Herodian-Era Wall Discovered on Temple Mount

Update (Sep. 5, 2007)

In his group's letter to the Christian world today, Rabbi Chaim Rechman, director of the international department at Israel's Temple Institute, pointed out what he said was the significant of the Islamic dig on the Temple Mount.

Aside from the political implications regarding the future of Jerusalem and the direct effect that this will have on the entire world, the spiritual implications of what is now transpiring are enormous. The Bible consistently emphasizes the centrality of the Holy Temple in the life of mankind; it is none other than the 'footstool' of God in the world.

The destruction of God's holy mountain is precisely what is taking place at this very moment under our very eyes. The purposeful destruction of remnants of the Holy Temple are an attempt to undermine God’s sovereignty and to erase His name from the one place on earth that He has chosen to manifest His presence throughout the saga of human history.

Update (Sep. 3, 2007)

JERUSALEM – Islamic authorities using heavy machinery to dig on the Temple Mount – Judaism's holiest site – have been caught red-handed destroying Temple-era antiquities and what's believed to be a section of an outer wall of the Second Jewish Temple.

WND today obtained a photograph of a massive trench the Waqf, the Muslim custodians of the Temple Mount, have been blasting around the periphery of the holy site purportedly to replace 40-year-old electrical cables for mosques on the Mount. The Waqf has steadfastly denied they found or destroyed any Jewish antiquities during their dig.

Rabbi Tovia Singer on Israel National Radio discusses new destruction to the temple mount. (Audio file).

1Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. 2"Do you see all these things?" he asked. "I tell you the truth, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down."
3As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. "Tell us," they said, "when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?" -Matthew 24:1-3
15"So when you see standing in the holy place 'the abomination that causes desolation,'[b] spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand— 16then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17Let no one on the roof of his house go down to take anything out of the house. 18Let no one in the field go back to get his cloak. -Matthew 24:15-17


According to the Jerusalem Post, more archaeological destruction continues on the Temple Mount with Israel's Prime Minister Olmert's approval.

Islamic officials have said the trench was necessary to replace decades-old electrical cables, and have denied any antiquities have been damaged.

Among the antiquities that have been damaged are a 7-meter-wide wall that apparently dates back to Second-Temple times and was likely part of the Temple courts, according to Israeli archaeologists from the nonpartisan Committee Against the Destruction of Antiquities on the Temple Mount.

"This is the first time in the history of archaeological excavation in Israel that we have remains that could have been part of the courts of the Temple itself," Barkai said.

Leen Ritmeyer, an archaeologist who has worked on the Temple Mount as field-architect of the excavations led by the late Prof. Benjamin Mazar and independent scholar since 1973, reports:

According to this position, it is clear to me that the long wall encountered is the eastern wall of the Chamber of the Lepers (see plan on p. 345 of The Quest) and perhaps also part of the northern gate of the Court of the Women. The latter chamber was one of the four courtyards that belonged to the Court of the Women, with the other three being the Chamber of the Woodshed, the Chamber of the Nazarites and the Chamber of the House of Oil. As this area has never been built over since the Roman destruction of 70 AD, the wall cannot belong to a post-Herodian construction. It is therefore very exciting that the first concrete evidence of the Herodian Temple complex may have been found and ironically by people who deny that there ever was a Jewish Temple on the Temple Mount.

Solomon's Temple

A Tour of the Temple Mount

It isn’t the first time Israel’s government has turned a blind eye to illegal digging and dumping initiated by the Muslim religious trust, known as the Waqf. “The Waqf has been destroying our history for nearly three decades without interference from Israeli authorities, despite the country’s strict antiquities laws,” Hershal Shanks editorialized in 2000. “In late 1999 in the guise of building an emergency exit from the underground area known as Solomon’s Stables (which has been converted into a mosque), the Waqf began removing hundreds of truckloads of archaeologically rich material and dumped it in the Kidron Valley. Ultimately, it removed more than 6,000 tons of earth, allowing the creation of what the police commander of the Jerusalem District called ‘a monumental entry gate’ 200 feet long and 75 feet wide” (Washington Post, July 17, 2000).

The Barak government did nothing to prevent the cultural desecration, despite widespread rebuke from university presidents and professors, media commentators, Knesset members and other political voices in Israel, including Ehud Olmert, who was mayor of Jerusalem at the time. Described by the Associated Press as “Jerusalem’s hard-line mayor,” Olmert accused the Barak government of being pushed around by the Palestinians. “Jewish history is being trampled on with a heavy foot,” Olmert said. “We need to decide if we are the sovereign in Jerusalem or if we are under control of the Waqf there” (AP, Dec. 6, 1999).

Since that time, nothing much has changed, except that Mayor Olmert is now prime minister.