The Sacred Family on the Temple Mount

This Sunday the Catholic Church celebrates the Feast of the Holy Family.  The Gospel reading is Luke 2:22-40, where the sacred family (Mary, Joseph, and Jesus) are up in Jerusalem at the temple when they are met by Simeon and Anna.  Simeon takes the child Jesus in his arms and praised God saying,

      “Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace,

according to your word;

      for my eyes have seen your salvation,

         which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,

      a light for revelation to the Gentiles

and for glory to your people Israel….”

 

Simeon also says to Mary, “this child is destined for the falling and rising of many in Israel.”  There was also a prophetess named Anna who praised God and spoke about Jesus for all those looking for “the redemption of Jerusalem” (vv. 36-38).

 

Israel, Gentiles, and Jerusalem! 

Merry Christmas O Bethlehem

 

Bethlehem, O Bethlehem, you have seen and heard so much!  O House of Bread, Merry Christmas!  I visited Bethlehem in 2018 to spend some time in the West Bank, visit its people, and become acquainted with its surroundings.  Within walking distance from the Church of the Nativity is the Holy Family Hospital of Bethlehem that is a “state-of-the-art maternity and neonatal critical care center.”  Even amidst the COVID-19 crisis, the hospital, doctors, nurses, and staff continue to provide care to mothers and their babies.  I wanted to honor that portion of the Holy Land with a few pictures of my own and a picture of a nurse with a newborn baby at the Hospital of the Holy Family in Bethlehem.      

United Arab Emirates and Bahraini delegates harassed on Temple Mount.

I came across an opinion piece entitled, “The Temple Mount should be defended for all Jews and Muslims.”  The article is a couple of weeks old but is worth mentioning.  It paints an interesting, but complex picture of the dynamics that exist in the Muslim world in the Middle East surrounding the Temple Mount.  Following the normalization of relations between Israel with Abu Dhabi and Bahrain, one would think Muslims from the latter countries would be able to visit and pray at the mount.  They are Muslim.  However, the Mufti of Jerusalem, Sheikh Mohammed Hussein's approach is “I don’t think so!”  He issued a fatwa (ruling) that banned any Arab who normalized relations with Israel from praying at Al-Aqsa.  When delegates from the United Arab Emirates and Bahraini recently visited the Temple Mount to pray they were denounced and harassed by the Waqf guards. 

When Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al-Khalifa, a representative of the monarchy of Bahraini, visited the Temple Mount he concealed his nationality for fear he would be thrown off the site.  Al-Khalifa stated, “Al-Aqsa is not just for the Palestinians.  It belongs to the entire Muslim world.  It is inconceivable that they tell someone, ‘You normalized with Israel, you won’t pray in Jerusalem.’” Please forgive my humor, but this reminds me of a Seinfeld episode: No Soup for You where an angry store owner tells his customers who infuriate him, “No soup for you!”  Those who prevent Israelis from praying on the Temple Mount also forbid other Muslims from doing so too.    

Dome of the Rock where some argue the Jewish Temple once stood.

Let Them Pray

Well, fancy that!  A day after yesterday’s post I came across an article in which the Mufti of Jerusalem, Sheikh Mohammed Hussein, is to have said “there is no place for non-Muslims” on the Al-Aqsa Mosque.  He said,

“We affirm, time and again, that the blessed al-Aqsa Mosque, with its entire area of 144 dunams [144,000 sq.m.], is Islamic and only for Muslims,” he said. “There is no place for non-Muslims in any way in this mosque, whether through schools, churches or other places of worship.” 

Of course, in the back of my mind is the sayings in the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament that God’s house is to be called a house of prayer for all peoples (Isa 56:7; Mk 11:17).  In a twist of irony, the mention of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, which here is the entire Temple Mount, does indeed measure 144,000 square meters from other accounts.  It reminded me of the Lamb and the 144,000 standing on Mount Zion from the twelve tribes of Israel (Rev 14:1-5; 7:1-8), who are joined by a great multitude from every nation, tribe, peoples, and languages (v. 9).

I was recently subbing at a school where students were playing games.  At one point they lost control and began throwing Crayola markers around.  After being told to stop and clean up, they asked an adult if they could go play in the gym.  She told them that because of their bad choices their request was denied.  In time, though, they would be able to return to the gym.

So, which is it?  Is it time to "comfort my people" and say to the nations let them pray or is time to say wait, just wait?  What seems more certain is there is a longing in the hearts of some Jews and Christians that there might be again on the Temple Mount a house of prayer for all nations.

Eastern Gate to the Temple Mount

Tribes Gate to the Temple Mount

Olive Trees on Temple Mount with Al-Aqsa Mosque in the background.

Menorah on the Temple Mount?

A group of Jewish activists attempted to reenact the lighting of the menorah on the Temple Mount earlier this week during Hanukkah as in the days of the Maccabees.  However, they were not successful.  The group has tried to place the menorah on the mount for the last several years.  This year's attempt is the closest they got, but they were stopped just outside the Tribes Gate on the northeast corner of the mount.  

In the 2nd century BCE, Antiochus Epiphanies desecrated the Second Jewish Temple and set up a sacrifice to Zeus on the altar of burnt offering.  This gave rise to the Maccabean Revolt, which fought back and captured Jerusalem and the Temple.  After their enemies were crushed, the Maccabees cleansed the temple and rededicated it.  They built a new altar of burnt offering, rebuilt the sanctuary and interior of the temple, and made new holy vessels—bringing in the lampstand, the altar of incense, and the table for the bread of presence.  They offered incense on the altar, lighted the lamps on the lampstand, placed the bread of the presence on the table, and hung up the curtains (1 Macc 4:36-51).  This was followed by a joyful celebration that lasted eight days and marked the beginning of Hanukkah, which was to be celebrated every year beginning on the twenty-fifth day of Chislev (vv 56-59).

One can only imagine, what might have happened if the group was successful this week.  Would there have been rejoicing, rejection, or rebellion?

Return to Temple Mount activists at the gate to Temple Mount (Jewish Press) 

Coronavirus and the Temple Mount

Nachman Ash, an Israeli expert on the coronavirus, says Israel has no solution for large groups of Palestinians who gather on the Temple Mount to pray.  This past Friday around 18,000 Palestinians assembled at the location.  It appears the Muslim worshipers gathered at the site without masks and reportedly as the number of Palestinians affected by the coronavirus has risen in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. 

Nachman Ash (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Menorah placed at Western Wall in Jerusalem

"As the Jewish world prepares for Hanukkah, a massive menorah was placed by the Western Wall in Jerusalem this week to celebrate the Festival of Lights" (StandWithUs).

Nine Year Old Discovers 3000 Year Old Golden Bead from Temple Mount

 

This story is a little dated, but still newsworthy!  While sifting for the Temple Mount Sifting Project, a 9-year-old discovered a unique golden bead.  It was hand made with four layers of gold balls made into a cylinder looking bead.  Binyamin Milt found the golden object while screening through earth and debris from the Temple Mount, which was removed from that location over twenty years ago and then dumped in the Kedron valley nearby.  For the past sixteen years, volunteers have been sifting through the earth and the remains removed from the mount.  Although thought to be a more modern object that was simply found during the sifting process, it is now considered much older.  Upon closer examination, consideration, and comparison with other finds has led Professor Gabriel Barkay to argue that the bead is from the First Temple Period dating back 3000 years.