Your Bible provides many clues to the true location of Jerusalem's temples. Here are a just few...
Clue 1: In Ezekiel chapter 9 the prophet sees God's plan to clean up Jerusalem. Ministers of judgment are deployed to mark out the righteous and destroy those who have corrupted the city. In verse 4 they are instructed to 'go through the middle of the city' marking those who are corrupt. The slayers are to follow them to strike the offenders. But note where they are to begin; God says, 'begin at my sanctuary.' Those marked as corrupt were clearly within the city and the judgment was to begin at the very centerpiece of the city--the temple.
Clue 2: Another of Ezekiel's visions is that of the glory of the LORD abandoning the temple. It is in chapter 11 where in verse 23 he sees that 'the glory of the LORD went up from the middle of the city and stood on the mountain to the east' (Mt of Olives).
The glory of God dwelt in His house, the temple and it was from here in the middle of the city that the glory ascended .
Clue 3: A day came after the exile when the glory of God returned to the temple. Zechariah writes of it as God says, 'I will return to Zion and dwell in the middle of Jerusalem and Jerusalem shall be called the City of Truth, the Mountain of the LORD of hosts, The Holy Mountain' (see Zechariah 8:3). Clearly the temple was in the middle of the city--God in the midst of His people, not on some northern extension removed from it.
Clue 4: Psalm 122 is about Jerusalem as the City of God, the holy city where the 'Testimony of Israel' resides. The Testimony (Hebrew EDUTH) is the Law of Moses within the ark of the covenant around which the nation gathered to worship and honor God. Clearly this psalm was written after the building of Solomon's temple, but, importantly, places it within the boundaries of the city (see for example, v.7 'within your walls'). The words translated 'compact together' in verse 3 mean 'of a piece' or 'all joined together'. Temple and township were an inseparable entity. The temple was not remote from the township, up the hill some 200 meters to its north! Its location was the City of David, otherwise known as Zion.
Clue 1: In Ezekiel chapter 9 the prophet sees God's plan to clean up Jerusalem. Ministers of judgment are deployed to mark out the righteous and destroy those who have corrupted the city. In verse 4 they are instructed to 'go through the middle of the city' marking those who are corrupt. The slayers are to follow them to strike the offenders. But note where they are to begin; God says, 'begin at my sanctuary.' Those marked as corrupt were clearly within the city and the judgment was to begin at the very centerpiece of the city--the temple.
Clue 2: Another of Ezekiel's visions is that of the glory of the LORD abandoning the temple. It is in chapter 11 where in verse 23 he sees that 'the glory of the LORD went up from the middle of the city and stood on the mountain to the east' (Mt of Olives).
The glory of God dwelt in His house, the temple and it was from here in the middle of the city that the glory ascended .
Clue 3: A day came after the exile when the glory of God returned to the temple. Zechariah writes of it as God says, 'I will return to Zion and dwell in the middle of Jerusalem and Jerusalem shall be called the City of Truth, the Mountain of the LORD of hosts, The Holy Mountain' (see Zechariah 8:3). Clearly the temple was in the middle of the city--God in the midst of His people, not on some northern extension removed from it.
Clue 4: Psalm 122 is about Jerusalem as the City of God, the holy city where the 'Testimony of Israel' resides. The Testimony (Hebrew EDUTH) is the Law of Moses within the ark of the covenant around which the nation gathered to worship and honor God. Clearly this psalm was written after the building of Solomon's temple, but, importantly, places it within the boundaries of the city (see for example, v.7 'within your walls'). The words translated 'compact together' in verse 3 mean 'of a piece' or 'all joined together'. Temple and township were an inseparable entity. The temple was not remote from the township, up the hill some 200 meters to its north! Its location was the City of David, otherwise known as Zion.
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