He Wept Over The City
Luke 19:41-44
When He approached Jerusalem, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you, and surround you and hem you in on every side, and they will level you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.
Jesus walked towards Jerusalem and towards His death in what is described as His triumphal entry. His route would have taken Him from Bethany to the Temple mount, down a long slope adjacent to the Mount of Olives. When Jesus saw the holy city, Luke tells us that He wept. Jesus was the greatest of prophets and knew the immediate future of Jerusalem, which He would describe in great detail in Luke chapter 21. The immediate future of Jerusalem was dark and so was His own personal future. Jesus would be rejected, crucified and within a generation, Jerusalem and the Temple would be destroyed. The key phrase in this passage is when He tells the people of Jerusalem, waiting for Him to lead them to a political victory that none would come and in fact, the Jewish people did not recognize the time of their visitation.
Jerusalem: The Ideal City Of The Bible
Daniel J. Elazar
The function of cities is to enable humans to better achieve peace, harmony, prosperity, and happiness. How those functions should be handled depends upon what kind of city is involved. For this we may turn to the Bible for insight and guidance.
As in all things, however, the Bible is realistic about cities and does not romanticize them. Its discussion of the origins of the city — indeed, of the origins of civilization — realistically points to one of the tragic dimensions of human society. According to the Bible, found beginning in Genesis 4, Cain, the first murderer, is also the founder of the first city . That city does put an end to his wandering and provides him with protection against those who would seek to punish him further — beyond God’s intentions — for his deed. This squares with the etymology of the Hebrew word for city, ir, which apparently comes from ur, the Semitic word for tower, a defensive point.
The city, then, is a product of necessity. It is also the mother of invention since it is the Cain family which accounts for most of the world’s inventions, from military weaponry to musical instruments, clearly conveying the understanding that it is precisely the same impulses that bringhumans to murder and engage in similar undesirable behavior that also bring them to the achievements that make civilization possible.
The Place Of Some Of His Greatest Statements
Tabernacles
Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water. But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive for the Spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified.
Passover
And when He had taken some bread and given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, This is My body which is given for you do this in remembrance of Me. And in the same way, He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood.
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Jerusalems Significance To Abraham
500 years later, all of Israel knew of, and dreamed of, this land promised to their forefather, Abraham. When God delivered Israel from Egypt, they were on their way to live in this land of promise. Soon Moses began speaking about this specific and unique location that God had promised to bring them to.
You will bring them and plant them in the mountain of Your inheritance, The place, O Lord, which You have made for Your dwelling, The sanctuary, O Lord, which Your hands have established. Exodus 15:17
This was their first clue. God was bringing them to the mountain of His inheritance and the place where He dwells. Throughout the time in the desert, Moses kept speaking of this unique location, what it would be like and what God wanted them to do there. It became known simply as the place where God was taking them.
The Carta Jerusalem Atlas 3rd Ed
Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7
The Carta Jerusalem Atlas is a luxuriously-enlarged atlas which clearly portrays the history of Jerusalem through the ages. This comprehensive picture of the long history of one of the most contested cities in the world will prove of value to scholars, students and laymen alike, and especially for those whom the Holy City has special meaning.
The purpose of an atlas is to present as credibly as possible the main events and situations in graphic and cartographic form. This atlas does just that. The history of Jerusalem according to its various periods is portrayed in as concise and popular a manner as possible while ensuring that it is scientifically exact.
A detailed map of the Old City today concludes the survey of Jerusalem through the ages.
Dan Bahat is an Israeli archaeologist especially known for his excavations in Jerusalem, particularly at the Western Wall tunnels.
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Jerusalem In The Plan Of God
Many prophecies have been pronounced over Jerusalem. Some have already been fulfilled, but others are yet to be.
For example, in Jeremiah 3:17 God promises that the nations will gather to worship Him in Jerusalem At that time they will call Jerusalem TheThrone of the Lord, and all nations will gather in Jerusalem to honor the name of the LORD.
Despite this glorious future, or perhaps because of it, Jerusalem is in a continuous battle.
We learn in Zechariah 12 that God intends to make Jerusalem a cup of reeling for the surrounding nations and a heavy immovable rock for the nations that gather against her . This will culminate in the war of Gog and Magog.
Ezekiel 38:4 says that God would put hooks in the mouth of Gog, the leader of a coalition of nations who will draw them all into war against Israel. Of course, we are already seeing signs of this as the international community continues to come against Israel, and more specifically Jerusalem.
The Western Wall Plaza in the Old City of Jerusalem.
On April 4, 1950, just two years after Israel became a nation, the UNs General Assembly passed the Statute of the City of Jerusalem, which establishes guidelines and regulations for ruling Jerusalem as an international regime.
If this United Nations resolution were to be enforced, it would be a game changer.
However, in 1980, the Israeli Knesset passed the Jerusalem Law, declaring Jerusalem as the eternal, undivided capital of Israel.
Jerusalem In The Heart Of God
The most decisive statements regarding the importance of Jerusalem are found in the Bible, which states that Jerusalem is the City of God and the City of the Great King .
Zechariah 3:2 says that the Lord has chosen Jerusalem. He has chosen to dwell on Mount Zion forever, according to Psalms 68:16 and 132:1314. It is His resting place.
Because He claims this mountain as His own, God is very jealous for Jerusalem. He tells us: I will return to Jerusalem with mercy, and there My house will be rebuilt.
Though men of ancient days have placed their own nations at the center of their world maps, Ezekiel 5:5 and 38:12 says Jerusalem is the center of the nations and the earth. No other city can claim this Divine placement in the eyes of God.
It seems natural that since God will reign from Jerusalem, the enemy will do whatever he can to hold on to whatever power he has and move against Gods plan for salvation.
But naturally speaking, Jerusalem has nothing really to recommend itself. It has no resources of its own, and its 27 miles from the coast, not an ideal location for a nations capital.
Nevertheless, it stands tall in its calling to be a light to the nations as a shining city on a hill.
Ultra-Orthodox Jews walk beside the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem near the Jaffa Gate.
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The Destruction Of Jerusalem In 132 Ad
There was another destruction of the city in 132 AD after the Bar Kochba revolt, which was the final nail in the coffin of the Jewish state that had existed for 1,000 years. At this point the Romans turned Jerusalem into a Gentile city and gave it a new name, Aelia Capitolina.
Aelia is derived from the emperors family name , and Capitolina refers to the cult of the Capitoline Triad .
The present walls of the Old City were built by the Ottomans in the 16th century, but they basically follow the course of the Roman walls.
The Coming New Jerusalem Of Prophecy
the city of Light, the truly holy city of peace
The Apostle John was permitted a vision into the future to see the promised New Jerusalem. He recorded these words
It is interesting to note that the Holy of Holies constructed by King Solomon in the Temple of Jerusalem was also cubic in shape20 cubits in length, width and heightoverlaid with pure gold.
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Jerusalem In The Jewish Faith
Jerusalem has been central to the Jewish faith for some 3,000 years. The city is a reflection of the Jewish Peoples past, present, and future, which is understood through the lens of Bible prophecy.
Whether the Jewish People have been in Israel or in exile, Jerusalem has remained the heart of the Jewish People. The city is so central to Judaism that Jews pray in the direction of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount.
On the Ninth of Av, the anniversary of the destruction of the First and Second Temples, they recite, If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand whither.
Jerusalem and the Temple Mount are remembered even during a Jewish wedding ceremony when a glass is broken as a reminder of the destruction of the Holy Temple.
In the eternal hope of returning to Jerusalem from their exile in the nations, both the Passover Seder and the Yom Kippur liturgy end with Next Year in Jerusalem.
And speaking of holidays, the Bible states that the Jewish People were to come to Jerusalem three times a year: Pesach , Shavuot , and Sukkot .
Sukkot at the Western Wall
Demolished Because Of Its Sins
After the disruption of the kingdom on the accession to the throne of Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, Jerusalem became the capital of the kingdom of the two tribes. It was subsequently often taken and retaken by the Egyptians, the Assyrians, and by the kings of Israel , till finally, for the abounding iniquities of the nation, after a siege of 3 years, it was taken and utterly destroyed, its walls demolished to the ground, and its temple and palaces consumed by fire, by Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon , B.C. 588.
The Holy City is named in a monumental record about Sennacherib’s attack in 702 B.C. The camp of the Assyrians was still shown in about 70 A.D., on the flat ground to the northwest, included in the new quarter of the city.
The desolation of the city and the land was completed by the retreat of the principal Jews into Egypt , and by the final carrying captive into Babylon of all that still remained in the land , so that it was left without an inhabitant . Compare the predictions, Deuteronomy 28 Leviticus 26:14-39.
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Sin Enters The Garden Temple
Eden is where God dwells, and the biblical record is clear that the Creator purposes that man dwell with Him, work alongside Him for all of eternity, and obey and enjoy Him forever as we work to bring Him glory. Tragically, sin enters into the world through the rebellion of Adam and leaves no part of Gods good world untouched.
Rather than exalting the Maker as He deserves, man now turns inward in an effort to exalt himself and his own agenda as he seeks to remake the world in his own image for his own glory. Death, disease, war, brokenness, abandonment, and pain now take the place of peace, joy, love, health, and purpose.
Millennia come and go and still, the decay grows more grotesque as those of us made to dwell in Gods presence no longer even recognize the remnants of Eden, which still reside in all of us like vague memories of a fleeting dream.
Sin destroys. Sin kills. Sin shows no mercy.
Echoes From The Past: Hebrew And Cognate Inscriptions From The Biblical Period
Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7
This book was conceived and born in the classroom. It is a collection of Hebrew inscriptions from the First Commonwealth period from the kingdoms around the Jordan River. This collection of ancient texts is of value to everyone interested in the antiquities of Israel, teachers of Bible and History of Israel, Ancient Near Eastern History, Semitic Languages and Biblical Archaeology.
The inscriptions were written in Hebrew, or in languages or dialects similar to Hebrew, thus making them accessible to any reader of Hebrew.
Over 220 inscriptions. Each is illustrated by a photograph or facsimile, with transcriptions in Hebrew letters.
Shmuel Ahituv is one of the leading Bible scholars in Israel and worldwide. He made many important contributions to the study of the history of the people of Israel in biblical times and to the interpretation of biblical literature.
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Benefits Of Logos Edition
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David Brought The Ark Back To Jerusalem
David knew that the power of the nation rested with the presence and power of God, which was localized in the ark. Until David could bring the ark back to Jerusalem, the capital city was not yet sacred. So, David made it one of his first duties as king to bring the ark back to Jerusalem. Later, he would then want to build a more permanent home and Temple for the presence of God.
Now David again gathered all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand. And David arose and went with all the people who were with him to Baale-judah, to bring up from there the ark of God which is called by the Name, the very name of the Lord of hosts who is enthroned above the cherubim.
Baale-judah was another name for the Israeli city where the ark was held.
Bible expositor Chuck Swindoll comments,
Now understand, back in the days of David the central place of worship was not the believer but the tabernacle. And under Sauls weak, negligent reign, the emphasis on the tabernacle sort of drifted away. During this time a particular piece of holy furniture had gotten separated from the tabernacle. If you can believe it, the enemy had carted off the ark of the covenant.
Swindoll continues in his deposition of the biblical history,
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Jerusalem In The Muslim Tradition
Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.
Although the Dome of the Rock and the al-Aqsa Mosque are located on the Temple Mount, where Muslims have prayed since the 7th century, Jerusalem has never been particularly important to Islam.
It has never been a Muslim cultural center or a Muslim or Arab capital. In fact, during the 19 years that Jordan ruled Jerusalem , it made no attempt to make this city the capital of a Palestinian state.
Jerusalem is not mentioned in the Koran. It does speak of a night vision experienced by Mohammed in which he is transported from Mecca and carried up to heaven from the farthest Mosque while riding a white stallion.
It became a tradition to identify the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem with this dream.
Muslims also contend that the Temple Mount is the location of Eden. They call the Foundation Stone es-Sakhra and the Dome of the Rock Kubbat es-Sakhra. On the entrance to the Dome of the Rock there is an inscription in Arabic which translated means The Rock of the Temple from the Garden of Eden.
The Dome of the Rock is thought to sit on the spot where the First and Second Temples were located.
Jerusalem in the Christian Heart
For 2,000 years, Jerusalem has held special significance for Christians, which is reflected in the fact that this city is referred to over 800 times throughout the Bible.
They descend to the pools of Bethesda and Siloam where the lame and blind were healed.