Jerusalem's Final Altar Location

The Context

The altar is the beacon for construction of Israel's temples. It must be positioned at Akeida, the site that Isaac was offered as a sacrifice by his father Abraham. Recently, the stone temple discovered on the eastern slopes of Mount Moriah presented authorities with the most challenging discovery of our time. It has shed new light on key biblical events that occurred over thousands of years including Akeida. To help comprehend the impact of this discovery these videos have been produced.

Hebrew

English

 

The Proof

More than 12 years after it was first uncovered, the stone temple began to yield irrefutable evidence, supported by Weizmann Institute and Cambridge University. The evidence continues to send shockwaves through archaeological and biblical fraternities, it cannot be ignored.

Upending Revisionist Bias

A standing stone, to commemorate a covenant and a set of clay tablets are sufficient proofs to reset the academic bias that has altered our understanding of Biblical history for the past 200 years. The bias was perpetrated by early French, German and British archaeologists that established the now broadly accepted views of Egyptian Pharaonic chronology. Their dating clashed with Biblical dating, by around 1-200 years, leading many to support the claim that the Bible was loosely constructed by 4 authors and its dates lacked credibility. These academics opposed the traditional Jewish view that the Bible is the word of God as transcribed by Moses. Now, we have proof to discredit their biased claims and restore the Bible to its rightful place. 

In 2010 excavations at the City of David on Jerusalem's Mount Moriah began to reveal the hidden rooms of a stone temple that baffled everyone. It took another 12 years before a carbon dating study by Weismann Institute and Cambridge University firmly established the date the water channel for the facility was built. The water channel flushed water onto the floors of 2 of the 4 main rooms that were carved out of bedrock. These rooms constitute a temple complex, which we have called Temple Zero because it proceeds the First Temple built by Solomon by at least 600 years.

According to Biblical chronology, Jacob left his parents for their ancestral home in Harran (Syria-Turkey border) where he was sent to find a wife and build a family. Commentators calculate he first spent 14 years learning with Noah's great, great grandson Ever. Before making his final departure he encountered the place of his famous stairway to heaven dream, the place he would name, Beit El, in 2185 (Since Creation) or 1576 BCE (CODEX JUDAICA) (Genesis 28:11).

Twenty years later Jacob returned from Harran in 2205 (Since Creation)1556 BCE. His last child Benjamin was born in 2208 (Since Creation) 1553 BCE (Genesis35:18-19). The birth was preceded by a brief (6-12 month) stop at Beit El. When he originally left Beit El for Harran and when he returned (Genesis 35:14) the Bible tells us that he set up and anointed a matzevah. The only, in-situ artifact of Temple Zero is a room containing a matzevah and the last use of the water channel that serviced the adjacent rooms was 18 years later 1535 BCE. Jacob, who by this time had been named Israel and his family were exiled to Egypt 12 years later in 1523 BCE (Genesis 46:1). This constitutes my first refutation of the Pharaonic chronology. 

The second refutation takes place after Israel's long exile and journey, back from Egypt, that took them away for 250 years. Joshua led Israel in numerous battles to conquer settle Israel's tribes in their allotted portions of land. Joshua ruled 32 years in the land. 

The Amarna letters span Egyptian Pharaoh's Amenhotep III, Akhenaten, through possibly Smenkhkare or Tutankhamun around 150 years. At least letter #254 must have been written during the overlap of Amenhotep III and Joshua's 32 year reign, which according to the Biblical record ended in 1245 BCE. But, the 100 year gap between Amenhotep III and Joshua would need resolution. Known as The Labaya tablet, #254 and others reference Pharaoh in his 32nd year of reign leaving only Amenhotep III who held power for 36-38 years during the Amarna period. According to the classic chronology Amenhotep III died in 1351 BCE.

If letter #254 describes the Biblical events that took place following 1273 BCE, at the beginning of Joshua's reign, the Egyptian chronology, immediately prior to the Amarna period, would have to be revised forward by around ~100 years, which would be difficult for classical Egyptologists to digest. Joshua must then have overlapped both Amenhotep III and Akhenaten, which if we wind back 40 years, would make Thutmose IV the prime candidate at the time of the Israelite Exodus led by Moses. 

Although limited, evidence of Israel's exodus in Egypt does exist, as does evidence of Egypt erasing and reconstructing its history, here we have an important artifact that has been written off by prolonged academic bias. Now that we have a proof date of Jacob returning from his exile and an letter #254 with an academic dating to ~1360 BCE, when Israel returned from their Egyptian exile, we can confidently challenge the revisionist bias and re-sync Common Era dates back to their Creation alignments. Such an adjustment would put letter #254 at ~1260 BCE, some 13 years after Moses death in 1273 BCE according to Creation. The Bible chronology tells us it took 14 years after Moses to settle the land.  

These two absolute dates and the context of the associated artefacts are sufficient to persuade anyone, except those whose bias against Israel surpasses their desire for truth. 

Water, Water Everywhere, Will Archaeologists Drink?

On the eastern slopes of the City of David, a Middle Bronze Age water system, remnants of a reservoir and a water channel was carbon dated to 1515 BCE. There is no other later evidence of water supply to rooms of the rock-cut-temple. No alternative water system exists, yet despite the absence of later evidence some archaeologists, still insist that the rock-cut-temple, in its present form, should instead be dated to the Iron Age. Academic isolation and over simplification of context, distorts understanding at this complex, ancient location. However, the video below offers the most comprehensive explanation. Before viewing, it's important to illustrate the passage of water as it once flowed to the rooms, more than 3500 years ago (follow the Area U/C map below). 

Room 2 (with tethered animal for slaughter) 

Room 1 (with impression of sacrificial altar on platform)

Water passage. Room 2 (center-foreground)
 Room 1 (upper right-background)

 

Area U water system leading to Area C rooms (1 and 2)

The video explains that the rock-cut-temple was active up until 1500 BCE (Middle Bronze), then buried, out of site until 700 BCE (Iron), exposed at that time, reburied during wall construction and finally excavated 13 years ago.

Eureka! Have We Have Found “The Altar” of Akeida?

The verse in Vaeyra, Genesis 22:9 states "אֶת־הַמִּזְבֵּ֔חַ", (et-ha-mizbei-ach) "the altar", using the absolute noun.

וַיָּבֹ֗אוּ אֶֽל־הַמָּקוֹם֮ אֲשֶׁ֣ר אָֽמַר־ל֣וֹ הָאֱלֹהִים֒ וַיִּ֨בֶן שָׁ֤ם אַבְרָהָם֙ אֶת־הַמִּזְבֵּ֔חַ וַֽיַּעֲרֹ֖ךְ אֶת־הָעֵצִ֑ים וַֽיַּעֲקֹד֙ אֶת־יִצְחָ֣ק בְּנ֔וֹ וַיָּ֤שֶׂם אֹתוֹ֙ עַל־הַמִּזְבֵּ֔חַ מִמַּ֖עַל לָעֵצִֽים׃ 

They arrived at the place of which God had told him. Abraham built the altar there; he laid out the wood; he bound his son Isaac; he laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 

The 13th century commentator Chizkuni states:  'את המזבח', 'the altar'. The Torah did not write: 'altar' without the prefix letter ה which meant that it was the altar that had previously served such a purpose. According to our tradition, Adam, Abel, Noah and his son, had all offered offerings to G-d on that same altar. 

Why would Abraham have to build an altar if this verse refers to the altar by absolute noun? Every altar is designated by its bedrock foundation, a bedrock plinth, which later became a requirement under Jewish law. The plinth connected every boulder and stone assembled on it, by the builder, to the bedrock foundation together constituting "the altar" on which a sacrifice would be offered. So, where is this altar?

Ronny Reich opened his recent work "Excavations in the City of David" with a chapter, "A moment in which to be born", by explaining that the spring, east of the City, was never called Gihon, instead the Bible called it En Shemesh (Sun Spring). I completely agree, but the spring was also known as a gihon. The spring is a perennial, intermittent gusher, resembling a pump, sometimes gushing, other times flowing, appropriately and descriptively a gihon (meaning; bursting forth or gushing in Hebrew).

Ronny related En Shemesh to sun worshippers of Jeremiah 8:2 and "horses...of the sun abolished by Josiah" (2 Kings 23:11) and that "perhaps at that time the name En Shemesh (Sun Spring) was abolished" along with idolatory.  Well Ronny, that is entirely possible, but equally unnecessary because the morning sun still shines on that spring, to this very day and the name En Shemesh does not necessarily denote its association with idolatry.  

Having said all this, Ronny used En Shemesh to reconcile a difficult Biblical passage describing the intersect, critical to the altar, on the northern boundary of tribe Judah with the southern boundary of Benjamin. Why is this important? Because the first and second temples did not comply with this map, but a recently discovered rock-cut-temple and its altar foundation or plinth, on the eastern slope of Mount Moriah, at the compliant location does. Could this be Akeida?

Map from Excavations in the City of David by Ronnie Reich and Eli Shukron

The Gemara (Zevachim 53b) asks: What is the reason that there was no base on the southeast corner of the altar? Rabbi Elazar says: Because it was not in the portion of land of the one who tears, i.e., the tribe of Benjamin, as he is described in the following manner: “Benjamin is a wolf that tears apart; in the morning he devours the prey, and in the evening he divides the spoil” (Genesis 49:27). As Rav Shmuel, son of Rav Yitzḥak, says: The altar would consume, i.e., occupy, one cubit of the portion of Judah. The part of the altar in Judah’s portion was the southeast corner of the base, and therefore there was no base on that corner. 

SE corner of the altar base or plinth.
Dotted line marks the boundary of Judah and Benjamin

In addition, there are numerous important Kabalistic or mystical concepts and references to the southeast. But, here Ronny Reich conclusively resolved that the only portion of Judah's land that can possibly intersect the southeast corner of the altar plinth was recently found at the rock-cut-temple, in the City of David and that was used at the time of the patriarchs. Further, the only water system at this site, an essential requirement for frequent temple sacrifices, was last used in 1535 BCE, which overlaps with the last 30 years of Jacob's life in the region. 

The 12th Century commentator Rashi, rendered the the altar base:

North is on the right of this image and the image above

Shockingly, the southeast and all corners of the altar of the first and second temple, that were built further north, on the summit of Mount Moriah, The Temple Mount, fell entirely within Benjamins territory. No portion of those altars fell in Judah's territory as depicted by the outline of todays, so called, 'Old City' in Ronny Reich's map above and as stated in the Gemara. 

The fundamental and indigenous, tribal right to a permanent temple, on their land, belonged to Benjamin. Why? Because, Benjamin did not participate in the sale of Joseph. But, it was not clear to tribe Benjamin which end of its land the temple would be built and that opened grounds for the fiercest tribal competition. Ephraim (Joseph's son) demanded it be on its southern border with northernmost Benjamin, Judah demanded it be on its northern border adjacent to Benjamin's southernmost border. 

Following  the 300 years of settlement, and a plague that ravaged the nation, King David opposed the ancestral claims of Ephraim and on Prophet Gad's advice he built 'an altar', on the summit of Mount Moriah at a location inside Benjamins land, close to the border with Judah. The language difference for 'altar' used in Tanach is startling - מִזְבֵּ֔חַ (miz-bei-ach) without the ה (ha) prefix; not 'the altar', but he built 'an altar':

2 Samuel 24:18

וַיָּבֹא־גָ֥ד אֶל־דָּוִ֖ד בַּיּ֣וֹם הַה֑וּא וַיֹּ֣אמֶר ל֗וֹ עֲלֵה֙ הָקֵ֤ם לַֽיהֹוָה֙ מִזְבֵּ֔חַ בְּגֹ֖רֶן (ארניה) [אֲרַ֥וְנָה] הַיְבֻסִֽי׃ 

Gad came to David the same day and said to him, “Go and set up an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.” 

David's altar was not described using the absolute noun because it was built where no altar had previously existed yet, after the national pandemonium, all the other tribes agreed with David and contributed to acquisition of the land. David's son Solomon built the First Temple on the summit of Mount Moriah, Jerusalem. In the late second temple period Herod ordered that the summit be walled in by the Temple Mount.

Searching for the place of the original Akeida altar was forgotten, lost for more than 3500 years. Now that we have found it, we are compelled to build the altar, for the Third Temple, at the location of this bedrock plinth on the boundary between Judah and Benjamin that intersects its South East corner.

 

Jerusalem and Jacob - Calling Archaeology Detectives

Fifty years and tens of millions of dollars have failed to explain 700 years of missing evidence from ancient Jerusalem's eastern slope, at the City of David. The gap perpetuates confusion among archaeologists, who otherwise would prefer to date the significant rock-cut-temple to the Iron Age. You see, between the Middle Bronze (3500 years ago) and Iron Age (2800 years ago) no direct evidence, in the rock-cut-temple, has been discovered and that presents a problem. 

Rock-cut-temple on eastern slope after ground cover was finally cleared in 2023.
The adjacent house, which was built 20 years ago, on compressed ground cover, is now suspended on steel plates with pilons to bedrock

Around the rock-cut-temple, there is undisputed, carbon dated evidence of occupation and Middle Bronze Age use up until 3500 years ago, then +700 years of nothing, and plenty Iron Age evidence after that. The dearth of Iron Age evidence, starting around 2800 years ago, dominates academic papers and influences narratives about the significant rock-cut-temple, yet this evidence gap, that screams the loudest, is ignored by archaeologists. In this case the absence of evidence proves the evidence!

If not for two samples (#9964/5) of organic matter, trapped below and above plaster layers of a man made channel that once fed water into at least the southern-most rock-cut-room, archaeologists would have a more simplified proof of Iron Age origins.

Sample #9964 lay undisturbed, protected by natural ground cover, above the plaster channel for 3500 years. Sample #9965 was protected by the plaster layers of the channel above it. 

At blue line B (map below) the U (Sample #9964) and X (Sample #9965)

"B" marks the excavation site of organic samples, from above and below the plastered water channel.
Other samples #9181/9962 (top) and building 1948 (right) dated between 1820-1510 BCE. 

Water channel flowed from a reservoir to the bedrock floor.
No evidence of an Iron Age water channel and reservoir has been located 

The barrage of published Iron Age evidence and the inferred dating of the rock-cut-temple is refuted by carbon dated samples at several locations. However, most powerful are #9964 and #9965 two 3500 year old, Middle Bronze Age, organic samples that date the water channel construction and last use. Similar plaster layers, on the bedrock, in the western, rear end of a storage room, present insufficient proof of Iron Age shaping of bed rock. Such plaster remnants, dated to the Iron Age, may have been laid by Iron Age occupiers of the homes constructed above the bedrock.

A solution is not easily forthcoming because absence of evidence is an insufficient academic standard of proof. The water channel remains the strongest proof of use and there is no other evidence of water service to the temple. Unfortunately, +700 years after the water channel was last used, in preparation for construction of the City's eastern defensive wall, the rock-cut-temple was cleared to the bedrock to accommodate the 4 meter wide wall. Immediately west, the water channel was recently traced, running, from the remains of a reservoir (at blue B), underneath Iron Age homes to the southernmost rock-cut-room. However, archaeologists won't confirm that the channels Middle Bronze Age construction is directly linked to construction of the rock-cut-temple. Instead, they promote an alternative, unproven, theory that the water channel was cut (at blue B) by constructors and at the southern rock-cut-room during its Iron Age construction. This hypothesis only exacerbates the absence of an Iron Age water system.

Clearance of the area by Iron Age wall constructors, remains the best explanation for the absence of direct evidence, but what, if any direct evidence, was cleared from the bedrock at that time remains a mystery and whether the rock-cut-temple had been buried under ground cover, for +700 years, before the wall constructors cleared it, remains inconclusive. 

Any suggestion that #9964, and other samples #9181 and #9962 survived, in situ, above ground, for +700 years, while Iron Age Area U and rock-cut-temple was apparently constructed, exposed or in active use is preposterous. More likely the last use of the rock-cut-rooms is also tied to the date of sample #9964 and construction of the rock-cut-rooms dated to sample #9965 sometime between 1615 BCE and 1880 BCE or prior.

Accumulated ground cover concealing the rock-cut-temple site as it was in 2012.
Adjacent house built on compressed ground cover.

Promotion of an academic theory for Iron Age construction of the rock-cut-temple is further refuted by surviving evidence immediately north (#9181 and #9962), of sample #9964 (from the water channel) and east, from below building 1948, dated to 1820 BCE and in mortar 1.2m above bedrock dated to 1605 BCE. These additional samples strongly increase the probability of a Middle Bronze Age origin and suggest that a significant Iron Age construction of the rock-cut-temple would have disrupted at least #9181 and #9962 laying bare on the surface of these excavated areas. 

Academia faces significant challenges in admitting a Middle Bronze Age origin because of Iron Age bias in tangential data and the Biblical alignment to the archaeological last use, defined by at least sample #9964. The period of carbon dating overlaps patriarch Jacob who, Jewish commentators attest stayed briefly on Mount Moriah. According to Biblical chronology Jacob's first encounter on Mount Moriah took place in 1573 BCE. Then, he and his family arrived on Mount Moriah in 1553 BCE and left the region in 1523 BCE. Jacob immigrated to Egypt, where his descendants remained for 250 years before they returned to their ancestral land. The overlapping 100 year use of the water channel (1535 BCE) with time of Jacob makes this discovery remarkable particularly because of its potentially exciting context to the  rock-cut-temple and matzevah found within the temple location. According to the Bible Jacob erected a matzevah at this location (Genesis 35:14).

The matzevah, "standing stone" or anointing pillar at the rock-cut-temple.

The video above tells the comprehensive story.

Jerusalem's Temple Zero Opposes The Sun!

A brief about key Biblical events and their consistent interpretations, in Judaism, will help you to better consider the remarkable archaeological discoveries on the eastern slope of Mount Moriah, Ancient Jerusalem in the City of David. If the developing story continues it will be impossible to contain the importance of the location to the realm of special interests and tourism. 

Jerusalem's perennial water source, the Gihon Spring played a central role in ancient Jewish teachings about that unique location. After the events that diminished Adam and Eve's heightened spiritual state, it is taught Adam purified himself in the waters of the Gihon Spring for 130 years before they reunited and populated the pre-flood world. The olive branch of Noah's dove is said to come from the same mountainous area where Noah planted a vineyard. The Bible informs us that Abraham arrived to the "ancient hill" where he pitched his tent east of Beit El, west of Ai and built an altar, to which he returned. He tithed his wealth to MalchiTzedek, the high priest of Salem. It's taught that Abraham contributed "yira", meaning awe of that place, to constitute the name Yira-Salem, Jerusalem.

Unanimously teachers identify ancient Jerusalem's Mount Moriah as the place Abraham offered his son Isaac, as a sacrifice. That's where where Abraham turned to the West, that is, the site of the Sanctuary, and turned his back toward the sun contrary to common practice. The Bible writes that Isaac's son Jacob "stumbled upon that place", he had realized it's inherent sanctity. There he erected a 'standing stone' on which he made a covenant to build 'Beit El" The House of God, the name he gave to that place. According to Biblical scholars, Jacob made his covenant in 1576 BCE.

Around 3250 years ago, 1250 BCE, Joshua restored the fledgling Jewish nation to its inherited land. 

300 years later, the Bible relates that King David reigned in Hebron for 7 years. Then, his army took control over the strategic water passage, underground in Mount Moriah. Water carriers used it daily as their route from the Gihon Spring into the upper city where the main population lived. With control over water David became King of this mountain. He established his palace and united his tribal Kingdom before his son King Solomon realized King David's dream to build Israel's first permanent temple.

Paleolithic through the Early Iron Age 

Development of Mount Moriah and greater Jerusalem

Paleolithic and chalcolithic discoveries at Mount Moriah are few and concentrated around the Gihon Spring at the areas it emptied into the eastern valley. Toward the end of the Middle Bronze Age the scant populations in the eastern valley moved up the hill and the city began periods of expanded development. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob coincided with abundant Middle Bronze archaeology and Joshua with Late Bronze Age archaeology. King David coincided with the onset of the Iron Age (image of city top right).   

Iron Age terraces on
the steep easter slope

Cut through the mountain at the Gihon Spring
 and Iron Age, Israelite City Walls

In 2010 a major discovery was found under 20,000 cubic meters of rubble, half-way up the eastern slope. Buried under the Israelite City Wall lead archaeologist Eli Shukron discovered the remnants of a rock-cut temple, it surprised everyone. After several years of excavation insufficient evidence failed to establish the last used date of the temple. But, in 2018 a study by Weizmann Institute and Cambridge University conclusively resolved the 'last use' issue, by dating organic matter found under and on top of the man-made plaster layer lining a water channel that fed into one or more of the rooms.

 

North end

South end

The Temple Zero excavation (map below) illustrates the significant undertaking that produced the necessary elements for dating. The thick red wall on the northern end, W20005 is the remnant of the Israelite City Wall first built around the time of King Uzziah and Hezekiah, 2600-2700 years ago, 600-700 BCE. Originally the wall continued south, over the bedrock of the Temple Zero complex and joined remnant W20001 on the southern end.

The seeds and organic material from the water channel were located immediately adjacent to wall W17081, and Structure 17044. They were carbon dated to 1500-1600 BCE, 3500-3600 years ago indicating that the channel was last used at that time because the sample above the plaster was undisturbed until sometime in the Iron Age boulders (the red structures) secured it until its recent discovery. The carbon dated material clearly established 1500-1600 BCE as the water channels last date of use, which coincides with Biblical Jacob, the finding was contextual to other dated material, a  stunning result! 

Of thousands of artifacts discovered in the City of David only the standing stone or matzevah of Temple Zero remained complete and in situ, despite the massive Iron Age defensive wall that was built right over it the constructors preserved it in soft soil. It is the significant artifact in the temple that includes an oil press, grain press, altar for sacrifices, holding pen, animal processing, storage, water channel and all the features required of the Jewish temples that were built by and after King Solomon. 

Matzevah on Western Wall

Whether this is the standing stone Jacob, used to enter his covenant, is difficult to assess but, similar to the first and second temples, Temple Zero is oriented to oppose sun worship, which was the common practice of Bronze Age nations.

Altar platform on Western Wall

Priests performing morning services on the altar would have to have turned their backs to the sun, which would be an insult to sun-worshipers. Therefore, its unlikely the installation of this unique matzevah would have been inconsistent with the orientation of the altar and other features. 

Low tethers for young animals, below knee height.

Rituals adopted into Jewish culture emanated 1000 years before the formal establishment of the Torah Nation at Mount Sinai around 3300 years ago. The following 300+ years, before King David, the nation became more familiar with their Biblically prescribed laws, one of which prohibits the erection of a standing stone or matzevah, because of its post-Biblical association with idolatry. For Temple Zero to be Biblically compliant with Jewish law, its erection would have to precede Biblical law, when use of a matzevah was still permitted.

Another law requires that animals, offered as a sacrifice, must be older than 8 days old and unblemished. Typically this meant animals in their first year because they still retained perfect physical features. Tethers secured small animals, tied low on the bedrock walls (images above) and aided their inspection by priests prior to them being sacrificed and offered on the altar. 

The principal features of Temple Zero parallels Biblical law and Jewish ritual emphasized by dating the last use of the water channel to Jacob. The case for Temple Zero's existence and use prior to Jacob and the final form of its features, as recently discovered, invite complex questions related to Biblical events at this ancient location and whether the Jewish people and the modern nation of Israel are obligated by its emergence.  

 

Why Hide Israel's Exodus Evidence?

The Amarna diplomatic letters exposed vassal relationships between field commanders who acted as local kings and Pharaoh their Egyptian ruler. Commanders of field garrisons defended Egyptian territories and at times expressed conflicting interests that triggered a spate of letter writing. Victories, defeats or political turmoil weighed heavily on the writings.

The tablets appear to have been buried with Akhenaten at El Amarna, but they are not the originals, mostly made of clay from areas east of the Jordan River, they are deemed authentic, diplomatic copies. One such letter #254 titled "Neither Rebel nor Delinquent" by Labaya, commander of the Samaria region from Sakmu the biblical city of Shechem, exposed serious allegations against him for having surrendered land to the Habiru (see Deuteronomy 11:30 and Genesis 12:6). This and the related letters further south at Uru-Salem, biblical Jerusalem discuss battles waged by the Habiru. 

Military correspondence from Canaan, in Egypt it was known as Retenju 

Dating and sources of the Amarna letters are thought to span Egyptian Pharaoh's Amenhotep III, Akhenaten, through possibly Smenkhkare or Tutankhamun around 150 years. These Pharaoh's may have overlapped the Israelite presence, enslavement in or exile from Egypt, early Canaanite wars and land resettlement. However, published chronologies have left much open to speculation, here we propose a resolution: The Labaya tablet #254 and others reference Pharaoh in his 32nd year of reign leaving only Amenhotep III who held power for 36-38 years during the Amarna period. According to the classic chronology Amenhotep III died in 1351 BCE.

The Bible describes Israel's 40 year sojourn after leaving Egypt, before it entered the land of Canaan where Joshua, the Israelite leader is said to have ruled 32 years after that. If there is a Biblical relationship to the Habiru, even if only some Habiru were Hebrew Israelite's raiding Canaan then letter #254 must have been written during the overlap of Amenhotep III and Joshua's 32 year reign, which according to the Biblical record ended in 1245 BCE. To align Amenhotep III and Joshua, the 100 year gap between the Bible and the Amarna records needs to be closed.

The eldest son of Amenhotep III, Prince Thutmose, died in the third decade of his fathers reign. Stepping in, his younger brother Amenhotep IV (also known as Akhenaten) became the "strange" Pharaoh as depicted in uncharacteristically abstract art from his reign. From evidence at Amarna we know the mummified elite of Egypt had a poor state of health despite opposite representations reflected in artwork of the time. Amarna depicts how distance enabled diplomatic façade, appearance of control and power, yet reality was always different. For Akhenaten losing control of Retjenu (Canaan) may have been his diplomatic inheritance and retrospective downfall in Egyptian art.

From the evidence, toward the end of the 13th century BCE, Papyrus Anastasi III, Merneptah Stele (1203 BCE), Egyptian late bronze age temple at Jerusalem's École biblique and tombs north and north-west of Jerusalem's Mount Moriah we learn about a prolonged Egyptian commitment and interest in Canaan during the approximately 250 years of military activity from Amenhotep III to Merneptah. In addition to its strategic and regional benefits, a long term commitment to hold Canaan may have been etched in the psyche of Egyptian leaders by Egypt's founder and first Pharaoh Khem (the ancient name given to Egypt km.t). According to the Biblical record Khem (Biblical Ham) may have incestuously fathered Canaan which explains why Canaan had no place in Egypt. The place name Canaan is common throughout Egyptian and Biblical records.

This 250 year, most tumultuous military period directly overlaps Israelite tribes who were displacing local Canaanite leaders and populations, long connected with Egypt, as they settled their indigenous land and entitlements east and west of the Jordan River. This re-settlement spanned a period of 300 years from Joshua until King David culminating the Israelite inheritance consistent with biblical teachings and tribal agreements.

In one letter, Adoni-Tzedek pleaded to convince Akhenaten to take the faster coastal route to rescue his dire situation in Jerusalem. And a letter, early in the reign of Akhenaten showed that the coast road was still open (pg278) which King Dusratta (Mitanni Empire) had written to his son-in-law Akhenaten twenty years later, but no help appears to have been sent. If this letter #254 describes the Biblical events that took place in 1273 BCE, at the beginning of Joshua's reign, which included a raid on Jerusalem, the Egyptian chronology, immediately prior to the Amarna period, would have to be revised forward by around ~100 years. This would be difficult for classical Egyptologists to digest. Joshua must then have overlapped Amenhotep III and Akhenaten, which if we wind back 40 years, would make Thutmose IV the prime candidate at the time of the Israelite Exodus led by Moses. 

Even though the lower Galilee was, for some few years subdued, under Philistia and Syria it was reconquered by Rameses II, whose battle relief also mentions "Shalem" (Jerusalem). However, historians have revealed that neither Rameses II or his garrisons ever entered the Judæan mountains because they were impassable for chariots, Egypt's supreme weapon of war. Seemingly, Jerusalem had been abandoned by Rameses II as well.

The events placed in these time frames may help us to better understand Egypt's political events, that pre-dated Moses, when "Pithom and Rameses", Egyptian cities built by Israelite slaves, may have underwritten the economic and political impetus that promoted the "House of Rameses" to ultimately obtain the status of Pharaoh over all of Egypt. By the time Rameses I and II became Pharaoh's it was already the latter half of Israel's 300 year resettlement of Canaan as recorded in The Book of Judges.

Often overlooked is the earliest recorded use of the Hebrew language by Eber (great-grandson of Noah) preceding Biblical Abraham, whose father, Terach and their extended families continued to live in Haran, northern Syria. They were the Ivri or Ibri also likely referred to as Habiru, but their various lineages were not Israelite. Regardless, the Habiru referred in the Amarna letters are certainly those Israelites, the Hebrew speakers, who had arrived from Egypt to conquer and re-settle Canaan.

Jerusalem's Critical Evidence

Matsevah or standing stone found in room2 

Water channel outlets in room 1 and 3

Seldom does a "terminus post quem", the earliest date an item came into existence, and a "terminus ante quem", the latest, perfectly sandwich an artifact to define its absolute archaeological age. 

In ancient Jerusalem, on Mount Moriah's eastern slope, a crucial study by Weizmann Institute, Tel Aviv University and Israel Antiquities Authority dated evidence in a water channel, beneath and above a plaster layer that was built on top of clay-rich, virgin soil in a natural bedrock cavity. 

Directly beneath the plaster (its earliest date), small charcoal flecks were dated separately (sample  9965 and 10293) between 1615–1545 BCE, a "terminus post-quem" for plaster in the channel. At the end of the channel, above the plaster (the latest date) several grey and white laminations were found with charred material (sample 9964 and 10292), "ante-quem", understood to represent the channel was last used between 1535 and 1445 BCE.

Samples above and closest to the plaster declare that the system was only ever used, during 30 of these maximum 80-100 years, to propel water (by gravity) onto the bedrock floor of at least one of two rooms (1 and 3) of the Temple Zero complex immediately below (east of) Area U. The water channel was not used previously nor has it been used since. Slaughtered animals would have frequently been processed and offered as a sacrifice, thus requiring water be flushed via the channel to clean blood and excrement. Almost 600 years later similar hydraulic systems were engineered and used in the first and second temples further up the mountain.  

 Water Channel in blue -South (Top)

According to Biblical chronology Jacob and his family arrived on Mount Moriah in 1553 BCE at that time he also became known as Israel. 30 years later they left the region, for Egypt in 1523 BCE, where they lived in exile for 210 years before the nation of Israel journeyed back to their land. Based on the strata position of evidence, closest to plaster in the channel, a more precise 30 year use of the drainage channel would overlap Jacobs final 30 years in the region. This finding  becomes spectacular because of its exciting context to the Temple Zero location.

Strata of W and V samples closest to plaster.

In the Biblical context of Area U, the rock-cut-rooms of Temple Zero and the Gihon Spring, Bible commentators relate events of Adam, Noah, Shem or Malchi-Tzedek, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joshua, King David and subsequent kings. Spanning thousands of years, the area on Mount Moriah is also referred by many names including; Salem, Beit El, Yireh (Yireh-Salem), Luz, Tzion, Jebus, City of David and Jerusalem. 

Temple Zero South (Top)

Immediately after King Solomon, King Jeroboam mis-directed and split the nation in part by leveraging confusion over Jacob's Beit El. Therefore, his actions and motivations must be understood before one can truly appreciate the magnitude of  discoveries being made at Temple Zero, Jerusalem. The recently discovered, possible City of Ai (associated with Beit El) is located just 1.3 kilometers east of  Temple Zero, resolves Jeroboam's Bethel ruse, 17km north, establishing Jerusalem's Temple Zero the exclusive, common Beit El of Abraham (Genesis 12:1-8, 13:3-4) and Jacob (Genesis 28:11, 35:14).

By aligning the city of Ai and Biblical events with the 100 year overlapping use of the drainage channel, confidence rises that Temple Zero is the location Jacob erected the recently discovered matzevah on which he made a covenant, to which he returned and accepted upon himself the name "Israel". 

For the modern nation to rediscover the original beacon, erected by Jacob on which he accepted the name of their national identity would be nothing short of miraculous, perhaps too much for the archaeological fraternity to acknowledge.

 

Jerusalem's Middle Bronze Yeshiva

    

Reconciling the Biblical record with archaeology is complex. Sometimes it exposes ambiguities in  interpretations of various commentaries. In contrast to mainstream commentators, Rabbi Hiyya bar Abba clarified Genesis 25:17 that Jacob spent 14 years in the school of Shem and Ever after leaving his father Isaac, but before arriving at his uncle Laban, who lived in Haran (northern Syria). This distinction helped align the archaeology on the eastern slope of ancient Jerusalem. 

An event described by the word "va-yi[Ph][G]ah" explained that Jacob "stumbled" upon a certain "place". The place is unanimously considered to be on Mount Moriah, the mountain on which ancient Jerusalem was built. It was also named Beit-El (House of God), which became common and caused mainstream commentators to bestow a super-rational explanation on the "va-yi[Ph][G]ah" place.

All commentators associate the "va-yi[Ph][G]ah" place with the landmark that Adam, Noah, Malchi-Tzedek (Shem), Abraham, Isaac and Jacob identified with the holy mountain. The Bible calls it SaLem (completion), and Abraham called it Yi-Reh (vision), in combination YiReh-SaLem became Jerusalem meaning 'complete vision'. Today we may loosely infer it as that flash of insight that crystalizes a 20-20 vision on the subject in the recipients mind. 

Jacob stumbled on the place, then experienced a powerful dream, a vision that he memorialized using a standing-stone as his permanent covenant to build and dedicate the House of God. Right after that he hid for 14 years in the school of his ancient relatives Shem and his great-grandson Ever learning the folklore and ancient mystical secrets before he departed for Haran. 

Jacob's standing-stone also known as a matzevah?

It follows the events that caused him to react; "How awesome is this place!" also attracted and compelled him to stay on the holy mountain where the school of Shem and Ever may have been located. Recent excavations in the cavernous bedrock of the east facing slope of Mount Moriah have revealed Middle Bronze Age facilities that may very well have accommodated residents and students who may have frequented the area.    

In Finding Zion, I provide a detailed account of the discoveries in the immediate vicinity of the "va-yi[Ph][G]ah" place, adjacent to the Gihon Spring where much of the Biblical account is being clarified through archaeological discoveries and insightful interpretations.

Angel of Death Trickery?

Jerusalem's City of David and Temple Mount

Renowned commentators have stated that the Foundation Stone (Jacob's stone) was located in the Holy of Holies (of the first and second Temple) and that the 12 stones, from which it was formed were at the precise site that was, is and will be the site of the permanent holy altar. How do we understand this apparent contradiction? 

The altar of Jerusalem's Holy Temple once facilitated individual and national sacrifices and will do so again in future. During its inauguration alone, some 120,000 sheep were slaughtered for it and the feasting that followed! In its location, on the Temple Mount, it served the nation for almost 1000 years, with only a short disruption, but it did not survive the ancient Roman destruction and onslaught at the beginning of the Common Era (CE). 

Moses Maimonides (known as Rambam), the pre-eminent Rabbi and commentator in his Mishneh Torah on Jewish Law of The Chosen Temple tells us that the precise place Abraham once bound (Akeida) and offered his son Isaac as a sacrifice is the same place of the future altar. Further, that the place modern Jews consider the location of the Temples' Holy of Holies is established by tradition. The ambiguity about these locations are reflected accurately by the Rambam.

The commentators expounded that 12 stones of the Akeida altar (or its ramp) were used by Jacob, when he slept adjacent to Akeida the night he dreamed of a stairway to heaven. God fused those 12 stones into a single rock, which He infused with the foundation of the earth. That became known as The Foundation Stone or 'Even Ha-Shtiah', which, by tradition was located in the Holy of Holies. In context the various accounts do not reconcile, primarily because the Holy of Holies of the first and second temple was some distance from and not adjacent to the altar. Therefore, The Foundation Stone (comprising Jacob's stone) could not have been located at or adjacent to the site of Akeida.

For his book, "In Ishmael's House", Martin Gilbert researched passages about the Jews written exclusively in Islamic works. In 638 CE Calif Omar raided Jerusalem, among his men was a Jewish convert to Islam, Ka'b al-Ahbar (Hebrew name was Akiva). Almost 600 years after the Romans had destroyed the Holy of Holies, the sanctuary and its holy altar, Calif Omar requested Ka'b point out the place where the Holy of Holies once stood. After some misgivings, Ka'b identified the spot where the shrine to Calif Omar was erected. Today that shrine is known as the Dome of The Rock, the golden dome that occupies a prominent location on the Temple Mount. That particular location has no special designation in fact or Jewish law, only that it is universally accepted and by Jewish tradition associated with the western most wall of the temple mount.

Detailed legal arguments do not contradict that King Solomon built the first temple altar, Chronicles (II 3:1) on the same site King David had previously built his altar when he made restitution for his wrongful census of the nation. One opinion suggests David's prophecy aligned his altar with Akeida. However, the Bible states the site was located at the feet of the 'angel of death' that was standing between heaven and earth with its sword suspended over Ancient Jerusalem and that prophet Gad caused David to buy the site from the Jebusite king and bring an offering. The detailed arguments are important because the Bible relates the altar was built for David's personal sin and benefit, not for that of the nation. At that time the mobile, national altar was still in service in Givon and David made it crystal clear this was his personal account; 2 Samuel 24:17: “I alone am guilty, I alone have done wrong; but these poor sheep, what have they done? Let Your hand fall upon me and my father’s house!” 

Careful archaeological excavation west of the Gihon Spring, on Mount Moriah's east facing slope, has revealed evidence that the precise site of Akeida may have been hidden under fallen ground cover of the mountain for more than 1000 years. Then, 2600 years ago it was uncovered and immediately buried by constructors of city walls indicating the site has been concealed for 3500-3600 years.   

Stone of Israel, Jacob's Stone or Foundation Stone?

Whether David and Solomon were tricked by the 'angel of death' into selecting a site different to Akeida or this new evidence points to the real Akeida, we must objectively consider all the arguments and commentaries we have learned and prepare ourselves for new possibilities on Holy Mount Moriah.

VIDEO UPDATE: