The Jerusalem Temple Mount: A Compendium of Ancient Descriptions

By Marilyn Sams

This compendium has been gleaned from the volume entitled The Jerusalem Temple Mount Myth, and consists of more than 375 ancient descriptions, with references, of the City of David/Jerusalem, the temple mount, and the tower of Antonia (today's alleged temple mount). Each source is accompanied by an expansion or explanation, frequently explaining how the information is incompatible with today's identification of the former Roman camp as the "temple mount." The sources include Josephus, the Bible (Masoretic and Septuagint versions), the Letter of Aristeas, Tacitus, Eutychius, Eusebius, Jerome, the Venerable Bede, Pliny the Elder, Eupolemus, the Talmud, Haggada, The Book of Enoch, The Book of Jubilees, Ephrem the Syrian, Cyril of Jerusalem, Philo, Burchard of Sion, the Bordeaux Pilgrim, the Piacenza Pilgrim, Arculf, Cassius Dio, Jossipon ben Gorion, the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Qumran Copper Scroll, Strabo, the Breviary of Jerusalem, Eucherius, Theodosius, the Book of Jasher, Aquila, Hecateus of Abdera, Maccabees, Barnabas, Baruch, Justin Martyr, Fourth Book of Ezra, Gregory of Nyssa, Maimonides, the Chronicon Paschale, Sahl b. Masliah, John Chrysostom, Philostorgius, Theodoret, Sozomen, Arnold von Harff, the Geniza documents, Yahya ibn Jarir al-Takriti, Rabbi Kimchi, Nasir-i-Khusrau, Rabbi Obadiah da Bertinoro, Burhan al-Fazari, Ibn Taymiyya, Isaac ben Joseph, the Muthir al-Ghiram, Fulcher of Chartres, Saewulf, John of Wurzberg, Benjamin of Tudela, and Rabbi Petachia of Ratisbon.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Marilyn Sams
• Release date: Sep 11, 2017
• ISBN: 9781370745401

Marilyn Sams

Marilyn Sams holds a B.A. and M.A. in English and American Literature from the University of Utah and Brigham Young University. She has been an educator, business owner, and independent researcher, authoring this volume and The Jerusalem Temple Mount Myth.

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The Location of the Temple in the City of David

Salem--Forerunner of the City of David

1. But he who first built it was a potent man among the Canaanites, and is in our own tongue called [Melchizedek], the Righteous King, for such he really was; on which account he was the first priest of God, and first built a temple, and called the city Jerusalem, which was formerly called ‘Salem.’ (Josephus, War of the Jews VI, 10, 438)

This passage shows God had already chosen a very specific and limited area for his house in the city of Salem. Solomon probably built his temple on the same spot as did Melchizedek, but 900 years later. Reich (2011), along with Eli Shukron, discovered Middle Bronze Age II constructions at the Gihon Spring, which they called the Spring Tower, the Rock-cut Pool, and the Fortified Passage, in addition to a pool tower wall. He conjectured that at the top of these stood an important fortress, which was likely Melchizedek’s temple, as he lived during the Middle Bronze Age II period.

2. "It was David, therefore, who first cast the Jebusites out of Jerusalem, and called it by his own name, The City of David: for under our forefather Abraham it was called (Salem, or) Solyma; but after that time some say that Homer mentions it by that name of Solyma [for he named the temple Solyma, according to the Hebrew language, which denotes security]." (Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, VII, 3, 67)

This passage indicates an amalgamation of the city’s former name and the word for temple to create the new name Hierosolyma or Jerusalem, which no doubt had its earliest roots in about 1800-1900 B.C. with the construction of Melchizedek’s temple.

3. In Salem also is his tabernacle and his dwelling place in Zion. (Psalm 76:1)

The psalm uses the name Salem and equates it with Zion and the location of the temple. Another name and meaning incorporates the temple: Ohaliba--My Tabernacle is in her!

4. "Alas! Alas! Jerusalem the City of the Great King! How shall I call thee in this day?...Sometimes thou wast called Jebus…After this, thy name was Zedeck…Moreover in his time wast thou called Schalem, as the scripture witnesseth, and Melchizedek king of Schalem…For at that time Abraham our father…fell to worship God in thee, and take his inheritance, to plant in thee all wrought of good works. Whereupon the Tabernacle of God remaineth in thee to this day as twas revealed unto the same our Father Abraham in thee (I say) was the Sanctuary of the Lord. (Josippon ben Gorion, 9th-10th centuries A.D.)

In this version of Josephus, Josippon implies the sanctuary of God which existed in Melchizedek’s day continued to reside in Salem even unto Josephus’s day.

5. The plan of the Christian churches was that of the ancient Temple, which Melchizedek had built [in Jerusalem] before the Kings [of Israel] came to alter it… [Melchizedek] did not perform the rites of divine worship according to the law of Moses, but exercised his priestly office with other and more excellent [proto-Christian] symbols." (Yahya ibn Jarir al Takriti [d. 1089], as cited in Bradshaw, Vol. 2, p. 266).

Al Takriti understood the temple of Melchizedek to have been at Jerusalem and to have had different rites than those performed under the Mosaic law.

Jacob’s Pillar at the Site of the Temple

1. And Jacob went out from Beer-sheba…and he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night…and he took of the stones of that place and put them for his pillows…and he dreamed and behold a ladder set up on the earth the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. And behold, the Lord stood above it and said …the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it…And Jacob awaked out of his sleep…and said…this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. And Jacob…took the stone…and set it up for a pillar…. ( Genesis 28: 11-19)

Jacob had his dream at the site of the former Salem and it was there he set up his pillar at the house of God.

2. " [During] Jacob's journey to Haran…He was following the spring that appeared wherever the Patriarchs went or settled. It accompanied Jacob from Beer-sheba to Mount Moriah…When he arrived at the holy hill, the Lord said to him: "Jacob, thou hast bread…and the spring of waters is near by to quench thy thirst…then Jacob perceived that the sun was about to sink, and he prepared to make ready his bed. It was the Divine purpose not to let Jacob pass the site of the future Temple without stopping…Jacob took twelve stones from the altar on which his father Isaac had lain bound as a sacrifice, and… the twelve stones joined themselves together and made one, which he put under his head…He dreamed a dream in which the course of the world's history was unfolded to him…From this wondrous dream Jacob awoke with a start of fright, on account of the vision he had had of the destruction of the Temple. He cried out, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, wherein is the gate of heaven through which prayer ascends to Him. He took the stone made out of the twelve, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it…and God sank this anointed stone unto the abyss, to serve as the centre of the earth, the same stone, the Eben Shetiyah, that forms the centre of the sanctuary, whereon the Ineffable Name is graven...Jacob cast himself down before the Eben Shetiyah, and entreated God to fulfil the promise He had given him…Then he vowed to give the tenth of all he owned unto God, if He would but grant his petition. (Ginzberg, 1909, The Legends of the Jews, Vol. 1, Chap. 6)

This legend adds a few more details to the Biblical account. The author understood Mount Moriah contained a spring near where Jacob had his vision, so this Mount Moriah would be the southeastern hill. In this account, the symbolic pillar is also the Eben Shetiyah, or foundation stone. Remarkably, recent excavations above the Gihon Spring, first carried out by Parker and Vincent, then Reich and Shukron (2011), have uncovered a well-preserved matzevah still standing within a cave on the mid-slope rock scarp. It is an oval stone measuring 3 cm wide, 50 cm long, and 30 cm high, standing amidst twelve stones fused together at its base, a startling representation of the description in the legend (Bermeister, n.d.). Though Eli Shukron believes the four uncovered chambers where the matzevah is located constitute the sacrificial area of Melchizedek’s temple, as al-Takriti has written, Melchizedek’s temple rites did not include those of the Mosaic law. The matzevah presents a possibility of being the actual pillar or foundation stone of Jacob revered by the Jews, or a duplicate.

3. Rabbah b. Bar Hana citing R. Jonanan stated The Pits have existed since the Six days of creation…The cavity of the Pits descended to the abyss…My well-beloved had a vineyard on a very fruitful hill. And he digged it, and cleared it of stones, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also hewed out a vat therein. ‘And planted it with the choicest vine refers to the Temple; and built a tower in the midst of it refers to the altar; and also hewed out a vat therein refers to the Pits." (Tosefta Sukkah 49a)

The Rabbis understood the Pits, or the maze of tunnels and caves in the Gihon Spring area, descended to the abyss, occupying the same place as the tower of the temple.

4. We were taught in accord with the view that the world was started [created] from Zion…for it was taught: R. Eliezer says: The world was created from its center…the sages said the world was created from Zion. And it was called Shethiyah: A tanna taught: [It was so called because from it the world was founded.] (Yoma 54b)

The passage connects the center of the world, from which the creation was started, with the Eben Shethiyah, elsewhere identified with Jacob’s pillar.

5. And he [Noah] knew that the Garden of Eden is the holy of holies, and the dwelling of the Lord, and Mount Sinai the centre of the desert, and Mount Zion--the centre of the navel of the earth: these three were created as holy places facing each other. (Book of Jubilees 8.19)

This passage, like the one previous connects the center or navel of the earth with Mount Zion--a holy place because the temple was there.

6. …Jacob planned to build up that place [where he had set up the pillar] and to build a wall around the court and to sanctify it and make it eternally holy for himself and his children after him. (Jubilees 32: 16)

When Jacob returned from Haran with his wives and children, he again stopped by Shalem (Salem in the Septuagint version), purchased a parcel of a field, and erected an altar, apparently in the same place as he had previously set up the pillar (Genesis 33: 18; Genesis 35: 1, 3, 7, 14). Bermeister (n.d.) believes Jacob’s altar was built above the mid-slope rock scarp where the Matzevah was located. This would be directly below where the temple was built.

The Future Temple Site After the Israelite Conquest of Canaan

1. And the border came down to the end of the mountain that lieth before the valley of the son of Hinnom…and descended to the valley of Hinnom to the side of Jebusi on the south, and descended to En-rogel. And was drawn from the north and went forth to En-Shemesh…. (Joshua 18: 16-17)

The scripture speaks of the border established between Benjamin and Judah at the division of Canaanite land after the Israelite conquest. An important landmark of this border is En-Shemesh, Spring of the Sun, or the Gihon Spring, enclosed by the Middle Bronze Age II walls at Jebus. Reich (2011), in Excavating the City of David: Where Jerusalem’s History Began, also conjectures that En Shemesh was actually the Gihon Spring and includes a stunning picture of the sun shining on the stairs just above the spring’s emergence, though it is enclosed in a cave beneath the earth.

2. They [Samuel and David] sat at Ramah and were engaged with the glory [beauty] of the world. Said they, It is written, Then shalt thou arise and ascend unto the place [which the Lord thy God shall choose]: this teaches that the Temple was higher than the whole of Eretz Israel…They did not know where that place was. Thereupon they brought the Book of Joshua 12. In the case of all [tribal territories] it is written, ‘And the border went down’ ‘and the border went up ‘and the border passed along,’ whereas in reference to the tribe Benjamin ‘and it went up’ is written, but not ‘and it went down.’ Said they: This proves that this is its site. They intended building it at the well of Etam, which is raised, but [then] they said: Let us build it slightly lower, as it is written, and He dwelleth between his shoulders. Alternatively, there was a tradition that the Sanhedrin should have its locale in Judah’s portion, while the Divine Presence was to be in Benjamin’s portion. (Mas. Zevachim 54b)

The Rabbis believed the temple was built below the well of Etam at the border between Benjamin and Judah. Combined with the passage from Joshua 18:16-17 and assuming the well of Etam is the Gihon Spring, this places the temple near Jebus, the Valley of Hinnom, and the landmark En Shemesh. With the temple on the ridge above the Gihon Spring, the southeastern hill would have been sliced in its near middle to put the sanctuary on the west and the Chamber of Hewn Stone on the east. The foundations of the temple would have been below the Gihon Spring, in the Kidron Valley, as Josephus described them on several occasions.

3. The sanctuary is one possession. Whence [Do we infer this?] Since it is said: ‘the Sanctuary, O Lord, which thy hands have established’ and it is said [also]: ‘and he brought them to his holy border, to the mountain, which his right hand possessed.’ (Avoth,