Jerusalem
– the City of Peace – the Capital of the Jewish people
Since its capture by King David three thousand years ago, Jerusalem has been the political capital of Judea and after the return form Babylonian exile it became the political capital the whole Jewish nation. The construction of the Temple by King Solomon, about 2950 years ago, made Jerusalem the religious center of Judaism for more than a thousand years. As the national capital of the United Kingdom under David and Solomon it was the political center of Israel and as the location of the Temple it was the focus of religious worship. Unlike the capital of the Northern Kingdom that changed venue several times, the status of Jerusalem as The capital never changed through history, even when the city was destroyed and ravaged by enemies.
The fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Second Temple in 72 AD did not squelch the hope to rebuild Jerusalem. This was the aim of the Bar Kochba revolt when reconstruction of the city was started, but failed to materialize when the rebellious Jews were defeated. Since that revolt Jerusalem remained the spiritual capital of Judaism, until it became again the Jewish capital in 1948. Moreover, through the centuries of occupation by Christians or Muslims, Jews have continued to live in Jerusalem, except for a few short interruptions, and in the last 200 years Jews constituted the majority of residents in the Holy City.
But the restoration of Jerusalem, both as a national and religious centre, became a dominant theme in much of Jewish worship and ritual, symbolizing both survival of the nation and fidelity to the Torah, and indeed eventually encompassing hopes for the messianic era, when Jews would be restored to Zion and Zion to the Jews. That is why the two most sacred ceremonies of the Jewish calendar, the fast day of Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) and the Seder (order of service) on the eve of Passover conclude with the words 'Next year in Jerusalem.' That is why, to this day, wherever they may be in the world, Jews turn in prayer to Jerusalem.
Jerusalem is important in Christianity not less than in Judaism. For one, Jesus lived and preached in Jerusalem and in its Temple and eventually died there, executed by the Romans. However, this historical importance is superceded by three spiritual aspects. First, Christians believe in the Hebrew Bible just as Jews do, and the Bible is engrossed in the spiritual and political meanings of Jerusalem. Second, Messianism is coupled with Jerusalem as the Messiah must come to Jerusalem and reveal himself there to the world. And third, the Kingdom of God will be established at the end of days in Jerusalem – a theological belief shared by both Christians and Jews.
And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow to it. And many people shall go and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths; for from Zion shall go forth Torah, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among the nations, and shall decide for many people; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, nor shall they learn war any more. O house of Jacob, come, and let us walk in the light of the Lord. (Isaiah2:2-5)
And on that day I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all the peoples; all who burden themselves with it shall be grievously hurt. And all the peoples of the earth shall be gathered together against it. ... And the Lord shall save the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem do not magnify themselves against Judah. On that day shall the Lord defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he who is feeble among them shall be as David on that day; and the house of David shall be like a divine being, like the angel of the Lord before them. And it shall come to pass on that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplication; and they shall look towards me, regarding those whom the nations have pierced; and they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only son, and shall be in bitterness over him, as one who is in bitterness for his firstborn. (Zechariah 12:3, 7-10)
Consequently, as stated earlier, Zionism is part of Christianity as it is part of Judaism. Modern Christianity, unlike medieval Catholicism, is expected to welcome Jewish sovereignty over Jerusalem, the ancient Jewish capital where Jesus who was born and died as a Jew, lived, preached, and was executed by the Romans for his beliefs, by the will of God. Christians believe that the prophet Isaiah referred to Jesus in: “That is because he was willing to give his life as a sacrifice. He was counted among those who had committed crimes. He took the sins of many people on himself. And he gave his life for those who had done what is wrong." (Isaiah 53:12). The discovery of the 2100 year-old scroll of the book of Isaiah (One hundred years before Jesus lived) that you will see the Book Pavilion in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem is therefore of tremendous theological and historical significance to both Christians and Jews. The following is a photograph of this very verse in this ancient scroll:
Unlike Jews and Christians for whom Jerusalem has an unparalleled significance as a theological symbol and historical icon, Muslims deny the historicity of ancient Jerusalem, discounting it as a Zionist myth,” not to speak of the spiritual meaning of the Holy City to Judaism and Christianity. Contemporary Muslims are doing their best to erase the historical remains of Jewish historical antiquities wherever they can, including those of the Jewish Temple on Temple Mount. Consequently, the potential sovereignty of Muslims over Jerusalem would be an unbelievable disaster to humanity. It would be interpreted in the Muslim world as affirmation of the supremacy of Islam over Judaism and Christianity, emboldening Muslims to try and destroy all of Western civilization.
When visiting Jerusalem you must be aware that you are not visiting just an ancient holy city that was the cradle of Christianity, but the fundamental symbol of Western culture; a Judeo-Christian symbol that must remain in the custody of the people who created it.
Jerusalem by its ancient name and its spiritual connotation is The city of peace. When we deal with Arab-Israeli conflict, the concept of peace takes a special connotation. Peace may be non-aggression for a limited period like the peace between the US and USSR until the latter fell apart, or like the current cold peace between Israel and Egypt, which is rearming itself with more sophisticated military hardware (supplied by the US) frantically preparing its next military assault on Israel.
Peace can be as it was in New York City until one minute before the Arabs destroyed the Twin Towers, or in Israeli cities and towns behind security fences and checkpoints until the next suicide bomber or bombers penetrate those security measures and indiscriminately murder tens, hundreds of thousands of Israelis (with Jerusalem remaining the prime target of Islam-motivated terrorism).
Peace may be when all Israeli Jews are killed or exiled and the Holy Land, including Jerusalem, becomes a Judenrein Islamic territory like Saudi Arabia or Jordan. And peace may be when Muslims, Christians and Jew will live in harmony mutually respecting each other’s faith and history, with Jerusalem being again the City of Peace.
When it comes to Israel the peace of harmonious coexistence the Israelis are looking for, believing in the Bible and its ethics, is so different from the “peace” the Muslims are dreaming about, which is not very different from that many atheistic “liberals” are tacitly hoping for. The question is whether, in view of the imminent global clash between Islam and Judeo-Christian Western civilization, the peace cherished by the Jewish people and by many Christians all over the world could be achieved before the “end of days” when “Wolves will live with lambs. Leopards will lie down with goats. Calves and lions will eat together. And little children will lead them around.” (Isaiah 11:6)
Before we describe the history and geography of Jerusalem, let us look at a schematic map of the world was drawn in 1580 by Heinrich Bunting (1545-1606), a native of Hanover (then a German kingdom). This rather late map, stresses the popular perception of Jerusalem as the center of the world. It is depicts Jerusalem as the pivot of three continents with recently discovered America, “the new land” (Terra Nova) in the lower left-hand corner. Notice that England and Sweden were not included in Europe!
It is noteworthy that this Christian artist and his clients perceived and cherished the centrality of Jerusalem in the late Renaissance, when Jerusalem was under Muslim occupation for 500 years by then. These were therefore true Christian Zionists! There is no comparable Islamic map.
We will start the description of the history of Jerusalem with a chronological table of the history of the Holy City until its surrender to the Arab invaders in 638 AD. Muslims deny this rich history of the Eternal City, claiming that no meaningful history exists in the “period of obscurity and ignorance” that existed according to the Koran before Mohammad. Consequently, they try to argue that all this history is “a Zionist myth,” as personally stated by Arafat to President Clinton at Camp David in 1999. Since this history is not mentioned in Koran (the City of Jerusalem is not mentioned in that book even once) it does not exist for Muslims. Criticism or analysis of the Koran is blasphemy according to Islam, punishable by death.
18th Century BC Jerusalem mentioned by name as a vassal city in Egyptian royal records
14th Century BC Correspondence between Abdikhiba the Amorite king of Jerusalem and Amonkhateb king of Egypt
13th Century BC The Exodus. Jerusalem remains unconquered for more than 200 years.
ca. 997 BC King David conquers Jerusalem from the Jebusites. Jerusalem becomes the capital of the new United Kingdom.
ca. 950 BC King Solomon builds the Temple in Jerusalem
ca. 922 BC Breakup of the kingdom. The city plundered by the Egyptians. Jerusalem remain the capital of the Kingdom of Judah.
ca. 870 BC King Jehoshaphat re-fortifies the city.
ca. 780 BC King Uziah re-fortifies the city.
ca. 710 BC King Hezekiah re-fortifies the city. Constructs a superb water supply.
701 BC Jerusalem withstands the siege by Sankherib, king of Assyria.
ca. 635 BC King Josiah reform centralizes the worship in the Jerusalem Temple.
609 BC King Josiah is killed at Megido in battle with the Egyptian army. Jerusalem loses its political independence..
597 BC Jerusalem conquered by the Babylonians.
587 BC Jerusalem and its Temple destroyed by the Babylonians.
536 BC The declaration of Cyrus King of Persia, the conqueror of Babylon, allowing the rebuilding of Jerualem and its Temple.
515 BC The second Jerusalem Temple reconstructed.
445-435 BC Nehemiah governor of Jerusalem rebuilds its walls and repopulates the city.
332 BC End of Persian rule. Jerusalem submits to Alexander the Great
309 - 198 BC Jerusalem enjoys partial autonomy under Ptolemaic rule.
198 - 175 BC Jerusalem enjoys partial autonomy under Seleucid rule (Antiochus III).
169 BC Antiochus IV (Epiphanes) plunders Jerusalem and the Temple,
167 BC The Hashmonean revolt follows the desecration of the Temple.
164 BC Liberation of the city by Judah Maccabeus and cleansing of the Temple.
141 BC Conquest of the Greek citadel in the city by Simeon, the brother of Judah - final liberation of the city.
63 BC Pompey conquers Jerusalem with the help of Hyrcanus and the Temple wall is breached.
37 - 4 BC King Herod. End of the Hashmonean rule. Jerusalem - one the greatest cities in antiquity. Reconstruction of the Temple.
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6 AD Judea becomes a Roman province. End of any political independence of Jerusalem.
41-44 AD Herod Agrippa ruler of Jerusalem. Fortification of the city.
66 AD The Great Revolt starts. Jerusalem a liberated city.
70 AD The Roman siege. Destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple by Titus.
130 AD Hadrian, declares Jerusalem a Roman colony named Aelia Capitolina, provoking the Bar Kochba revolt (132-135 AD).
132-134 AD Jerusalem is liberated but retaken by the Romans.
135 AD Jerusalem rebuilt as a Roman city Aelia Capitolina. Jews are barred from the city.
324 AD Constantine becomes Emperor of the Eastern Roman empire and makes Christianity the official religion.
361 AD Pagan Emperor Julian authorizes rebuilding of the Jewish Temple; the project is abolished when Julian dies a year later.
614 AD Persians capture Jerusalem.
629 AD Byzantine Christians recapture Jerusalem.
638 AD Jerusalem surrenders peacefully to the Arab invaders.
To “prove” his point Arafat ordered to destroy Jewish or Christian archeological remains from the pre-Islamic period, especially on the Temple Mount, the site of the ancient Jewish Temple. However, to the chagrin of Arafat there exists the Bible, which Mohammad never read, judging by the glaring misquotations of biblical stories cited in the Koran. Moreover, there are hundreds of archeological digs in the Jerusalem area, studied over the last 200 years, which corroborate the biblical narratives. The following two maps show the extensive archeological research in the Jerusalem area, including the oldest sector of the ancient Jewish capital – the city of David.
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Militant Muslims hope, however, that if they eradicated the Jews from the Holy land and possibly from the rest of the world, and destroyed all physical evidence for their historical existence, they could prove their point. Then they hope to convince the Christians that the Bible is a Jewish fraud and that all Christian will accept the Koranic faith. All this sounds preposterous until your read Islamic websites.
The following maps will help you to orient yourself vis-a-vis the historical sites of the past. The next two pictorial maps describe the layout of the city of David and Solomon, followed by a topographic map of the same, which also includes the expansion of the Judean capital before 600 BC. To get oriented, please note the demarcation of the present (Ottoman) wall of the Old City:
The city of Jerusalem before the destruction of the First Temple and its view from the Mount of Olives are presented pictorially in the next two drawings:
Jerusalem was reconstructed after the return from exile in 536 BC and the Second Temple was reconstructed in 512 BC, starting the 584 period of the Second Temple. The layout of Jerusalem at the beginning and end of this period are presented in the next two maps
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The Second Temple was reconstructed by Herod The Great (father of Herod of the NT) ~ 20 BC. The reconstructed temple that covered the whole Temple mount was considered as probably the most magnificent buildings in the whole Roman Empire. The following illustrations and model reconstructions demonstrate this. We included these to show the absurdity of the Muslim denial of the existence of this Temple where Jesus preached and scolded the money changers: “Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves.”(Matthew 21:12).
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Jerusalem during the period of Jesus ca. 30 AD is shown below:
Following the destruction of the temple in 72 AD the Romans made Jerusalem a military outpost with the 10th Legion stationed in the ruined city as garrison. This Legion was disseminated in 133 AD by the troops of Bar Kokhba, who started to rebuild the Temple, following the tradition of the Maccabeans.. Then, after that revolt was crushed (135 AD), the Romans changed the city’s name to Aelia Capitolina, closing it to Jews, in order to erase its remembrance from the Jewish national memory. This naïve attempt obviously failed and the name of Jerusalem was retained by both Jew and Christians. What may be significant is the construction of a temple of Jupiter on the temple Mount.. This temple was destroyed in the fourth Century when Emperor Constantine declared Christianity the state religion in the Eastern Roman Empire, see the map below.
Unlike the Romans and later the Muslims, the Byzantine Christians did show respect to the holy site of Judaism and left its ruins in peace. However, they did not permit its reconstruction, in view of Jesus’ sayings and the animosity to Jews following the Synod of Nicea (325). Instead, Queen Helena, the Mother of the Emperor, built Church of the Holy Sepulchre in AD 335. But Emperor Julian the “apostate” authorized the reconstruction of the Jewish Temple in 364 AD but this enterprise was terminated when the Emperor died two years later. Jews were banned again from Jerusalem until 438 AD, and they continued to live there under Christian rule until the surrender of Jerusalem to the invading Arabs in 638 AD.
The Muslims showed little respect to the holy sites of other religions but to prove the dominance of Islam they converted these into mosques. They did this to the Kaaba in Mecca and to the Temple mount just as they did to hundreds of churches, synagogues and shrines of Buddhists and Hindus throughout the expanding Muslim empires in the 7th and 8th Centuries. In 691 Caliph Abd al-Malik , ruling in Damascus, completed the Dome of the Rock on the site of Solomon’s Temple, and in 701 Caliph al-Walid completed the construction of the al-Aqsa mosque at the southern end of the Temple Mount.
In 1099 Jerusalem was captured by the Crusaders, who ruled it till 1244. The Crusaders converted the Dome of the Rock into a church and the Al Aqsa mosque into the headquarters of the Tempelar Knights. This was the first time a Christian shrine was placed on the site of the Jewish temple. During that period Jerusalem was captured by the Muslims in 1187 and then in 1219 they1 rendered the city defenseless by destroying its wall.
In 1244 Muslim Turks captured the city followed in 1260 by the Egyptian-Albanian Mameluks who ruled Jerusalem until 1516 when the Turks recaptured it and maintained their rule there until WWI, when the city surrendered to the British army in 1917. The following map describes Jerusalem in the 1250 to 1516 period. Notice the large Armenian, Christian and Jewish quarters, as the Mameluk rulers, unlike the Arabs were relatively tolerant to other religions. This tradition was continued also by the Ottoman Empire. The Mameluks built the citadel (today’s Tower of David) but the rest of the city remained unwalled until 1542, and the layout of the Holy City resembles the contemporary layout of the Old City of Jerusalem.
The map below describes Jerusalem during the four hundred years-long Ottoman period (1516 – 1917). Sultan Suleiman ("The Magnificent") built in 1542 the contemporary walls.
It is instructive to compare the Ottoman’s most glorious architecture with that of King Herod. In the two following drawing one can see how impressive was Judean Jerusalem in comparison.
The same gate in the ottoman period:
Let us end our historical tour of Jerusalem with the layout of the contemporary Old City and with that of modern Jerusalem: The following map emphasizes the four quarters of the Old City with the Temple Mount as a fifth quarter. Compared with ancient Jerusalem this city bound by the Ottoman wall is rather small. But this old city is dwarfed by modern Jerusalem within its municipal boundaries, displayed in the next map.
Let us end this long illustrated history of Jerusalem with a brief political analysis: Jerusalem is not just the capital of the State of Israel and the ancient capital of the Jewish people. Jerusalem is the spiritual core of Judaism and the theological hub of Christianity; neither faith could survive without relating to Jerusalem, the City of Peace and the place where God’s glory will manifest at the End of Days. This is the reason for the attempt of the contemporary militant Muslims to gain control of this city, proving the supremacy of their faith. Conquest of Jerusalem by Islam would symbolize the beginning of their conquest of all of humanity.
The Arabs invented the “Palestinian people” and the “Palestine Liberation Organization,” using an alleged “Israeli occupation” and “land grab” (terms acceptable by the Western public at face value) as tools to conquer Jerusalem by apparently legitimate diplomatic means in the name of “peace.” “Peace” for the Arabs means unconditional surrender to Muslim’s demands – also Nazi Germany advocated peace! Peace on Nazi terms. At the same time the Arabs are trying to delegitimize the State of Israel by denying the history of the Jewish people and that of early Christianity. These Arabs efforts cannot be trivialized because:
1. The Arabs are putting together alternative violent means to achieve their goal, if their diplomatic efforts (based on winning Western public opinion) do fail. To this end they are raising a generation of young potentially violent, religious zealots (“Shahids”), fed by vitriolic anti-Jewish propaganda, to be used as formidable terrorists. At the same time Iran and Syria are equipping the Hizballah in Lebanon with thousands of missiles tipped with chemical and biological warfare agents, partly courtesy of Saddam Hussein. Iran, at its end, is developing nuclear bombs, and Egypt is building up a modern army equipped with sophisticated American weaponry (courtesy of the US Department of State). In brief, a concerted military assault of the Arabs on tiny Israel using WMD is looming.
2. For apparently inexplicable reasons, the Vatican is supporting the Arab cause, seemingly preferring Muslim to Jewish control of Jerusalem. This policy (unjustified today) is based on obsolete Catholic anti-Semitism and on the historical modus vivandi of the Church with the Ottoman Empire, which was maintained for many centuries before WWI. For years the Vatican refused to recognize the legitimacy of the State of Israel and accept official representative of the Jewish state. Unfortunately, the Vatican fails to realize that time has changed and Islam has now a far more anti-Christian aggressive supremacist posture, reminiscent of Islamic behavior in the medieval period. In any case, the “neutral” political position of the Vatican regarding the Arab-Israeli conflict induces or encourages an anti-Israeli and pro-Arab streak in Catholic Europe and South America.
3. Secular international Socialism ignores or even despises the historical and religious sentiments of Jews and Christians. Consequently they look at the Jewish attachment to Jerusalem as unjustified in our “modern world.” They expect the conflict regarding Jerusalem to resolve politically without any religious connotation. In fact, since a religious bias is repugnant to these people, they would be happy if Jews and Christians forget their “antiquated” historical roots, yielding Jerusalem to Islamic “barbarians” about whose beliefs Western Marxist socialists do not care. Unfortunately, Jewish socialist in America and in Israel share these secular views and are happy to help the Arabs meet their destructive objectives.
4. Politically, the US has traditionally favored Muslim countries. They have been suppliers of oil, America needs, major investors in American economy and good clients of American industrial products. Israel, with all its scientific and technological potential does not match the economic importance of the Islamic bloc. Consequently, up do date the US failed to formally recognize Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Israel for the last 50+ years. The US embassy is still in Tel Aviv, as it was since 1948, in spite of a Congressional bill that requires its transfer to Jerusalem. Recognition of Jerusalem by the US would obviously weaken the Arab claim. Until the Bush Administration US policies were entirely secular with no regard for Christian or Jewish religious sentiments. This attitude is changing because the president and some of the cabinet members do not hide anymore their beliefs and because the US has been attacked and is at war motivated by a supremacist religious ideology.
5. The Arabs are trying to implement their notorious “salami” tactic (devouring the enemy slice after slice) also regarding Jerusalem, demanding to share the city with the Jews to become the capital of two independent states -- an Arab and a Jewish one. Not only is there no precedent for such a political constellation but even cities (not Siamese twin capitals!) that were divided between two political entities, such as east and west Berlin, were short lived. The Arabs know this very well and their transparent goal is to gain a bridgehead and later conquer the rest of the city that has already been internationally recognized as an Arab capital. People who do not realize the meaning of this devious scheme advocate this sharing of sovereignty that is tantamount to surrender of the Jewish capital to Arab aggression and the triumph of Islam over Judaism and Christianity, as stated above.
In summary, it is the duty of Christian and Jews to prevent at all costs the surrender or division of Jerusalem, in spite of all the imminent political and military treats. It is the duty of everyone concerned with the integrity of Jerusalem and opposed to its eventual takeover by Muslim Arabs to take preventive measures. These should include:
1. Spreading to friends and adversaries the historical facts about Jerusalem in discussions, presentations and debates.
2. Disseminate pertinent information about the dire consequences to Western civilization of domination of Jerusalem by supremacist Islamists.
3. Follow news, reports and editorials about Jerusalem to learn about current events and impending political threats. Then, when identifying false information or distortions call the responsible party to task by writing letters to the Editor or the media station manager. Also report your well-documented observations to HonestReporting.com by e-mail -action@honestreporting.coin Jerusalem.
(to continue)