Friday is the Moslem Holy Day and Saturday is the Jewish Sabbath, therefore, the weekend in Israel is Friday and Saturday and the first work day of the week is Sunday. Many Christians have adjusted their Sabbath to Saturday as well, and that was the day we went to the BYU Jerusalem Center for Sunday services. Part of a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints service is the partaking of bread and water, representing the body and blood of Jesus Christ. As we partake I am struck by the fact that I am doing this in Jerusalem, a few blocks away from Gethsemane. It is a powerful feeling.
On Sunday, April 18, 1999, it was back to a full day of touring. We started by passing through the Dung Gate into the Old City. We followed a long straight path, through a security checkpoint and up to the Temple Mount. To our left, and below, worshipers are gathering at the Western Wall. In front of us is the Al Aksa Mosque. We are required to remove our shoes and leave all of our belongings outside. Inside we see a large room with two rows of pillars, and on one pillar you can still see the bullet marks from the 1956 assassination of the King of Jordan (the current king's grandfather).
As it was explained to me, Islam was started nearly six hundred years after the time of Christ. It was founded by Mohammed who saw both Christianity and Judaism as apostate religions. They had only a portion of the truths which he believed he had received from the angel Gabriel during his "Night Vision." It was in this dream that he was transported from the rock that is now under the Dome of the Rock. The Islamic religion incorporates various tenets, stories, and doctrines of both Judaism and Christianity. Islam is the name of the religion, and Moslem means "a follower of Islam."
The Islam book of scripture is the Koran, wherein it is clearly stated that the people of the "Book" -- meaning the Bible, which are the Jews and the Christians -- are to be protected and valued as friends of the Moslems. The Koran is a collection of the sayings of Mohammed as he was instructed by the angel Gabriel.
Due to the diversity of the Moslem population, many political leaders have used the mosque as platform for their ideologies. The euphoria of these political movements is thus connected to the religious environment and many followers accept political concepts as religious doctrine. The Five Pillars of Islam are:
1) Worshiping of Allah (Allah is a singular/neutral word and the Arabic way of pronouncing Elohim, which is a Hebrew plural/masculine word);
2) Praying five times a day in the direction of Mecca, preceded by a ritual washing;
3) Paying tithes and offerings for the poor;
4) Fasting for a monthly period during the daytime every year (Ramadan);
5) The pilgrimage to Mecca once in a lifetime.
Mecca is the first holy site of Islam and the birthplace of Mohammed. Nearby Medina is the second holiest site, and is where Mohammed is buried. Mount Moriah is the third holiest as the site of the rock from which Mohammed dreamed he rose to visit heaven.
The Al Aksa Mosque was built in 701 A.D. (or C.E.) and has undergone at least four major renovations. Ten years earlier the Dome of the Rock had been constructed. We now exit the Mosque and reclaim our belongings, then we head up some steps and pass under an archway into the area of the Dome. There we must again remove our shoes and leave our belongings before entering.
The Dome of the Rock, unlike mosques that are always directed towards Mecca, has eight sides that symbolically face out in every direction. It is suggested that the Dome draws attention to heaven. In the center of the building, under the dome, is, of course, the rock that Mohammed dreamed about.
While on Mount Moriah we also talked about the Jewish temples, more specifically the possible location of the Holy of Holies. There are numerous domes and cupolas on the Temple Mount, and a little bit north of the Dome of the Rock is a very small dome called the Dome of the Tablets, it is built over a small section of bedrock. Recent archaeological studies suggest that this could have been the site of the alter of Holy of Holies in the Israelite temple. Theoretically, then, it would be possible to rebuild the temple on this spot without disturbing the Dome of the Rock, and there are prophecies which suggest that the temple will be rebuilt.
According to the Bible and to Jewish customs, there was a temple ceremony involving the sacrifice of a red calf (see Numbers 19:2-10). An unblemished, first born red calf was led from the temple out through the Gate Beautiful and up the Mount of Olives. It was then sacrificed high enough to be over the temple but also in-line with the the Gate Beautiful and still northward of the alter of Holy of Holies. When one stands today on the Mount of Olives they can line up the Gate Beautiful with the Dome of the Tablets.
Additionally, it was on the Mount of Olives, in the Garden of Gethsemane that Jesus bled from every poor, and according to prophecy Jesus will reappear in the last days on the Mount of Olives wearing red. He will then pass through the Gate Beautiful and up to the temple.
The question, then, is if the current Gate Beautiful is in the same spot as the original gate. One day some years ago, an archaeologist, Dr. James Flemming, was photographing the Gate Beautiful from a spot directly in front. As he was moving around he fell through a grave. When the Turks occupied Palestine they put graves in front of the Gate beautiful believing that this would discourage the Messiah from entering the temple area since Jewish priests are not allowed to walk where the dead are buried. Anyway, After falling through a grave, Dr. Flemming found himself in a large grave room, and he could see that the wall directly underneath today's gate had once been a gate as well. It had been filled in as a foundation for the newer gate above.
At this point we left the Old City, again through the Dung Gate, and our bus took us to the Israel Museum. Here we spent several hours, or so it seemed, looking at artifacts of Jewish worship and from thousands of years of history. The museum has its own web site for those interested.
After lunch at the museum we visited the Shrine of the Book, on the same campus, where some of the Dead Sea Scrolls are displayed in cases where the humidity, temperature, and light are controlled.
After this we ventured out of Greater Jerusalem down the Bab El Wad canyon. During the 1948 War of Independence the Arabs had blocked this canyon as part of the siege of Jerusalem. The Israelis built a rather precarious route through another nearby canyon. The media was quick to dub it the "Burma Road." American volunteer Mickey Markus engineered the road and was then accidentally killed on the day of its completion. Later a motion picture, Cast A Giant Shadow, was made about the "Burma Road." I found this movie on DVD a few years ago; it's very good, with Kirk Douglas in the starring role.
We stopped at Bet Shemesh where much of the Samson episode took place. From there it was over to the Valley of Elah where David slew Goliath. We all tried to throw rocks with the type of sling David used. Many rocks went behind us instead of ahead.
We stopped again, on the way back to Jerusalem up another canyon, at the site of an excavation. Our guide uncovered an ancient tile floor below the sand. After that we replaced the sand so that another group could "find" the tile. It is a major Federal crime in Israel, with severe consequences, for anyone to vandalize or destroy a historical or archaeological site.
Once back in Jerusalem we stopped at the National Diamond Center for a brief tour and some free samples. At that the day was done.
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