The Temple

The Temple was central to the Jewish religion; all of the sacrifices were offered there, and Scripture mandated that Jewish men attend festivals at the Temple three times a year. During Passion Week, as they were leaving the Temple, one of the disciples said to Jesus:

"Look, Teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!"

"Do you see all these great buildings?" replied Jesus. "Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down."

(Mark 13:1-2)


The Dome of the Rock, an ancient Islamic shrine that is one of the holiest sites in Islam, stands where the Temple sanctuary stood in Christ's time. Scholars believe the foundation stone of that Temple is inside of it.

Which "buildings" he was referring to is unknown, but it included the Temple sanctuary. The prophesy was fulfilled in 70 A.D., after a long siege by the Romans. Sometimes people think that this prophecy wasn't fulfilled since the western wall, or Wailing Wall, of the the Temple still exists; however, it was the buildings Jesus referred to, and indeed they are gone - every last stone. Nothing is left.

One of the original streets that ran outside of the Temple is preserved, and you can see the massive stones, exactly where they tumbled to the ground two thousand years ago.

These boulders, on an excavated Herodion street, are probably right where they fell when the Romans torched it almost 2,000 years ago. I sat in one of those indentations on the left, which were probably kiosks in Jesus' time. The women probably bought spices to anoint Jesus' dead body in a shop like this, albeit larger.


The Temple Mount itself surprised me. I expected it to be this vast open space, but it's covered with mosques, curbed walkways and young trees. There's nothing old aboout it. I was so disappointed. This is a standard walkway on it, complete with lampposts and garbage cans.


Not a great picture, but the closest I have to what I was expecting - and what it was like in Jesus' day, I believe. Picture Christ's Temple where the Dome of the Rock is, and take out the buildings.

Travelogue
This guy walked up to me asking me if I wanted a tour - I said how much? (you learn quickly in Israel that costs are hidden. Payment is expected but the expectation is never stated.)

"Oh, little money, not much."

Oh. Well, what do you know about? Do you know about what it was like 2,000 years ago, or just the other centuries?

"Oh no, I know lots about what it looked like in Herod's time."

Great. Little money, none upfront, lots of information. Turned out he worked there, which was a plus - usually it's any old person offering you a tour.

Well, I shouldn't have believed him. He dodged every question about Herod's time, giving me all the information I never wanted about the sixth century (Mormon takeover) and the Byzantine period. "Here. I show you something." He takes me up a flight of stairs into some building - there are lots of buildings on the Temple Mount - turns around and locks the door. We are in his apartment.

oh dear God. Bells ring in my head. But I prayed and got more peace about it than I usually get about anything, so I figured it was okay. It was kind of cool, actually. He had renovated this apartment, scraped off the wall and discovered an old 1st millenia (my memory's not so good. 3rd entury? 8th century? It's all the same to me.) mosaic on the wall. There were ancient arches/dome in there, and an old ornate (inaccurate world) indentation in the wall fitted for a statue or something. Who knows what it was. It had this 'garden room' or something that was - never mind skylights - completely open. Gorgeous since there was a gorgeous blue sky overhead (and the omnipresent clouds on the horizon).


In his apartment - can you imagine having this in your house?!

He asked me if I had a boyfriend or was married ("yes") and gave me a five-minute lecture on how I shouldn't have believed him the first time he said "I love you," etc. etc. etc. because men only mean that on the second or third time they say it, blah blah blah.

OK, can we change the subject? I'm getting desperate and praying hard. Still getting peace. Good! 'cause I'm getting a little freaked out anyway. He knew I was scared and I was like "Well, yeah, I don't know you." He offered me a mug of Turkish coffee - did I know how outstanding Turkish coffee was? You must sample it."

Well by that time a) I was ready to run; and b) I had to run. I had two more sites to see and had to be back by 11:00. It was now 9:30.

I thought he would never let me out of the darn place. Finally I escaped. "Money."

"Oh, right, money. What, 15 shekels okay?" (This is generous, as the tour at the Temple excavations cost me 10.)

"Oh, no. We give 100 shekels for this kind of thing." Tough. I gave him 20 and told him if he wanted 100, he should have said so in the first place. And walked away.

He tried to give me directions to where I wanted to go, but I was afraid he was mad at me and steering me completely wrong, and besides I wanted 5 minutes to write away from him. I never did get my 5 minutes, but I did get what appeared to be a circular tour of the Temple Mount, rushing the whole time, only to wind up where I started.

Finally I escaped.