Then and Now

Photo composited of two photos:

The replica city of Jerusalem at the Israeli Museum

and the City of Jerusalem taken from the Mount of Olives on May 2010

Photo of the Dome of the Rock taken from the Mount of Olives on May 2010


"Then Solomon began to build the House of the Lord at Jerusalem in mount Moriah,

where the Lord appeared unto David his father."

2 Chronicles 3: 1

The best known temple mentioned in the Bible is the one built by Solomon in Jerusalem. It was destroyed in 600 B.C. by the Babylonians and was restored by Zerubbabel almost a hundred years later. Part of this temple was burned in 37 B.C., and Herod the Great later rebuilt it.

.

The above photo is a replica of the Herod's Temple that existed at the time of Christ. The temple was destroyed by the Romans and never rebuilt again by the Jews. It was replaced by the Muslim shrines in the 8th Century AD which still stand there today, with the Golden Dome of the Rock - the city's symbol.

.

The rock is in the center of the shrine, and according to Jewish tradition was the place where Abraham came to sacrifice his son Isaac. According to Muslim tradition, prophet Muhammad ascended to the heaven from this rock. Jews believe that it was on this rock that Abraham prepared to sacrifice Isaac, and this stone may have once stood in Solomon's Temple.

.

On the walls of the Dome of the Rock is an inscription in a mosaic frieze that includes the following words; “Such was Jesus son of Mary and peace upon him on the day of birth and on the day of death and on the day he is raised up again. It is a word of truth in which they doubt. It is not for God to take a son. Glory be to him when he decrees a thing he only says be, and it is."