Because of our sins we were exiled from our country and banished from our land. We cannot go up as pilgrims to worship Thee, to perform our duties in Thy chosen house, the great and Holy Temple which was called by Thy name, on account of the hand that was let loose on Thy sanctuary. May it be Thy will, Lord our God and God of our fathers, merciful King, in Thy abundant love again to have mercy on us and on Thy sanctuary; rebuild it speedily and magnify its glory. (The Jewish Prayer Book)
See Fig. 1 View of the Temple Mount looking towards the southeast.
Under the level pavement at the top left of the photo are vaulted chambers known as "Solomon's Stables," traditionally said to date from Herod's enlargement of the Mount. To the right, at the top, is the gray dome of Al Aqsa Mosque. The far right hand edge of the photo shows the Western Wall (the Kotel), the Jewish prayer area. The Dome of the Rock is especially beautiful because of the recent addition of new gold leaf to the anodized aluminum dome. The traditional location of the First and Second Temples lies in the immediate vicinity of the Dome of the Rock. The proposed northern site for the Temples is just to the left at the stairs in the bottom left of the photo. The southern site for the Temples lies midway between the Dome of the Rock and Al Aqsa mosque, under an Islamic ablution fountain known as El Kas. The level of the bedrock of Mount Moriah outcrops within the Dome of the Rock and is just beneath the paving stones of the surrounding platform. However, to the south the bedrock drops steeply towards the City of David and the junction of Hinnom and Kidron Valleys.
When Solomon had ended his prayer, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple. And the priests could not enter the house of the LORD, because the glory of the LORD filled the LORD's house. When all the children of Israel saw the fire come down and the glory of the LORD upon the temple, they bowed down with their faces to the earth on the pavement, and worshiped and gave thanks to the LORD, saying, "For he is good, for his steadfast love endures for ever." (2 Chronicles 7:1-3)
The long history of the First and Second Temples is detailed both in
the Bible and in many extra-biblical sources. For more details on the history
of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount see the separate historical essays listed
on the main menu. See Fig. 3 Map of the Temple Mount Today
See Fig. 4 Aerial Photo of the Temple Mount Today
See Fig. 5 Traditional Site of the Temples
See Fig. 6 The Northern Placement of the Temples
See Fig. 7 Topographic Map of Jerusalem (Contour interval 10 meters)
Jerome's commentary on Isaiah mentions an equestrian statue of the Emperor
Hadrian being placed directly over the site of the Holy of the Holies. If
the Baalbek architecture is the correct model, this would place the Holy
of the Holies somewhere beneath the present El Kas foundation. Which Conjecture is Correct?
Both ancient Jewish Temples are of interest to Christians as well as to
Jews. The Second Temple was modest in size and furnishing until Herod the
Great began his grand remodeling plans which continued for 40 years. It
was in this enlarged and expanded Second Jewish Temple and its grand courts
where the naming and circumcision of Jesus took place (Luke 2:21-39). Later,
Jesus astonished the religious leaders with his understanding and insight
as a twelve-year-old boy (Luke 2:41-50). On two separate occasions Jesus
entered and cleansed the temple by throwing out the money changers and commercial
vendors from the courts (John 2:12-25; Matthew 21:23-26).
In one of his final discussions with his disciples (Matthew 24), Jesus predicted
the destruction of the Second Temple. It was in fact leveled to the ground
on the 9th day of the month of Av in 70 C.E. The temple was thoroughly razed
and the site has been so extensively modified during the late Roman, Moslem
and Crusader eras that considerable doubt exists as to where the temples
actually stood.
Where did the Temple stand?
Among the numerous controversies about the Temple is the precise location
of the original. There are three primary conjectures under active discussion
in recent years. These three areas of interest on the Temple Mount have
been the focus of intense investigation, much debate and discussion, and
growing controversy. Behind many of these discussions lie serious plans
by a number of Orthodox Jewish groups for the building of a Third Jewish
Temple on the site when political conditions will permit this.
The primary areas on the Temple Mount which are seriously discussed in regard
to the actual location of the First and Second Jewish Temples are:
The Traditional Site
The traditional site of the Temple is said to lie beneath or very near to
the Moslem shrine known as the Dome of the Rock. According to certain historical accounts the Dome built by the
Moslems to overlay the location of the original Jewish Temple(s). Most rabbis
in Israel today therefore associate the original Temple location with this site. Dr.
Leen Ritmeyer has determined the original 500 cubit square bondaries of
the original Temple Mount site in recent years.
Recent journal articles still strongly support this view. (1)
Former Jerusalem District archaeologist Dr. Dan Bahat also vigorously defends
the traditional location, drawing on his years of experience and study
of the entire city and its history. His lectures on the subject are thorough,
convincing and captivating. However, so also are the alternative theories
currently proposed!
The Northern Conjecture
Based on a number of topological and archeological considerations, research
by Dr. Asher Kaufman over the past two decades has resulted in serious consideration
being given to a site 330 feet to the north of the Dome of the Rock.
The Mt. Moriah bedrock outcrops within the Dome of Rock, as is well known.
Although the bedrock elevation drops sharply to the south in the direction
of the City of David, the level of the bedrock is just beneath the paving
stones for over 100 meters to the north of the Dome of the Rock shrine.
One particular level outcropping of this bedrock lies under a small Islamic
shrine known as "The Dome of the Tablets" or "The Dome of
the Spirits," to the Arabs. Both names suggest an association with
the Jewish Temples. It is under this small, unimpressive canopy supported
by pillars that Dr. Kaufman locates the Temple site. (2)
Many people who have been following these developments may not yet be aware
of a third view, which might well be called "the southern Conjecture."
Since this model is less well known, it will be more fully described here
and on these web pages. This view has been championed in the past five years
by Tuvia Sagiv, a prominent Israeli architect.
The Southern Conjecture
There are a number of problems with each of the previously mentioned locations.
To fully appreciate some of the difficulties, it is necessary to visualize
the topography of the Temple Mount area.
The bedrock rises when going northward from the base of the City of David
to highest ground north of the Temple Mount area. (This is obscured on site
since the Temple Mount Platform itself is a large flat area surrounded by
retaining wall.) The southern end of the Platform is actually built up on
tall underground pillars and arches. North is at the top of the map. The Mount of Olives is on the
far right, Mount Zion on the left. Mount Moriah rises as a long ridge at
the south end of the City of David and continues on past the present Temple
Mount, and reaches its highest point outside the northern walls of the Old
City, at the top of the map.
To the east of the Temple Mount lies the Kidron Valley, and the Mount of
Olives. To the south, the City of David and the Hinnom Valley. To the west,
the famed Western Wall (called in earlier times the "Wailing Wall").
To the north of the Temple site was the Roman military Antonia Fortress,
and then, further, the high ground outside the city walls, which many believe
was the site of Golgotha. The bedrock of Mt. Moriah continues to rise to
the north - outcroppings in the northern wall reveal road cuts that have
been made in the bedrock at the north end of the Old City outside the Damascus
Gate and along the main road to the east. The crest of Mt. Moriah is just
above the present Garden Tomb.
Critical Issues in Locating the Temple Site:
When one compiles all the known factors into a three-dimensional computer
model of the Temple Mount area, several problems emerge:
1. Where was the Antonia Fortress?
Ancient Jerusalem was protected on the east, south, and west by valleys.
The Antonia Fortress was located to the north to protect the weaker north
side of the city. (In fact, it was from the north that Titus Vespasian breached
the walls in his famous attack in 70 C.E.)
According to ancient sources, the fortress was on a hill about 25 meters
high. The current El Omriah school building is on a rock only 5 meters high.
From many stratographic and other considerations it is doubted by some experts
that his was the actual location of the Antonia Fortress. Tuvia Sagiv's
papers discuss the critical issue of the actual location of the Fortress
Antonia, which he believes was well to the south, perhaps at the location
of the Dome of the Rock.
2. The Location of the ancient North Moat (the Fosse)
Traditional renderings show a deep, filled-in fosse (moat), north of
the Temple Mount, lying south of the Antonia Fortress, between the fortress
and the Temple Mount.
According to ancient sources, however, the Antonia Fortress and the Temple
Mount were adjacent to each other. The moat should be to the north of the
Tower for protection, placing the Antonia about where the Dome of the Rock
stands today! Asher Kaufman's location of the Temples places the moat immediately
to the north of the spot where the Temples stood. In fact, Dan Bahat jokes
that Kaufman's temple would "fall into the moat!"
3. The Hulda Gates
The Hulda Gates were the primary access to the Temple area from the
south. According to the Mishna, the difference in heights between the Hulda
Gates and the Holy of the Holies was approximately 10 meters, with about
39 m between the entrance to the Temple mount and the level of the Temple
itself. The traditional Dome of the Rock proposals require 20 meters and
80 m separations.
The current assumptions regarding Hulda Gate tunnels are not mentioned in
the ancient sources. The discrepancies suggest a lower, and therefore, more
southerly, location. Tuvia Sagiv in his essays discusses the problem of
the southern Gates and their elevation with respect to the Temples.
4. The View from the North
Josephus Flavius describes the fact that the Bizita Hill (Golgotha?)
was located north of the Temple Mount and obscured the view of the Temple
from the north.
If the Temple stood at the Dome of the Rock, it would be visible from as
far away as the town of Ramallah. In order to obscure the view from the
north, it would have to be at a lower level, that is, to the south.
5. King Herod Agrippa's View of the Temple from the West
Josephus, in The Jewish Wars, describes the fact that King Herod
Agrippa could look out from his Hasmonean Palace (at or near the present
Citadel at the Jaffa Gate), and view the sacrifices at the Azarah, at the
altar of the Second Temple. This incensed the Jews, who then built a wall
extending the height of the western rear wall of the Temple proper in order
to block the view. Roman soldiers, patrolling the western threshold - thus
unable to view the Azarah - demanded that the wall be demolished. The Jews
objected, and even obtained the consent of Emperor Nero to leave the wall
in place.
If the Temple were at the location of the Dome of the Rock, it would have
required a Palace tower height of 75 meters to view into the Azarah. There
never was a building of such a height in Jerusalem. This all implies a lower,
more southern location of the Temple.
6. The Jerusalem Water Aqueduct from the Judean Hills
The water canals that supplied Jerusalem began in the area of the Hebron
mountains, passed through the Solomon's Pools near Bethlehem, and flowed
to Jerusalem. The lowest canal reached the Temple Mount through the Jewish
Quarter and the Wilson Bridge. According to the ancient authorities, the
water conduit supplied water to the High Priests' mikveh (ritual bath) located
above the Water Gate, and it also supplied water for the rinsing of the
blood off the Azarah. Portions of this aqueduct are plainly visible to this
day.
"Living water," that is, fresh, flowing water, not water from a
cistern, was required for the ritual bath (mikveh) used by the temple priests,
and for the washings of the temple in connection with the sacrifices.
A survey of the level of the aqueduct reveals that if the Temple had been
located at the same elevation as the present Dome of the Rock shrine, the
aqueduct would be over 20 meters too low to serve either the Azarah or the
Water Gate. From this survey, it appears that the Temple must have been
20 meters lower, and, thus, to the south.
7. Electronic Measurements
Preliminary ground penetrating radar probes by Tuvia Sagiv, while not
conclusive, suggest vaults, perhaps "kippim" (rabbinical arches),
and other structures which one would expect below the Temple, to the south.
The northern sites are virtually solid rock.
More recently Sagiv has conducted thermal-infrared scanning of the walls
and the platform. During the day the sun heats the Temple Mount uniformly,
but at night the cooling (by conduction and radiation) is not uniform, thus
revealing subsurface anomalies. In the images shown below "hotter"
areas are bright indicating massive foundations beneath the paving stones.
The radar and IR research is discussed in Sagiv's third paper, Penetrating
Insights Into the Temple Mount.
Nighttime Thermal Infrared Imagery of the Dome of the RockThese black-and-white images taken from the original false-color
IR scanner images clearly reveal a pentagonal ancient foundation under the
Dome. These results are discussed by Tuvia Sagiv in his papers.
8. Research into Later Roman Temple Architecture
After the Bar Kochba revolt in 132 C.E., the Romans leveled the entire
city of Jerusalem and a built a Roman city, Aelia Capitolina, on the ruins.
To obliterate any Jewish presence on the Temple Mount, they built a temple
to Jupiter on the site.
A similar temple, built by the same builder at about the same time, has
been discovered at Baalbek, Lebanon.
The Roman architectural practices of the time featured a rectangular basilica,
and a polygon structure opposite a courtyard. When this architecture is
overlaid on the Temple Mount, it matches the Al Aqsa Mosque and the Dome
of the Rock exactly.
This unique architectural similarity suggests that the Roman Temple to Jupiter
may have been on this very site, converted for Christian purposes in the
4th Century, and then served as the foundation for the present Moslem structures,
the Al Aqsa Mosque an the Dome of the Rock, which were built in the 7th
Century.
The Roman Temple at Baalbek, Lebanon
When a map of the Baalbek Temple is overlaid on the present structures of
the Temple Mount a striking similarity can be seen:
Baalbek Temple plan overlaid on the Temple Mount
In Israel it is often said that if you have two Jews you will have three
opinions! Only time will tell which of the above views is correct. These
conjectures will continue to be debated until Israel is able to conduct
a thorough archaeological investigation beneath the Temple Mount itself.
(3)
Unfortunately, the Temple Mount presently remains under the supervision
of the Waqf, the Supreme Moslem Council, and they have prevented any systematic
archeological studies. In fact, the Waqf has gotten increasingly resistive
to investigations of any kind on the Platform - which they consider to be
a huge outdoor mosque sacred to Islam.
Who knows what events developing in the history of Jerusalem will one day
change the status quo, allowing scientific investigation of the entire Temple
Mount, below ground as well as above? Then, according to the hopes and dreams
of devout Jews for centuries, a Third Temple can be built on the foundations
of the First and Second Temples and temple worship according to the Torah
restored.
If Tuvia Sagiv is correct, the Temple site lies due east of the Western
Wall,
under the clump of trees between the Dome of the Rock and Al Aqsa Mosque.
Addendum: Personal Notes
For more than twenty years one of us (Dolphin) has maintained an active
interest in archaeology in Israel, and especially in the Temple Mount in
Jerusalem.
Dr. Asher Kaufman, retired Professor of Physics at the Racah Institute of
Physics of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and I began corresponding
in the early '80's and have been good friends ever since.
I have followed with great interest Asher's hypothesis that the First and
Second Temples were located 110 meters north of the Dome Rock on the Mount.
The area in question would put the Holy of Holies and the Foundation Stone
under a small Islamic structure known as the Dome of the Tablets or the
Dome of the Spirits. Exposed bedrock outcrops beneath this small structure.
Dr. Dan Bahat, former District Archaeologist for Jerusalem, and now Professor
at Bar Ilan University, is also a good friend. His arguments, vast knowledge,
and experience convince him that the First and Second Temples are located
in the immediate vicinity of the Moslem Dome of the Rock. His case is also
a persuasive one. Dr. Leen Ritmeyer's PhD thesis involved his research delineating
the original 500 cubit square Temple Mount.
Several years ago my good friend (since 1982), Stanley Goldfoot in Jerusalem
introduced me to Tuvia Sagiv, a talented and enterprising Tel Aviv architect.
Tuvia has spent hundreds of hours and many thousands of dollars of his own
money researching the temple locations and has now built a strong and convincing
case that the Temples were immediately east of the present Western Wall,
with the Holy of Holies probably located under the El Kas Fountain. This
fountain lies approximately midway between the Dome of the Rock and Al Aqsa
Mosque.
The bedrock drops rapidly just south of the Dome of the Rock. If Tuvia's
model is correct, the Temples would be lower that the outcropping bedrock
under the Dome of the Rock. In fact, Tuvia's recent research suggests the
Dome site may have been originally a Canaanite High Place with tombs beneath,
and later (until the reforms of Josiah) the location of an Ashoreh pillar.
For further information on the political, religious and archaeological aspects
of the Temple Mount in our time, we recommend the briefing package The
Coming Temple by Chuck Missler, available from Koinonia
House. This briefing package contains two audio cassette tapes and a 22 page set
of notes with 30 diagrams.
Each year for four years (1992-1995) Chuck Missler and Lambert Dolphin co-hosted
an annual International Conference on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem in conjunction
with Chuck Missler's tour group visit to Israel. Video and audio tapes of
speakers at these outstanding meetings are also available from Koinonia
House and are highly recommended.
For further information on ground penetrating radar and other modern geophysical
methods useful in archaeology see Lambert
Dolphin's Resource Files.
Nancy DelGrande, a physicist at Lawrence Livermore Labs, has been for many
years the principal advisor to Tuvia Sagiv and others in Israel, concerning
the science of Thermal Infra-Red Imaging. An excellent recent paper showing
the potential of this sensing technique is to be found at
http://www.llnl.gov/IPandC/opportunities93/08-NDE/NDE_Overview.shtml
Endnotes:
1. Dr. Leen Ritmeyer, Biblical Archeological
Review, March/April, 1992. Email to Dr. Leen Ritmeyer (ritmeyer@dial.pipex.com).
2. Dr. Asher Selig Kaufman, Biblical Archeological
Review, March/April 1983; Tractate Middot, Har Yearíeh Press,
Jerusalem, 1991.
3. Audio tapes featuring speakers at recent Temple
Mount Conferences in Jerusalem defending all three proposed locations for
the Temples may be obtained from Koinonia
House, PO Box D, Coeur d'alene, Idaho 83816-0347.
