JERUSALEM, THE BURDENSOME STONE

 

JERUSALEM, THE BURDENSOME STONE

http://www.levitt.com/

Jerusalem, the Holy City, the City of the Great King, God's Holy Hill of Zion, the Center of the Earth, the Cup of Trembling, the Burdensome Stone, Sodom and Gomorrah, and Egypt. Jerusalem is called by these and many other names in the Bible. As Israel and the P.L.O., under international pressure, enter into the most critical aspect of the current "peace process," which is the effort to make a permanent settlement concerning Jerusalem, many claims and issues must be dealt with.


To Whom Does Jerusalem Belong?

The Jews say it belongs to Israel. It was the political capital and Temple worship center of the ancient Commonwealth for over 1,000 years, has been the spiritual home of the Jewish people ever since, and is understood to be the future capital of the Messiah.

The Arabs say it belongs to Islam. It is the third most sacred place to Moslem believers, next to Mecca and Medina. The city was under Moslem control from the seventh century until World War I, with the one-century
exception during the Crusades.

The Papacy says it belongs to Christendom. Jerusalem is sacred to Christians because of both Old and New Testament associations, and is the site of the death and resurrection of Christ. The holy sites are of great concern, of which the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is supreme.
The United Nations says it belongs to the world. Jerusalem is revered by the world's three great monotheistic religions, and is critical as a hot spot that could well endanger world peace. Therefore, the U.N. wants to
"internationalize" the city, so that no one ethnic or religious group would have control.

Jerusalem Under Israel and Jordan

What should the attitude be among those of us who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and are evangelicals? Our conviction is that all of the Land of Israel, including Jerusalem, belongs to the Jewish people by divine decree, and we should recognize their rights of ownership. During the last three decades, in which most of the Land has been under Israeli control, evangelical Christians have had full and free access to just about all of
the country. Christian tourists have been welcome, and there has been no problem seeing all of the marvelous biblical sites. The holy places of all religions are kept sacrosanct, and Jews, Moslems and Christians may visit
these places and rest assured that no important site will be desecrated.

Such could not be said when the country in general, and Jerusalem in particular, was under Moslem control. My wife and I were in Jerusalem in 1965, on a tour with Dr. Charles Feinberg. This, of course, was before the
Six-Day War in 1967, and Jerusalem was part of the Kingdom of Jordan, and ruled by King Hussein. East and West Jerusalem were separated by a jagged zone called "no man's land." The Mandelbaum Gate was the only way anyone could get from one side to the other. It was like Checkpoint Charlie in Berlin. As a practical matter, no civilians could pass from Israel into Jordan, and about the only civilians who could pass from Jordan to Israel were foreign tourists. Once Christians got into Jordan, they could visit most of the New Testament holy places, but getting to Jordan was a serious problem, and the problem was created by the unwillingness of Jordan to cooperate with Israel.

As the Jordanians would not allow tourists to go from Israel into Jordan, we had to go to Jordan first, via Egypt, and then go into Israel through the Mandelbaum Gate. When Jerusalem was divided, it was difficult for pilgrims to visit the many important biblical sites.

The Western Wall Under Moslem Control

The entire Old City in 1965 was in Jordan, along with most of the biblical sites. This included the Dome of the Rock, the Temple Mount and the Western Wall. One of the places we wanted to visit was the Western Wall, sometimes called the Wailing Wall. Those who are familiar with the Wall as it is today, with its spacious plaza and daily crowds of people who come to worship and pray, can scarcely imagine what it was like in 1965. In
actuality, it was a slum. The Arab houses were built up to within about ten feet of the Wall, and the space between was like an alley. Really, it was worse than that, because all around were the odors of a latrine. The Western Wall, closed in as a dank alleyway, was deserted then. No Jews were praying at this most sacred of sites to Judaism. No young boys were performing their Bar Mitzvah rites of reading the Torah, with all their admiring family rejoicing at the Wall. It was deserted when Jordan had control of the Old City. No Jews were allowed at the Western Wall for about 20 years.

Transformation of Jerusalem Under Jewish Control

What a difference when Israel recaptured the Old City in 1967. Within months, the old slum was cleared away from the Wall, a grand plaza was established, and hundreds to thousands of people began gathering there daily to pray and worship the God of Abraham and Moses.

Once Jerusalem was reunited under Jewish control, the Moslems had free and total access to the Dome of the Rock, the Al Aksa Mosque, and all their holy places throughout the Land. Christians also, including evangelicals, have had complete and unfettered access to all the important places in Israel, including the Temple Mount, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the Garden Tomb, the Mount of Olives, and all the Sea of Galilee.

One shudders to think of what might happen if Jerusalem were again to be taken out of the hands of the Jewish people, even if it were placed under the U.N. or the Papacy, much less the P.L.O. Both evangelical Christians and Jews could well find themselves having much-reduced access to the scriptural sites. Furthermore, God never gave legal title of Jerusalem to Moslems or Christians or the United Nations. He gave the legal right to Jerusalem to Abraham and his descendants through Isaac and Jacob. What right do we have to try to nullify this grant to Israel from the Lord?The Push to Remove Jerusalem from Israeli Control

Our conviction, therefore, is that both the scriptural mandates and the interests of Jews and evangelical Christians (and peace-loving Arabs, for that matter) are best served by Jerusalem remaining in the hands of Israel until the Lord returns. Already, for years, our U.S. government under two administrations and the U.N. have applied pressure on Israel to surrender strategic territory to Moslem interests. In spite of the strong reservations of many Jews and evangelical Christians, it appears that our various governments may well try to remove Jerusalem from Israeli control. This is very regrettable, and we should resist such efforts wherever possible. Nevertheless, as the Bible teaches that Jerusalem will be a cup of trembling and a burdensome stone for all the nations in the End Times (Zech. 12:2-3), we should not be surprised.

 

 

JERUSALEM, THE CITY OF ETERNITY

JERUSALEM, THE CITY OF ETERNITY

http://www.join.org.au/nswjbod/jerusalem.htm

The Israeli-Palestinian Peace Accords have opened up a Pandora's box of issues. The issue which is likely to be the most contentious is that of Jerusalem, and when the Israelis and Palestinians sit down at the negotiating table to discuss the ultimate fate of the city, emotions are likely to run high.

It is in preparation for the inevitable debate that the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies has produced a pamphlet outlining the Jewish ties to the city, reproduced here on our website. "Jerusalem: The Eternal City" is the result of detailed research by our 1998 Summer Student Intern, Benseon Apple, in association with the Board's Public Affairs Office. The essay looks at the spiritual, cultural and national ties of the Jewish people to Jerusalem, providing an overview of the history and current developments within the city.

It is anticipated that the publication of this pamphlet will be the first of a number of information booklets to be produced by the Board. We trust that you will find "Jerusalem: The Eternal City" to be of interest.

Peter Wertheim
President,
NSW Jewish Board of Deputies

JERUSALEM FOREVER

"Jews care intensely about Jerusalem. The Christians have Rome and Canterbury and even Salt Lake City; Muslims have Mecca and Medina. Jerusalem has great meaning for them also. But the Jews have only Jerusalem, and only the Jews have made it their capital. That is why it has so much deeper a meaning for them than for anybody else...."(Teddy Kollek, Mayor of Jerusalem from 1965-1993).

Throughout its long and turbulent history, Jerusalem, more than any other city, has evoked the emotions, aspirations, yearnings and religious fervour of civilised mankind. Yet this homage of the world cannot overshadow the consuming and single-minded passion of one particular attachment: that of the Jewish people. For that people, as no other, Jerusalem is not just its one and only religious centre and source of spiritual life; from time immemorial it has been and, still is, the very heart and core of the people - the tangible embodiment of its nationhood, the lodestar in its wanderings, the theme of its prayers each day, the fulfilment of its dreams for the Return unto Zion and indeed the cornerstone of its continuity.

Many thousand of years ago, it was in Jerusalem that the priests would offer up daily sacrifices in the Temple on Mount Moriah. It was there in the Temple that the Sanhedrin, the great court of 71 Jewish sages, would sit in judgement. And three times a year on the harvest holydays of Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles, the entire Jewish nation would make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.

It is in the direction of Jerusalem that Jews face when they pray three times daily. The prayers themselves contain numerous references to Jerusalem and Zion. In the Amidah, the Silent Devotion, God is praised as the Builder of Jerusalem. In many other places the prayers echo the messianic belief that God will restore the Jewish people to His holy city. On Passover and the Day of Atonement Jews conclude services with the fervent hope: "Next year may we be in Jerusalem!"

The Jewish connection to Jerusalem harks back to Biblical times. Jacob, encountering the site where the Temple would stand centuries later said: "How awe-inspiring is this place! It is the House of God! It is the gate to heaven!" (Gen. 28:17). Jerusalem was "the site that the Lord your God will choose from among all your tribes, as a place established in His name. It is there that you shall go to seek His presence" (Deut. 12:3).

Jerusalem began to fulfil the function of a spiritual and national capital when King David conquered the city in the 10th century BCE. He made it his seat of judgement and brought the Ark of the Covenant to rest there. It was also David who conceived the idea of building a permanent house of God, a Temple, a plan eventually fulfilled by his son Solomon.

DESTRUCTION & REBIRTH

The story of the Jewish people and Jerusalem has been one of exile, destruction and rebirth. In its 3000 years of history the city was destroyed 17 times and 18 times reborn. There always remained a Jewish presence in the city, and the Jewish people as a whole always dreamt of returning to and rebuilding their city.

When the Babylonians destroyed the city in 586 BCE, the Jewish exiles pledged that they would never forget their beloved Jerusalem: "By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, and we wept, when we remembered Zion. Upon the willows in its midst we hanged up our harps. For there they that led us captive asked of us words of song, and our tormentors asked of us in mirth: 'Sing us one of the songs of Zion.' How shall we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land? If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand wither. Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I remember thee not; if I set not Jerusalem above my chiefest joy" (Psalms 137:1-6). The exiles did not forget their beloved city. They were to return there and rebuild the Temple under the guidance of Ezra and Nehemiah.

When the Seleucids took control over the Land of Israel and placed Greek idols in the Temple, the Jewish Maccabees revolted. They succeeded in recapturing Jerusalem and rededicating the Temple in 165 BCE. The Romans destroyed the Temple in 70 CE. When the Emperor Hadrian began planning to replace it with a shrine to Jupiter, a Jewish revolt known as the Bar Kochba Rebellion broke out.

For the last 2000 years, on the 9th day of the Hebrew month of Av, Jews everywhere have commemorated the destruction of their city and Temple with a 25-hour fast. They sit on low stools in their synagogues and recite Jeremiah's Lamentations. They recite elegies for the city which is "scorned without her glory".

During the periods of exile Jews throughout the world would be linked as they prayed together in their Hebrew tongue all facing in the same direction, maintaining their affinity with their eternal Jerusalem.

Today Jerusalem flourishes once again as the heart and soul of Judaism. It boasts a full range of synagogues, Talmudic academies and institutes of Jewish research. It is home to the Chief Rabbinate of Israel which administers the life cycle events of the nation's Jewish citizens. All varieties of Judaism are represented there. Nowhere else is the spiritual element of the Jewish people so visible as in this "place that the Lord has chosen".

NATIONAL CAPITAL

Jerusalem was never the capital city of any of its Muslim rulers. It was not the capital for the Umayyad, Abbasid, or Fatamid caliphates who ruled for 400 years. Nor was it the capital for the Mamluks (1260-1516), Ottomans (1516-1917), or Jordanians who ruled East Jerusalem (1948-1967).

The only time (until 1948) that Jerusalem was a capital over the last two millenia was for a period during the Crusades when it was conquered in 1099 by Godfrey de Bouillon who founded the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem.

Under Jordanian rule, from 1948-1967, East Jerusalem was the provincial capital of "Muhafazat el Quds", the Jerusalem Region. Yet, its mayor was not elected by the twelve city councillors, but appointed by the Minister of Interior in Amman irrespective of the number of votes he received in elections. Furthermore, no ministry had its seat in East Jerusalem. The Jordanian parliament and senate, and the headquarters of all public institutions and banks, were situated in Amman. East Jerusalem was regarded by the Jordanian authorities as a semi-municipal area, with services far below the minimum normal standards for municipalities.

The city has always been the designated national capital of the Jews. It has been home to the Jewish kings, the Sanhedrin, and the High Priest. Since independence in 1948 it has automatically become the capital of the State of Israel. By contrast it is interesting to note that the Palestinian Liberation Organisation's founding document, the Palestinian National Covenant of 1964 does not mention Jerusalem even once.

JEWISH PRESENCE

There has been a Jewish presence in the city continuously over the centuries, despite the massacres and deprivation brought about by its ruling powers and invading armies. The only time that Jews were forced to leave the city was in the period immediately after the Roman destruction and for a short time during the Crusades.

In 1870 - before the waves of Jewish migration from Europe - out of a total population of 22,000, there were 11,000 Jews, 6,500 Muslims and 4,500 Christians. Since the 1875 census, Jews have consistently made up an absolute majority of the city's total population. In 1997, out of a population of 591,000, there were 417,000 Jews.

A CITY OF MANY FAITHS

In Christian tradition, Jerusalem represents, in the words of Pope John Paul II, "the earthly point where God came into contact with man and where eternity crossed into history."

According to the New Testament, many events in Jesus' life took place in Jerusalem. It was there that he was tried, put to death, and rose again. The holy sites associated with the final days of Jesus' life were later established on a visit to the city by Queen Helena, mother of Constantine who had made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire in 313.

In Muslim teaching, Jerusalem is considered to be Islam's third holy city after Mecca and Medina. However, in contrast to the Tenach (Jewish Bible), the Koran does not explicitly mention Jerusalem, though there is a reference to the city in relation to Mohammed's ascension to the heavens: "Glorified be He Who carried His servant by night from the inviolable Place of Worship (Al-Masdjid Al-Haram) to the far Distant Place of Worship (Al-Masdjid Al-Aqsa) the neighbourhood whereof We have blessed, that We might show him Our tokens!" (Sura 17:1-3). The "inviolable Place of Worship" is understood to be Mecca while the "Far Distant Place of worship" is understood to be Jerusalem.

In 691 the Umayyad rulers of Jerusalem built the Dome of the Rock mosque on top of the remains of the Jewish Temple. In 715 they again built a mosque on the Temple Mount calling it the "Distant Place of Worship" or Al-Aqsa mosque, believing that Mohammed's night journey and his subsequent ascension to heaven took place at this site.

Mohammed initially instituted Jerusalem as the direction to which his followers were to face during prayer, largely as a conciliatory message to Jews, as at-Tabari, an early Muslim commentator on the Koran, suggests. But, Muslims were later commanded to face Mecca instead (Koran 2:142-52) when it became clear that the Jews rejected Mohammed's teachings.

A CITY OF RELIGIOUS FREEDOM

Israel's Declaration of Independence promises that the State of Israel "will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture; it will safeguard the holy places of all religions..."

Under Israel, freedom of religion has been guaranteed for all faiths in Jerusalem. By contrast, between 1948 and 1967, under the rule of Jordan in East Jerusalem, fifty-four synagogues were destroyed in the Old City; gravestones from the ancient Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives were used as paving stones; and Jews were expelled from the sector. Under Article 8 of the Israeli-Jordanian Armistice agreement of April, 1949, free access to the Western Wall and Mount Scopus was supposed to be guaranteed to the Jews, but the Jordanians never allowed this to take effect.

Immediately after the Israeli reunification of Jerusalem, the Protection of Holy Places Law was passed by the Knesset, on 22 June, 1967, guaranteeing the sanctity of all holy sites. The law imposes prison sentences of up to seven years on those who desecrate such places. The 1980 Basic Law on Jerusalem as the capital of Israel reaffirmed the principle of free access to the holy sites of all religions.

Israel permits Christians and Muslims to administer their own holy places and institutions. Jordan still administers the Muslim holy sites in the city. In 1988 King Hussein exempted Jerusalem when he ended his administrative ties with the West Bank, and the October 1994 Israel-Jordanian peace treaty agrees on respecting "the present special role of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in the Muslim holy shrines in Jerusalem".

C. Witton Davies, Archdeacon of Oxford, wrote after a visit to Jerusalem: "From my own personal conversations and observations, I testify that Jerusalem has never been so fairly administered, or made accessible to adherents of all three monotheisms, as well as to the general tourist sightseer or visitor."

Former US President Jimmy Carter, a devout Southern Baptist and an outspoken exponent of human rights, has acknowledged the freedom of religion in East Jerusalem under Israeli rule: "There is unimpeded access today. There wasn't from 1948-1967."

In April 1990, the chairman of the US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, Dante Fascell, noted on the floor of Congress that "since Israel gained control of the (Old) City in 1967, it has been open to worshippers of all faiths."

A CITY REBORN

Since 1967, Israel has restored and repopulated areas in East Jerusalem. As a result of the efforts of Teddy Kollek, Mayor of Jerusalem from 1965-1993, facilities were provided for Arabs in East Jerusalem beyond anything introduced under Jordanian rule, including sewage, a piped water system, clinics, parks and gardens. Jerusalem's Arabs can work freely in Israel and are entitled to health insurance, hospital access, and other benefits enjoyed by Israeli citizens.

Despite the charges of those who assert that Israel is "Judaising" the city, the fact is that since Israeli reunification, the Arab population has grown rapidly. In 1967 there were 68,600 Arabs living in Jerusalem, whereas in 1995 there were 174,400, a rise of 154%. Whilst the demographic growth has been great, crowding has actually decreased. In 1967 there were 12,200 Arab-owned apartments; by 1995 the number had risen to 27,066, an increase of 122%. The Israeli decision to build housing units in Har Homa in south-east Jerusalem was a response to the fact that the city is naturally expanding. At the same time as approving construction of housing for Jews, the government approved the building of 3,015 housing units for Arabs in ten Arab neighbourhoods in Jerusalem.

A UNITED CITY FOR ALL TIME

Israeli rule has not been perfect, yet it has effectively safeguarded the religious freedom of Christians, Muslims and Jews and their holy places. Under Israel the infrastructure in East Jerusalem has been greatly improved and the Arab population of the city has grown significantly. A redivided city would increase the number of conflict points between Jews and Arabs dissatisfied with the partition, and which, under two ruling authorities, would be a nightmare to control.

In October 1995, the US Congress passed the Jerusalem Embassy Act which recognised Jerusalem as the united capital of Israel and authorised the relocation of the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The then US Senate majority leader, Robert Dole, stated: "Yesterday's vote to relocate the American Embassy to Jerusalem was truly a bipartisan effort... No other city on earth represents the same capital of the same country inhabited by the same people, speaking the same language and worshipping the same God as it did 3000 years ago."

For 3000 years Jews have turned toward Jerusalem for spiritual, cultural, and national inspiration. Since the destruction of the city by the Romans almost 2000 years ago, foreign powers ruled the city vanquishing its inner beauty. Today the beauty has returned to the city. Jerusalem has once again truly become the centre of the Jewish people. The adage of the Talmudic sages has now been fulfilled: "Ten measures of beauty were bestowed upon the world; nine were taken by Jerusalem."

Copyright (c) 1998 NSW Jewish Board of Deputies

Excerpt from an address by Israeli Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin, given at the inauguration of the Jerusalem 3000 festivities on September 4, 1995 - two months before his assassination.

Three thousand years of history look down upon us today, as do the dreams which cover the hyssop of the Western Wall and the silent graves of the Mount of Olives and Mount Herzl; the hush of the footsteps of the pilgrims and the thunder of the nailed boots of the ruthless conquerors; whose walls resonate with the prayers of the children and the pleas of the praying; where the exultation of victory mingled with the tears of the paratroopers next to the remnants of the Temple, liberated from the yoke of strangers.

Three thousand years of dreams and prayers today wrap Jerusalem in love and bring close Jews of every generation - from the fires of the Inquisition to the ovens of Auschwitz, and from all corners of the earth - from Yemen to Poland.

Three thousand years of Jerusalem are for us, now and forever, a message for tolerance between religions, of love between peoples, of understanding between the nations, of the penetrating awareness that there is no State of Israel without Jerusalem, and no peace without Jerusalem united - the City of Peace. On the day that the government offices were moved to Jerusalem, on 13 December, 1949, the first Prime Minister, David Ben Gurion, said, "The State of Israel has, and will have, only one capital, Eternal Jerusalem. So it was 3,000 years ago and so it will be, as we believe, for eternity."

United Jerusalem is the heart of the Jewish people and the capital of the State of Israel.

JERUSALEM, SACRED TO WHOM

 

JERUSALEM, SACRED TO WHOM

"The city of Jerusalem, sacred to Christians, Moslems and Jews, is at the heart of the Middle East conflict," - so wrote the pastor of a Palestinian congregation in Jerusalem. The idea that there is an equally shared importance of Jerusalem is a common misconception. Even Israeli tour guides, in their introduction to the city, monotonously repeat, "Jerusalem is holy to the three great monotheistic faiths: Judaism, Christianity and Islam," as if this were a wholly accurate description.

It isn't, and it is a tragedy that visitors to Israel are not told what G-D Himself has to say about Jerusalem, and HIS vision for HIS Holy City. Certainly, G-D does not envision an ecumenical, internationalized "mecca" for all faiths. His Word, the Bible, is clear on G-D's view of the city He calls, "His own." Let's look at the place of Jerusalem in light of the Bible and with respect to Christianity, Judaism and Islam.

JERUSALEM - "SACRED TO CHRISTIANS"?

The Lord Jesus made it very clear to the Samaritan woman who asked where one should worship. She remarked, "You Jews say that Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship." Jesus replied, "Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain (Samaria), nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father...the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father is seeking such to worship Him" (John 4:20-24).

Jerusalem is certainly important to Christians! After all, it is the city where Jesus ministered, and where He was crucified, buried and resurrected. Christians are also looking for His return to this city. Nevertheless, to suggest that Jerusalem is central and necessary for Christian worship would seem to fly in the face of the LORD Himself. Jesus was clear that the place of worship for the Christian is within, no matter where he lives in the world.

The significance of Jerusalem for Christians, historically and even prophetically, is most directly related to G-D's purposes and plans for Israel and the Jewish people in the redemption of the world.

JERUSALEM "SACRED TO MOSLEMS"?

To describe Jerusalem as the third most holy site in Islam is 20th century revisionist history and PLO/Arab propaganda. It is a contrived attempt to wrestle the land of Israel and Jerusalem from Jewish sovereignty, which is seen as an affront to Islam.

Jerusalem is not mentioned even once in the Koran. In the 7th century, Mohammed did make a brief attempt to get people to pray towards Jerusalem in a vain effort to convert Jews to his new religion. However, he soon reverted the direction of Moslem prayer back to Mecca. To this day, all Moslems pray facing Mecca, and in most cases actually turn their backs on Jerusalem. During the entire 19 years of Jordanian occupation (1948-1967), only one Arab leader, King Abdullah of Jordan, came to pray in Jerusalem in 1953. He was shot by a Palestinian! The place of pilgrimage (haj) for Moslems, according to the Koran, is Mecca and its sister city, Medina in Saudi Arabia, not Jerusalem.

But, even more importantly, Allah, the G-D of Islam, is not the G-D of Israel. The G-D of Israel gave us His personal name, YaHWeH. This name has become so sacred to Jews, that it is never said, or even written, in order not to accidentally "take the Lord's name in vain." It has been replaced with the title "Adonai," which means "Lord." This is the same G-D worshiped by Christians, but not by Moslems.

In contrast to the G-D of Israel, Allah has no personal name. The word, Allah, simply means "G-D" in Arabic. Furthermore, when you study the history of Islam, you discover that when Mohammed went to Mecca, 365 G-Ds were worshipped. He destroyed the altars to these various G-Ds, except one, who became THE Allah. This Allah was connected with the worship of the moon, thus the crescent seen on the top of all mosques. He also had three daughter G-Ddesses, who were conveniently forgotten. The "new and improved" Allah of Islam is a remade G-D of the desert. Yes, Islam is monotheistic, but the G-D worshipped is not the G-D of the Bible - the Lord G-D of Israel. It is time Christians, especially the leaders of the Middle East churches, realized that Moslems worship another G-D, not YaHWeH of the Bible. YaHWeH first revealed His name to Moses. (Exodus 3:13-15, 6:2,3). And then Jesus says: "I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world" (John 17:6).

Mohammed chose another G-D and the Moslems walk another path. Islam also means, submission. The goal of Islam is to bring the world under the submission of Allah - first the individual and the State, and then other religions - particularly Christianity and Judaism. Just as the existence of Israel, or freedom of religion for Jews is a blasphemy to Islam, so is Christian belief or practice (witness the demise of Christianity and the outright murder of Christians in Islamic countries, even today).

The Moslem goal of control of Jerusalem is designed to limit Christianity and Judaism and the plans of the G-D of the Bible.

JERUSALEM - "SACRED TO JEWS?"

A resounding, Yes! The Temple Mount, at the heart of the Old City of Jerusalem, is sacred ground to the Jews. David was told by the Lord to go to Jerusalem to make it his capital. (Jerusalem has only been the capital of one nation in history, Israel.) There David was instructed to buy the threshing floor of Araunah to be the place for the tabernacle for G-D's presence (II Sam. 24). This place is the Temple Mount which has been the focal point of Judaism throughout the ages. The very ground was sacred. The fact that there are now three Moslem mosques there is because Islam evicted the Jews and took it!

The Jewish people, because of disobedience against G-D, have twice been exiled from Jerusalem. These exiles followed repeated warnings that they would indeed be dispersed. But, along with these warnings of the coming exile, G-D also gave His promise of a return in the "last days:"

"'I will bring back the captives of My people Israel; They shall build the cities and inhabit them;...I will plant them on their land, and no longer shall they be pulled up from the land I have given them,' says the Lord your G-D" (Amos 9:14,15).

In Luke 21:24, we are told that before the Lord comes, "Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled."

That day has come and the Jewish people are now back in Jerusalem and in the land of Israel - a land that was promised, from the beginning, only to Israel!

"Also I give to you (Abraham) and your descendants after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession" (Genesis 17:8).

In case there is any confusion, the promise to the descendants of Abraham is the line of promise through Isaac and Jacob - not Ishmael, as some like to believe (see Gen. 17:21; 21:12b; 28:13-15; Gal. 4:28).

G-D did make promises to the descendants of Ishmael, comprising many of the Arab groups of today. These promises, however, did not include the land of Israel (Genesis 16:9-12; 17:19-21). Furthermore, it should be pointed out that most of the Arab people do not even worship the G-D Who made those promises, yet they try to claim rights by Abraham. The descendants of Ishmael turned from YaHWeH, first to worshiping their 365 G-Ds, and then to the one Allah, as decreed by Mohammed.

Only for the Jews, did Jerusalem remain the center of their hopes and longings. Jerusalem is the city about which G-D says: "I have chosen Jerusalem, that My name may be there" (II Chronicles 6:6; II Chronicles 33:4). And again, "In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put My name forever." (II Chronicles 33:7). Jerusalem may be important to Christians and even special to Moslems, but it is a city that is sacred for the Jews.

WHOSE JERUSALEM?

We are living in prophetic days when the Jewish people are being returned from all the places where they had been scattered over the past 2000 years, in fulfillment of Bible prophecy (Isa. 11:11-12; 43:5,6, etc.)

We are living in the days about which G-D says: "I am zealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with great zeal...I am returning to Jerusalem with mercy;...My cities shall again spread out through prosperity; the Lord will again comfort Zion, and will again choose Jerusalem" (Zech. 1:14-17). Under Jewish/Israeli sovereignty, there has been freedom of access and freedom of worship in Jerusalem. Under no other historical regime, Christian or Moslem, has such freedom been granted. Israel is Jerusalem's rightful guardian - not Islam, not the Vatican, not some other Christian denomination, and not a secular, international, UN overseer.

Today, even with Israel's open policy, the Temple Mount is controlled by the Moslems, and this is the one place where free access stops. Jews are forbidden to enter! In fact, even Christians who want to pray or read their Bibles there are speedily removed. The Moslem authorities who have control over the Temple Mount say that the area is an Islamic shrine, and only Moslems may pray there.

The Temple Mount is at the heart of Jewish longings. It is the place where the G-D of Israel says the Temple will be rebuilt, and the place where the Jewish Jesus spent His most important days and hours. Nevertheless, it is clear that Islam will not give up its unique position of control over the Temple Mount, regardless of historical precedence.

Yasser Arafat's stated goal is to make Jerusalem the capital of a Palestinian state. On September 1, 1996, Arafat declared in Nablus, "Soon we will declare the establishment of the Palestinian state on the lands of the homeland. I tell Israel, that if it doesn't carry out the agreement in practice, the Palestinians will not have an alternative."

Even if Arafat were only partially successful and took only the eastern part of the city, it would include the Old City. Freedom of worship for all faiths, which exists today, would be limited.

Once again, biblical Jerusalem would be placed completely under Moslem (Gentile) sovereignty, contradicting G-D's Word and His purposes. Neither Christian nor Jewish messianic expectations see the Messiah of the Bible ruling from a city devoted to the worship of a deity. Surely, the messianic promise that, just before the appearance of Messiah (Lk. 21:27), Jerusalem would be "trampled under the feet of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled" (v. 24), will not now be reversed.

However, since that is the intention of the Moslems, a battle for Jerusalem will surely ensue. Arafat's October speech in Bethlehem, calling upon Moslem women to have 12 sons, "two for you and ten for me" for the struggle for Jerusalem, only underscores the potential of a new war that will be fought over Jerusalem. A handbill distributed by the Israel Islamic Movement on Sept. 29, 1996, read, "No east, no west, only Moslem Jerusalem."

The bottom line of this complex situation is that the struggle for Jerusalem goes much deeper than secular politics. It has spiritual and eternal implications. One thing is certain: The Jewish people have the longest history and most significant claims on the city, including a biblical mandate. They will not give up Jerusalem and will hold on until Messiah comes. Therefore, remember to "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem" (Ps. 122:6) - G-D's peace and rule, not man's.

 

After Thousands of Years, Does Jerusalem Still Matter?

After Thousands of Years, Does Jerusalem Still Matter?

Through 2,000 years of exile, Jews from the four corners of the world always turned in prayer toward Jerusalem. What memory were they so eager to preserve? Jerusalem has no strategic significance. It has no commercial or industrial importance, and it is not a cultural center.

How has this ancient city, unimportant as it appears, crept to the heart of contention between Israel and the Palestinians over the future of the land of Israel? Why should we care what happens to Jerusalem?

We need to begin by understanding the importance of memory. Memory isn't history or dead memorabilia. By defining the past, memory creates the present. Repression of memory creates mental disease. Health comes from memory's recovery. Dictators consolidate power by altering memory. Stalin airbrushed Trotsky and Bukharin out of photographs. Revisionists deny the Holocaust ever happened. Why does it matter?

In Hebrew, the word for man is zachar. The word for memory is zecher. Man is memory. People who suffer memory loss through illness or accident don't just misplace their keys. They lose their selves. They become lost and adrift in time, because without memory, the current moment has no context, and no meaning.

When the Jews were first exiled from Jerusalem, King David said, “If I forget you Jerusalem, let my right hand lose its strength. Let my tongue cling to my palate if I fail to recall you, if I fail to elevate Jerusalem above my highest joy.” The memory of Jerusalem somehow is linked to our current vigor as a people. But how? What is the memory of Jerusalem, and what does it contribute to who we are?

London comes from a Celtic word which means “a wild and wooded town.” Cairo is an anglicized version of the Arab name for Mars, the Roman god of war. Paris is named for the Paris of Greek myth, who was asked by the gods to choose between love, wisdom, and power. He chose love—the love of Helen of Troy.

The Talmud says Jerusalem was named by G-d. The name has two parts: Yira, which means “to see,” and shalem, which means “peace.”

Jerusalem was the place of Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac, and Abraham said of Jerusalem, “This is the place where G-d is seen.”

Elsewhere, G-d is a theory, but in Jerusalem, G-d is seen, and felt, as a tangible presence. In Jerusalem we reach beyond the frailty and vulnerability of our lives, and we sense and strive for transcendence. Elsewhere we grope for insight. In Jerusalem we anticipate clarity. Jerusalem is for visionaries.

Jerusalem is a metaphor for a perfected world, and it gives us perspective on our lives. When Aldous Huxley said, “we have each of us our Jerusalem,” he meant much more than a temporal city of taxi cabs and traffic jams. He meant a vision of what life might be.

The vision of life's promise is one we surrender at our peril, because it gives us the will to live. In exile for 2,000 years Jews said “Next year in Jerusalem,” and amidst poverty and oppression they preserved the dream of a world in which love and justice—not power and self-interest—would be the currency men live by.

Part of the name Jerusalem is peace, but the peace of Jerusalem is not the absence of strife. Jerusalem has rarely known anything but strife. The peace of Jerusalem is the peace at the center of the spokes of a wheel, where opposing forces may be delicately balanced and reconciled.

The Talmud says that creation began in Jerusalem, and the world radiated outward from this place. Medieval maps show Jerusalem at the epicenter of Asia, Europe, and Africa. The world flows into this spot, and all life's forces resonate here. From this place, the whole world is cast into perspective.

Jerusalem, the center, which gives perspective to the rest of the world. Jerusalem where G-d is seen. Jerusalem the perfected world. Humanity has long understood that he who controls Jerusalem controls the world's memory. He controls the way G-d is seen. He controls the way life's forces are cast into perspective. He controls the way we collectively see our future.

Once the Temple Mount was the highest point in the city of Jerusalem, but in the year 135, Roman slaves carried away the dirt of the mountain, and turned it into the valley we now look down on from the Old City. The Romans expelled Jews from Jerusalem and barred them from reentering on pain of death. Jewish life, they proclaimed, has now ended.

The Crusaders rewrote Jerusalem's importance, the center no longer of Jewish national drama, but the site of the passion and death of Jesus. Like the Romans they expelled Jews, and destroyed synagogues.

The Moslems came after, and as those before them, rewrote the memory of Jerusalem, expelling Jews and Christians. They systematically built mosques on every Jewish holy site. They airbrushed the past.

In rewriting the history of Jerusalem each of these cultures rewrote our place, the Jewish place, in history. They consigned us, they believed, to the dust bin of history, a once great people, now abandoned by G-d; bypassed by time.

But Jews preserved Jerusalem as a memory. When we built our houses we left a square unplastered, and we broke a glass at weddings in memory of Jerusalem. From all over the world we turned and prayed toward Jerusalem, and because memory was kept alive, the Jewish people lived.

When Jerusalem was liberated, time was conflated. The past became present. What we had longed for became ours. What we had dreamed of became real, and soldiers wept because an adolescent Mediterranean country suddenly recovered a memory lost for 2000 years. The past was instantly present, incredibly, transcendently, transforming who we knew ourselves to be.

Who are we? We are not despised and impoverished itinerants, surviving on the fickle goodwill of other nations. We are not a nation of farmers recovering swamps, nor of warriors—though when we need to be we are all these things.
We are a nation of priests and of prophets, a light unto mankind. We taught the world “to beat their swords into plowshares,” “to love your neighbor as yourself,” equality before justice, and that admiration belongs not to the rich and powerful, but to the good, the wise, and the kind. Hitler said, “The Jews have inflicted two wounds on humanity: circumcision on the body and conscience on the soul.” How right he was and how much more we have to do. How tragic when we fail ourselves.

Already divided by language, by geography, and even by religion, our people are bound only by threads of memory and of hope. These threads are exquisitely fragile. If they sever we will fragment, and the long and bitter exile of our people—not yet fully ended—is consequence, says the Talmud, of the dissensions which sunder us from one another.

To this threat, Jerusalem provides counterpoint, for Jerusalem embodies our memories and hopes. Jerusalem is a living memory, a vision of G-d in our lives, an image of a perfected world. Jerusalem gives us the strength to achieve what we as a people must do, to unite ourselves, and to sanctify this world. This is why Jerusalem matters.