… And What’s The 2000 year old connection to Abraham meeting a King?
The identity of this mysterious figure has been a puzzle to many since the writing of the Torah by (Mosheh) Moses)..(Torah, pronounced Towrah, comprises the first 5 books of the Bible.)
His name is “Melchizedek.” According to Genesis 14:18 was both the King of Salem and Priest of El Elyon.EL ELYON: The Most High God. This name emphasizes God’s strength, sovereignty, and supremacy. In Genesis 14:20, Melchizedek said to Abram, “blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand!” He understood that the Lord is extremely exalted.
The God who gives height and dignity to our low places.
To those who have “eyes to see and ears to hear,” it may not be a complete mystery as to who this man ‘was’ and ‘is’. However providing proof of his identity is not the focus of this post, so only a basic background is presented to assist in the understanding of the connection and leaves the reader to draw their own conclusions from the following scriptural evidence.
The scriptures reveal the plans of Elohay Ha Elohim God of All ‘gods’.
ELOHAI. MY GOD
The name of God most often used in the Hebrew Bible is the Tetragrammaton ( YHWH יהוה ). …. Elohai or Elohei (“My God”) is a form of Elohim along with the first-person singular pronoun enclitic. It appears in the names “God of Abraham”
Leviticus 16 gives us the instructions through Moses for all Yisra’el on how to keep the Appointed Times Of Adonai including that of the Day of Atonement Yom Kippur (pronounced Yowm Kippur).
The biblical feast of Shavuot commemorates the giving of the Torah on Mt. Sinai over 3000 years ago. (It is also the birth and death day of King David.)The drama of the events at Mount Sinai is well known: It was the third day, in the morning, that there was thunder and lightning. A heavy cloud was on the mountain and there was a very loud sound of the shofar. All the people in the camp trembled. Moses brought the people toward God out of the camp. They stood at the foot of the mountain. The entire Mount Sinai was enveloped with smoke, for God had descended upon it in fire. Its smoke rose like the smoke of a furnace and the entire mountain trembled violently (Exodus 19:16-18)
The national response was ‘Na’aseh v Nishma‘ which means, “We will do, and we will hear.“
This declaration amounts to a commitment to carry out Hashem’s commandments –
even before hearing what the observance of those commandments actually involves.
Only someone who is totally willing to shape their entire life around Torah observance, as the supreme act of love toward Hashem, would be willing to make such a commitment.
Click links for more on Shavuot & Yom Kippur and Appointed Times of Adonai
If you are familiar with the 7 Appointed times Adonai, then the following note concerning the scapegoat and lots will be arbitrary.
However a brief explanation will be helpful here to enhance a more complete picture.
The High Priest (Kohen ha’Gadowl) was to take two goats and present them before YaHuWaH at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.He was to cast lots for the goats, one for YaHuWaH and the other for “Azazel” which literally means: “the goat of removal” or “the scapegoat.” Two goats were to be brought before him. He would place his hands on their heads and confess the sins of the people. One would be slaughtered as a sacrifice to YaHuWaH.
(YaHuWaH Is used Here its the Name of God YHWH with vowels added Yud Hey Vav Hey)
The scriptures tell us that the second goat is to be offered to “Azazel,” which is a Hebrew word that literally means the following in the Hebrew Strong’s Concordance:
#5799‘aza’zel az-aw-zale from 5795 and 235; goat of departure; the scapegoat:–scapegoat.
The root-words for “Azazel,” are #5795(ez) which means “she-goat,” and the other is #235 (azal) which means “to go away.”
The idea behind the scapegoat is that it is to be sent out into the desert, separated from the people “as far as the east is from the west” (Psalms 103:12).
He escapes death,
but
he carries the sins of the people with him to his dying day!
They sinned, he suffers.
They were guilty, he pays the price.
That’s what the word “scapegoat” has come to mean: “an innocent person who takes the blame for the guilty party.”
From our viewpoint today looking back, we clearly see a real and specific picture of Messiah Jesus/Yeshua’s substitutionary life and subsequent death.
(As we are seeing, everything is connected and therefore we need to take a quick look at The High Priest before unfolding more of the mystery or it will not make sense.)
The High Priest (pronounced Kohen ha’Gadowl) ha’gadol, the high priest; Aramaic: kahana rabba) was the title of the chief religious official of Judaism from the early post-Exilic times until the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem in 70 CE.
Previously, in the Israelite religion including the time of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, other terms were used to designate the leading priests; however, as long as a king was in place, the supreme ecclesiastical authority lay with him.
The official introduction of the term “high priest” went hand in hand with a greatly enhanced ritual and political significance bestowed upon the chief priest in the post-Exilic period, certainly from 411 BCE onward, after the religious transformations brought about by the Babylonian captivity and due to the lack of a Jewish king and kingdom.
The high priests belonged to the Jewish priestly families that trace their paternal line back to Aaron, the first high priest of Israel in the Hebrew Bible and elder brother of Moses, through Zadok, a leading priest at the time of David and Solomon. This tradition came to an end in the 2nd century BCE during the rule of the Hasmoneans, when the position was occupied by other priestly families unrelated to Zadok.
Predecessors of Aaron:
Even though Aaron was the first high priest mentioned in Exodus, the legendary passage revealed the first man assumed the title of high priest of God is Enoch who was succeeded by Methuselah, Lamech, Noah, Shem, (some say this was Melchizedek), Abraham, Isaac and Levi. They are very intricate pieces of clothing.
Comprising a linen tunic, finally woven colored fabrics,
of precious stonesbells and pomegranates (said to have 613 seeds = to 613 laws of Torah
around the hemand a crown of gold.This was all part of the old covenant and he served as the mediator of that covenant between the people and God.In ancient Israel the ones ordained by God to offer up the sacrifices were the priesthood, the sons of Aaron who came from the tribe of Levi one of the 12 sons of Jacob/Israel.
This is important to establish their lineage because of where we are going. God is a God of detail and precision and nothing was left to chance! Nor is anything a coincidence.Charts showing the line of Levites priestly calling
Holy, Kadosh in Hebrew, is that which is separate, set apart for the purposes of God and Israel was called to be a Holy nation.
To be a holy nation it had to be a separate nation. Within the 12 tribes of Israel were the Levites, as Gods ministers, this was a more holy calling than the rest of the tribes.
So they had to be separated from the rest of Israel. Then from the tribe of Levi God called the Cohanim, the Priests with a Holier calling.
From the priests, God called the High Priest with an even holier calling. So the Cohanim had to be separated from the Levites.
The high priest had to be separated even from the priests.
The ordinary garments of the priest Exodus. 28:39-43;39:27-29
The officiating priests wore 4 pieces of garments: Ex.28:42 (1) white breeches Ex. 28:40 (2)White Linen garment; (3)White linen sash; (4)White turban. (Only by birth can one be a priest.)
The other Levites were employed in more menial tasks, such as the housekeeping of the tabernacle, keeping oil in the lamps, transporting the Ark of the Covenant, taking down and setting up the tabernacle when moving, and related tasks in assisting the priests The priests could offer sacrifices for the people, burn incense on the altar, and teach the law. The Aaronic (or Levitical) Priesthood thus functioned only within the tribe of Levi, and the right to have it conferred upon one was determined by lineage and worthiness. The lineal restrictions of that Aaronic (Levitical) Priesthood were lifted when the law of Moses was fulfilled, and thereafter the offices of the priesthood were conferred upon worthy men without limitation to the tribe of Levi. Numbers 8. (10)
Every degree of holiness, was matched by an equal degree of separation. That which is Holy must be separated.
The priestly divisions or sacerdotal courses; (Hebrew: mishmar (מִשְׁמָר)); are ritual work groups in Judaism. According to 1 Chronicles 24, they were originally formed during the reign of King David.
These priests referred to as “descendants of Aaron.” In the biblical traditions upon which the writer of Chronicles drew, Aaron had four sons: Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. However, Nadab and Abihu died before Aaron (incident of offering strange fire); and only Eleazar and Ithamar had sons. In Chronicles, one priest, Zadok, from Eleazar’s descendants and another priest, Ahimelech, from Ithamar’s descendants, were designated by King David to help create the various priestly work groups.
Sixteen of Eleazar’s descendants were selected to head priestly orders while only eight of Ithamar’s descendants were so chosen. The passage states that this was done because of the greater number of leaders among Eleazar’s descendants. Lots were drawn to designate the order of ministering for the heads of the priestly orders when they entered the temple in Jerusalem.
Each order was responsible for ministering during a different week and shabbat and were stationed as a watch at the Tabernacle. All of the orders were present during biblical festivals.
Their duties involved offering the daily and Jewish holy day sacrifices (korbanot in Hebrew), and blessing the people in a ceremony known as nesiat kapayim (“raising of the hands”), the ceremony of the Priestly Blessing.
Following the Temple’s destruction at the end of the First Jewish Revolt and the displacement to the Galilee of the bulk of the remaining Jewish population in Judea at the end of the Bar Kochva Revolt, Jewish tradition in the Talmud and poems from the period record that the descendants of each priestly watch established a separate residential seat in towns and villages of the Galilee. (The location of the Galilee is obviously significant)
They maintained this residential pattern for at least several centuries in anticipation of the reconstruction of the Temple and reinstitution of the cycle of priestly courses.
Specifically, this Kohanic settlement region stretched from the Beit Netofa Valley, through the Nazareth region to Arbel and the vicinity of Tiberias.
In the synagogues in subsequent years, there was a custom every Sabbath, of publicly recalling the courses of the priests; a practice that reinforced the prestige of the priests’ lineage. Such mention evoked the hope of return to Jerusalem and reconstruction of the Temple.
This is all important because of who was ministering in his appointed cycle was non other than Zechariah, a priest of the course of Abia/Abijah,who was performing his priestly service and the Temple of Jerusalem.
Luke 1:5-2:20. Clearly explains this story it is carefully placed in geography and time. Luke relates this not as a timeless legend, but as an historical event.
Zechariah in his youth had married a woman named Elizabeth. They had never had any children and now That they were “well along in years” (Greek probaino, KJV “stricken”) may indicate that they were over sixty, since sixty years was considered “the commencement of agedness.”; They were “upright” (NIV) or “righteous” (KJV, Greek dikaios), not meaning perfectly sinless, but “pertaining to being in accordance with high standards of rectitude, upright, just, fair.”
They were a kosher, respected, priestly couple who took seriously what it meant to obey God in every way that they knew. They lived in dark days, during the bloody reign of Herod the Great (37 to 4 BC). Yet life went on, and for most of the year, Zechariah and Elizabeth live in a small village “in the hill country of Judea,” south of Jerusalem (Luke 1:39), except when Zechariah’s priest-division is on duty in the Temple.
According to Mosaic law, priests weren’t required to marry a wife from the Tribe of Levi (Leviticus 21:7, 13-15), but for a priest to have a wife from Levi’s tribe was considered a twofold honor.
Zechariah belonged to the priestly division of Abijah/Abia
from the tribe of Levites.
Religious workers in Israel were divided into two groups, Priests and Levites. All were descended from the Tribe of Levi, but, additionally, the priests were descendants of Moses’ brother Aaron. Priests were set apart for a special ministry in the Temple with regard to the worship of God that took place there.
“Once, when Zechariah’s division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside.” (1:8-10)
The priests were divided into 24 groups or divisions (1 Chronicles 10:7-18), of which Zechariah’s “division of Abijah” is eighth in the rotation. Priests and their families would live in Jerusalem or in various nearby villages, but when their division was called up for duty for a week, twice each year, the priests would come to Jerusalem to work in the Temple.
Each day about 50 priests would have been on duty, with perhaps 300 on duty during a given week.
Every priest had a specific amount of days each year to perform those tasks and it was done in rotation.
Luke 1:9 This day, Zechariah is “chosen by lot” to go inside the temple and burn incense on the Altar of Incense in the Holy Place. It is considered a great honor. Since there were a large number of priests, no priest was allowed to serve as the officiating priest more than once in his lifetime. Sometimes the high priest himself officiated. Jeremias remarks:
“For the incense offering, two priests had to help the officiating priest who was chosen by lot for the office. One brought glowing coals on a silver firepan from the Altar of Burnt Offering to the Altar of Incense in the Holy Place. The second took from the officiating priest the bowl in which the dish of incense had lain until the censing was finished.”
As the officiating priest, it was Zechariah’s job to place incense on the heated altar and then prostrate himself in prayer.
The incense represented the prayers of the people.
Outside, the people were reciting this prayer during the incense offering: “May the merciful God enter the Holy Place and accept with favor the offering of his people.”
It was at that point that an angel of the Lord did indeed enter the Holy Place. (1:11-17) The angel Gabriel comes to Zechariah and told him Elizabeth would in her old age give birth to a child. and announced the identity of his son.
God fulfilled the ancient hopes of Israel through the fulfilling of an old couples long lost hopes for a child. And this is highlighted because behind Zechariah’s name is a mystery.
Zechariah’s real name was Zicharyah.
Zicharyah means ‘God has remembered’.
Elizabeth’s real name was Elishevah.
Elishevah means ‘the oath of God’ or ‘God is my oath’ Ex.6:23
Zicharyah and Elishevah where joined in marriage so, “God has remembered’ was joined to ‘the oath of God”!
The marriage of the two lives created a prophetic message.
God has remembered the oath of God.
This was a sign to Israel that God had not forgotten his promise but in actual fact was about to fulfill it. When God remembers his oath/ promise then the oath/ promise bears/ brings forth life. So here Elishevah will have a baby who will be known as John the Baptist. However his real name in Hebrew is Yochanan, which means ‘the grace of God/”Yahweh is gracious”.
God’s remembrance of his oath/ promise causes the birth of the grace of God.’ The grace of salvation, the very thing that would come forth out of John, fulfilling His promise/oath.
When Zicharyah/ ‘God has remembered’, gave praise to the Lord, he was declaring that God had performed the miracle, to remember His Holy Covenant, the promise/oath which He swore to Abraham.
God never forgets His promises nor ever breaks his Word, for He is always watching over it to perform it and even out of the broken, the barren and the seemingly impossible, comes – the Yochanan, (the impossible/the miracle).
He was the only priest in the history of the levitical priesthood whose birth was announced by an angel in the sanctuary of the priests.
Leviticus 26:40 – 42; Luke 1:4 – 17, 72 – 73;
You are to call him John (1:13d), which means, the grace of God or”Yahweh is gracious” which, when we think about it, was John the Baptist’s chief message: baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
Announcement of the Birth of John… When the baby is born:
He will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth (15c). Under the Old Covenant, to be filled with the Holy Spirit was rare — the privilege of a few prophets priests and kings only.
During this time, outside the Temple….“Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah and wondering why he stayed so long in the temple. When he came out, he could not speak to them. They realized he had seen a vision in the temple, for he kept making signs to them but remained unable to speak.” (1:21-22).
(Due to the subject of the post and the need for extra details in tying it all together, the conclusion follows in part 2! )
Shalom!
SAY THE FOLLOWING FROM YOUR HEART RIGHT NOW…Don’t put it off one more moment…
Heavenly Father I come to you in the Name of Jesus asking for forgiveness of my sins for which I am truly sorry. I repent of them all and turn away from my past.
I believe with my heart and confess with my mouth that Jesus is your Son and that He died on the cross at calvary to pay the price for my sin, so that I might be forgiven and have eternal life in the kingdom of Heaven. Father I believe that Jesus rose from the dead and I ask you to come into my life right now and be my personal Savior and Lord and I will worship you all the days of my life. Because your word is truth I say that I am now forgiven and born again and by faith I am washed clean with the blood of Jesus. Thank you that you have accepted me into your family in Jesus’ name. Amen.
You are now Born Again by the Holy Spirit of the Living God and you are part of the ever growing family of believers. You will never be the same again!
Ever wondered what exactly is under that golden Dome on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, Israel?
MMM takes A DEEPER DIG Under The Dome of the Rock; (“Kippat ha-Sela” in Hebrew; (“Qubbat al-Sakhrah” in Arabic).It is front and center almost every time we look at a panoramic view of Jerusalem. Often dismissed as something, not of much importance to believers in Jesus Christ/Yeshua HaMashiach, yet there remains a measure of curiosity and there is great significance to the location we may have overlooked or forgotten…..
…And what is the mysterious “Well of Souls”?
The Dome of the Rock is an Islamic shrine and the Temple Mount is referred to as Haram al-Sharif (the Noble Sanctuary).
Situated in the Old City of Jerusalem, it was built by the Umayyad caliph ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Marwān.
The construction was initially completed in the late 7th-century, approx. 691 CE; (only 1300 years ago). According to the Islamic tradition, here Prophet Muhammad flew with the archangel Jabrail and met prophets Ibrahim, Musa and Isa (Abraham, Moses and Jesus respectively).
A rock rises towards the roof of the Dome. From this rock, according to legend, Muhammad ascended to Allah. Today, the Temple Mount is a home for the Al-Aqsa Mosque with the Dome of the Rock architectural complex. The mountain is open to tourists at certain times which are not related to the time of Muslim worship.
So why is it of any importance to us?
This mystery connects to events that have taken place over the last 5,000 years, thousands of years prior to the construction of the ‘Dome’.Then it was called Mount Moriah, on which was also located the mysterious city Urusalima, the forerunner of Jerusalem, (Salem).
Salim/Salem/Jerusalem is inscribed in the Tell el-Amarna Letters, an archaeological find dated to the 1400s BC.
The original name of Jerusalem was Babylonian, Uru-Salim, “the city of Salim,”or the city of Salem.
” Jebus” makes its appearance for the first time in the Old Testament (Judges 19: 10,11).In Hebrew, Yerushalayim.
Mount Moriah is the name of the elongated north-south ridge of rock that rises from the junction point of the Hinnom (Hagai) and Kidron valleys between Mount Zion to the west and the Mount of Olives to the east.It rises through the City of Davidand reaches its highest elevation just northeast of the Damascus Gatein the Old City.
The Temple Mount today covers about 45 acres and is built around the outcropping of the bedrock under the Dome of the Rock.
It is about 118 feet lower than the highest point of Mount Moriah.
Hinnom valleyKidron Valley
Jewish tradition holds that it is the very same site where God gathered the dust to create Adam before placing him in the garden.and in Genesis 22. where the Binding of Isaac for sacrifice by Abraham took place believed by many biblical scholars to be the same mountain in the region of Moriah mentioned in the Book of Genesis.There is a grotto inside the Dome of the Rock where limestone forms into a cave.In 1 Chronicles 21 it is identified as The Jebusite “Zion” was situated on the southern slope of Mount Moriah, above the Gihon Spring.
After King David captured the city he made it his capital and named it for himself: the ‘City of David’. The northern area of the mountain’s summit lay desolate for long after Zion’s capture by David. It was in fact still the private property of Araunah, the city’s former Jebusite king.For various reasons David did not confiscate the site of the Jebusite threshing floor but preferred to buy it from Auranah for full value: “So David paid Ornan ) the Jebusite [Auranah] for the site 600 shekels’ worth of gold.And David built there an altar to the Lord and sacrificed burn offerings and offerings of well-being” 1 Chron. 21:25, and a slightly different version at 2 Sam. 24:18-25.
The very same threshing floor where Ruth and Boaz were.
This purchase is an important fact since it demonstrates that the Jews received this area through a legal transaction. They have never sold the rights to Mount Moriah.King David said to Ornan, “No, but I will buy them for the full price. I will not take for the Lord what is yours, nor offer burnt offerings that cost me nothing.” So David paid Ornan 600 shekels of gold by weight for the site; and David built there an altar to the Lord and presented burnt offerings. – 1 Chronicles 21:24, 25
The Old Testament describes how an army led by David, the second king of ancient Israel, breached the walls of Jebus around 1000 B.C. David then built a palace nearby and created his capital, Jerusalem. At the site of a threshing floor atop the mountain, where farmers had separated grains from chaff, David constructed a sacrificial altar unto the Lord, and offered burnt and peace offerings.It was here that King David brought the Ark of the Covenant, which contained the tablets with the Ten Commandments.
In the course of time the mountain had acquired an aura of sanctity and was the subject of many traditions. Indeed, its sacred status may date back to the early Canaanite period, when it perhaps was the cultic center of “El Elyon,” god of Melchizedek, king of Salem:‘And Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine; he was a priest of God Most High [=El Elyon].’ Hebrew 7:1-3(Salem ancient name of Jerusalem). Gen.14:18.He blessed him, saying, Blessed be Abram of God Most High, creator of heaven and earth” Gen 14:18.
The Bible calls Yeshua, Jesus, the Great High Priest.
For he testifieth, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.
Isaiah 9:6
The tradition of “Jacob’s Dream” is also identified with Mount Moriah: “He came upon a certain place and stopped there for the night, for the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of that place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place. He had a dream; a stairway was set on the ground and its top reached to the sky, and angels of God were going up and down on it. And the Lord was standing beside him… Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, … “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the abode of God and that is the gateway to heaven” Gen 28:10-18.
This is perhaps the most colorful representation of the essential nature of the site which some would later claim was the “navel of the world”.At the summit of Mount Moriah, traditionally, is the “Foundation Stone,” the symbolic fundament of the world’s creation, and reputedly the site of the Temple’s Holy of Holies, the supreme embodiment of the relationship between God and the people of Israel.According to the Second Book of Kings and the First Book of Chronicles, David’s son, Solomon, built the First Temple (later known as the Beit Hamikdash) on that site.Then Solomon began to build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord had appeared to David his father, at the place that David had appointed on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. – 2 Chronicles 3:1Solomon dedicates the Temple.
Upon the completion of King Solomon’s Temple, famed for its sumptuous splendor, the Ark of the Covenant was placed within its confines.
The sanctity of the site is reflected in the graphic description provided by the Book of Kings: “the priests came out of the sanctuary for the cloud had filled the House of the Lord and the priests were not able to remain and perform the service because of the cloud, for the Presence of the Lord filled the House of the Lord…” 1 Kings 8:11.Solomon built his palace in the “miloh” (infill), area which separated the summit of the mountain and the Temple from the city below. This was also a concrete expression of the divine inspiration that was attributed to his kingship. Other palaces were also built nearby, such as the “House of the Forest of Lebanon” and the House of Pharaoh’s Daughter.
Solomon used dirt to fill in this east-west lateral rift, hence the area’s name: “miloh” (infill), or Ophel , from a Hebrew word referring to the road that ascended to the Temple from the city which at that time was topographically lower and seen as a name on some maps.
King Solomon, according to the Bible, built the First Temple of the Jews on this mountaintop circa 1000 B.C., only to have it torn down 400 years later by troops commanded by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar, who sent many Jews into exile. In the first century B.C., the Babylonian Army destroyed the First Temple in 586 B.C. The ark of the covenant disappeared, possibly hidden from the conquerors. Following the conquest of Jerusalem by the Persians in 539 B.C., the Jews returned from exile and, according to the Book of Ezra, constructed a Second Temple on the site.
At the summit of Mount Moriah, the supreme embodiment of the relationship between God and the people of Israel was realized. Upon the completion of King Solomons Temple, the Ark of the Covenant was placed inside, it contained the tablets with the Ten Commandments, the Jar of Manna and Aarons Rod that budded.
In the first century B.C., King Herod undertook a massive reshaping of the Temple Mount. Herod expanded and refurbished a Second Temple built by Jews who had returned after their banishment. He filled up the slopes surrounding the mount’s summit and expanded it to its present size. He enclosed the holy site within a 100-foot-high retaining wall constructed of limestone blocks quarried from the Jerusalem Hills and constructed a far more expansive version of the Second Temple.
It is here that, according to the Gospel of John, Jesus Christ lashed out against the money changers (and was later crucified a few hundred yards away). The Roman general Titus exacted revenge against Jewish rebels, sacking and burning the Temple in A.D. 70.
We are familiar with the much photographed Western Wall, it’s one that’s easily recognizable together with the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.The Western Wall is the holiest site for Jews. Thousands of people — Jews and non-Jews alike — come to this wall every day to pray.
But the commonly known religious site and tourist destination represents only the tip of the Western Wall complex. Its main treasures are found inside a tunnel excavated by Charles Warren from 1864 to 1870.
The tunnel follows the street level of the first century, which lies about 30 feet (9 meters) below the current level of the Western Wall plaza where the tourists and worshipers usually gather. It exposes magnificent stones measuring 45 by 9.8 by 11 feet (13.7 by 3 by 3.3 meters) and weighing 520 metric tons. The stones comprised the foundation of a retaining wall that King Herod ordered so he could create a level platform for the temple complex.
A significant site is found 150 feet (46 meters) inside the tunnel. Above picture is the sealed-off gate, close to the place where the temple’s most Holy place, KOTEL – the Holy of Holies, is believed to have been located. The site of the Western Wall and its tunnel are managed by the Western Wall Heritage Foundation.
The upper part of the Temple Mount where both temples once stood is controlled by the Jerusalem Islamic Waqf foundation, financed by the Kingdom of Jordan. Arabs refer to the place as Haram al-Sharif, or the Noble Sanctuary. The complex includes the golden Dome of the Rock, which stands on the supposed spot on Mount Moriah where Abraham prepared to offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice.
The area controlled by the foundation also includes the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third-holiest site for Muslims who believe it was here that the Prophet Muhammad ascended to the “Divine Presence” on the back of a winged horse—the Miraculous Night Journey, commemorated by one of Islam’s architectural triumphs, the Dome of the Rock shrine.A territorial prize occupied or conquered by a long succession of peoples—including Jebusites, Israelites, Babylonians, Greeks, Persians, Romans, Byzantines, early Muslims, Crusaders, Mamluks, Ottomans and the British—the Temple Mount has seen more momentous historical events than perhaps any other 35 acres in the world.
The Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls are classified as a World Heritage Site.
During the time of Solomon and of Nehemiah, the walls also encompassed the City of David, an area south of theTemple Mount.
So what exactly is under the golden dome?
The bedrock, or the actual stone, of the top of Mount Moriah. known as the Foundation Stone where all the aforementioned events took place.
(According to a medieval Islamic tradition, the Stone tried to follow Muhammad as he ascended, leaving his footprint here while pulling up and hollowing out the cave below. The impression of the hand of the Archangel Gabriel made as he restrained the Stone from rising, is nearby.) The Stone — known as Even haShetiya in Hebrew and es-Sakhrah in Arabic — is considered the holiest site in Judaism and the third holiest in Islam.)It can be seen covered by the Muslim’s Dome of the Spirits.
This is about 285 feet north of where the Ark of the Covenant would have sat on similar bedrock in the Jewish Temple. Today the Muslim’s Dome of the Rock covers that location.
The Well of Souls, also known in Christianity and Judaism as the Holy of Holies, is a partly natural, partly man-made cave located inside the Foundation Stone under the Dome of the Rock.
Below The Sakhra (rock) in the Dome and shows the possible location of the ark lower left part of exposed rock surface.
This is a closer view of the actual bedrock, or the original rock, from the top of Mount Moriah. It is located under the Muslim’s Dome of the Spirits and is located just outside the Dome of the Rock. Abraham would have walked across parts of this rock when he came up here to sacrifice Isaac.
This would be close to where the Jebusite threshing floor would have actually been located when David purchased Mount Moriah.
Looking across the pavement that has been built over Mount Moriah to create a level surface. This is the site of the ancient Jewish Temple Mount. The golden Dome of the Rock stands where the Jewish Temple formerly stood.Notice the location of Mount Moriah on this map showing Jerusalem’ topography.
In a cave under the sacred rock, there supposedly is a mysterious Well of Souls from which the spirits of the dead can be heard.
Whether it is true or not, the Temple Mount is a place of veneration of believers of the three world religions and has a unique energy that can be really perceived. The Well of Souls is a supernatural dimension that is guarded by the Archangel Azrael. It is said to hold power over life and death, and it acts as a receptacle for the souls of the departed. From a purely biblical standpoint, the Well of Souls is referenced as Sheol, the pit where un-regenerated souls are held until judgment.
The Foundation Stone in the floor of the
Dome of the Rock shrine in Jerusalem.
Photo above showing:
1 The cage-like structure just beyond the hole covers the stairway entrance to the cave beneath the rock
2 The round hole at upper left penetrates to a small cave, known as the ‘Well of Souls’, below.
3 Rock (Al Sakhra) where Muslims believe Muhammad ascended to the heavens.
The Well of Souls (Arabic: بئر الأرواح Bir al-Arwah; sometimes translated Pit of Souls, Cave of Spirits, or Well of Spirits in Islam), also known in Christianity and Judaism as the Holy of Holies, is a partly natural, partly man-made cave located inside the Foundation Stone under the Dome of the Rock shrine in Jerusalem.
The name Well of Souls derives from a medieval Islamic legend that at this place the spirits of the dead can be heard awaiting Judgment Day. The name “Well of Souls” has also been applied more narrowly to a depression in the floor of this cave and to a hypothetical chamber that may exist beneath the floor. The famed 19th-century British explorer Sir Charles Warren could neither prove nor disprove the existence of a hollow chamber below the cave. They believed the sound reportedly heard by visitors was simply an echo in a small fissure beneath the floor.For Believers, the site is known as the Holy of Holies (alluding to the former inner sanctuary within the Temple in Jerusalem) .
Both Jewish and Muslim traditions relate to what may lie beneath the Foundation Stone, the earliest of them found in the Talmud in the former and understood to date to the 12th and 13th centuries in the latter.
The Talmud indicates that the Stone marks the center of the world and serves as a cover for the Abyss (Abzu) containing the raging waters of the Flood.Muslim tradition likewise places it at the center of the world and over a bottomless pit with the flowing waters of Paradise underneath. A palm tree is said to grow out of the River of Paradise here to support the Stone.Noah is said to have landed here after the Flood.The Mosaic floor covers the opening to the well of souls.
The souls of the dead are said to be audible here as they await the Last Judgment, although this is not a mainstream view in Sunni Islam.
The Foundation Stone and its cave entered fully into the European Christian tradition after the Crusaders recaptured Jerusalem in 1099 and converted the Dome of the Rock into a church, calling it the Templum Domini, (Latin for the Temple of the Lord).They made many radical physical changes to the site at this time, including cutting away much of the rock to make staircases with 16 marble steps and paving the Stone over with marble slabs.
They certainly enlarged the main entrance of the cave and probably are also responsible for creating the shaft ascending from the center of the chamber. The Crusaders called the cave the “Holy of Holies” and venerated it as the possible site of the announcement of John the Baptist’s birth, since Luke says it happened in the Temple.
(Modern scholarship indicates that the Temple Holy of Holies was probably on top of the Foundation Stone, not inside it.)Here the original granary, (similar to picture above), where the corn was threshed or rather trodden out, upon the plain on either side, and winnowed from the Rock.The entrance to the cave is at the southeast angle of the Foundation Stone, beside the southeast pier of the Dome of the Rock (Sakhrah) shrine. On the way down, bedrock masses project in towards the stair; the one to the right is called “the tongue”. (because, according to legend, when Caliph Umar thought he had discovered the stone which was Jacob’s Pillar in his vision at Bethel, he exclaimed, “Es Salámo Alaykúm” (“Peace be unto thee”), and the stone answered Caliph Umar, “Alaykúm us Salám, wa Rahmat-Ullahi” (“Peace be to thee, and the mercy of God”).To the left (south) as one descends is a prayer niche where David prayed.
To the right is a shallower, but ornately decorated, prayer niche dedicated to where Solomon traditionally prayed; and where Abraham and Elijah and Mohammed met on the occasion of his night flight upon El Borak.
This mihrab is certainly one of the oldest in the world, considered to date at least back to the late 9th century. (Some even suggest that it dates back to the 7th century and to the time of Abd al-Malik, builder of the Dome of the Rock — making it the oldest in the world — but this is disputed.
The cave chamber is roughly square, about 6 meters on a side, and ranges from 1.5 to 2.5 meters (about 4.9 to ~8.2 feet) high.
At the center of the ceiling is a shaft, 0.46 meter in diameter, which penetrates 1.7 meters up to the surface of the Stone above. It has been proposed that this is the 4,000-year-old remnant of a shaft tomb. Another theory is that it represents a Crusader “chimney” cut for ventilation to accommodate lighted shrine candles.Still others have tried to make a case that it was part of a drainage system for the Temple altar of Sacrifice; that the cave was the cistern for the blood, which ran off by the Bir el Arwáh, (Well of Souls) into the Valley of Hinnom.
There are no rope marks within the shaft, so it has been concluded that it was never used as a well, with the cave as cistern. The ceiling of the cave appears natural, while the floor has been long ago paved with marble and carpeted over.So now we know what is under that golden dome and next time we see a photograph it will serve as a reminder of its place in our history and that it reveals another of the reasons for its ownership and possession being such hotly disputed territory.
Shalom..
Please don’t leave this page before making certain Jesus/Yeshua is your Redeemer, Savior, Lord and soon returning King and that you have a personal relationship with Him.
You are greatly loved and precious in His sight.
It’s all about Life and Relationship, not Religion.
NOT SURE? YOU CAN BE..
You can have His love – His Forgiveness – His Grace and His Compassion and live like Royalty in the Womb of His Mercy..
SAY THE FOLLOWING FROM YOUR HEART RIGHT NOW…Don’t put it off one more day…
Heavenly Father I come to you in the Name of Jesus asking for forgiveness of my sins for which I am truly sorry. I repent of them all and turn away from my past.
I believe with my heart and confess with my mouth that Jesus is your Son and that He died on the cross at calvary to pay the price for my sin, so that I might be forgiven and have eternal life in the kingdom of Heaven. Father I believe that Jesus rose from the dead and I ask you to come into my life right now and be my personal Savior and Lord and I will worship you all the days of my life. Because your word is truth I say that I am now forgiven and born again and by faith I am washed clean with the blood of Jesus. Thank you that you have accepted me into your family in Jesus’ name. Amen.You are now Born Again by the Holy Spirit of the Living God and you are part of the ever growing family of believers. You will never be the same again!
… And What’s The 2000 year old connection to Abraham meeting a King?
(Torah, pronounced Towrah, comprises the first 5 books of the Bible.)
EL ELYON: The Most High God. This name emphasizes God’s strength, sovereignty, and supremacy. In Genesis 14:20, Melchizedek said to Abram, “blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand!” He understood that the Lord is extremely exalted. 
The drama of the events at Mount Sinai is well known: It was the third day, in the morning, that there was thunder and lightning. A heavy cloud was on the mountain and there was a very loud sound of the shofar. All the people in the camp trembled. Moses brought the people toward God out of the camp. They stood at the foot of the mountain. The entire Mount Sinai was enveloped with smoke, for God had descended upon it in fire. Its smoke rose like the smoke of a furnace and the entire mountain trembled violently (Exodus 19:16-18)
He was to cast lots for the goats, one for YaHuWaH and the other for “Azazel” which literally means: “the goat of removal” or “the scapegoat.” Two goats were to be brought before him. He would place his hands on their heads and confess the sins of the people. 
One would be slaughtered as a sacrifice to YaHuWaH.
They are very intricate pieces of clothing. 
a breastplate 
bells and pomegranates (said to have 613 seeds = to 613 laws of Torah
around the hem
and a crown of gold.
This was all part of the old covenant and he served as the mediator of that covenant between the people and God.
In ancient Israel the ones ordained by God to offer up the sacrifices were the priesthood, the sons of Aaron who came from the tribe of Levi one of the 12 sons of Jacob/Israel.
Charts showing the line of Levites priestly calling
The other Levites were employed in more menial tasks, such as the housekeeping of the tabernacle, keeping oil in the lamps, transporting the Ark of the Covenant, taking down and setting up the tabernacle when moving, and related tasks in assisting the priests The priests could offer sacrifices for the people, burn incense on the altar, and teach the law. The Aaronic (or Levitical) Priesthood thus functioned only within the tribe of Levi, and the right to have it conferred upon one was determined by lineage and worthiness. The lineal restrictions of that Aaronic (Levitical) Priesthood were lifted when the law of Moses was fulfilled, and thereafter the offices of the priesthood were conferred upon worthy men without limitation to the tribe of Levi. Numbers 8. (10)
That which is Holy must be separated.
who was performing his priestly service and the Temple of Jerusalem.
For more on the picture above click links 
or the city of Salem.
and Kidron valleys between Mount Zion to the west and the Mount of Olives to the east.
in the Old City.
Kidron Valley
There is a grotto inside the Dome of the Rock where limestone forms into a cave.
For various reasons David did not confiscate the site of the Jebusite threshing floor but preferred to buy it from Auranah for full value: “So David paid Ornan ) the Jebusite [Auranah] for the site 600 shekels’ worth of gold.
‘And Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine; he was a priest of God Most High [=El Elyon].’ Hebrew 7:1-3
(Salem ancient name of Jerusalem). Gen.14:18.
He blessed him, saying, Blessed be Abram of God Most High, creator of heaven and earth” Gen 14:18.
At the summit of Mount Moriah, traditionally, is the “Foundation Stone,” the symbolic fundament of the world’s creation, and reputedly the site of the Temple’s Holy of Holies, the supreme embodiment of the relationship between God and the people of Israel.
The Western Wall is the holiest site for Jews. Thousands of people — Jews and non-Jews alike — come to this wall every day to pray.
Abraham would have walked across parts of this rock when he came up here to sacrifice Isaac.
For Believers, the site is known as the Holy of Holies (alluding to the former inner sanctuary within the Temple in Jerusalem) .
The Crusaders called the cave the “Holy of Holies” and venerated it as the possible site of the announcement of John the Baptist’s birth, since Luke says it happened in the Temple.
Here the original granary, (similar to picture above), where the corn was threshed or rather trodden out, upon the plain on either side, and winnowed from the Rock.
On the way down, bedrock masses project in towards the stair; the one to the right is called “the tongue”. (because, according to legend, when Caliph Umar thought he had discovered the stone which was Jacob’s Pillar in his vision at Bethel, he exclaimed, “Es Salámo Alaykúm” (“Peace be unto thee”), and the stone answered Caliph Umar, “Alaykúm us Salám, wa Rahmat-Ullahi” (“Peace be to thee, and the mercy of God”).
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