• The ceasefire between Hamas-Israel seems holding. But it only simmers unless the fundamental religious and existential issues are resolved.
• The Temple Mount is one of the key issues. Arabs will not yield an inch of their holy place while the Jews remain frustrated that only the wailing wall remain of their only temple.
• What if the Jews’ temple existed elsewhere biblically and archaeologically? It is a profound solution to the deeply rooted impasse.
• The building of the Third Temple in the City of David will unlock many opportunities and solve many problems of the world! It will usher an era of graciousness and peace that Zechariah predicted.

The Cycle Turns

The Gaza-Israel ceasefire appears holding. And so did the previous hostility that ceased last August 26, 2014. It lasted 2449 days until rockets from Gaza rained again on May 10, 2021. The “rockets show” displayed the improved projectiles of Hamas as well as the insulating capabilities of the IDF’s Iron Dome.

Israel since then got their Iron Dome replenishment commitment from the US. On the other hand, Gaza received a billion dollars humanitarian aid from the US, Egypt, Qatar and other countries to rebuild their strip. Hamas is expected to use a chunk of these aids to prepare itself for the next round of hostilities. They even have Iran for military and economic support and expected to deepen moving forward.

Meanwhile, the apartheid and antisemitism positions of governments and individuals also became clearer (and vicious) and the opposing parties around the globe got drifted more than ever.

Einstein’s Bedrock Issue

This juncture is just a lull. Enduring peace will only come if the Arabs in general accept the Jews’ right to exist. The Jews likewise should become more compassionate with the Palestinians given their economic, military, and technological might leading to a Palestine state. Otherwise these ceasefires will only be posturing until hostilities ignite again.

So what should change so that this vicious cycle gets broken? Einstein is right that we are insane to expect change — that this increasing violence and war sophistication will abate — unless key issues are dealt with. If not, the IDF and Hamas will end up being more adept in their preparations for the next maneuvering.

The Temple Mount

The main issue is not about land. Otherwise, the Palestinians and the Arabs would have accepted, as early as 1948, the UN approved division of the area. And there have been numerous settlement initiatives from the Camp David to the Oslo Accords but failed. Both parties simply do not have each other’s best interest especially on religious matters.

The “ownership” of Jerusalem has changed hands violently many times from the time of Abraham to the current tussle. But the spiritual fervor amongst the Jews, Arabs/Muslims, and Christians underscored the emotionalism behind.

There is no stopping the Arabs from defending every inch of their third holiest site. But the Jews will pursue the conversion of their Wailing Wall to the prophesied third rising of their one and only temple. Solomon built the first temple and was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BC. Zerubbabel and Herod built the second that the Romans destroyed in AD 70.

There is no solution if an “unstoppable stone meets an immovable stone.” The temple mount is expected to spark, as it did this year, another Arab-Israel war. Hamas and Hezbollah are already warning Israel not to mess up with al-Aqsa. Israel likewise is now preparing for the next war. Hopefully it will not be a regional and nuclear one.

What If?

Emotions are hardest to deal with because they affect logical reasoning. Discord happens when parties feel that historically they never had each other’s interest. But what if, however preposterous that may sound to some, the original temples of the Jews as clarified is located elsewhere?

Ernest L. Martin, in “The Temples That Jerusalem Forgot”, published in 2000 the original scholarly work that the temple is in the City of David. It can be read here online. Bob Cornuke’s “Temple” in 2014 reinforced the findings and highlighted more the scriptural bases of the claim. A shorter narrative of both biblical and archaeological findings can be read here.

Not One Stone Left Over the Other

The Jews and Arabs already have enough trouble between themselves. To insert Christianity on that unease truly begs the question. But Jesus Christ clearly prophesied in Matthew 24 that “not one stone will be left on top of the other” of the buildings (that is, altars, outer court, walls, gates, etc.) of the second temple. He said this right before he was crucified 40 years before Titus destroyed Jerusalem in AD 70! Isn’t it curious that the Wailing Wall, alleged as part of the second temple, is still standing?

Josephus Flavius (37-100 CE) in the War of the Jews (Book 7, ch.8) wrote that the “Holy Temple dug up, after so profane a manner.” A fourth century bishop in Cyprus – Epiphanius of Salamis – wrote that Emperor Hadrian in his visit found “Jerusalem utterly destroyed and God’s Holy Temple a ruin.”

Josephus also mentioned in the same book (ch.1-2) that only the camp of those that demolished the temple to the very foundations was preserved. Ceasar himself ordered that the Tenth Legion (of about 6,000 soldiers and 4,000 support staff) stay in the camp. They did until about 200-300 years later. The garrison is certainly not the temple that has been utterly destroyed. It must be Fortress Antonia, a garrison built and named after Herod’s patron, Mark Anthony.

Unearthing Truth in the City of David

From Queen Victoria to this day, there have been a lot of diggings in the City of David, the place equated in the Bible as Mount Zion. This is where the Gihon Spring is located. Eusebius wrote that Aristeas’ (a Jew in 2nd-3rd century BCE) had an eye-witness account of a spring-like reservoir within the first temple. Similarly, Tacitus (Roman historian in 2nd century CE) also affirmed a similar account.

Thousands of animals were slaughtered for sacrifice during Solomon’s time. To do that, there had to be a natural spring for the gigantic washings and killings. It is mentioned repeatedly in the Bible that the temple was built on the top of a living source of water. Gihon Spring is the only nearby source of water for Jerusalem until the 20th century.

The City of David (as differentiated from the Old Jerusalem up north) is still being extensively dug. The 12 acre area is envisioned to be a tourist and religious site for all the 4 billion Muslims, Christians, and Jews who have the same reverence for Abraham, David, and the history of Jerusalem. Who knows what the authorities will discover and build as a result?

House of David

Across the Kidron Valley from the Temple Mount is a revered place for all Jews – Mount of Olives – where the largest cemetery of Jews exist. Strangely though, the House of David (that is, his tomb, that of Solomon and the other Davidic line kings) is nowhere to be found. The current King David’s Tomb site in Jerusalem is not considered by historians and archaeologists as the actual resting place. His bones are not there!

Peter declared in Acts 2:29 that the Jews knew then where David and his tomb was. Additionally, Josephus mentioned in the Antiquities of the Jews (Book 7, ch. 15) that immense wealth were in those tomb caves.

It is surmised that the tombs, more importantly, may contain the Ark of the Covenant, other key temple artifacts, and original records of the Torah. All Kings of Israel were required to write down the books of Moses. It is not farfetched that both David and Solomon’s written version, together with the rest of their proverbs and songs, are kept there!

Acts of God

The diggings continue in the City of David. But God may enter history profoundly if a natural disaster opens up the Tomb of David and the great wealth and knowledge that possibly goes with it. Or the Israel Antiquities Authority may discover that with all their modern technology.

Whatever happens, discoveries of the tomb will certainly spark the fervor to built the Third Temple asap in the City of David! It will be a capstone to the tourism and religious unity aspiration of Israel in the next 2-3 years. It might as well be the fulfillment of Zechariah’s prophesy that an era of “grace and supplication” will usher in.

Until then, the cycle of hate in the Temple Mount and around the globe will pester unless this Jerusalem issue is resolved. Pray that the Third Temple of the Jews be built in the City of David soon, the Haram al-Sharif left alone, and more killings and intifadas averted once this regurgitating issue is resolved.

Featured image: Christine Schmidt from Pixabay