A long overdue trip to the Holy Land Part V

Day 6: Understanding the history of the Holy Land

This is the 2nd last post about the Holy Land and indeed, it has taken me more time to blog about this than what I had expected. Nonetheless, a little a day goes a long way so I am glad I did this for it will be something that I will remember for the rest of my life. Without blogger and the Internet, I doubt I would have a lifetime memory of the short 7 days in the Holy Land! 

Anyway, day 6 was a free day for sis and I to explore the city. Fortunately, I had the Jerusalem guide with me to figure out how to spend our free day in the city. Like what sis said, we learnt more about Israel, Jerusalem, Judaism, Christianity and the whole ancient history of Jerusalem the most from our visit to the Tower of David Museum. Before I talked about the religious visit to Temple Mount, let us go back in time to understand the history of Israel! 

• 2000 BC: City of Canaan: Fortified town on a hillside above the Gihon spring. Subsequently, Egyptian pharaohs ruled Canaan and the Kings of Jerusalem became their vassals.
• 1020 - 1006 BC:  Saul, the first king of Israel chose Gibeah (territory of his own tribe Benjamin) as the capital
• 1006 - 965 BC: David, King of Israel, conquered Jerusalem
• 965 - 930 BC: Solomon, son of David, ruled the empire and extended the city to include Mount Moriah (location of Isaac's sacrifice). He also built the First Temple Mount (a.k.a. Temple of Solomon)
• 930 - 722 BC: Israel was split into two kingdoms - Israel and Judah - first decline of Jerusalem
• 722 -586 BC: Assyria kingdom - Refer to the story about the spring and water tunnel (Hezekiah) in Part IV. 
• 586 - 538 BC: Babylonians (territory in present day Iraq, some of Turkey, Syria Iran and Kuwait), under Nebuchanezzar, captured Jerusalem and destroyed the First Temple.
• 538 - 332 BC: King Cyrus of Persia took over and allowed the Jews to return to Zion. Rebuilding of the First Temple begin - known as the Second Temple. 
• 332 - 63 BC: Hellenistic Period (Greek) - Time of Alexander the Great but he only ruled for 9 years after which he passed away and Jerusalem was passed from hand to hand.
• 301 - 200 BC: Ptolemies of Egypt
• 200 - 141 BC: Seleucids o Syria
• 141 - 63 BC: Hasmonean Kingdom: Jewish recapture of the Temple and full independence 
• 63 BC: Roman general Pompey conquered Jerusalem. 
• 37 - 2 BC: King Herod's 35-year reign - Monumental building and also the four walls to surround the Second Temple and 3 watch towers (I think). 
• 66 - 70 AD: The first of the three Jewish revolts.  This led to the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 AD. The Romans also brought back many Jewish sacred objects to Rome (My next visit to the Vatican museum or British museum will make me keep a lookout for the connection between Rome and Jerusalem). 
• 136 AD: Jerusalem became Aelia Capitolina after another Jewish revolt against Roman emperor Hadrian's plan to build a pagan city. Jews were expelled from Jerusalem. 
• 324 - 638 AD: Byzantine Period - Romans who adopted the Christian faith and after a visit by Constantine's Mother, she identified the burial site of Jesus Christ. Constantine then ordered the Temple of Aphrodite which then stood at the burial site to be destroyed and ordered to build the Shrine of the Holy Sepulchre, one of the 14 stations in Via Dolorosa. Although Constantine granted the Jews to rebuild the Temple Mount, the construction never came through. 
• 638 - 1099 AD: Moslem rule (Umayyad dynasty, 660-750 AD, which ruled from Damascus, capital of present day Syria); Abbasid dynasty, 750 - 969 AD, which ruled from Baghdad; Fatimid caliphs of Egypt, 969 - 1099 AD) - Jews and Christians were allowed to return to Jerusalem. Jerusalem became the third most holy city for the moslems after Mecca and Medina. Although Jerusalem is not mentioned in the Koran, according to the Moslem tradition, the prophet Mohammed had a night journey from the holy mosque of Mecca to an outer mosque while being carried on the back of his winged horse. The outer mosque is to be present day's Al-asqa mosque in Jerusalem and it from the rock on Temple Mount, Second Temple, the prophet ascended to the Hughes heavens, hence the Dome of the Rock was built in 691 AD. The Umayyads built various palaces next to the Dome of the Rock and moslems wanted to be buried near the Dome of the Rock but those palaces were destroyed by the Abbasid empire. Since then, Jerusalem has been the source of constant fighting between the Jews, Christians and Moslems. 
• 1099 - 1187 AD: Crusaders' rule. If you are a big fan of Kingdom of Heaven, this would ring a bell in you. Apparently, when the crusaders invaded Jerusalem, they massacred the Moslems. All Christian shrines were liberated from the Moslems as well and mosques (including Al-asqa mosque) were turned into churches or buildings to accommodate Christian pilgrims from around the world. Jerusalem became the capital of the Latin Kingdom and was inhabited by Europeans and Eastern Christians such as the Greek Orthodox, Syrians and Armenians. The one thing that surprises me is that the Dome of the Rock was untouched. In 1187, Salah-aldin, ruler of Egypt and Syria i.e. Ayyubid dynasty, defeated the Crusaders at the decisive Battle of Hattin. Jews returned to the city and settled among Moslem inhabitants and the Eastern Christians - Jewish, Moslems, Christian and Armenian quarters (have walls around their quarter because they were massacred by the Turks and wanted protection when they came to Jerusalem). Entire crusader population was either ransomed, expelled or sold into slavery (this was probably a light punishment considering what they had done to the Moslems and Jews when they gained control a 100 years ago). A peace treaty between Salah-aldin and Richard, the Lion Hearted in 1192 assured Christians access to holy places in Jerusalem. In 1229, emperor Frederick II negotiated to divide Jerusalem - Temple Mount in Moslem hands while the rest for crusader rule. In 1244, it was attacked by Turkish tribes from Central Asia. The Jews escaped but the Christians were slaughtered. 
• 1260 - 1517 AD: Mameluk empire - The mameluks came from steppes of Asia and were educated in special schools of warfare and Islamic studies. The elite military sect ruled over vast areas from Cairo to Jerusalem but Jerusalem was mainly for religious purposes, not economic or political. Pilgrims from Europe came in the 15th century by sailing on Italian merchant ships to Jaffa then Jerusalem. Mameluks built many impressive structures in the area of Temple Mount and streets such as Madrasas for religious studies, hospices for pilgrims, water fountains etc.
• 1517-1917 AD: Ottoman Empire: Sultan Suleiman the magnificent (1520-1566) wished to improve the city's life and security so he rebuilt its walls to prevent against invasion and regulated the water supply. 
• 1917 - 1947 AD: British rule after World War I - common bloodshed between Arabs and Jews
• 1948 AD: War of Independence and although the State of Israel was eventually declared, Israel was divided - East bank was given to the Jordanians and West bank to the Israelis. 
• 1967 AD: Six-day war to reclaim East Jerusalem
• Till forever (hopefully): Pray for the peace of Jerusalem! 

As for all the stories about Palestine, I cannot write anything about it because it is something that is very complicated and I did not have many chances to find out from the guide. 

The famous quotes that I saw and was deeply moved by it. 

David's time: And his kingdom was firmly established,  

Second Temple: Come let us build the wall of Jerusalem, 

Herod's time: Jerusalem: a metropolis for all, 

Moslem rule: Jerusalem the first of two directions of prayers 

Ottoman rule: Jerusalem, the rising dawn, 

Independence as State of Israel: Jerusalem shall be inhabited as villages without walls. 

Our first stop was the Dome of the Rock and Al-asqa mosque, the supposed ground for Temple Mount.  Our guide told us that there is always a long queue due to stipulated opening hours, pilgrims from all over the world, and of course stringent security checks therefore we have to make sure that we arrive early to beat the queue. We were rather fortunate because when we reached the security checkpoint at 7.30 a.m., there was no queue at all! Indeed, the early bird gets the worm.

Anyway, we were prohibited from entering the Al-asqa mosque and the Dome of the Rock as it is only meant for religious moslems. We could only take pictures from outside, see Mount Olives from the opposite and also have some restricted view of the Old City. Seeing how big the premise is, it really make me wonder how the Temple Mount had looked like thousands of years ago. It is moments like this that make me feel and think about what I had said during Shabbat dinner - that I hope the Israelis with their superior technological know-how can one day invent a time machine to bring me back in time to see with my own eyes the wonders of the ancient world. 

My last story for this post is all about Temple Mount and the Western or Wailing wall. The details of the Temple Mount were documented by a famous Jewish historian, Joseph Matthias (not sure if I spelt his name correctly). Read about how him in the Masada episode but all you need to know is that he followed Roman soldiers around Jerusalem and described the war that had taken place between Rome and Jerusalem, Masada (will come to that on the last day). The Western wall is the last wall remaining that was built in Herod's time to hide the Second Temple Mount within four walls. The southern wall is 300m long and the western wall is around 500m long. At the Southwest corner, there is a bridge that provides quick access to the Temple Mount and it is also at this end that we have the Jewish quarter. The Jewish belief in a one and only God meant that they are not to pray to tombs of even righteous people, rabbis, Kings, etc. thus there is not a single statue or image inside Temple Mount back then. Paganism is the idea of idol worshipping e.g. God of Sun, Goddess of Love, etc. The holiest of holiest in the Temple is probably tablets from Moses at Mount Sinai (not too sure). A story about Jesus - he flipped the table where the money changers were  located (at the entrance to the Southwestern end of the Temple) because pilgrims came from all over the world and foreign coins had images of foreign kings or gods so it should have been forbidden inside the Temple premises. 

Why do the religious Jews pray at the Western wall? For reasons such as them believing that the Western wall is closest to the holiest of the holiest, the presence of the divine never left its presence and it is the only part of the wall that was not destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD. Or perhaps, we could link it all up and think: because it is closest to the holiest of the holiest so it was the only part of the wall that was not destroyed since the divine never left. One thing that sis taught me and coincidentally I myself learnt in Intro to Psychology is that people often like to link up events after they have happened and try to draw conclusions from these events. 

Of course, I myself was filled with many puzzling questions and if I had more time, I would probably bug the tour guide to explain more. One of those many questions that was also bugging the other tour members was - why did the Moslems build the Dome of the Rock above Temple Mount and now that the Jews have control of Israel, why did they not take back the Temple Mount premise from the Arabs (or Palestinians) through negotiations or by force as the last resort? This is definitely a sensitive one and in order to understand this complex issue and appreciate all that has happened in a war-plagued Jerusalem in the hundreds of years, you really have to be able to take a neutral stand and not let your emotions rule you, be it you being a free thinker, a believer of God, Islam, Judaism, Christianity, blah blah blah. One of the many perspectives that has been related to me which I could perhaps share - that for financial and political reasons, the Moslems built the Dome of the Rock above Temple Mount. The riches that you can gain from the pilgrims all over the world is limitless and that a place that you can claim as a holy site for your religion grants you access or the entitlement to claim it as your territory, perhaps? As for the second part of the question, the state of current affairs in Jerusalem is indeed intriguing to me but when you think about the bigger picture of peace for all living in Jerusalem and also experiences of a race that has undergone extermination, why not just let go and prioritize harmony? 

If indeed Jerusalem is the Holy Land, because it is in the center of Israel and Israel being in the centre of the world and choosing such a central location as the Promised Land for a group of people who are descendants of followers of our Creator, then the more the people should have absolute faith in the eventual arrival of the Messiah at the time the Third Temple Mount will be built. I cannot live forever, neither do I want to be immortal but I do relish the opportunity to be able to witness for myself this grandiose idea that will take the world. :)