Evidence found of the Temple of Yahweh that King Solomon built in Jerusalem
By Damien F. Mackey
“[Eli] Shukron led us about forty feet underground into the well-secured area. ….
The site has grooves cut into that bedrock for an olive press and sacrifice tables, and loops cut into the walls presumably to secure animals.
Slightly uphill and to the left of the olive press is a long channel cut into the floor most likely designed to drain off blood.” Dr. Frank Turek
Frank Turek (born November 20, 1961) is an American Christian apologist, author, public speaker, and radio host. He is best known as the founder and president of Christian apologetics ministry CrossExamined.org. Turek has co-authored two books (Legislating Morality and I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist) with Christian philosopher Norman Geisler. In addition, Turek has authored two of his own books (Correct, Not Politically Correct and Stealing from God). Turek hosts a call-in talk show called CrossExamined on American Family Radio. Turek also hosts a television show, I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist, which airs on the NRB Network.
Miles Williams Mathis: The ILLOGIC of ATHEISM – Library of Rickandria
Dr. Frank Turek has given a dramatic, and optimistic, title to his 2014 article:
The Jewish Temple that may Prevent World War III – Cross Examined
THE JEWISH TEMPLE THAT MAY PREVENT WORLD WAR III
WEDNESDAY, JULY 2, 2014
Israel is the most contested piece of real estate in the world.
Lucifer’s Flood & the Little Season: Israel – Library of Rickandria
And the most contested piece of real estate within Israel is the temple mount in the old city of Jerusalem.
JERUSALEM – Library of Rickandria
Nearly every Jew believes that the Muslim Dome of the Rock, which dominates that thirty-six acre site, sits on the spot of all previous Jewish Temples, including the last one destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D.
Miles Williams Mathis: ROME – Library of Rickandria
Some Jews and Christians believe that the temple must be and will be rebuilt on that spot.
Therein lies the problem.
Can you think of a faster way to start World War III?
Thankfully, new evidence is just coming to light that might reveal a more peaceful solution.
The Jewish Temple may not have been on the Temple Mount but just outside the current walls of the old city.
I had the privilege of seeing this evidence several days ago along with a few others participating on our CrossExamined.org trip to Israel.
Our guide was the man who uncovered the new evidence:
Israeli archaeologist Eli Shukron.
Since 1995, Shukron has been digging up the twelve-acre area called the City of David that [just] out from the southern wall of the old city of Jerusalem.
The House of David – Library of Rickandria
He and his team have removed thousands of tones [sic] of dirt to discover, among other things, the Pool of Siloam where Jesus healed a blind person (John 9:7), and the once impenetrable fortress of the Jebusites that David and his men captured by sneaking up an underground water shaft (2 Sam 5:7-8).
Near that water shaft, about 1,000 feet south of the Temple Mount, Shukron discovered the remains of an ancient temple just a few feet from the Gihon Spring.
Shukron led us about forty feet underground into the well-secured area.
As the lead archaeologist, only he has the key.
The excavated area is down to bedrock, which means there was no civilization below it.
The site has grooves cut into that bedrock for an olive press and sacrifice tables, and loops cut into the walls presumably to secure animals.
Slightly uphill and to the left of the olive press is a long channel cut into the floor most likely designed to drain off blood.
Behind it Shukron unlocked a steel box he had built to protect something on the floor.
As he swung the doors open, we saw an ancient upright stone (called a “stele”) surrounded by a foundation of smaller stones.
“The Bible says Jacob took a stone and put small stones around it, and then put olive oil on top of that stone.”
Shukron told me, referring to the stele Jacob erected in the town of Bethel (Genesis 28:18).
“It is a connection between Jacob and God—the relationship between them.”
Indeed, Jacob called the place he made, “God’s house.”
The Jews were known to set up stele to commemorate interactions with God:
- Gen. 28:18, 31:45, 35:14
- Josh. 24:26
- 1 Sam. 8:12
But according to Shukron, the stele he discovered is the only one ever found in Jerusalem.
Could it mark the actual site of the real Jewish temple—God’s house?
“It certainly was a temple from the first temple period (circa 970-586 B.C.),” Shukron said.
“But Solomon’s temple was on the Temple Mount.”
King Solomon the Philosopher King – Library of Rickandria
When I asked him what archeological evidence exists for the Temple Mount site, he offered very little in response.
Perhaps the paucity of evidence is due to the political realities that prevent much digging there.
On the other hand, quite a compelling case can be made for Solomon’s Temple being at Shukron’s site.
My co-host on the trip, Bob Cornuke, makes that case in a fascinating new book called Temple: Amazing New Discoveries that Change Everything About the Location of Solomon’s Temple.
In a book that is being heralded as
“an investigative masterpiece”
with
“astounding archaeological and prophetic implications,”
TEMPLE: Amazing New Discoveries That Change Everything About the Location of Solomon’s Temple, by Robert Cornuke,
is sending shockwaves through the:
- Jewish
- Muslim
- Christian
worlds.
Can you imagine the upheaval in political and religious thinking if the Temple Mount in Jerusalem is not the site of Solomon’s and Herod’s temples?
And what if the stones of the Wailing Wall are not what tradition says?
In this highly researched, exciting book, the author proposes from current archaeological excavations and Scriptural corroboration that the true temple location is not where tradition teaches.
This a must read for anyone who wants to fit together the:
- pieces of biblical records
- current geo-polotics
- prophecy
Says the author,
“Let the adventure begin as we now take the Bible in one hand and a shovel in the other and dig up some long-lost buried bones of biblical history.
Along the way we will walk unknown passageways, known only to the prophets of old, as we search for the true location of the lost temples of Solomon and Herod.
We will also lift a candle into the dim recesses of history and uncover secrets about the Ark of the Covenant and the gold Mercy Seat’s prophetic obligation as it relates to the future Millennial temple.”
LOR:
Regarding the Ark of the Covenant, the Book of Revelation says that the Ark is in Heaven:
And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ARK of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail. Rev 11:19
We know it’s not a normal box or Noah’s Ark, so that leaves us the Ark of the Covenant.
Cornuke picks up on the research of the late archaeologist, Ernest L. Martin, who in 1997 suggested that the biblical text and eyewitness evidence from the first century all point to the City of David as the actual temple location.
Now there appears to be quite specific archaeological evidence as well.
Cornuke and Shukron have been discussing this evidence for the better part of the last year.
There are even a couple of pictures in Cornuke’s book from Shukron’s site.
You can see those pictures and some of my own here.
So why isn’t Shukron suggesting his site is where the temple was?
If true, it would be the greatest archaeological discovery of all time!
Dumb and Dumbfounded archaeology – Library of Rickandria
I had dinner with Eli, Bob and a couple of others to discuss that question.
First, there is the weight of the consensus site.
If the true site is actually in the City of David, just how did the Temple Mount become the dominant site in the first place?
Cornuke provides some plausible historical answers in his book.
He also shows the text of the Bible and other historical witnesses seem to point to the City of David. Nevertheless, maybe the general consensus in favor of the Temple Mount is correct.
Second, as a noted Israeli archaeologist, Shukron would need to evaluate more of the evidence and the opinions of his colleagues before he would ever entertain making a shift on such a monumental question.
The Temple Mount is so entrenched in:
- tradition
- politics
- Jewish identity
—the Western Wall being the holiest Jewish site for prayer—that any shift in opinion would be met with great resistance.
WHO ARE THE MODERN JEWS? – Library of Rickandria
It’s not a shift one should make overnight.
However, Shukron is open to the possibility.
He told us that the location of the Temple is certainly a topic worthy of debate.
That debate could be ratcheted up when he presents his findings to a group of archaeologists at a conference in Jerusalem at the end of July.
If it’s not Solomon’s Temple, then whose Temple did Shukron discover?
When I asked him that question, he just said,
“we’ll see.” ….
SAUCE
Evidence found of the Temple of Yahweh that King Solomon built in Jerusalem
Evidence found of the Temple of Yahweh that King Solomon built in Jerusalem