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Archive for March, 2022

Where Was the Land of Moriah? The Mount of Jehovah-jireh

Posted in Tellit On The Mountain, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 29, 2022|

Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-jireh — the Lord will provide

Count the stars. From an old woodcut. Wikipedia

Most of us have heard the story of Abraham’s near sacrifice of his son Isaac — near, because it nearly happened! If you have read the book of Genesis, or the articles preceding this one, you know Abraham and his wife Sarah had a son in their old age, Isaac, the first of a vast multitude of descendants, the Hebrew nation, the Israelites. Look now toward heaven, God said to Abraham, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them, . . . so shall thy seed be. (Genesis 15:4-5)

God had promised this son years earlier, but as time drew on and Sarah did not conceive, she gave her handmaiden Hagar to Abraham as a wife. Here is what she said, Go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. (Genesis 16:2) We don’t know why she did this. Was she trying to help God fulfill his promise? Was she trying to diminish the reproach of her barrenness? We don’t know. But, we do know Hagar gave birth to a son, Ishmael.

Thirteen years later the Lord spoke to Abraham and told him that Sarah would have a son the next year. When Abraham voiced some concern for Ishmael at this point, God was quick to tell him what he had already promised Hagar, that he would make Ishmael fruitful, and . . . multiply him exceedingly; . . . and . . . make him a great nation. (Genesis 17:20)

God further stated: But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year. Though long in coming, this was God’s plan. May we be patient to wait for his plan. There had been conflict between Hagar and Sarah already, and now Ishmael is causing distress in the family. In Galatians is a comment by Paul that indicates Ishmael “persecuted” Isaac, who was much younger than him. (Galatians 4:28-29) Then Sarah said to her husband, Cast out this bondwoman and her son; for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son. (Genesis 21:10) The Bible says Abraham was grieved about this, but God told him, Let it not be grevious in thy sight . . . in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called. (Genesis 21:12) So Abraham sent Hagar and Ishmael away, and the angel of the Lord took care of them. After that Hagar and Ishmael lived in Paran. (See Genesis 21.)

Now, can you imagine what consternation Abraham experienced later on when God spoke to him saying, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one the mountains which I will tell thee of. (Genesis 22:2) By then Isaac was a youth, old enough to understand that an animal was necessary for a burnt offering. He questioned his father as they were on their way to the land of Moriah, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? In answer Abraham told his son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. (Genesis 22:7-8)

Rembrandt painting
Abraham and Isaac

Here we need more revelation than Genesis provides. Let’s go to Hebrews Chapter 11 where the writer is talking about faith. By faith Abraham, when he was tested (that is, while the testing of his faith was still in progress), offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises (of God) was ready to sacrifice his only son (of promise); to whom it was said “IN ISAAC SHALL YOUR DESCENDANTS BE CALLED.” for he considered (it reasonable to believe) that God was able to raise Isaac, even from among the dead. (Hebrews 11:17-19 Amplified Bible)

When they came to the place God showed him, Abraham made an altar, laid the wood on it, bound his son and laid him upon the wood. Oh my! And as he took up the knife to kill his son the angel of the Lord stopped him. And he said, lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything to him, for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me. (Genesis 22:12) At that point Abraham saw a ram caught by his horns in a thicket. And Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son. And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-jireh. (Genesis 22:13) And it is said to this day, On the mount of the Lord it will be provided. (Genesis 22:14 Amplified Bible) Isaac’s life was spared by God, who provided the lamb for the burnt offering. What a wonderful picture of Jesus, the Lamb who died in our place!

After the sacrifice of the ram Abraham and Isaac came down from the mountain and joined their two traveling companions who were waiting for them, and together they left the land of Moriah and returned home to Beersheba. Where had they been? Just where is the land of Moriah? There is only one other mention in scripture of the word Moriah and that is: Then Solomon began to build the house of the Lord at Jerusalem in mount Moriah, where the Lord appeared unto David his father, in the place that David had prepared in the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. (Second Chronicles 3:1) Here is a mount Moriah which is synonymous with the temple and another  place — the threshing floor of Ornan.  Now that puts the temple, the threshing floor, and Mount Moriah all in one place. Who can argue with that!

Well, the Samaritans will. Their land was the land of Moreh, the place where God first spoke to Abraham, promising his descendants the land on which he stood. Their city was Shechem of old, and their mountain, Gerazim, the Mount of Blessing, where Joshua convened all of Israel upon their entrance into their promised land. The Samaritans believe their mountain to be the sacred mountain, where God provided his own sacrifice, the ram caught in the bushes. The Samaritans number less than a thousand today, yet those few cling tenaciously to their beliefs and customs, as witnessed by their annual celebration of Passover. https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/samaritans-perform-sacrificial-passover-ritual-452001

Samaritan ruins at Sebastia

These people are a remnant of those Jews in the northern kingdom of Israel of whom nearly all were taken captive by the Assyrians and resettled along the Euphrates River and beyond.  https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25079122/ Those Jews that were taken captive are now considered “lost tribes” since they never returned to Israel. The northern tribes of Israel had separated from their southern brothers shortly after the death of Solomon and in time established the city of Samaria as their capital. The northern kingdom lasted over 200 years, but finally fell in 722 BC after a three year siege by the Assyrians. Many years later Samaria became a Roman possession and the Emperor Augustus gave Samaria to King Herod; he renamed it Sebaste. Today, the ruins of ancient Samaria can be seen near the modern town of Sebastia.

Returning now to our subject — concerning the words the land of Moriah, Robert Harris, a professor of ancient languages in an excellent web publication from 2006 tells us that the translation is actually the land of THE Moriah. He also gives us the medieval interpreter Rashbam’s opinion that God was sending Abraham to the Amorites. Professor Harris does not claim to give us any clear facts, which is understandable (since there aren’t any) but he does give a short discussion of Moriah from an important (and very old) Jewish commentary. https://www.jtsa.edu/torah/examining-the-word-moriah/

So, what do we have now? We know the threshing floor of Ornan (or Araunah, see First Chronicles) was named Mount Moriah according to Ezra the writer of Second Chronicles, and that Solomon built the temple there. We have the traditional narrative (repeated by Josephus in the first century AD) that the temple was built on the site of Abraham’s intended sacrifice of Isaac. Then, we know the Samaritans claim their land to be the land of Moriah and their mountain of Gerazim to be the sacrificial site. Further, we have the translation (in the foregoing paragraph) that speaks of the land of THE Moriah.

Proximity of Temple Mount to City of David. Temple Mt. at top; City of David on hill east of paved street. Avram Graicer/Wikimedia Commons

Now, some folks hold fiercely to a tradition that the Temple Mount was the place Abraham brought his son Isaac intending to sacrifice him to the Lord. But, we need to consider that we still don’t know for certain where the land of Moriah was, let alone the mountain where it all took place. Further, and more importantly, we need to consider that the Temple Mount is a mere one third of a mile (or less) from the City of David, which at the time of Abraham’s sacrifice was an inhabited settlement, the walled city of Salem. We know Abraham had been there before and was already acquainted with Melchizedek, king and priest of that city. Melchizedek had come down out of Salem bringing bread and wine to Abraham in the valley of Shaveh as he was returning from the battle of Siddim. (Genesis 14:18-20) The Temple Mount location, so near the city of Salem, within shouting distance even, seems very unlikely.

So where is that mountain that Abraham saw afar off?  Obviously the answer can not be found in the Bible. Is there a preponderance of extrabiblical evidence that gives a clear answer to that question? Not that I have found. But I have found some scholarly folk who admit not knowing where it was the Lord sent Abraham. Regardless of that, by the first century AD certain suppositions about this event were already beginning to solidify. Josephus, the Jewish historian from that era wrote that the temple was  built on the site of Abraham’s near sacrifice of his son. (The Antiquities of The Jews, Book 1, Chapter 13, Section 2, Paragraph 226)  Josephus can be counted a reliable source reporting the events he actually saw and lived through; but, can he be expected to give a first hand account of an event 2,000 years before his time. Of course not.

But, there are certain things people want to believe. It sounds right. It seems right. Grandma said it. It must be so. It is here we come up against an immovable stone — the rock of tradition — can we ever chip it all away?

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Let’s Talk About the Gihon Spring

Posted in Tellit On The Mountain, tagged , , , , , on March 12, 2022|

There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God. (Psalm 46:4)

On feast days in ancient Israel as smoke rose up from the temple courtyard, the waters of the Gihon Spring washed away the blood of thousands of sacrificial animals. Today one sacrifice remains, and that is Jesus, who continually offers us cleansing that an ocean of the blood of bulls, sheep and goats could never accomplish.  Just so you know.

Old photo of the entrance to Gihon Spring
Wikipedia

The Gihon Spring is a big, big spring. Until the twentieth century it was the only significant water source for that great city Jerusalem. However, due to population growth, most of Jerusalem’s water is now piped in from outside sources.

The word gihon is Hebrew for bursting forth or gushing, which described the activity of this fascinating water work. Gihon is called an intermittent or rhythmic spring due to periodic gushing and tapering of its flow. Typically this type of spring is fed by accumulations of groundwater in naturally formed underground caves and cisterns, which are numerous in the area of Jerusalem, due to the high incidence of limestone and dolomite. The pulsing feature of these springs is generated by a natural siphon channel that empties the water out of the underground reservoir until air breaks the pull of the siphon and the process begins again. An easy to understand explanation of siphoning is available at http://www.wonderopolis.org/wonder/how-does-a-siphon-work.

Hezekiah’s tunnel Wikimedia commons

Some years ago a group of hydrologists  monitored the Gihon for a while and reported the spring was not pulsing during the time of their inspection. http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10040-010-0600-6. Whether pulsing or not, a tremendous amount of water still flows from the Gihon Spring. Today, thanks to the efforts of the Israelis, tourists can now wade these waters in the channel known as Hezekiah’s tunnel.

Siphon springs are rare and they do not necessarily go on forever. A small spring of this type that early settlers in Spartanburg County, South Carolina called the Boiling Spring gushed periodically as much as six feet in the air and was quite an attraction for many years. This was apparently a cold water geyser and not part of a geothermal system, as people watered their horses from the spring. But, civilization took its toll. As the town of Boiling Springs prospered and grew, the boiling spring gradually ceased its boiling. However, the spring flows today and is protected by a small park. http://www.sciway.net/city/boilingsprings.html. Besides urbanization, changes in landforms such as that produced by earthquakes can damage delicate subterranean systems, causing springs to fail.

Jerusalem is an ancient city, located in Biblical Canaan, the land promised by God to the Hebrews through their earliest ancestor Abraham. The first mention of Jerusalem in the Bible occurs in Genesis 14, where we find Melchizedek, the king and priest of Salem (ancient Jerusalem) coming out to meet Abraham as he returns from the battle of Siddim (the battle of the four kings). Jerusalem was then a city of roughly twelve acres situated atop the ridge above the Gihon spring which at that time emptied down the side of the hill and into the Kidron Valley. Easily defensible from its high elevation, Jerusalem had already been inhabited some thousands of years.

Here is a primitive illustration of the “blind and the lame” taunting David.

Several generations later, around 1,000 BC, King David captured Jerusalem from the Jebusites. By then the Hebrews had been attempting to take that city for nearly four hundred years. The Jebusites held a very advantageous position at the top of their ridge and they taunted David, saying their city was so impregnable their “blind and lame” could defend it. David knew it was impossible to attack them from below. Somehow David and his men had to get inside the city walls.

From earliest times the Jebusites had furnished their settlement with water from the Gihon Spring. They took advantage of naturally occurring shafts and tunnels, adding to these by their own efforts as necessary, chiseling through the soft limestone and dolomite subsurface of their hill. Dating these subterranean water structures today remains a difficulty; however, we know there were Jebusite waterways in use in David’s time. One such channel, which positively dates before David was cut from the surface and covered with stones.

We are not privy to David’s military “intelligence” about these various underground watercourses. All we know is that eventually David said to his men, Whoever getteth up to the tsinor, and smiteth the Jebusites, . . . he shall be chief and captain. (Second Samuel 5:8) (The word tsinor is ambiguous, probably it means pipe or tunnel, or perhaps gutter.) Joab, one of David’s “mighty men” went up first. We have no more details. In all likelihood Joab and his men entered the city through a water passage. They succeeded in taking the strong hold of Zion: the same is the City of David. (Second Samuel 5:7)

While he was yet living, King David amassed a great supply of building materials in preparation for the magnificent temple of the Lord that his son Solomon would build in Jerusalem. Construction began soon after David’s death and took seven years. Solomon spared no expense, using the finest materials and employing the most skilled artisans, plus thousands of workers. First Kings Chapter 6 gives details of the temple’s ornate features: for example, doors carved with cherubims, palm trees and flowers, and overlaid with gold. It was here the Israelites brought their sacrifices and offerings including, yes, live animals and birds that were slain by the priests and Levites, their blood sprinkled upon the altar, and their flesh consumed by fire. Water from the Gihon Spring (for there was no other water source) cleaned up the mess in short order. Thank goodness, I say! But how? We will see.

Though there were times when worship at the temple of Solomon was neglected due to the apostasy of the people, the magnificent structure stood nearly 400 years before the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians who invaded Judah, killing thousands, and finally taking thousands captive to Babylon. Seventy years later the Jews under the leadership of Zerubbabel were allowed to return to their land and rebuild their temple. Recorded in the book of Ezra is the celebration that was held when the foundation of the rebuilt temple was laid. And they sang together by course in praising and giving thanks to the Lord; And all the people shouted with a great shout; because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. But many of the priests and Levites and chief of the fathers, who were ancient men, that had seen the first house, . . . wept with a loud voice. (Ezra 3:11-12)

This second temple, known as Zerubbabel’s temple is the one we read about in the letter of Aristeas from the third century BC.  Aristeas was an Egyptian official, sent to visit Eleazar, the high priest in Jerusalem. Here is an exerpt from his eye witness account:

The whole of the floor is paved with stones and slopes down to the appointed places, that water may be conveyed to wash away the blood from the sacrifices, for many thousand beasts are sacrificed there on the feast days. And there is an inexhaustible supply of water, because  an abundant spring gushes up from within  the temple area . . .  There are  many openings  for water at the base  of the altar . . .  so that  all the blood of the sacrifices which is collected in great quantities is washed away in the twinkling of an eye.  http://www.ellopos.com/blog/4508/letter-of-aristeas-full-text-in-greek-and-english/34/

A replica of the Temple

The historian Josephus gives us some detail about the next temple, the magnificent structure built by the Roman ruler Herod on the site of Zerubbabel’s temple. Herod’s temple was lauded for its beauty and artistry, its gates covered with gold, doors hung with beautifully colored veils, and decorative vines made of gold. (The Wars of the Jews, Book 5, Chapter 5, Section 4) When Herod spoke to the people of his elaborate plan for a new temple many were afraid he might tear their temple down and not be able to accomplish his monumental building plan. But he told them “he would not pull down their temple until all things were gotten ready for building it up entire again. And as he promised them this beforehand, so he did not break his word to them.” (The Antiquities of the Jews, Book 15, Chapter 11, Section 2) This, then, is the temple of Jesus’ time. It was made of beautiful white stones, and was so impressive that one of Jesus’ disciples exclaimed to him, Master, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here! And Jesus answering said unto him, seest thou these great buildings? There shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down. (Matthew 13:1-2)

And so it was. Not even a stone is left of these three temples. Only the water remains — the sacred Gihon Spring.

 

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