Day 10
We started our morning on the Southern wall of the Temple.
Animals were brought in through the Southern Wall of the Temple, up a ramp in just the right incline, through what is called the Triple Gate. The animals were taken into a large room adjacent to that entrance, where they were kept apart from the people until time for their sacrifice. The steps leading up to the Triple Gate were more narrow, because there were fewer priests and Levites than the rest of the people.
On toward the Western end of the Southern Wall, you can see evidence of the Double Gate. The steps leading up to the Double Gate were much broader, because this was the “main entrance” into the Temple for the common people.
There were a shops at the base of the Southern Wall, as well as the base of the Western Wall.
Tour of the Western Tunnels
From there, we went around to the Western Wall of the Temple complex, to take a tour of the ancient tunnels beneath the street level adjacent to the Western Wall.
On the western wall of the temple complex, there was a large long ramp that extended from the wall all the way over across the Tyropoeon Valley, the most Eastern of the three valleys that have “cradled” Jerusalem for millennia.
Beneath the ramp were a series of 17 vaults/arches, which supported the weight of the bridge. The foundations of the bridge were laid on the ruins of structures from the Second Temple Period.
The 17 openings, vaults, are visible in re-creations of the southern façade of the bridge, which connected the Temple Mount with the Upper City, the Jewish quarter of that day. The level of the bridge was at the same height as the level of the Temple Mount.
The Tyropoeon Bridge was first built during the Second Temple Period, sometime between 20 BCE and 20 CE. The width of the bridge was doubled in 30 CE. The bridge also functioned as an aqueduct to bring water for the needs of the Temple, as well as a direct pedestrian approach from the Upper City to the level of the Temple Mount. This water system was still functioning when the British conquered the Land in World War One, although the bridge was broken in the course of the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE. It was later restored, apparently, in the second century, when Jerusalem was made into a pagan city called Aelia Capitalina, by the Romans.
Built into this wall at the bottom, was the large building where the witnesses came in to assist the high priest in declaring the New Moon each month. That was just one of its uses. It was a very opulent building, which included a very open area and what looks to have been some sort of gymnasium. It has been variously called the Herodian Building, the Hasmonean Building, the Freemason’s Building.
The building was lavishly decorated with many pilasters, ornate columns which were set into the walls. Some of the pilasters were fountains. Water flowed out of the top of the pilaster and rushed down the column to a trough at the bottom.
{I have posted a photo of one of these pilasters on Facebook.}
Other possible uses:
Counting Hall of Jerusalem
Council Chamber of the Sanhedrin
Originally, the Sanhedrin met in one of the four “corner towers” of the Temple proper. But, after the death of Yeshua, sometime around 40 CE, they moved their meeting location to an alternate spot. This is believed by some to be the new location.
Also on the tunnels tour, we saw on of the 170 ancient mikvot that have been excavated in the Temple area. This one was destroyed by the British archeologist, Charles Warren, during his excavations. He was a great archeologist, to whom we owe very much. It’s just a shame that his using dynamite to blow a hole into the ground did this much damage.
This particular mikveh was not very deep. It is theorized that it was most likely used to purify dishes for holy use in the Temple.
We also saw a very small Roman theater, built after the destruction of the Temple, saw a great model of the Temple complex over all (which I understand much better after having been on this trip), and another newly-discovered section of the Western Wall, the Kotel. This particular section of the Western Wall is underneath the men’s section on the outdoor plaza. This underground sections was hidden for 1700 years. We are now privileged to stand before them. Visitors have placed notes in this section of wall, much as they do on the Plaza.
Yesterday, we did not have a chance to finish our tour of the Davidson Museum complex. They gave us another opportunity to come back and finish our tour by going up onto the southern steps of the Temple. These are the same steps I was talking about at the beginning of this post, but when we first looked at them this morning, we were pretty far away, looking at them across a distance. This time we got to see them close up.
On the way to the Southern steps, we saw a wall of the Akra Fortress, in that area, a fortress that was built by the Seleucids and played a significant role in the Maccabean Revolt of 166 BCE. This was the revolt that formed the Hasmonean Dynasty.
Goodness, though, it was SO hot up there on those steps! I was dressed modestly, in long pants and a shirt that reached my elbows, and I just got very overheated. When we returned from that area, I had to sit for a moment and have some water.
One of the artifacts we saw was the top of the southwest corner of the Temple, where the House of the Trumpeting was located. These tops of the wall had fallen down when the Temple was destroyed in 70 CE. This place is described in the Oral Torah, the Mishnah, Tractate Sulkah, as the location of the Temple crier who announced the opening and close of the Shabbat with the blast of the shofar (a Jewish “trumpet”).
Because of the addition of the Southern Steps tour, we really did not have time to have a decent lunch. At 2:00, we had a scheduled tour in the City of David, the name for the royal palace complex that lies just below the Temple Mount. I mean, you can walk from one to the other in 10 minutes, but the Temple Mount is at a significantly higher elevation.
Before King David came on the scene, the area of Jerusalem was inhabited and controlled by a people called the Jebusites. The Jebusites were one of the 70 “nations” mentioned in the Table of Nations in Genesis 10. So, they had been around for a while. They began to control this area in about the 8th century BCE.
Canaan was under the control of the Egyptian Empire. Things were all hunky-dorey until the Jebusites began building a city on Mount Moriah. When walls were erected, the Egyptians did not like this and threatened to destroy the city. So Egypt sent their gods to do this on their behalf, since they were several hundred miles away. “How?”, you may ask?
Egyptians wrote more than 200 curses against the Jebusites rulers of Jerusalem, and this fear and intimidation tactic kept the Jebusites and their capitol city of Jebus loyal to Egypt. It was rather unorthodox, but effective.
This continued on through the period of the Judges, in the Bible, until King David defeated the Jebusites. See, oddly enough, when the Hebrew people came into Canaan to conquer the land, Jerusalem was not made the immediate capitol city. The invading Hebrews were first headquartered at Shechem, then at Shiloh, then at Hebron. It was not until David became king that he moved the center of power to Jerusalem, and that was not until he had reigned for more than 10 years away from Jerusalem.
At first, archeologists thought that the City of David (David’s palace and governmental center) was inside the walls of the Old City. These city walls were built by Suleiman the Magnificent, the ruler of the Ottoman Empire (1400s CE), and the same dude who blocked up the Eastern Gate (a double gate) of the Old City so that the Messiah cannot come through it when He “arrives”. (As if that would stop the Jewish Messiah, whose name is Yeshua/Jesus, by the way…).
Incidentally, many of my readers know that Herod the Great in the last century BCE greatly expanded the Temple complex. But, he only expanded on the North, South and Western sides. He did not add on to the Eastern side of the Temple complex at all. I did not realize that until today…learning so very much on this trip!
Well, I apologize for all my rabbit trails….Let me get back on track. In the 2nd half of 19th century, archeologists began to discover that City of David was not inside the city walls that Suleiman had erected. In that day, there was a neighborhood built on top of the ancient site. There still is, to some extent.
Right up against the City of David is the Kidron Valley, the eastern-most of the three valleys that run through the hills Jerusalem is built upon. This area is densely populated on both sides of the Kidron Valley where flowed, in Temple times, a vigorous river that carried water from the Temple Mount down to the Dead Sea.
One of the first stops on our City of David tour is an excavated pile of ruins called
The Large Stone Structure (maybe the remains of David’s Palace?). But, they aren’t sure; and so, they hedge their bets, LOL!
The structure is 100 ft E to W by 75 ft N to S. That is huge, by the standard of houses of that day. It is certainly the SIZE of a palace. And, by the style of the artifacts, archeologists have determined that 3000 years ago this house was built.
Then, we went on around the bend, and we analyzed the ruins of what appears to be an administrative building, which would make sense, because David’s “offices” would surely be near his “home”, right? And, in Jeremiah 36, Jeremiah says that the administrative offices were “southeast of the Temple Mount”.
After that was the tour of Hezekiah’s Tunnels. I really should have gone on that tour, but honestly, I had been overcome with the extreme heat earlier, and I did not think I could face another two hours underground. I know. I should be ashamed of myself! I wanted the information and the learning, but I simply.could.not.
That was the end of the official day. I went back to the room and RESTED. Whew! Then, tonight, the weather was so nice and cool! Weird. I just love it here. LOL!
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