Massive Challenge to Standard Geography of Jerusalem-Temple
Part Two: Lining up the “Wailing Wall”
“… I have shown with an abundance of historical and biblical evidences that the original Temples of God were positioned over and around the Gihon Spring in the southeastern part of Jerusalem. The evidence is so strong that one wonders how such an obvious fact could be so hidden from the attention of the world for so long?”
Dr. Ernest L. Martin
According to my article:
Newly-discovered Seleucid Fort ('Acra') a challenge to identity of 'Temple Mount'
and related ones, based largely on the research of Dr. Ermest L. Martin, archaeologists have quite mis-read, in some very important instances, the geographical lay-out of the ancient city of Jerusalem.
Christians, Jews and Moslems alike have contributed to the ensuing confusion.
As a consequence of this mis-reading, the recently discovered “fort” built in Jerusalem by king Antiochus IV ‘Epiphanes’, rightly found positioned “in the area to the north of the [true] Temple” (I Maccabees 1:33), finds itself situated to the actual south of the currently accepted site for the location of the Temple of Yahweh.
It all reminds me of that song by The Who (“Substitute’): “The north side of my town faced east and the east was facing south”.
Dr. Ernest L. Martin (RIP) has also exposed the wrong location, in relation to the ancient Temple of Yahweh, of the famous “Wailing Wall”: http://askelm.com/temple/t000701.htm
The Strange Story of
the False Wailing Wall
the False Wailing Wall
By Ernest L. Martin, PH. D., July 2000
There is absolute proof that the present site of the Jewish "Wailing Wall" in Jerusalem is NOT any part of the Temple that existed in the time of Herod and Jesus. In fact, that particular location that the Jewish authorities have accepted represents the Western Wall of an early Roman fortress (finally built and enlarged by Herod the Great). King Herod called it Fort Antonia, after the famous Mark Anthony who lived at the end of the first century before Christ.
Mackey’s comment: For my radically new interpretation of King Herod ‘the Great’ and the Romans, see my article:
A New Timetable for the Nativity of Jesus Christ
Dr Martin continues (I do not necessarily accept his dates nor all of his AD history):
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It was formerly called the Baris in the proceeding hundred years and it finally became known as the Praetorium in the New Testament period (the central military edifice in Jerusalem where the commanding general of a Legion of troops had his headquarters). This rectangular type of building clearly resembles most permanent military camps that the Romans constructed throughout the Empire to house their Legions.
Indeed, when the Bordeaux Pilgrim visited Jerusalem in 333 C.E., he looked east from an area in front of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (then in its final stages of being built) and said he saw this Praetorium directly eastward with its walls (he mentioned "walls" in the plural – meaning the southern and western walls) firmly entrenched in the bottom of the Tyropoeon Valley. This central valley of Jerusalem (the Valley of the Cheesemakers) separated the eastern mountain ridge of the city (the original Mount Zion of the Bible) from the larger and more extensive western ridge.
What the Bordeaux Pilgrim provided in his writing is a perfect description of what we call today the Haram esh-Sharif. It is the remains of Fort Antonia. This Herodian structure housed the Tenth Legion left by Titus after the Roman/Jewish War of 66 to 73 C.E. The Tenth Legion continued its presence within its walls for over 200 years — until the Legion left for Ailat on the Red Sea in 289 C.E. The Haram esh-Sharif (Fort Antonia) is the only remaining part of the Jerusalem that existed in the period of Herod and Jesus. And the present Jewish authorities have mistakenly accepted its Western Wall as being the wall of Herod’s Temple. They are wrong! It is actually the Western Wall of Fort Antonia.
But how did the present "Wailing Wall" get erroneously selected by the Jewish authorities as a holy place for the Jews? As I have abundantly shown in my new book "The Temples that Jerusalem Forgot" and in my supplemental articles on the ASK Web Site, the Jewish authorities in and around Jerusalem from 70 C.E. until 1077 C.E. (for over a thousand years) only showed their religious interest for the location of the Temple at the area positioned over and around the Gihon Spring. This was at least 1000 feet south of what later became known as the Dome of the Rock. This is the exact area that the Genizah documents from Egypt show the Jewish authorities wished to live (to be near their Temple) in the time of Omar, the Second Caliph (638 C.E.). The Jewish records show (mentioned in my book and supplemental articles) that it is without doubt the southeastern ridge of Jerusalem that contained the Temples of Solomon, Zerubbabel and that of Herod.
Mackey’s comment: What ‘Temple of Herod’?
Dr. Martin concludes further on:
…..
At any rate, I have shown with an abundance of historical and biblical evidences that the original Temples of God were positioned over and around the Gihon Spring in the southeastern part of Jerusalem. The evidence is so strong that one wonders how such an obvious fact could be so hidden from the attention of the world for so long? Perhaps we all ought to read the whole of Isaiah 29 once again. The answer why the site of the Temples has been hidden is no doubt found in that chapter 29 of Isaiah.
In conclusion, the acceptance of the present "Wailing Wall" by the Jewish authorities as a wall of Herod’s Temple was inspired by false visions and dreams and so-called miraculous events that turned a former Christian holy site into the prime Jewish spot for divine veneration. That spot was NOT discovered by using historical and biblical facts. The present "Wailing Wall" is a modern invention (devised about 350 years ago) and Jewish scholars know this to be a certain fact. That "Wailing Wall" is actually the Western Wall of Fort Antonia. The true Temple was located over the Gihon Spring on the southeast ridge of Jerusalem. There can be no doubt of this fact. It is time for all people to abandon these false religious sites.
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