Jerusalem

The Jerusalem that Jesus knew bore little resemblance to the city David conquered in the 10th century BC, yet from that time on it was known as the city of David or Zion. It is hard to approach and difficult to besiege on it's rocky, waterless ridge with the Bethphage valley below. Its narrow, winding, climbing streets, its thronged bazaars packed along the traffic ways or crowded under colonnades held an endless riot of color in costumes that represented people of many faiths. Strange faces strange clothes, strange animals, strange accents - all these fill the eye. The charm of the memories that cluster on these ancient hills are not fully revealed until seen first as the City of David. The population of Jerusalem was about 200 - 250,000 at the time of Jesus, much more during the festivals. Modern day Jerusalem is approaching a half a million.

Jerusalem was destroyed by Nebachadnezzar in the sixth century B.C. and again by the Romans in 70 A.D. The city of David has been ruled by the Persians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Crusaders and Turks, more recently by Great Britian and given to Israel forces in 1967. It is a holy city to all the faiths of "the book", Christians, Jews and Muslims.

Jerusalem is considered one of Islam's three most holy sites, being Farah, the Al Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem. The Koran actually mentions Mecca and Medina hundreds of times but the name of Jerusalem is not found. Mohammed never visited Jerusalem in the flesh. Muslims today cite the story of "Al Isra' wa Al Mi''rag," in the Koran, the seventeenth Sura, entitled "The Night Journey." According to Islamic legend, the Prophet Muhammad was carried by night in a dream "from the sacred temple to the temple that is most remote, whose precinct we have blessed, that we might show him our signs. ..." Muslims have identified the two temples mentioned in this verse as being in Mecca and Jerusalem where Muhammad then ascended to heaven from the Dome of the Rock riding on his white steed.

The view in the first century from the mount of Olives was dominated by the gleaming, gold-embellished temple, the most hallowed spot in the Jewish world. Across the Kidron Valley, set among the surrounding hill, was Jerusalem, "the perfection of beauty", in the words of Lamentations, the joy of all the world. To the south of the temple was the lower city, a sea of limestone houses, buff-colored from years of sun and wind. "Why leave Jerusalem to see the world? The world comes here to Jerusalem!" It's true. It was a place of infinite variety, a different mood each day, a different color.

Somebody once said that Jerusalem had more beggars than anywhere in the world. Antonia, from which soldiers came down to rescue Paul from the Jews in the temple; and from its stairs he addressed the multitude. The Gate of Ephraim was one of the gates of Jerusalem, on the north side of the city. In the Upper City, near the Temple, dwelt the aristocracy, Sheep gate, Valley of Kedron, Dung Gate.

The battle of Armageddon seems to be directed at Jerusalem. Zecharian give a good example of what will befall those that come against her. "And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth." This sounds just like what the experts have described will happen to people after a nuclear blast.
[320, 325, 340, 345, 373, 380, BD, 383, Zechariah 14]



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