Russian President Putin and the Temple Mount

Russian President Putin has visited Israel on a number of occasions.  In 2012, he visited the Western Wall while being accompanied by Israeli and Russian security personal.  Before departing the area, Putin stopped to converse with an ultra-Orthodox Jewish immigrant who had shouted out to the president earlier, “Welcome President Putin.”  The two men talked about the Wall and the Temple build by King Solomon.  Before departing, Putin is to have said, “That is why I came here to pray that the Temple will be rebuilt.”  They shook hands and Putin said good-bye.  I found a video of the conversation.  It is in Russian and would love it if someone could verify that that is what President Putin said.     

What if Ishmael and Isaac were alive today, would they celebrate the Eid al-Adha (Festival of Sacrifice)?

What if Ishmael and Isaac were alive today, would they celebrate the Eid al-Adha (Festival of Sacrifice) together on the Temple Mount?  If their descendants are any indication, the answer is problematic.  As it now stands, the Jews are not allowed on the Temple Mount during the festival.  This year as in the past the Temple Mount will be closed to Jews and visitors from August 21-23 to prevent any conflict.  In fact, Jews are not even allowed to pray on the mount. 

The Festival of Sacrifice is the Islamic holiday that commemorates Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son.  An account of Abraham offering up his son is described in the Quran (Surah 37:101-112).  The son is not named in verses 101-111, though Isaac is referred to later in verses 112-113.  This has not prevented Moslem interpretations to identify the son as Ishmael.  In contrast, the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures identify the son whom Abraham was commanded to sacrifice as Isaac (Gen 22:1-19; Heb 11:17-19).  There have been attempts to reconcile the two accounts.  For example, Reuven Firestone’s comparative study looks at Genesis 22 in light of Sura 37 and attempts to discover a possible ancient oral tradition that might have existed before the written texts of Genesis and Quran.   Rabbi Shlomo Riskin wrestles with the two accounts and argues that Abraham’s poor treatment of Ishmael, or what he calls the “sacrifice of Ishmael,” led to God’s testing of Abraham calling upon him to offer up the “sacrifice of Isaac.”  In the end both the death of Ishmael and Isaac were averted through the intervention of an angel and both sons were given blessings (Gen 21:8-21; 22:9-19). 

Although the Quran does not give the location of the event, Genesis identifies it with the land of Moriah (22:2).  Mount Moriah would later become the location were Solomon built the First Temple; it was the location of the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite where David bought the site and built an altar calling upon the LORD who answered with fire from heaven (2 Chron 3:1; 1 Chron 21:18-27).  Mount Moriah was the location of the Second Jewish Temple, which was destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE.  Presently, the Dome of the Rock is believed to be located over the place were Abraham offered his son and thus on the location were the Jewish temples once stood.

The Festival of Sacrifice is celebrated throughout the world.  It usually involves sacrificing an animal and dividing it in three parts with one part given to the poor and needy, another portion given to friends, neighbors, and relatives, and the third part shared with the family.  An animal is sacrificed in public in many locations allowing blood to flow in the open streets.  In Minneapolis, Minnesota, the Muslim community celebrated the Festival of Sacrifice at U.S. Bank Stadium, which included speeches and prayers, but undertook no sacrificing of animals. 

Israeli Supreme Court to Consider Jewish Right to Pray on Temple Mount

Civil rights group demands end to restrictions aimed at Jewish visitors to Temple Mount. Court gives state 60 days to respond.

General Allenby

It is very evident that already God is overruling events with a view to this restoration. The marvelous deliverance of Jerusalem in December, 1917, when the Turkish flag was hauled down after practically 1260 years of misrule and oppression, and the banners of the Entente Allies raised in its place, was preparing the way for this very thing. It was indeed a most important event, fraught with greater meaning than millions dreamed of, when General Allenby received from the Turkish Governor of Jerusalem the surrender of the Holy City. And may I draw your attention to something that is not generally known, but which, I think, adds importance to the providential character of this surrender? General Allenby, to whom God would give the victory over the Turkish Army, is himself a firm believer in the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ; and this event, may we not say, was in view of the restoration of Israel to the land, and the land to Israel, of which we have been speaking. How striking it was for such an one to enter the city and take possession of it, not only in the name of the Allied Powers, but verily in the name of the Lord Himself! On the night before Jerusalem’s surrender, a prayer-meeting was held, I have been told, in General Allenby’s own marquee, and the burden of his petition was that on the following day the city might be taken without a bombardment, as he shrank from being obliged to destroy things and places so sacred both to Christian and to Jew. To him it would have seemed a most unhappy necessity to bombard at all the city where Jesus lived and died. And his prayer was answered, for Jerusalem was surrendered the next day without firing a shot; and as this Christian officer entered the city on foot, bareheaded, followed by his staff in like manner, Arab, Jew and Christian alike recognized that the hour had struck when God was opening the way for the fulfilment of many prophecies of His own Word.

H.A. Ironside

The Monolith and the Temple Mount

This last summer when I visited Jerusalem, I explored for the first time the Western Wall Tunnel.  Although most people are familiar with the portion of the wall where Jews presently pray, the largest portion of the wall is now underground.  I took a tour of the tunnel and discovered several surprises: 1) there is a huge monolith stone, sometimes called the Western Stone, which is nearly twice the height of a person and wider than a two car garage; it is over 500 tons and is the largest stone discovered in the Temple Mount.  The upper section has what looks like a section broken off, which might have been a result of stones being thrown off of the Temple Mount when the Romans destroyed the area in 70 CE; 2) some of the stones in plain view have been cut and dressed in a way that they fit together nearly perfectly; 3) there are sections of the wall where women are allowed to pray; 4) there is a quarry nearby where stones were honed out  for the Temple Mount and it looks as though the stones where being carved out even until the area was destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE; and 5) there are sections of the tunnel that were simply amazing to walk through and there were areas that were confined.   

The Monolith or Western Stone

Closeup: the stones above the broken section of the Monolith were added later by the Muslims around 1400 CE.

Closeup of precision joints of the stones

Women praying at the Western Wall near the Monolith

Women praying at another section of the Western Wall

A quarry near the Western Wall

A majestic section of the tunnel of the Western Wall

Another section of the Western Wall Tunnel 

Revival of a Nation - Video on 2000 Years of Jewish History in Ten Minutes

Revival of a Nation

The United States and Israel are keeping an eye on Iranian navel activity in the Persian Gulf and Red Sea.

The United States is carefully watching an Iranian naval exercise that will soon take place in the Persian Gulf in the next couple of days.  Some speculate that the Iranian drills could attempt to demonstrate its ability to shut down the Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf, which is one of the important pathways for worldwide energy supplies, which is situated above the north east corner of the Arabian Peninsula.   Prime Minister Netanyahu warned that if Iran attempts to close the Bab al-Manab Strait at the mouth of the Red Sea near Yemen, which is located under the southeast corner of the Arabian Peninsula, Israel will help to reopen it. 

Is it not better to find the path to peace, joy, love, and purity than for the nations to go to war? 

uoy htiw si יהוה siht od nac uoy מררימ

Israel strikes ISIS in Golan Heights, Iranian Forces withdraw from area, Russia steps into Golan Heights with UN Peacekeepers.

An Israeli air strike killed a group of suspected ISIS militants who they claim crossed an Israeli line into the Golan Heights.  In other developments, Russia has sent its military police into the Golan Heights to aid United Nations’ peacekeepers between Syria and Israel.  The peacekeepers had to evacuate the area in 2012 because of safety concerns as a result of the Syrian war.  Russia also has claimed that Iranian Forces have withdrawn to a distance of 53 miles from the Golan Heights, though Israel considers the withdraw not far enough.