Mount of the Temple (Jerusalem)

Got up early this morning and was at the visitors' entrance to the Mount of the Temple (now known by muslims as the Noble Sanctuary) at 7.40. There was no queue, so I was straight in after the security checkpoint. The Temple Mount is an esplanade covering 30 acres (one fifth of the whole Old Walled City of Jerusalem). The history is eventful and complicated! The First Temple was built by King David in 960BC. He installed the Ark of the Covenant there. It was destroyed in 586BC in the Babylonian invasion. The Second Temple was subsequently built and greatly expanded by Herod the Great. This was the temple during the time of Jesus, though it was not completely finished until 64AD. All the psalms in the bible were written to be used here. The Second Temple was the place to which Jesus came; for important Jewish Feasts, and to worship with other Jews. It was in this area that he stayed behind, and was later found by Mary and Joseph, among the scribes and teachers. It was in the precincts of the Second Temple that he drove out the money changers and traders. The Second Temple was destroyed in 70AD, but some of the original Herodian walls remain. There has bee no Temple here since 70AD; the site is largely a vast esplanade on which stands the Dome of the Rock at one end, and the el-Aksa mosque at the other end. Under the Dome there's bare rock. Tradition says this is Mount Moriah where Abraham was prepared to sacrifice Isaac. The whole Temple Area is a fascinating and vast area. It's so big that the sounds of life in the Old City disappear. In Jesus' time, the Temple, in addition to being a place for sacrifice and prayer, would also have been the focal point for the lives of the People of Israel. You can very easily imagine how, in Holy Week, this place would have been thronged with Jewish worshippers here for the Passover Feast, while Jesus' trial would have been taking place in the nearby Citadel. If only the stones of this place could speak! To-day is my second last day in Israel. I had intended going to Tel Aviv to-morrow, and then on to the airport around 1 a.m., on Thursday, but I decided to stay in Jerusalem and leave for the airport from here around 1 a.m., Thursday. All going well, I'll be back in Dublin around 2.30 p.m., Thursday, after a most memorable and eventful forty seven days in Israel, in the footsteps of Jesus ..... I wish you "Salaam - Shalom - Peace".