Wednesday, September 05, 2007

The Heart & Soul of Israel

Why Is the Temple Mount So Important? -Dr. Gabriel Barkay

The Temple Mount is the heart, soul, and spirit of the Jewish people. It is the only holy place that Jews have.

This is the place believed to be the site of the binding of Isaac. This is the place where David built the altar... This is the place where the First and Second Temple[s] w[ere] built. This is the place of the third edifice built on the site by King Herod the Great - the building so frequently mentioned in the New Testament.

The Temple Mount represents the Near Eastern conflict in a nutshell and whatever happens to the Temple Mount will happen to the rest of the country. If the Temple Mount is under Palestinian rule and there is no accessibility for Jews to the Temple Mount and no control on the antiquities discovered there, that means that the legitimacy of Jews in the entire country is questioned.

The gigantic stones of the Temple Mount are mentioned in the New Testament: Jesus was brought to the Temple Mount as an infant, and later in his career he chased away the money changers from the Temple Mount. There are approximately twenty references to the Temple Mount in the New Testament and beyond any doubt the Temple Mount is an integral part of the Christian heritage.

I am amazed that there was a world outcry concerning the blowing up of the statues of Buddha by the Taliban authorities in Afghanistan, while the destruction on the Temple Mount didn't hit the media and there was no outrage expressed.
(One Jerusalem)

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