Until we see - Ian Heard's Blog

THE CITY OF DAVID AS THE ALTAR OF GOD in ISAIAH 29

23/6/2023

The Hebrew word we translate into English as Ariel is used in several places in the Bible.
In Isaiah 29 we see this prophecy,

“Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelt!
Add year to year;
Let feasts come around.
Yet I will distress Ariel;
There shall be heaviness and sorrow,
And it shall be to Me as Ariel.
I will encamp against you all around,
I will lay siege against you with a mound,
And I will raise siegeworks against you….”

The NIV translates verse 2 as ‘Yet I will besiege Ariel; she will mourn and lament, she will be to me like an altar hearth’ as do margin readings in some other tranlations.

The Amplified Bible puts it this way, ‘Then I will harass Ariel, And she will be a city of mourning and lamenting (crying out in grief) Yet she will be like an Ariel [an altar hearth] to Me’ ...
and the Jewish Publication Society has it, ‘Then will I distress Ariel, And there shall be mourning and moaning; and she shall be unto Me as a hearth of God.’

Jerusalem has many poetic names in the scriptures and calling the City of David the Altar Hearth is another telling and most appropriate poetic description, for that is indeed where the altar of sacrifice stood, at the temple in the City of David.

In Isaiah 29 God is pointing up the awful irony of the city of the altar herself becoming in her entirety, a fire hearth.

(Note that 'Ariel' is also used in Ezekiel 43:15 & 16 to mean the hearth of the altar).

‘BUT ALL THE SCHOLARS AGREE THAT THE TEMPLES WERE ON TEMPLE MOUNT…’

18/6/2023

Sergiopolis Map

Well, actually, no--they do not...

As Marilyn Sams (Author of ‘The Jerusalem Temple Mount Myth’ and other works) has said, ‘…‘Today, the view upheld by those writing almost 2,000 years distant from the events is the illogical conclusion that the Romans preserved the temple mount, the religious symbol of their hated enemy, while destroying their own camp--the tower of Antonia*. While archaeologists have searched in vain for the tiniest vestige of its existence north of the alleged temple mount, the enclosure itself, with the shape and dimensions of a typical Roman camp, looms as the proverbial elephant (better--mammoth) in the room of Jerusalem topographical scholarship’ (End Quote).
(* That is, where the popular myth has placed it).

One only has to take a look at the shape and approximate dimensions of Roman military camps across their vast empire to be caused to take a deep breath—and have another think, as a growing number of academics are doing.
However, when so much time, energy, resources and commitment has been invested in what it appears cannot be true—not to mention the tourist dollars—we are dealing with an entrenched and almost intractible attitude. It approaches the mindest that says, “go away and don’t bother us with facts—our mind is made up!”

Hundreds of ancient secular sources (as Marilyn Sams and others have shown) make it impossible for the temples to be in the popularised spot.

My objective however, in ‘THE TEMPLE QUEST’ has been to provide the incontrovertible evidence and clarity of the Bible to show where they had to stand, and indeed, did stand.
My approach is, in the words of Paul in Romans 3:4, '...let God be true.'

The images shown above are to allow the reader to compare the 'alleged' Temple Mount enclosure which was actually Fortress Antonia, housing the Tenth Roman Legion, along with another, the ruins of which still stand at Sergioplois in Syria. I have also posted an article (Click here) with further fortress sites & detail and some quotes from scholars.

Click here, or on the words Sergiopolis Map beneath the map at the top right to be taken to the Sergiopolis location on Google Earth.

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A PERSUASIVE CASE FOR THE CITY OF DAVID SITE...

23/5/2023

‘…through enlightening discussions of extensive biblical passages, Ian illustrates how the Jews thoroughly understood what ‘the place’ meant to the Jewish psyche, but which most often escapes the modern reader. He clearly proves the location of the temple to be above the Gihon Spring in Jerusalem, and this by using only biblical passages…’ (Marilyn Sams, Author 'The Jerusalem Temple Mount Myth' and other books and important papers).

It seems that many have, for years, been over-invested in the 'traditional' but incorrect, site. That investment, which is so fiercely defended, is often emotional, academic, financial and tourist-centred. In my view archaeologists have been reading their 'findings' back into their presuppositions, calling it 'the science' and elevating it above the word of God which tells us where it was!

My approach in 'THE TEMPLE QUEST' is, 'let God be true...'

The massive investment in the so-called 'Temple Mount' misses or is blind to some elementary considerations of Scripture--the most glaring of these being the site embedded in the Jewish psyche, history and culture since the patriarchal period. That site was actually known by everyone as 'The Site' (or The Place), or in Hebrew, HaMakom. Once it is pointed out, you will wonder how you missed it--especially as Hebrew scholars have commented on the repetition and frequency of it in Torah and elsewhere.

It's as though God was ensuring everyone knew (and would know) where the chosen and special location was and was indicating throughout history where His 'house', the Beyt-El (House of God) was to be.

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THE RIVER OF LIFE THAT IS WITH GOD IN THE CITY OF DAVID

3/4/2023

Below is a portion from Psalm 36, of David...

(It is important to note that the site where the Ark of the Covenant sat after David's conquest of what had been Jebus was in the tent he erected for it at Gihon, in the City of David, or Zion)

How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God!
Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Your wings.
They are abundantly satisfied with the fullness of Your house,
And You give them drink from the river of Your pleasures.
For with You is the fountain of life;
In Your light we see light.

The wings under which the people shelter are those of Yahweh represented by His cherubim on the Ark and the river of His pleasure and the fountain of life is right there, with God and represented in Gihon's happy, bubbling flow.
Naturally, the plans given to David from God for a permanent temple to house the Ark and all its items--and which was to be built by his son Solomon--included all these elements; including the flowing stream that was with Him !!

A representation of David's Tent at Gihon which housed the Ark and the sacred items.

Read more in Ian Heard's
THE TEMPLE QUEST -- details HERE

CITY OF DAVID or 'TEMPLE MOUNT'?

9/3/2023

Here's the INTRODUCTION to my new e-Book which has a Foreword by Marilyn Sams...

INTRODUCTION

“Much of significance about the City of David site of the temple has been written by others—including Dr E L Martin, David Sielaff, Marilyn Sams, (the late) Emeritus Professor George Wesley Buchanan, Robert Cornuke et al. They have used both the Bible and a multitude of extra-biblical sources and investigations to piece together what is becoming, in my view, an insurmountable case for the City of David site.

I have felt challenged, in addition to my previous book, ‘THE PLACE HAMAKOM: Where Jerusalem’s Temples stood’, in which I used both Biblical and fictional characters to unfold the story of the site in narrative style—to now make the case using evidence exclusively from the Biblical text. My hope is that this book makes the case even more clearly.

Of key importance are the following factors:

• Recognition that early in the Patriarchal narratives and later, there was growing awareness and use of the Hebrew term hamakom, ‘the place’, with the definite article, in relation to a particular, special, and familiar location.

• The naming by Jacob of the hamakom site as Beyt-El (Bethel) ‘House of God’ was a strategic and prophetic revelation meaning that we should treat it as the authentic Bethel—where God intended to reside.

• Until David in the Biblical narrative, there remains a small element of uncertainty as to hamakom’s true meaning and location, but the stapling of that site by him to Gihon eliminates what doubt remains.

As the reader will learn, there are many other references and factors within the pages of the Bible which go on contributing weight to the side of the scales which argues for the City of David site for the temple of Solomon and the later temples.”

End Quote

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MICAH AND THE TEMPLE AT THE OPHEL...in ZION...!

14/2/2023

Micah 4:8 is a telling scripture, for, in my view, it unequivocally places the temple at the Ophel in Zion!
Micah has been prophesying a latter day reign of the Lord from Zion and says, that many will say, “come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the ‘bethel’ (house of God) of Jacob…etc”

And then Micah says about those who go up and about the lame and outcast who gather there, “the Lord will reign over them in Mount Zion…and you O watchtower of the flock, the Ophel (stronghold) of the daughter of Zion, to you it shall come, the kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem.”
(The ‘daughter of Zion’ is simply the township birthed out of Zion or the City of David; see 1 Chronicles 11:5)

Here Micah uses the Hebrew term 'migdal eder' to describe the temple. Migdal eder means the watchtower of the flock. Across the landscape in Israel, watchtowers were used for military and civil purposes. They were in vineyards, at strategic military positions and on city walls. A most famous watchtower was near Bethlehem where the lambs for the sacrificial system in Jerusalem were prepared—and where Jesus was born, the sacrificial Lamb who was destined to take away the sin of the world!

But, it is clear here that Micah sees the temple as a migdal eder, the watchtower over the flock of God, the people of Zion and Jerusalem—and tellingly he uses the word Ophel, which defines that area of rising ground beginning just above Gihon and rising northward.

(Incidentally, Isaiah also uses the same imagery for the temple in Isaiah 5:1-2 ‘Now let me sing to my Well-beloved A song of my Beloved regarding His vineyard: My Well-beloved has a vineyard On a very fruitful hill. He dug it up and cleared out its stones, And planted it with the choicest vine. He built a tower (migdal) in its midst, And also made a winepress in it; So He expected it to bring forth good grapes, But it brought forth wild grapes)

Pictured are typical watchtowers of the period

HOW NEHEMIAH'S RECONNAISSANCE OF THE CITY OF DAVID REVEALS WHERE THE TEMPLE STOOD...

30/11/2022

In Nehemiah 2:8, Nehemiah tells King Artaxerxes that his concern at Jerusalem is for "the citadel that pertains to the temple, the city wall, and the house I will occupy".
On arrival at Jerusalem and after a rest he ventures out on a reconnaissance at night (2:11-15) to assess the situation. The broken yellow line shows his path among the rubble. He exits the City of David (note that is the name he gives it in 12:37) via the Valley gate, proceeds in the direction of tthe Serpent Well (Ein Rogel--approximate position shown as XX), proceeds past the Fountain Gate and then up the Kidron Valley, viewing the wall. He then re-traces his steps and re-enters the city via the Valley Gate--see map above courtesy of Marilyn Sams. Following is an exceprt from my book THE TEMPLE QUEST... (see where to instantly purchase and download for reading on iPad, Kindle, Android and other devices, from your preferred provider below).

“As we can be certain of the extent of his reconnaissance—and since his concern, as he stated, was the citadel which pertains to the temple, and the reconnaissance included only the lower half of the City of David and its derelict walls and gates, our conclusion must be that the temple was within that defined area.”
(Excerpt from
The Temple Quest
IAN HEARD
This material may be protected by copyright).

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'THE TEMPLE QUEST'...what HaMakom meant to ancient Israel--an excerpt from the book's Epilogue

19/11/2022

In this short work I have attempted to help the reader engage with Jewish history, mindset, theology, and expectation. It should be clear that throughout the Old Testament, those who walked close to Yahweh Elohim came to recognise a site which, since patriarchal antiquity had been known and revered as Ha Makom.

Jacob, after his extraordinary encounter with God at Ha Makom, had named it Beyt-El, House of God—the place of connection between God and man, and which God had chosen as the place for his word and presence to ultimately reside permanently among the people he had also chosen to represent him among the nations, prior to the arrival of Messiah.

That name, in the providence of God, should alert us to God’s intention. Jacob’s Beyt-El or House of God, is the original, the genuine Bethel which signals God’s plan. It becomes the ‘ground zero,’ the geo-positioning system we defer to in our search for the Temple and for the true Bethel. In the Patriarchal narratives, God lays the foundations. We should not treat them dismissively…

...The importance and purpose of this place, HaMakom, had become embedded within the heart and soul of those who loved Yahweh and who were committed to following him. The fact that others of colder heart and disposition failed to grasp its importance—as many today fail to lay hold of things of spiritual significance—should not deflect us from the place it held in God’s purpose and plan for the ages. Failing to see its strategic importance and the important typology of that life-giving River that was to flow physically—and then spiritually—at and from that place, Ha Makom, impoverishes us and our understanding of God’s plan for the ages.

The naming of Ha Makom as ‘Bethel’ by Jacob, is of huge significance. It is just as important spiritually as the other events of his life which Christians make much of; his cheating of his brother Esau of the birthright; his sojourn in Haran; his return to Canaan; his contest with the Angel and his coming away with a limp and so on. The pronouncement (twice) by the one in whose loins lay the chosen nation, that this was the House of God, is momentous, prophetic, and ordained. The author’s view is that to think otherwise or to make the true Bethel another place, clearly and tragically, misses God’s point!

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MOSES and HA MAKOM

12/9/2022

An excerpt from my new e-Book 'THE TEMPLE QUEST'

'That Moses was aware of the patriarchal significance of HaMakom becomes clear as we read our way through Deuteronomy—and especially chapter 12. For there, at least six times, Moses uses the now well-recognised name HaMakom as he instructs Joshua and the people about entering the land of promise and where they are to worship.

• Verse 5: ‘But you shall seek hamakom where the LORD your God chooses, out of all your tribes, to put His name for His dwelling place; and there you shall go.’

• Verses 10 & 11: ‘But when you cross over the Jordan and dwell in the land which the Lord your God is giving you to inherit, and He gives you rest from all your enemies round about, so that you dwell in safety, there will be hamakom where the Lord your God chooses to make His name abide. There you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings, your
sacrifices, your tithes, the heave offerings of your hand, and all your choice offerings which you vow to the Lord.’

• Verses 13 & 14: ‘Take heed to yourself that you do not offer your burnt offerings in every place that you see; but in hamakom which the Lord chooses, in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do all that I command you.’

• Verse 18: ‘…you must eat them before the Lord your God in hamakom which the Lord your God chooses…’

• Verse 21: ‘If hamakom where the Lord your God chooses to put his name is far from you…then you may eat within your gates…’

• Verse 26: ‘Only the holy things which you have, and your vowed offerings, you shall take and go to hamakom which the Lord chooses.’

These are but a few instances. You will find at least another dozen or more occasions of the use of HaMakom through chapters 13 to 18 of Deuteronomy…..

In Moses’ closing words and instructions to the priests and Joshua, he again
signifies it when he says in Deuteronomy 31:11… ‘When all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God in hamakom which he chooses, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing.”

Later, at the dedication of the refurbished wall in Nehemiah we see...

‘…as Ezra blessed the Lord the
people said, “Amen, Amen” while lifting their hands. “and bowing their heads to worship the Lord’. Quite demonstrably this is at the temple. Neither Ezra nor Nehemiah, let alone the Priest, would have held this solemn assembly elsewhere. They knew what God had instructed through Moses; ‘When all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God in hamakom which he chooses, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing’

Excerpts from
The Temple Quest
IAN HEARD
This material is protected by copyright.

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AN ‘ALIEN’ or 'FOREIGN' HA MAKOM in THE VALLEY OF HINNOM

22/8/2022

These pictures show the location of the Valley of Hinnom with the sites of the True Ha Makom (in the City of David) and the Foreign ha makom (in Hinnom Valley) spoken of in Jeremiah 19, plus two pictures of Hinnom today.

In Jeremiah chapter 19, where was Jeremiah sent to deliver his message about the broken pot?

He was sent by the Lord (and instructed to take some of the elders of the people and elders of the priests with him) down into the Valley of Hinnom, at the southern end of the City of David, where all kinds of horrific worship of false gods was undertaken, including the sacrifice of
children.

There, people had set up an alternate ‘hamakom’. The true Ha MAKOM (The Place, as the Temple was known) was not far away, in the City of David, near the Gihon Spring, but the disobedient and rebellious had set up alternative arrangements in Hinnom.

The key to understanding this is verse 4 in which Jeremiah tells them they have made an alien or foreign hamakom in the Valley of Hinnom. The Hebrew can be read thus…
‘…because they forsook me and are making an alien hamakom and are burning incense to other gods…’

The New King James translation says, ‘they have forsaken Me and made this an alien place, (hamakom) because they have burned incense in it to other gods’.

Jeremiah goes on to speak of them offering their children to Baal. He then speaks judgement upon their alternative hamakom or place of worship...
‘Therefore, the days come, saith the LORD, that this hamakom shall no more be called Tophet, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of Slaughter’.

This makes explicit the respect in which the prophet held the true HaMakom. Then in verse 13, using Scripture4all for example, the alternative ‘hamakom’ becomes even more clear. Here it
is…
‘And the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, shall be defiled
like hamakom of Topheth (in the Valley of Hinnom), because of all the houses upon whose roofs they have burned incense unto all the host of heaven, and have poured out drink offerings unto other gods.’

This being so, it is apparent that Jeremiah is enraged (as is Yahweh) at the travesty of the people being drawn after other gods and providing for themselves a new centre, an alternate and foreign hamakom wherein they can conduct their awful appeasement of Baal and Molech.

Following his denouncement of the false hamakom in Topheth (part of the Valley of Hinnom), Jeremiah returns to the court of the true Temple (verse 14) and declares that judgement is coming on the entire city because the people he has spoken to in Hinnom have ‘stiffened their necks that they might not hear my words.”

The existence of this alternate, foreign and false 'ha makom' and Jeremiah's use of that term confirms the existence of the true and real Ha Makom (of which the prophet speaks repeatedly througout the book bearing his name).

For those engaged in the debate about the City of David site for the Jewish temples, my new e-Book 'THE TEMPLE QUEST' is a MUST-READ!

Using the Bible only and no extra-biblical texts, IAN HEARD convincingly demostrates that the long-revered site visited by Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the Patriarchs and known to them and the generations to come as Ha Makom, was where the temples stood.

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Marilyn Sams - author of The Jerusalem Temple Mount Myth: Ian Heard’s book adds a unique ....aspect to the growing movement of people accepting the City of David location for the temples in Jerusalem. His perspective .....brings many insightful possibilities to the table. Especially moving are his heartfelt expressions of faith in and love for the prophets and the Savior of the world'.
Pastor, Luke Yeghnazar of the Iranian Church of Los Angeles: Wonderful book. I trust it will be distributed widely. I read it with excitement. The reader will want to know what happens next. An exciting book to be read by Christians, Jews and others.

What readers of THE PEOPLE are saying...
The People is an enthralling and innovative approach, not only to telling old familiar stories but using narrative to portray, in a subtle but powerful way, the truth of good and evil in our world . . . There is good and evil, God and Satan, and in every human relationship/interaction and behavior a choice is to be made. The consequences, for those with the spiritual eyes to see, are clear. It is an exceptional and well written piece of work.” Allan Bull, Macquarie University, Sydney.