Embassy was attacked by a terrorist with a screwdriver, and the guard responded by shooting and killing him and another Jordanian. A Jordanian mob demanded the death sentence for the Israeli guard. With pressure from the world and Jordan to restore the calm, Israel agreed to remove the metal detectors (also in exchange for the return of the Israeli Embassy guard.)
Israel announced it would replace the metal detectors with new security measures. These would reportedly include “advanced technologies,” sophisticated cameras and additional police deployments.
This set the Palestinians on another massive demonstration outside the Temple Mount. They continued to chant that “Al-Aqsa is in danger” and “under attack,” by the Israeli “occupiers.”
This libel has been going on for years. It is inspired by the incitement of the Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement and the Muslim Brotherhood in Turkey, Qatar, Gaza Hamas and in Israel proper (even though they are illegal in Israel.) Hundreds of terrorists throughout the years have taken to Israel’s streets and stabbed, rammed and shot dozens of Jews to death, with the false cry that “Al-Aqsa is in danger”.
The libel has now brought blood to the Temple Mount, to the doorstep of the Al-Aqsa mosque and the Dome of the Rock. It now threatens the status quo Israel has for years sworn to protect, despite the denial of the right of the Jews to the Temple Mount. This is what forced the Israeli officers to fire their weapons to stop the terrorists, and actually defend the Muslim holy site, and the Muslim worshipers at the site from being harmed. This is the absurdity of the current events on the Temple Mount. [Read More about the status quo]
The protesters shouted, “We will not kneel, for Mohammad is our leader. Khayber*, Oh Jews, the army of Mohammad will return.” (*Khayber was an Arabian Jewish town whose residents were slaughtered by Mohammad in the seventh century.) “It’s a promise for the future war.”
As of this writing, to prevent riots and mobs gathering outside the Temple Mount that can ignite the fire of violence, Israel agreed to remove all measures of surveillance, including cameras and agreed to the demands of the Palestinian leadership to go back to the way things were conducted before the July 14^th incident.

The history of the Temple Mount starts and ends with Israel.

The beginning:

Israelite period – The Jewish King David bought the Temple Mount grounds from the Jebusite, Araunah, for fifty pieces of silver (2 Sam. 24:24). In response to God’s command, David’s son, King Solomon built the First Temple on the Mount.
Solomon’s temple was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BCE, and the Second Temple was built by the Jews, completed and dedicated in 516 BCE.
Around 519 BCE Herod the Great expanded the Temple and the platform on which it stood. The Second Temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE.
Roman and Byzantine periods – Roman emperor Hadrian rebuilt Jerusalem and changed the name of the city to Aelia Capitolina. All Jews were forbidden to enter the city or the surrounding territory around the city.
In 325 CE, the Christian Emperor Constantine I, destroyed the Jupiter shrine on the Temple Mount. He allowed Jews to enter Jerusalem once a year, on the 9^th of Av. The Temple Mount was neglected by the Romans.
Byzantine period – The Byzantines built elaborate church buildings, monasteries and other public buildings on the Temple Mount.
Muslim period – In 637 CE Muslim Arabs conquered Jerusalem from the Byzantine Empire. Caliph Umar built the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount. It was completely destroyed and rebuilt several times, the last one was rebuilt in 1035 and still stands today.
In 691 CE Caliph Abd al-Malik built the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount (Qubbat as-Sakhra). (The dome was covered in gold in 1920)
These are the main holy sites to the Muslims after Mecca and Medina. The Dome of the Rock is located close to the area where the Jewish Holy Temple previously stood. The mosques and shrines are currently administered by the Waqf.
The Crusaders – In 1099 the First Crusaders captured Jerusalem and the Temple Mount and converted the mosques into churches.
Back to Muslim rule – In 1187 the Muslim leader Saladin re-conquered the Dome of the Rock and al-Aksa. They were returned to Muslim houses of worship, until the present.
The Ottoman Empire – The Turkish Ottoman Muslim Empire conquered Palestine in 1516. They prohibited non-Muslims from visiting the Temple Mount until the early 19^th century.
British Mandate – After WWI, the entire area was conquered by the British, including the Old City of Jerusalem. The Mandate maintained the Muslim status quo of the Temple Mount and Jordan established the current Waqf (religious Muslim Council of the holy places on the Temple Mount.) [Read more about the Waqf]
The State of Israel – Israel won the war of 1948 against five Arab nations. But Jerusalem and the West Bank remained occupied by Jordan. Jews were completely expelled from the Old City including the Temple Mt. They were barred from entering the Old City for 19 years, effectively banning Jewish prayer at the site of the Western Wall.

Closure of cycle: Israel occupies the Temple Mount once again

Israel period – On June 7, 1967, Israel won the Six Day War against neighboring enemies Egypt, Syria, and Jordan. In the fighting against Jordan, Israel captured the West Bank and East Jerusalem from the Jordanians. The Temple Mt. site remains within the area controlled by the State of Israel, but the administration of the site remains in the hands of the Jerusalem Islamic Waqf.
Arabs can enter the Temple Mount through one of ten different Muslim-only gates from various places in the Old City. Non-Muslims and Jews are only allowed access to the site through the Mugrabim Gate (via the Mugrabim Bridge) which is located just above to the left of the Kotel, (Western Wall) plaza. Non-Muslims are not allowed to pray on the Temple Mount.

Insight

As we see, God has fulfilled His promises and closed the cycle. Now that Israel has come back to the Land, the Temple Mount is in Israel’s hands. For now, God allows that it will be religiously under Muslim control, even if Jews cannot pray up there to the God of Israel (in a religious way.) Why does God allow such an absurd situation? Because of His timing. If Israel had taken control of the Temple Mount religiously, the Jewish religious leaders would have started building the third Temple, and it is not God’s time, it’s not His purpose yet for Israel.
Please pray. As tensions mount in Jerusalem, with many Israeli security and police guards, and many heated Muslims chanting anti-Jewish slogans, there is the danger of clashes and violence to erupt.Pray for protection and peace.

Unrest at the Temple Friday morning.

Names (Part 2): God Changes Names – Man Changes Names

June 7, 2017 By Bella Davidov Leave a Comment

PART TWO

Where does the name Palestine come from?

All of the various Western names such as Palestine, Palestina, and Philistia, come from the original Hebrew word Peleshet, from the root Palash, which is a verb meaning to roll in the dust of the earth and to invade. The Egyptians identified the Pelishtim as “Sea Peoples.” The Pelishtim were not native Canaanites, but invaders from Phoenicia. Pottery found from the cities of Ekron and Ashdod in Philistia are similar in style to pottery found in the Aegean Sea area and on Cyprus. Their main god was Dagon. (Judg. 16:23; 1 Sam. 5:1-7)

The first clear use of the term Palestine that refers to the area between Phoenicia and Egypt occurred in 5^th century BCE ancient Greece when Herodotus described a “district of Syria, along the Mediterranean coast called “Palaistine“, which included the Judean Mountains and the Jordan Rift Valley. Other writers referred to the region as Coele-Syria (“all Syria”) around 10-20 CE.

The Jewish historian Josephus (37-100 AD) quotes Herodotus in referring to “Syria of Palaistine” and “the Syrians that are in Palaistine“, inhabitants of Palaistine who are circumcised are Jews.” This confirms that Jews lived in Palaistine at that time.

In the Bible, the names “Palestia” or “Philistia” occur fewer than ten times in the Old Testament. For example: “What have ye to do with me, O Tyre, and Sidon, and all the coasts of Palestia?” (Joel 3:4- 4:4; Exod. 15:14; Isa. 14:29, 31; Ps. 60:8; 83:7; 87:4; 108:9). The term is never used to refer to the whole land of Israel, but to the southwestern coastal area. The rest of the land was called Canaan.

The inhabitants of Peleshet were called the Pelishtim, Philistines in English. This word occurs 287 times in the Hebrew Bible (Some examples: Gen. 10:14; 26:1; Exod. 13:17, etc., many in Judg., 1 & 2 Sam., and 1 Chron., Jer. 6:26; Ezek. 27:30; Mic. 1:10).

The Pelishtim

From the time the Israelites first entered Canaan, under Joshua’s leadership, the “Philistines” were and remained the enemies of Israel. Their centers of power were the five cities/states along the coast of southern Canaan: Ashkelon, Ashdod, Ekron, Gath, and Gaza. However, their battlegrounds of fighting Israel spread to other parts of the country, the most famous one, David against the giant Philistine Goliath (from the city of Gath). Those cities were promised by God to the tribe of Judah in Joshua 15:1, 46, 47: “This then was the lot of the tribe of Judah…from Ekron to the sea, all that lay near Ashdod, with their Villages; Ashdod with its towns and villages, Gaza with its towns and villages-as far as the Brook of Egypt and the Great Sea (Mediterranean) with its coastline.”

The ancient Philistines are long gone and there are no descendants. God said in His word that He would destroy the Philistines in several prophecies including: “Thus said Lord YHVH: I will stretch out my hand against the Philistines and cut off the Cherethites and wipe out the last survivors of the seacoast” (Ezek 25:15-16).

Jeremiah forewarns that “the day is coming” when “YHVH will ravage the Pelishtim, the remnant from the island of Caphtor” (Jer 47:4). Archeologists believe Caphtor is likely the island of Crete.

Neither “Palestina” or “Philistia” occur in the Greek New Testament. When Titus destroyed Jerusalem in 70 A.D., the Roman government issued a coin with the phrase “Judea Capta,” meaning Judea has been captured. The term Palestine was never used in the early Roman days.

It was not until the Romans crushed the second Jewish revolt against Rome in 135 CE under the leadership of Bar Kochba that Emperor Hadrian changed the name of the Land of Israel to Palestine. He replaced the Jewish shrines in Jerusalem with temples to pagan deities and changed the name of Jerusalem to Aelia Capitalina. Hadrian’s choice of the name Palestine was not accidental. He used the name of the ancient enemies of Israel, the Philistines and gave it a western name to replace the name Land of Israel. His purpose was to erase the name Israel from all memory and erase the Jewish connection to the land.

Following the Muslim conquest in the 7^th century, names of places that were in use by the Byzantine administration generally continued to be used in Arabic, including the use of the name “Palestine.” The land was still Palestine when it became part of the Turkish Ottoman Empire in the years 1517-1917.

In the 20^th century, after the British won the 1^st World War and conquered the land from the Turks, the name was used by the British to refer to “Mandatory Palestine”, though they called the land on both sides of the Jordan River, Palestine. This became the accepted geo-political term for several decades, and those who lived in the land were called Palestinians, whether they were Jews, Arabs or Europeans.
Today’s Palestinians
After Israel became a nation in 1948, the name of the land was changed back to Israel and the Jews were called Israelis. Only in 1968, The Palestinian National Charter, as amended by the PLO’s Palestinian National Council defined “Palestinians” as “those Arab nationals who, until 1947, normally resided in Palestine regardless of whether they were evicted from it or stayed there. Anyone born, after that date, of a Palestinian father—whether in Palestine or outside it—is also a Palestinian.”

Unfortunately, today even many Christians continue to refer to the Land of Israel as Palestine. by this, they join the world, pagans, and haters of Israel in calling Israel by the anti-Israel term of Palestine.

The enemy of God hates the reality of the restoration of Israel as the nation that will ultimately receive Jesus as the Messiah at His return and be saved. God chose Israel as His people and Jerusalem as His dwelling place. There is no mention in His word of Palestine or Palestinian people occupying the land. He gave the people of Israel the Land for an everlasting possession. The only term we, as believers in Yeshua, should use for the Land of Israel is Israel, and the so-called occupied territories Judea and Samaria.

So Where does the name Palestine come from? As opposed to the name Israel, which God chose, Palestine is a name that men chose to usurp God’s authority and purpose for His Promised Land and People.

Please pray for God’s truth to prevail in the Land of Israel and the world.
[Read more about the history of Israel in our Blog: History from the Ottoman Empire to the Establishment of the State of Israel and The Land of Israel Was Legally Purchased]