The Temple Mount

by Joseph Hunting

There is no more holy and revered spot on this planet for Jewish people than the Temple Mount. It is located on what was "one of the mountains of Moriah" where Abraham was commanded to offer Isaac as a sacrifice.

Mount Moriah is located just to the north of the Ophel ridge which was in all probability the Mount Zion of David's day. Indeed, it was on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite, located on Mount Moriah, that David sacrificed an offering to God after he had sinned by numbering the people.

It was on Mount Moriah that Solomon built the magnificent Temple wherein was the Holy of Holies into which only the High Priest could enter once a year on the Day of Atonement, and then only with blood of the sacrifice to sprinkle on the Mercy Seat. And it was on the same spot that Zerubbabel built the second Temple after the Babylonian captivity.

To Jewish people and countless Bible-believing Gentiles, as well as Muslims, the Temple Mount has more than special significance. Today, it is a tight-rope of delicate political balance.

It is off-limits to Jews, and the orthodox believe they may unwittingly tread upon the site of the Holy of Holies, thereby desecrating that once-awesome spot. Even Christians are not permitted to pray there, at least publicly. And dominating the whole scene is the Dome of the Rock, the third most holy Moslem shrine.

Both the Old and New Testaments speak of a temple that will be built again on Mount Moriah. (Ezekiel 41; and II Thessalonians 2). The present religious and political leaders may not feel it is expedient for the prophesied Temple to be built at the present time. However, recent archaeological research which locates the Temple site north of the Dome of the Rock may well be one of the most significant discoveries of our time.

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