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NEHEMIAH AND THE TEMPLE SITE...

21/8/2019

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What was uppermost in Nehemiah’s mind when he asked the king to permit him to return to Jerusalem?
 
Clearly it was protection of ‘the House’—the Temple of God (Neh 2:8).
 
When Nehemiah spoke to King Artaxerxes he desired a letter from the king to the keeper of the king’s forest ‘to make beams for the gates of the fortress pertaining to the temple.’
The walls were broken down and the gates of the fortress-city—the City of David—had been burned.
 
Nehemiah’s primary concern as expressed to the king was the vulnerability of the temple. He wanted to repair the gates ‘...pertaining to the House (the Temple). It is also clear in his prayer, where he makes reference to God’s promise to return the people to HaMakom—The Place He had chosen as a ‘dwelling’ for His name (Neh. 1:9)!
 
On his return to Jerusalem he went on an inspection tour by night (so as not to alert the enemies of God as to his purpose).
 
That the Temple was in the City of David becomes quite clear when we examine the area Nehemiah encompassed and assesses in his night-time survey.
 
He left the city by the Valley Gate, went past the Dung Gate in the Valley of Hinnom, and proceeded toward (in the direction of) the Serpent or Dragon Well also called En Rogel in the Kidron Valley and then turned north up the Kidron Valley to the Fountain Gate—possibly the gate by which people exited to walk to the well at En Rogel (see diagram)—or it could be the gate further north that accessed the Gihon Spring (and shown as the water Gate in the accompanying diagram borrowed from http://www.biblemysteries.com/lectures/nihemahwall.htm.)
 
Nehemiah then retraced his steps and re-entered the city via the Valley Gate.
 
The area he viewed is the ‘neck’ or peninsula that comprised the City of David.
 
He was nowhere near (by hundreds of meters) the prominence to the north of the City of David which is today erroneously known as Temple Mount.
 
If, as seems quite clear, the temple was his major concern—and it was ‘up there’—it seriously begs the question, ‘why did Nehemiah go nowhere near it?’
 
Here is his report from Nehemiah 2:13-15 in the NASV...
 
‘So I went out at night by the Valley Gate in the direction of the Dragon’s Well and on to the Refuse Gate, inspecting the walls of Jerusalem which were broken down and its gates which were consumed by fire.
Then I passed on to the Fountain Gate and the King's Pool, but there was no place for my mount to pass.
So I went up at night by the ravine and inspected the wall. Then I entered the Valley Gate again and returned.’

Read 'THE PLACE HaMakom: where Jerusalem's Temples stood' to help you understand this ancient site that Jacob called the House of God (Bethel). See details elsewhere on this site or here.
 


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NOT MY PEOPLE!

19/8/2019

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“Call his name Lo-Ammi, for you are not My people, and I will not be your God.”


NOT MY PEOPLE!
This is what the prophet Hosea was instructed to call his third child as God showed His disgust over The People—the privileged people who had shown only dishonor and contempt for Him!

How did those whom God had named His own, and, HaAm, THE PEOPLE—to whom He had attached His name and (in a sense) His reputation—become so distasteful to Him that He was ready to disown and disenfranchise them?

Their behavior, to use human language, made God, and His prophet, ‘cringe.’ I can imagine that the emphasis God was making in the name was ‘Not my People (thank you very much!)'.
In other words, ‘don’t attach them to me or to my Name’ and, ‘don’t judge me by them’!

Read the enthralling story of those God called ‘The People' and 'My People.’

Here’s a what Alan Bull PhD has to say:

"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.”

'THE PEOPLE: the sons of God (Through the eyes of a Watcher)' is the second work in a trilogy of books comprised of 'THE PLACE', 'THE PEOPLE' and, publishing soon,
'THE PERSON'


Find out more about 'THE PEOPLE: the sons of God (through the eyes of a Watcher' on this site or go to the publishers site here

 
Or to Amazon here

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WERE THERE TWO BETHELS? And...IS JERUSALEM THE TRUE AND ORIGINAL BETHEL?

2/8/2019

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My answer is ‘yes.’
 
A Jewish acquaintance has spent a lot of time with archeologists in and around Jerusalem, researching the latest finds in the ancient area known as the City of David. Although a very successful businessman, he is also a true scholar of Israel’s history and of the Old Testament. I will refer to him as KB.
 
KB’s considered view (with which I am in accord) is that the site of Jerusalem and particularly the Gihon Spring and Zion area is the original site at which Jacob declared, ‘this is none other than the house of God (BETHEL) and the gate of heaven’ (Gen. 28:17). I quote KB as follows (with some clarifications of mine in parenthesis. Underlining is also mine).
The map referred to is at right--
 
Quote:
“The precise location of Bethel (which is Luz according to Genesis 28:19  and Joshua 18:13) remains a major point of contention among academics and Biblical scholars. Luz being synonymous with Bethel may not seem that significant, but it has caused and continues to cause Israel's greatest disasters. Rivalry is the heart of this dynamic millennial problem.
The problem is relevant because  modern Bethel, which is north of Jerusalem significantly distorts our understanding of Torah, especially when it substitutes the location of Luz-Bethel-Jerusalem on Benjamin’s southern border intersecting Judah's northern boundary. The problem originated on Benjamin's northern boundary with Ephraim (see Bethel in the map above).
Replace the name "Jerusalem" with "Bethel" and you will immediately notice the mirror image problem for two of Israel's most competitive tribes at their dueling Bethel locations (dueling over their Bethel locations).
 
What's the big deal you may ask?  During Israel’s ~250 year exile in Egypt and sojourn in the desert, the location of Jacob's covenant at Bethel was hidden. Around 250 years before the allotment of land to the tribes of Israel under Joshua, Jacob had returned to Luz-Bethel-Jerusalem where he had made a covenant and took the name Israel (Genesis 35:10). Importantly the mountain on which Luz-Bethel-Jerusalem was located, Mount Moriah (Mt Moriah must be seen as the ‘Moriah Complex’, including its ridge southward into the Kidron Valley) would ultimately become the site of the altar and temple.
As such it would be extremely prestigious and economically lucrative, but, at that time it was not generally known whether Jacob's Bethel was on the northern or southern boundary of Benjamin. This gave rise to massive rivalry between Ephraim and Judah.
 
The Book of Joshua, was completed by the end of his life, it set the guidance that would demarcate land, but in Joshua's absence it was open to interpretation and became food for rivals (rivalry). The tribes were preoccupied defending and settling their respective land, but they could not penetrate the fortress that had been built over Jacob’s covenant (site) and (had been) occupied by Jebusites at Luz.
It would be another 300 years before the fortress would be captured by King David. During this long period, without knowing where Luz-Bethel-Jerusalem was in the south, Bethel north of Benjamin became entrenched (or understood to be the site)”
End quote.
 
This explanation clarifies much. Clearly the original Bethel (Beit-El) ‘House of God’ was where Jacob had his vision and he, as his father Abraham had, called the site, HaMakom—THE PLACE.

Discover more about this ancient and most significant Biblicel site in
'THE PLACE HaMakom: where Jerusalem's temples stood'

Or from Amazon as Paperback or Kindle
 


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What people who've read THE PLACE are saying...

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.