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TZION AND THE WATER SHAFT, OR TSINNOR

30/6/2022

An excerpt from Chapter 7 of my new book ‘THE TEMPLE QUEST’

'Now David said on that day, “Whoever climbs up by way of the water shaft and defeats the Jebusites…..he shall be chief and captain”…..Then David dwelt in the stronghold and called it the City of David. And David built all around from the Millo and inward. So David went on and became great, and the Lord God of hosts was with him.’…

The stronghold was already recognised as Zion, and David named the city after himself, the City of David. The entry point was the ‘tsinnor,’ a water shaft or conduit above the Gihon Spring (see 2 Samuel 5).

The etymology of the name Zion or Tzion is obscure, but if, as some scholars have suggested, the word is of Hurrian origin, from their word ‘tseya’ for river or brook, it would make perfect sense, because it was the spring and its stream that identified the site and was of vital importance in God’s programme. The Hebrew word, ‘TSINNOR’ (used above in 2 Samuel 5:8) is translated variously in Psalm 42:7 (where its noise is spoken of), as ‘waterspouts’ or ‘cataracts.’

Certainly, by the time of the writing up of David’s conquest, the location of the citadel and settlement above the spring was clearly known as Tzion or Zion.' (End quote)

The pictures below illustrate the TSINNOR or water shaft through which David's commander Joab entered the city.

THE TEMPLE QUEST is available as an e-Book from Kobo, Smashwords, Barnes and Noble and Apple Books (among others). Click on preferred provider above to purchase.

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HA MAKOM—An identifiable location named prophetically by both Jacob and David as 'House of God'

27/6/2022

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The well-used patriarchal location name Ha Makom is identifiable in the Bible as the area around the Gihon Spring, in the City of David. It is David who ‘staples’ Ha Makom to that site by pitching the tent for the ark and the tabernacle furnishings there.

Since the site was prophetically named ‘House of God’ (Beyth-El or Bethel) by Jacob, then later clearly accepted by David as such and restated by him with his words recorded in 1 Chronicles 22:1, “this is the (Bethel) HOUSE OF YAHWEH GOD and this is the altar of burnt offering for Israel”—should we not also accept that as the site on which the temple was built?

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On the aerial view at left of the City of David area of Mount Moriah, I have indicated the area at and above the Gihon Spring in the City of David known as Ha Makom and where these words were spoken.

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WHY WAS NEHEMIAH’S NIGHT RECONNAISSANCE LIMITED TO THE CITY OF DAVID?

24/6/2022

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The answer is quite simple: because that is where the temple was located!

Follow carefully—and, remember what was in Nehemiah’s heart as disclosed by him to the King of Persia in Nehemiah 2:3 and 8…
’the city and the place of my father’s tombs’ and most importantly ‘the citadel which pertains to the temple, the city wall and the house that I will occupy.’

Following is an abbreviated excerpt from Chapter 12 of my new e-book, ‘THE TEMPLE QUEST’ (Click Here)

‘Nehemiah exits the City of David (note that City of David is the name used by Nehemiah in 3:15 & 12:37), via the Valley Gate (the ‘valley’ being the Tyropeon Valley) on the west and proceeds (anti-clockwise) in the direction of, or towards, a) the Serpent Well, the approximate location of which I have added to the map with XX; and b) the Refuse Gate….and he provides two landmarks. The first is the somewhat distant Serpent Well, so called because it was beside a stone known as Koheleth (serpent) in 1 Kings 1:9. That well is Ein Rogel in the valley south-east of the City of David, and it could be accessed by a gate known as the Gate of the Fountain on our map…. From that gate it was a walk of about three hundred metres, maybe more, to the Serpent Well. The two photographs below, from early 20th century, show the remains of Ein Rogel in the near foreground, and enable us to see its proximity to the ridge of the City of David and, further north, the (much later than Nehemiah) southern wall of Fortress Antonia, later used as the platform for the Muslim shrine, the Dome of the Rock.
…The Serpent Well was a landmark on the boundary between Judah and Benjamin that was still intact and well-known to Nehemiah and the people of the City of David. He also mentions the Refuse or Dung Gate which you see on the map.* He was headed in a south to south-east direction to go around the bottom of the City of David, making his way through the rubble of the broken and tumbled walls, and he then turned northward into the Kidron Valley as verse 15 indicates. He calls it NACHAL in Hebrew, the Valley of the Torrent—another name for Kidron, where the overflow from Gihon ran southward—and indeed in storms was a torrent in the valley. As he proceeds up the Kidron Valley, he examines the derelict wall (v.15) and then turns back, retraces his steps, and re-enters the city by the way he exited—the Valley Gate.

Nehemiah does not tell us how far northward up Kidron he examined, but since he makes no mention of Gihon or what he calls in Chapter 3:25, 26 & 27 ‘the tower that juts out’ (that is, the structure around Gihon Spring), but only of the stream bed or wadi into which it flowed—and since he is naming recognised landmarks, we can safely assume he did not need to go past Gihon...

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.

Map by Marilyn Sams and used in the book with kind permission.

For interest, the pictures below are from early 20th Century and show the remains of Ein Rogel and the proximity to the City of David and the Kidron Valley.

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WHY WOULD THE BIBLICAL WRITERS KEEP SAYING THE TEMPLE WAS IN THE MIDST OF THE CITY…IF IT WAS NOT?

21/6/2022

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A simple enough question, which it is up to those who keep putting Jerusalem’s temples on what they insist on calling Temple Mount, to answer!

How could it possibly be where this artist's impression shows it?

The writer of Psalm 119, in verse 16 says,
‘I will pay my vows to the Lord
Now in the presence of all His people,
In the courts of the LORD’S house,
In the midst of you, O Jerusalem’

TAVEK is the Hebrew word and it means middle, centre, midst.

It is used again by Ezekiel, who sees ministers of judgement dispatched to clean up Jerusalem. They are to go through the midst of the city and begin at the sanctuary (Ezk. 9:4 etc)
Later in Chapter 11, Ezekiel sees the Glory of God departing the temple (where the Glory dwelt) and he sees it depart (verse 11) from the midst of the city.

In Zechariah 2:5 God promises to be the wall of fire around the city and the Glory in its midst.

Zechariah later described the return of the Glory in Chapter 8 verse 3 of his book; ‘I will return to Zion and dwell in the midst of Jerusalem.’

In all the above, the word is TAVEK.

In Jeremiah’s Lamentations he laments over the destruction of the sanctuary and says,
‘How the gold has become dim!
How changed the fine gold!
The stones of the sanctuary are scattered
At the head of every street’
He is speaking, not of the precious stones for they would be taken as spoil, but of the building stones. If they were scattered at the head of every street, clearly the streest of the city ran to and about the temple precinct.

In Psalm 46:5, the sons of Korah are singing the praises of the God as their refuge and strength. Verse 4 speaks of the river that makes glad the city of God and the dwelling place of the Most High (the Gihon stream)—and then in verse 5, ‘God is in her midst, she shall not be moved.’

In this case the Hebrew word is QEREB meaning the inward or innermost part (in Exodus 29:13 it is used of the entrails of the animal).

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TZION AND THE WATER SHAFT, OR TSINNOR

HA MAKOM—An identifiable location named prophetically by both Jacob and David as 'House of God'

WHY WAS NEHEMIAH’S NIGHT RECONNAISSANCE LIMITED TO THE CITY OF DAVID?

WHY WOULD THE BIBLICAL WRITERS KEEP SAYING THE TEMPLE WAS IN THE MIDST OF THE CITY…IF IT WAS NOT?

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