28 Iyar 5727 was one of Jewish history's greatest days!
Every year since Moses transcribed the Torah on Israels transit from servitude to freedom, members of the nation have blessed their own counting each of the 49 days that follow the first day of the Passover festival.
The practice of not eating wheat and other leavened grains during the 7 days of Passover flows into this - (7 X 7) 49 day cycle that preceded the traditional wheat harvest. On a personal level each 7-day cycle of blessings relates to one of seven dominant personality attributes each of us possess.
The 28th of Iyar is the first day of the last 7-day cycle, arguably the most mystical of the prior six cycles. This first day relates to the way you manifest the expression of 'kindness'. In the prior six 7-day cycles kindness features more esoterically in the attribute of each cycle, but the seventh is the way you manifest its expression from all of the preceding attributes.
We must not forget this day celebrates the 1967 victory in the war that was thrust upon Israel. The first shots were fired on 26 Iyar, the sixth day of the sixth 7-day cycle - the dominant attribute of 'foundation' in a war that would last just six days. The cumulative blessings that precede and complete the sixth 7-day cycle cause the sixth to face, project and manifest in the seventh 7-day cycle.
On 26 Iyar (5 June) 1967, to the absolute, stunning astonishment of every Jew and against all negative sentiment, even those espoused by Israel's generals, a small battalion of Israeli soldiers beat back Jordanian and Egyptian positions to capture the ancient city of Jerusalem that had been torn from Israel's possession immediately following its declaration of independence in 1948.
By 28 Iyar (8 June) 1967 one miracle after another were evident even to Israel's chief doomsayer, General Moshe Dayan. Still, he opposed an attack on Syria believing such an undertaking would result in losses of 30,000 and might trigger Soviet intervention. Prime Minister Eshkol, was more open to the possibility, as was the head of the Northern Command. Unexpectedly, the situation on the southern and central fronts cleared up, intelligence estimated the chance of Soviet intervention had been reduced, reconnaissance showed some Syrian defenses in the Golan region collapsing, and an intercepted cable revealed that Egypt's Nasser was urging the President of Syria to accept a cease-fire.
By 28 Iyar there were no more doubts about the miracles that had transpired. Certainly some suppressed their elation and others managed expression of emotional attributes, but even the stoic so called Jewish non-believers overcame inhibition. Everyone agreed that by the 43rd of 49 day's a series of miracles had led to a 3 day victory in a war that would be over 3 day's later. And on the 50th day each year Israel rejoices in the day Moses transcribed the Torah and bound the nation under God.
Like the nation acknowledged the miracle that pure Jerusalem temple oil had burned for 8 days during the Maccabees battle against the Greeks, the nation-wide recognition that Israel's Six-Day-War victory was led by a series of miracles is the hidden cause of our celebration. Jerusalem was once again in Jewish hands a city, to be restored, celebrated and developed for the future spiritual well being of the entire world.
Once a small, quiet, undisturbed hill among many, the rock that constitutes Mount Moriah lies in a north-south direction. In a recent presentation I tried to compress more than 10 years of experiences in archaeological excavations and spiritual pursuit to capture a better understanding. Why this rock, and what compelled King David, in the seventh year of his reign to leave his base in Hevron to establish a kingdom from this Mountain?
The presentation, which is available in the video link below, lacks one additional point that I wanted to emphasize: In his book, In Ismael's House Martin Gilbert told of the men who entered Jerusalem with Calif Omar in 638 CE, one of whom was a Jewish convert to Islam, Ka'b al-Ahbar [whose Hebrew name was Akiva]. Some 600 years after the Herodian Temple destruction, at Omar's request, Ka'b pointed out the rock where the Jewish Temple had been built by Solomon and after some misgivings, identified the holiest spot where the shrine to Calif Omar was built. That shrine today known as the Dome of The Rock, the Golden Dome occupies a prominent location on the Temple Mount selected by a Jewish convert. That particular location on the Temple Mount has no special designation in Jewish law, only in Jewish tradition.
Between 1923 and 1925 archaeologists MacAlister and Duncan, for the Palestine Exploration Fund and The Daily Telegraph excavated on the Mount of Ophel, Mount Moriah, Jerusalem: Their extensive report included an aerial photo of the area they called the Jebusite City, now known as the City of David. That image (below) was marked by them to illustrates the location of the Fields 5 (north of),7 and 9 they excavated. To the east, the Gihon Spring in Valley of the Kidron, which they referred to as the Virgins Fountain they wrote: "In fact we have come to the conclusion that there are no Jebusite cisterns at all in the city, but that the Jebusite city was dependent entirely on the Virgins Fountain ([the Gihon Spring] and possibly other springs since dried up) for their water supply."
1925 R.A.F. reconnaissance photo over City of David.
Of their bedrock discoveries in Fields 5,7 and 9 which rise to between @680-700 meters above sea level they wrote: "We thought, when they were first uncovered that they were cisterns and in the original draft of this report we described them as such. We have now definitely abandoned this theory. There is no trace of a water line on the walls. There is no cup-hollows such as usually exists in the bottom of rock-cut cisterns to catch the last dregs of the water. We now hold that these carefully hewn chambers were tombs of a very early date, presumably belonging to notables of the Jebusite city." Pottery discovered and reported from the grave caves in these Fields dated back well before Biblical Jebusites to neolithic and early bronze ages.
How did life, development and water use evolve from the "very early date" these "notables" were buried on the mountain ridge? We have ample evidence of the embedded bedrock implements that were used for processing food or worship, the cave dwellings carved into rock, quarried bedrock structures and foundations that supported stone houses and walls. However, we must find the main route and the way water was transported from the Gihon Spring or we will not understand how 1000-2000 people began to live on the ridge of the mountain.
Bedrock of eastern slope in context Parker, Reich and Eli Shukron expeditions
Occupation was initially clustered close to or at the level of the Gihon Spring. Moving heavy water from the spring up mountain slope would have required substantial effort. The steep grade of the eastern slope rises 50 vertical meters from the Gihon Spring @634m to Field 9 starting @680m above sea level and within a walking distance of 100 meters from the Kidron Valley floor. Enterprising solutions must have been required to service populations once settlement moved above 650 meters. (Sea level heights are indicated in the image above.) To resolve this problem a King, attributed to the Emorites, Jebusites or one of the seven Canaanite tribes, during the period circa 1800-1700 B.C.E ordered work to expand an east sloping, natural underground tunnel that once ran from around @660m toward the Gihon Spring and Kidron Valley below.
In the video below Ronny Reich explains this underground tunnel now known as a water system or the Warrens Shaft System. There are several important points to note: 1. The iron steps, on which Ronny stands marks the termination of the tunnel and no evidence of steps, at that point has ever been found. Ropes may have hoisted water up the vertical shaft where the iron steps are now built. 2. Ronny indicates the system was used by common people to obtain their daily water, I dispute that, it was used by professional water carriers only. 3. The tunnel route evolved in three stages initially via the natural cave entry-exit to or from the water source immediately north of the double wall fortress and after it was constructed, between the double walls. The final route was more direct through an entry to the tunnel system immediately south of the double walls. These indications support a royal, efficient enterprise that controlled water from the Gihon Spring that had been channeled into the Round Chamber for 'bottling' and distribution.
In a previous article I detailed how the Warrens Shaft System had transformed the sanctity of the ancient bedrock on the lower eastern slope, specifically how it cut the four room worship complex from growing populations on the northern mountain ridge. The water enterprise of the Jeubusites, its capture and continued use by King David, its transformation to industrial zone and food market for the city, by the kings that followed forever changed the ancient character of the eastern slope.
Refugees who fled the Assyrian army that had attacked the northern tribes of Israel arrived in Jerusalem only to swell its already burgeoning population. In the months following resettlement, their different religious practices immediately became abhorrent to the resident priests in Jerusalem's temple. King Hezekiah acted to remove idolatry, centralize worship and focus the attention of his subjects on the task at hand, to strengthen the city. Hezekiah sent Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and Shebnah and Joah to appease Sennacherib's generals, they obtained only temporary reprieve. He sent lavish gifts to Sennacherib, the Assyrian King hoping to stave off an attack, but it soon became apparent the Assyrian army would advance on Jerusalem.
During the reprieve Hezekiah was attributed with 6 decrees, the first three were considered good; (1) he concealed the book of healing because people, instead of praying to God relied on concoctions; (2) he broke in pieces the brazen serpent of Moses; and (3) he dragged his father's remains, instead of giving them an honorable burial. The second three, which were not good: (1) he re-directed the water of Gihon into the city; (2) he cut the gold from the doors of the Temple for a gift to Sennacherib; and (3) he moved Passover celebrations to the second month to meet the demands of northern refugees. Around this time Hezekiah fell gravely ill (Isaiah 38:6).
The king's stress was palpable, but we cannot imagine how that was exacerbated when workers, commissioned to strengthen the walls of the city and build watch towers stumbled across a discovery that shocked the king to his core (2 Chronicles 32:5). On the eastern slope of Mount Moriah @657m (above sea level), directly above the path, @634m of the water tunnel being constructed workers cleared rubble and stumbled upon the ancient, permanent temple of Beit-El carved out of the buried bedrock. As the king grappled with the discovery, its potential impact to centralized worship and its contradiction with Solomon's temple he went into a state of shock, infection took over the boils on his body and he began to die. He lamented, prayed and ordered the ancient temple to be sealed between a false wall that was filled with soft sand. Then the prophet Isaiah announced a miracle, the king was granted a 15 year life extension, following which the Assyrian invasion of Jerusalem collapsed.
"C" marked on map below - standing on bedrock
Hezekiah's wall behind matzevah
Hezekiah's wall behind Jebusite
wall (built on bedrock)
Tower marked "A" on the map was ~4m above bedrock, in the South corner (see middle image below)
Until Hezekiah, the general area of Beit-El in Jerusalem had been forgotten. Biblical reference was first made more than 1000 years earlier during the time of Abraham and again by Jacob, then nothing until Joshua. By the time King David arrived it's association with Jerusalem had mostly been forgotten. Commentators of the bible vary in their opinions, most refer to the later city of Bethel that was built by Jeroboam north of Jerusalem, but for some reason they are compelled to refer it back to Jerusalem. Some 67 years after Hezekiah, his great, great grandson King Josiah ordered The High Priest Hilkiyahu to remove idolatry from the temple and destroy it in the plains of the Kidron Valley. Hilkiyahu promptly carried out the mission and carried the smashed pieces to Beit-El (2 Kings 23:4) adjacent to the Kidron Valley where it's thought he deposited them in a pit behind Wall NB or Wall 3, discovered by archaeologist Kathryn Kenyon (see images below). This is the last time Beit-El of Jerusalem was accurately mentioned in Biblical texts.
Spring citadel - double wall
The ancient temple of Beit-El remained buried, untouched until it was re-discovered by Eli Shukron for the Israel Antiquities Authority in 2011. 2 Kings 23:4 is a proof text that resolves the mystery of Beit-El's original Shalem, Jebusite City, City of David, Jerusalem location. With this it establishes a new basis for archaeologists looking for its counterpart city Ai, which was to its east.
After living in exile in Egypt for 210 years and after wandering the desert for 38 years, Israel sought to enter the land of its inheritance. To their surprise Amalekites disguised as Canaanites attacked them, Edomites refused them passage, Moabites and Ammonites withheld food or water. All these events took place on Israel's southern approach, along the eastern side of the Jordan river and are recorded for posterity in passages of Chukat (Numbers:20-22) from the Bible.
What inspired these independent nations to collaborate against Israel? In absentia, Israel should not have deserved their collective, ill treatment or designation as enemy of their various states. Yet, they unanimously stood against Israel's attempt to reach its destination. The threat of Israel rising must have been a significant motivating factor that contributed to this coordinated national resistance.
If we use the Bible as a context, Israel's redemption from exile in Egypt must have seemed like the impossible come true. This fledgling nation of 70 had grown to an army of 600,000 men and now their families were amassed along the south eastern boundary of the Jordan River. The daunting prospect should have dampened the conviction of the alliance against Israel, yet each nation stood resolute against them.
This article is not about the war that ensued, during which Israel conquered the land of Moab, Amon and the Amorites east of the Jordan river instead it focuses on the ultimate destination, the mountain that motivated Israel's allied opponents to remain united and intransigent.
Some 300 years after these events, there was good reason King David waited for 7 years, after his inauguration, before he could advance on the mountain from which he would ultimately establish the united kingdom of Israel. The mountain, is ancient Jerusalem's Mount Moriah associated with some of Israel's most significant events during establishment, and post redemption from Egypt. Israel's preamble, as recorded in the Bible and commentaries preserved over multiple millennia include stories of, Adam, MalchiTzedek, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joshua and, David followed by a 1000 year lineage of kings. So, why was conquering the mountain a go-no-go event for David and why did he risk his fragile kingdom to capture it?
To answer that I offer the following pictorial study of the early through late bronze age (4000-3300 years ago) artifacts that preceded King David (3000 years ago) on Mount Moriah.
Inside cave home on the lower eastern slope of Mt Moriah
Passage out of cave home, north to steel steps
Early bronze VIP pottery discovered by Parker
Connection from top of cave home passage to upper ridge
Connection arrives at upper ridge altar and liquids channel
Upper ridge - bedrock and steel cabinet
Standing stone/pillar or matzevah on upper ridge
Oil press on upper ridge (north end)
V-markings on upper ridge (animal processing - south end)
Double walled fortress of Zion south of Gihon spring
View from upper ridge into the double wall fortress of Zion
By the end of the Middle Bronze Age the massive double wall of the fortress of Zion was built up the steep eastern slope of Mount Moriah. It was an enormously complex feat of architecture and engineering for that time. It could not have been accomplished by the small local population alone. They must have obtained the full support of the alliance and there must have been a deeply rooted reason for allies to dedicate the resources required for its construction. The water of the adjacent Gihon Spring was not directly protected by its construction and could not have served as the reason for it.
The artists rendition of the King Solomon Era, eastern slope of Mt Moriah, demonstrates how the double wall fortress of Zion circa 3300 years ago (400 years before Solomon) may once have cut access across north-south directions on the eastern slope. The city wall, circa 2700 years ago, was added before the destruction of the first temple.
The ~2700 year old city wall can be seen
in the upper section of this image on top
of an older wall connected to the bedrock
Connect the blue plastic to piece together remnant of the southern element of the double wall fortress of Zion
Apparently the allied forces opposing Israel did not want Israel to come back to the mountain and particularly this section on the south eastern slope. But, why did King David make sure to conquer this mountain, at this location in order to unify his kingdom?
The area was once known as Luz, Salem previous to that. It was the area that Malchi-Tzedek practiced as high priest, where Abraham tithed to him, where Isaac was offered as a sacrifice and Jacob erected the pillar, standing stone or matzevah. For these reasons Israel's allied enemies were intent on permanently isolating the bedrock temple discovered at this location and they did all they could to ensure the impracticality of its use. They allowed it to be buried under natural ground cover and defended against Israel's attempts to reoccupy the location. By the time King David conquered it, 300 years after Israel's return, the bedrock temple on the upper ridge was out of site, buried deep under ground. These are my opinions, I invite you to form yours!
The most significant and immovable artifact at the City of David has been protected by a steel locked box since its discovery in 2011. Understanding its origin, especially in context of its location has been aided by the recent discovery of a small 2600 year old seal that once belonged to a man named Nathan, servant of King Josiah, mentioned in 2 Kings 23:11 of the Bible. However, the geophysical location of the artifact and recorded events surrounding Nathan, servant of King Josiah are trans-formative in resolving the artifacts interpretation. Three verses of chapter 23 are pivotal:
23:4 And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest and the priests of the second rank and the guards of the threshold, to take out of the Temple of the Lord all the utensils that were made for the Baal and for the asherah, and for the entire host of the heaven, and he burnt them outside Jerusalem in the plains of Kidron, and he carried their ashes to Bethel.
23:11 And he abolished the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun, from the entrance of the house of the Lord until the chamber of Nathan-melech the eunuch who was in the outskirts, and he burnt the sun chariots with fire.
23:15 And also the altar that was in Bethel, the high place that Jeroboam the son of Nebat-who caused Israel to sin-had made, also that altar and the high place he demolished, and he burnt the high place; he pulverized it and burnt the asherah.
Eli Shukron, the archaeologist who discovered the protected artifact, known as a standing stone or matzevah was prompted by a question; “Eli- is there any chance the stone was from Genesis (the one Jacob erected)?”
As you can see @7:40 minutes into the video Eli answered; "..yes, maybe Jacob was here, but this is not the stone of Jacob because we are talking about Jerusalem".
300 years before King Josiah and Nathan - melech the eunuch, King Jeroboam erected the altar at Bethel on the border of the territory of Benjamin and Ephraim. During the ceremony a prophet was sent to announce its future destruction by a man named Josiah. These events of chapter 23 capture the moment the prophecy came true when King Josiah destroyed the altar of Jeroboam at Bethel (north of Jerusalem). Ever since this time, the location of the original Beit El, of Jacob has been lost to the nation of Israel.
Jeroboam's prevailing geologic continues to plague the modern nation. Eli, like many others is confused because modern Bethel (~10 km north of Jerusalem) considered to be named by Jacob is not the location Jacob erected the standing stone at the place he named Beit El. Miraculously, the recent discovery of Nathan - melech the eunuch's seal comes to resolve this longstanding error.
We read in 23:11 that the chamber of Nathan -melech was on the outskirts of the temple, therefore it may have been the very location his seal was discovered in the Givati excavation shown @0:37 into the next video.
Remarkably, the dispute between Bethel north of Jerusalem and Beit El of Jerusalem is now resolved because the only reference in the entire 24 books of the Bible that can possibly have resolved this conflict is verse 23:4. Indisputably this is the area outside Jerusalem (the tiny ancient city on Mount Moriah) and the plains of the Kidron Valley, where the wooden idols were burned to ashes and Beit El, the place where the ashes were carried and deposited. Hilkiah the High priest did not walk, ride, drive or fly to Bethel ~10km north of Jerusalem to deposit these ashes and that is in direct opposition to Eli Shukron's denial that the standing stone is Jacob's Beit El in Jerusalem.
To this day, the matzevah or standing stone of Jacob remains locked in its steel box and each time I think of it I'm inspired to continue my struggle to correct the long, perplexing, disinformation campaign Jeroboam imposed on Israel, which was confounded by the prophet who came from Judah, who was mauled to death by a lion that was waiting on the road with a donkey - wow!
The first temple was constructed by King Solomon around the co-ordinates of the sacrificial altar King David had built on Aravnah's (Ornan's) land. On the day of its dedication the priests carried the Ark of the Covenant from the City of David, which is Zion (1 Kings 8:1) where it had been located for 37 years. Some 400 years later, the first temple was destroyed and the Jewish people exiled to Persia. To this day Purim, as it became known is the annual festival that celebrates the hidden miracle in which the exiled Jewish people were saved from certain destruction.
Following the original Purim festivities, Jews were granted permission to return to Jerusalem to reconstruct their temple that had been destroyed 70 years earlier in the year 423 BCE . Haggai was a prophet of the Persian exile who foresaw the first temple reconstruction and final temple building. (2:9) The glory of this later house will be greater than the former said the Lord of hosts; and in this place I will grant peace. He had announced his prophecy and when King Darius II of Persia was appointed, the previous vassal Zerubavel oversaw the Jewish return to Jerusalem and their second attempt to rebuild. Only some Jewish leaders returned, but Haggai also foresaw something that troubled him...
In the shortest chapters of the Bible, Haggai enters and exits with few words. In his rare prophecy God asked Haggai to direct two questions of Jewish law at the priests who were to serve in the reconstructed temple. Their answer was deemed incorrect. Strangely, these educated priests and leaders of the Jewish people were very familiar with Jewish law and all were focused on locating the place of the altar from where coordinates for the temple reconstruction would be obtained.
Bedrock foundation for Altar of Zion in City of David
While the temple was still in ruins, the priests had offered sacrifices on the foundation rock where they deemed the first temple altar to have been 70 years prior. In this context, Haggai's ongoing prophecy (2:14) is puzzling. "Such is the people and such is the nation before Me, says the Lord; and such is every work of their hands; and whatever they offer there is defiled. Why is thisplace (2:9) ("And in this place I will grant peace...”) of the temple to be rebuilt and "there" (2:14) of the (prior) first temple singled out in these two verses?
Prophet Zechariah was a contemporary of Haggai and wrote (Zecharia 8:1-3) So said the Lord of Hosts: I am jealous for Zion with great jealousy, and with great fury I am jealous for her. I will return to Zion, and I will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem; and Jerusalem shall be called the city of truth, and the mount of the Lord of Hosts [shall be called] the holy mountain.
Zechariah's prophecy exposed God's jealously for Zion, Samuel's earlier prophecies and writings had declared Zion is the City of David. So, why is "this place", of Haggai's final temple distinguished from "there" of the first temple reconstruction - will they be the same place? Bible texts unequivocally state Zion is the city of David. However, the altar at the City of David is not at the location of King David's altar on the temple mount of the first and reconstructed (second) temple.
Lower Mount Moriah - City of David is Zion
The Temple Mount and City of David are different locations on Mount Moriah. Surely Zion defines "this place" as the location, the one to which God wants to return? We also know that God's presence, in the temple rests above the Ark (cover) of the Covenant and above the Altar. Must God's presence in the final temple be at Zion, which is the City of David, the midst of Jerusalem and not "there" the place at which every offer is "defiled"? The tension that exists between these locations gives rise to Haggai's prophecy as he tries to warn the headstrong priests, but his few words fell on deaf ears and Zechariah's prophecy reinforced the momentum of Zrubavel's appointment and the ensuing ceremonial dedication.
Haggai and King Hezekiah encountered the skull of Aruvnah, both realized something about the altar of King David was not quite right. At these crucial moments neither was able to effect change, they succumbed to the status-quo, but for the final construction we will be more careful.
The Bible recounts that moments before Jacob’s death he invoked his redeeming angel (Vayechi 48:16) and blessed Joseph’s sons, his grandsons Efraim and Menashe. He adopted them and in doing so bestowed the double blessing on Joseph, first born to his first love, wife Rachel.
The Zohar asks - why did they deserve to be blessed? And answers because Joseph preserved the sign of the holy covenant by not allowing himself to be seduced (by evil). The mystery of faith is a covenant with My chosen (righteous) one [1:231a] alluding to King David. He finds pleasure together with the souls of the righteous (Israel) and will not enter Jerusalem below until Israel enters the city. The world was not created until He took a certain stone -Foundation Stone, central point of the whole world. That stone, I set up as a pillar (matzevah) to be a house of God (Genesis 28:22). I am sending an angel before you.
Jacob took 12 stones of that place and they become one
(Vayechi 49:1) Jacob called for his sons and said, "Gather and I will tell you what will happen to you at the end of days". [1:234b] "Gather" - that I may tell you - "Ve-agidah", the mystery of wisdom! Why the mystery of wisdom? Because the word contains (g)imel followed by (d)alet, though sometimes (y)ud intervenes. He sought to reveal Israel's future, but his end of days vision dwindled.
Jacob was about to reveal that his stone-pillar would locate the permanent temple he had committed to build, but he couldn't explain what he saw. How do we know this? Because the non-incidental prophet Gad, also spelled (g)imel (d)alet connected him to this same mystery of wisdom. Some 670 years after Jacob, Gad authorized King David and all Israel's tribal leaders to locate an altar, on Mount Moriah at a different place than the place Jacob erected his stone-pillar. This confronting fact disturbed Jacob's vision.
The deeper mystery connected Efraim and brother Menashe to the northern tribes, collectively named Israel. They vehemently resisted re-locating the temporary temple from Shilo in Efraim's territory, where it had been abandoned to Jerusalem on the southern border of Benjamin's territory with Judah. When a plague killed 70,000 northern Israelite's a short-lived reprieve led them to unify and accept Gad's prophetic house of God relocation from the neck to the head of Mount Moriah.
Rivalry between Judah and Joseph (Efraim) over Benjamin would eventually lead to the destruction of two temples at Gad's location. Jacob saw beyond these destruction's, but the perpetual denial by Joseph and his brothers, including their silencing Benjamin about their kidnapping and selling Joseph disturbed Jacob's foretelling.
In 2008 the Hebrew year 5768, Jacob's stone-pillar was rediscovered at its location on Mount Moriah. It had been purposely buried, preserved for more than 3700 years. This time there will be no destruction.
A major disagreement between archaeological giants over a 2008 discovery at the City of David, Jerusalem remains unresolved. The modern equivalents of Macalister and Duncan, Reich and Shukron, who excavated sections of the lower and upper ridges near the Gihon Spring remain ~1000 years apart in their time estimates for a critically important upper ridge discovery. By professional standards its a serious issue that could eventually backfire on Israel's Antiquities Authority.
Its not unusual for archaeologists to challenge each other with evidence based theories including at the Gihon Spring. Recently Dr. Joe Uziel discovered evidence that presented a similar time conflict. Under the north-eastern corner stone of the Bronze age citadel construction adjacent to the Gihon Spring, seeds were carbon dated by Weizmann Institute to the Iron age. The seeds were presumed to be in their original location, but if they had been washed under the corner stone, in a prior rain-storm the arguments over Iron or Bronze age dating would be futile.
To elucidate the futility, myopic archaeological reporting is often contained to single fragments of evidence that draw inferences absent of broader context discoveries found in proximity. For example Jerusalem's oldest constructed cave was probably a mansion carved into the east face of Mount Moriah, south of the upper Gihon Pool.
Parker and Vincent Excavation ~1910
Early Bronze Age Cave (2018)
Further up the eastern face, a tomb containing ~4000 year old sophisticated tomb pottery was discovered by Parker-Vincent. Importantly this early Bronze Age tomb pottery dates Mount Moriah's first permanent population to a similar time in which the cave home on the eastern face would have been in use.
From Ronny Reich's book - Excavating the City of David: Where Jerusalem's History Began
The Pottery Artifacts from the Rockefeller Museum in Jerusalem
Direct evidence does not link the tomb pottery to the cave, but both were sophisticated developments of that time. The cave would have been constructed by skilled laborers and the pottery by refined artisans indicating the importance of the individuals to whom these discoveries were once attributed. Leading archaeologist Hillel Geva made it clear that Mount Moriah was sparsely populated until much later periods when permanent construction on the mountain expanded from around 3800 years ago, around the time of Biblical Abraham.
One of the most compelling observations echos a ziggurat like stairway the lower sections having been partly reassembled with steel staircase. Immediately adjacent, north of the cave, the base of the stairway was once quarried in sloping bedrock, but today it is a sheer-rock-cut-face that reshaped the natural slope of the bedrock to displace or destroy the arrangements that once provided gradual stepped-access from lower to upper ridge.
Stairway view bottom to top (looking west)
Stairway view top to bottom (looking east) - see video below
The slope may have first been reshaped to include steps for easier access on the ~30 meter rise (see profile image below) from the lower rock shelf, at the cave's natural entrance to the stairs leading to the high ridge. Interestingly, the lower section of stairs would have once landed on the east face of Mount Moriah, as it falls to the Kidron Valley, but the dramatic absence at the now sheer-rock-cut-face appears related to the quarrying that ultimately formed the large impassable void of the Upper Gihon Pool (see image below).
Profile slice through Mount Moriah looking north.
In 2008 Eli Shukron broke through a false wall on the upper ridge and discovered that the stairway led directly to a sacrificial altar of a significant pre-Solomon temple complex. Soft sand filled the entire upper ridge spaces between the false wall on the east (side of Kidron Valley) and the western bedrock, below the city wall. Thousands of years before Eli's breakthrough, the temple complex had been cleaned of artifacts and purposefully buried, a fact that has not been officially revealed. Below, the four numbered rooms, notably #1 and #3 have short passages connecting these rooms with the upper section of the ridge as it makes its way higher and to the west.
On the eastern bedrock, below the temple complex middle Bronze Age artifacts were discovered by Shukron and previous archaeologists, but several rooms built against the city wall (see image above) contained artifacts that were dated to the Iron Age.
The image above illustrates how access through the rear passage of room #1 of the temple complex led to the bedrock behind the wall. When the temple complex was excavated, several Iron Age artifacts were found in the passages and caused Ronny Reich to firmly date the temple complex to the Iron Age. However, it is evident these artifacts could have moved. The basement of the Iron Age rooms (above image) terminated on the bedrock as it descends east and like so many cavernous basements in and around the old city of Jerusalem the contents on the bedrock found the tunnel of room #1 where the Iron Age contents of the house slipped into and filled the space of the tunnel.
Based on the above,the definitive statements by Ronny Reich, as seen in the video below would therefore be an example of myopic archaeology. Eli Shukron has made public statements that the temple complex is a Bronze Age construct in direct opposition.
I'll leave it to you the reader to decide, which version is more likely just keep in mind that the standing stone or matzevah in room #2 (seen below) is most likely a relic from 3800 years ago, the the time of Israel's Biblical fathers, as such it is more likely to fit the context that supports the narrative of Eli Shukron.
Room #2 matzevah or standing stone is not a grave marker
The southern room - animal processing and grain press
The lead archaeologist says its Middle Bronze Age, but the tour guides say Iron Age and the Antiquities Authority is silent? For the uninitiated that’s an impossible gap of 600 years!
In 2011 lead archaeologist Eli Shukron discovered 4 hidden bedrock rooms preserved by a false wall. They feature an altar, a grain press, an oil press and a stone monument known as a matzevah. Low loops chiseled through corners of bedrock were once used to tie small animals before they were sacrificed. He openly attributes the rooms to MalchiTzedek’s Shalem, but the matzevah he unwittingly says cannot be Jacob's because"...we're talking about Jerusalem...” (See the video @7:40).
The matzevah of Jacob
This is where Eli and I diverge. Jacob’s matzevah was erected at a place he called Beit El, which according to the clearest geophysical reference in the bible (2Kings 23:4) is on eastern face, on the southern end of Mount Moriah, Jerusalem. Exactly at the location in this blog-post! Eli falls victim to the confusing arguments promoted by Jeroboam after King Solomon built the first temple at its alternative location on Mount Moriah.
The ramifications of Eli's statements strengthen me to overcome ignorance, which I justify because archaeologists are not biblical scholars nor the alternative. Who can blame them? However, the City of David has a far greater responsibility to reveal facts. Jerusalem's "temple zero" predates King David so why didn't he identify these rooms as the location at which his son Solomon would build the first temple further up the mountain?
If you're fortunate enough to visit this place, tour guides may tell you King David built it to house the Ark of the Covenant during the 37 years before the first temple was built. Or that the rooms already existed so he brought the Ark here to rest and this is where he built a tent to house it. But, nothing in their explanation addresses why King David would permit a matzevah, a practice abolished in the bible ~350 years before him. Worse, they won't tell you of the Middle Bronze Age evidence that predates King David to Jacob, Isaac, Abraham and MalchiTzedek. They promote confusion by saying things that are not helpful to absolving ignorance.
The simplest answer is that King David never found these four rooms. However, someone after him, in the mid-late Iron Age did because Middle Bronze Age evidence was found in the area surrounding these rooms, but the rooms had been filled with soft sand, preserved and cleared of Middle Bronze Age evidence.
I've written extensively about these rooms, you can explore my blog for more, but Jerusalem's Temple Zero predicament challenges interpretations of Jewish law and tradition that preceded King David. Fundamentally, if this is Jacob's Beit El then established ancient traditions also declare it to be the site of the future, final temple, which competes with present views and raises questions that may be too hard for people to answer.
Moses was told to gaze west, north, south and east (Deuteronomy - 3:27) similarly Jacob (Genesis 28:14), but Abram was told to look north, south, east and west (Genesis 13:14). The Me'Am Lo'ez says; one would expect east to be mentioned first since this is the direction of sunrise. However, Abram, their predecessor was in BethEl where the future Temple would be built.
About the whereabouts of this location, only one defining statement in all the 24 books of the Bible exists. Undisputed, 2Kings 23:4 states BethEl is the lower south-east slope of Mount Moriah, adjacent to the Kidron Valley in the City of David archaeological park, which is ancient Jerusalem from before the time of King David.
For more than 300 years Israel's tribal logic was dominated by Ephraim's envy over the southern boundary Benjamin shared with Judah, the location Abram was standing. Following King Davids ascension to Jerusalem and unification of the tribes, his son Solomon built the temple at the location. But, one generation later the exiled Jeroboam became King over a divided nation and established a temple of idolatry at Bethel, which is ~20km north of the location at ancient Jerusalem. The nation remained divided since that time.
Significantly, Jeroboam's actions left Israel confused until today. In northern Bethel, Professor Hagi Ben Artzi, the brother of Sarah Netanyahu argues it is the place Jacob experienced his famous dream of a stairway between heaven and earth on which angels were ascending and descending. And, archaeologist Eli Shukron argues the matzevah (monument) he recently discovered at BethEl, the location of Abram cannot be Jacob's because he was in Hagi Ben Artzi's Bethel (to the north) (see Eli @7:40 in the video below).
The confusion has become endemic and logic circular causing many investigators to justify the ancient city of Ai must also be ~20km to the north because that's where Bethel was and Abram is said to have pitched his tent between these two locations (Genesis 12:8). Despite the ancient city of Ai never being discovered academics happily defend their entrenched views.
Few have stopped to consider ancient Jerusalem is Mount Moriah, Salem of MalchiTzedek (Noah's son Shem), BethEl of Abram who became Abraham, akeida of Isaac, Luz and BethEl of Jacob's matzevah, Zion of King David and the Temple of King Solomon. Further that Abram could just as easily have pitched his tent opposite BethEl at the site of a Benedictine Monastery that is today a guesthouse called Maison d'Abraham - the House of Abraham. Finally that Ai could have been east of Maison d'Abraham toward the village Jabal Batin Alhawah.
Maison d'Abraham opposite BethEl in the reclaimed City of David.
Regardless, the irrefutable evidence that Eli Shukron discovered in 2011 is too impact-full to uphold the confusion that has permeated our logic for thousands of years. The temple complex in which the matzevah is located predates King David. Middle bronze age artifacts in the adjacent surroundings, the stone cut rooms of bedrock, preservation of the altar platform, liquids channel, oil and flour press are far too compelling to endure prevailing confusion. Further the middle bronze vessels found under the stone floor of homes built in the perimeter wall of the lower south-eastern valley floor, establishes occupation to the time of Abram.
This enlightenment firmly establishes a path to realize this location. It is repeatedly referred in the Bible, a living text that is archaeologically established for at least 2300 years. It serves as Israel's permanent record which governments will be formed to express and a King appointed to realize Jerusalem's temple at this location that screams out for it.
To unify the nation King David had to identify the location of the national altar around which Israel’s temple would eventually be built. Without his selection no temple could be built and King David would be unable to fulfill his life mission. The King had to locate the altar, precisely at the place Isaac was offered as a sacrifice, by his father Abraham, and he had to do it with prophetic support. His search was futile, he turned to the advice of Prophet Samuel, his teachers, Do'eg, Achitofel and eventually the Prophet Gad.
Do'eg was a convert and serious Torah scholar, known to have ruthlessly consumed the intellects of his fellow students and teachers with his sharp commentary. His rivalry with the knowledge of Torah law that King David possessed revealed his jealous disposition. Paradoxically Do'eg tried to disqualify David from being King because David was born through the lineage of Ruth, a Moabite convert, which he alleged was forbidden by Torah law. The prevailing legal opinion, in David’s favor ruled the prohibition was limited to descendants of male Moabite converts only.
Do'eg also challenged David's struggle to determine the site of the future temple, lobbying for it be located in the high mountains south-west of ancient Jerusalem. David preferred it be at its precise location, in close proximity of the people of ancient Jerusalem. In his later years, King David ordered his general to make a census of the nation, it was not requested of him through a prophet by God, as was the law. After 9 months and 20 days Yoav, his general reluctantly delivered his count of males over 20 in Israel.
With an outstretched arm - Chronicles 21:6||Hagadah
David reflected on the opposition and became remorseful. Retribution followed swiftly and Gad conveyed his prophecy to David as three choices by which to repent; seven years of famine or three months fleeing his enemies or 3 days of plague in the land. King David chose the latter. Immediately 70,000 people received their fate. On the second day, as the nation suffered the King witnessed a vision; the angel of death was standing on the threshing floor where Ornan - King of the Jebusites would separate wheat chaff in the wind. From there the angel stretched out its sword over Jerusalem (The ancient City of David). David immediately and deeply repented for his sins asking God’s forgiveness for the people. With David’s confession, Gad told David to purchase the threshing floor and to build an altar to God, through which he would be forgiven.
David purchased the threshing floor from the willing Jebusite King. He built the altar, made holy sacrifices to seek forgiveness for the sin of his ill fated census. In the process and the pandemonium the panic-struck tribal leaders unanimously accepted this altar as the beacon by which the future site of the first and second temples in Jerusalem would be determined.
Are we to rely on a vision, much less than a prophecy through the voice of an angel or on chance or hidden meaning that David's altar is in fact the site at which Isaac was bound? Was David opportunistic? There are no scholarly sources that confirm King David’s selection as Akeida. For the past 2840 years from the time King Solomon built the first temple and its altar, people have simply believed the site to be precisely the true Akeida. How is it that the most holy site for Jews is identified with the feet of the angel of death?
David struggled to find the site of the temple, for years he contended with Doeg over its location. Then he called on Achitofel to mitigate a threatened flood during construction of the Altar foundation. Did he not have a sign, an archaeological fingerprint, something to go on better than the feet of the angel of death and a prophecy of Gad to annul the plague that he caused? Did David know that the altar of Isaac was a prerequisite for the building of the Temple? David’s son Solomon built Jerusalem’s first temple based on the plans of his father. The missing ingredient in all this is the true location of the altar of Isaac's binding, which is the essential item according Rambam and Halacha (Torah Law) for building a temple in Jerusalem. So where is it?
Intriguingly the sacrifice offered for a sin offering is the same as the new month (Rosh Chodesh). When David brought his sacrifice at the altar the first time, he repented for his sin, not that of the nation it was not a communal offering, but David's. Today, in the Rosh Chodesh prayer Jews the world over ask for a "New altar to be built in Zion", but when David first used the word "Zion" the angel of death's altar had not been identified and Solomon had not built the temple. So where is David's Zion the place we ask for a new altar to be built?
To understand the reasons why the King did not identify the site, we must be sensitive to a chronological series of events that presented him a great difficulty.
When King David and a small band of men first attacked and conquered the Jebusite city, now known as the City of David, its walls had been heavily fortified and constructed to prevent and protect its residents from attack and secure supply of water from the perennial Gihon Spring. Within and adjacent inner sections of the city walls, many homes had been built.
By the time David arrived, walls and the homes had been built on the foundation of bedrock over the site of Isaac’s altar, that had once been carved out of bedrock on the Upper Ridge. The earliest occupants worshiped on the small Upper Ridge on the east facing hillside. It is probable the first expansion of this site were by by Jacob and his sons when they returned from Shechem on their way to Hevron via the matzevah (monument) Jacob erected at the site of Akeida. This is also the place where Jacob experienced his famous dream in which the angels walked up and down the ladder or stairway between heaven and earth. It is also where he anointed his monument to God and formally took the name Israel.
When King David entered the city for the first time the location around the Gihon Spring became known as the Zion fortress and is referred to numerous times in the Bible. There is little doubt this is the physical location Tzion or Zion that David referred to. Whether or not King David knew of the existence of the Temple Zero complex is unknown, regardless its recent emergence for the first time in more than 3000 years and its identity today is remarkable. Will we be open minded enough to seriously question this future Temple site, or are we waiting for another disaster to inform us?
I set out a theory and proof that ancient occupiers of the sparse hills of Jerusalem, with significant help from their regional allies constructed substantial elements of the Massive Fortified Corridor (MFC), adjacent to the Gihon Spring specifically to discourage Israel's return.
A conclusive theory of Jerusalem's Middle Bronze (MB) to Iron Age period continues to evade archaeologists and historians. One study by Hillel Geva tracks the development of Jerusalem's population and provides an excellent overview of the areas the city expanded to through the ages. I will use the breadcrumbs of population growth, as found in Middle Bronze age archaeology to reconstruct the first period of the city’s development.
Bewildering is the absence of any archaeological trace of a Middle Bronze western city wall in the presence of the MFC adjacent to the Gihon Spring on the eastern slope. Perhaps even more complex is the scant evidence of a complete eastern city wall, one that should have certainly left significant traces at intervals. I will demonstrate that the MFC was not constructed to protect water as per common logic, but to serve another motive.
The massive Middle Bronze II (MB II) fortress erected around the Gihon Spring undoubtedly required a
major economic effort and substantial manpower (Boas-Vedder 2001; Reich 2011: 248–261). This does not mean that the inhabitants of the city were necessarily the builders of the
massive structures; much of the manpower may have been recruited from the hinterland (Geva 2014). Although Uziel lead research to carbon date construction of the north-east corner of the fortress, an MFC extension to the Iron Age 800-900 B.C.E, there remains significant evidence that progression of construction from MBII to completion at the northern end may have occurred in the Iron Age.
Israel Finkelstein shares the view that the MBII fortress and area around the Gihon Spring remained somewhat independent of the expanded city. The old mound of Jerusalem was located on the
Temple Mount (Ophel) and activity on the City of David ridge
(the southeastern hill of Jerusalem) was restricted
to the area around the Gihon Spring (Finkelstein,
Koch and Lipschits 2011) In other words he supports the view that a complete MB II city wall, which has not yet been discovered, may not have existed at that time.
Figure 1 - Middle Bronze II - Warren Shaft System, Fortification and Gihon Spring. To align see (E) in Fig.2 below.
Coming out of the upper tunnel (Tunnel VI) moving to the eastern slope, a traveler finds
himself outside (north) of the MFC rather than on the path
leading into it, as one would expect if the corridor had already been built
before the Warren Shaft System (WSS). This indicates that parts of the WSS existed and part built before the MFC. Since the corridor is known to be Canaanite in age, it follows that
the WSS must also be of Canaanite age. (Dan Gill 2011)
With periodic increases in Mount Moriah's population (since the Early Bronze Age 1 - L.H. Vincent Underground Jerusalem) and geopolitical changes in the region, this hill eventually became one of the city-states that ruled in the region. In the face of the prevailing political rivalries from within and without, city rulers embarked on a comprehensive, state-funded, integrated program to protect the city and its vital water resources. Presumably, the city walls, the spring tower and MFC, as well as the Siloam Channel, were built during these stages. (Dan Gill 2011)
This invokes many questions, particularly related to evidence the Parker-Vincent expedition of 1909 uncovered, much of which has been principally ignored by Israel's modern archaeologists.
Figure 2 - Parker and Vincent map with photo overlay, sitting at position [K-21-b] (above)
An amateur researcher would be hard pressed to find any archaeological reference to Jerusalem's oldest private cave dwelling, but for a 1909-1911 photo of Parker and Vincent. This photo exposes [K-21-b] on the Vincent map, a private cave dwelling elevated ~20m above the valley floor on the eastern slope of Mount Moriah, south of the Gihon Spring. The cave dwelling (K) dates back to the early bronze age. It is barely referenced by Ronny Reich in his recent book Excavating the City of David - Where Jerusalem's History Began. Vincent also discovered pottery and tombs on the mountain that were dated to 3000 B.C.E. None of these finds date later than the Early Bronze Age.
I rely on the hypothesis that this initial private cave dwelling K was developed by and for important occupants because of its substantial size and features relative to the period of its construction. On this and evidence discovered in the immediate areas around this cave dwelling, I reconstructed the progressive development logic of population growth in the area.
Parker and Vincent excavated K as well as extensions L, M and passage N, adjacent to the more recently excavated area east of L, K, J and P. This area south of the, Rock-cut Pool(Fig. 1) forms an elevated platform ~3m above the top step that leads (on its eastern end) into the Round Chamber (within the Rock-Cut Pool) (Fig.1) also marking the lowest part of the expanded Rock-Cut Pool.
Figure 3 - Lower section of Parker and Vincent overlay map on Reich-Shukron Figure 1 map
Figure 3 is a rough context map of the entire complex including important elements missed by the Parker-Vincent excavation. The Middle Bronze age is a critical period in the development of this site, but the areas missed by Parker-Vincent, those (south) adjacent to G were excavated by Shukron in 2008-10. The most recent excavations (the circled area) are fundamental elements in the logic of these staged progressions.
The birds eye view in Figure 3 includes (what was) an impassable access corridor rising from lower elevation J-P to a temple complex on high ridge G-H. In area F (lower level) excavation reached the bedrock and exposed a number of steep bedrock steps, on several of which were potsherds from Middle Bronze Age IIB. (Shukron, Uziel, Szanton 2013) and Kathleen Kenyon's trench excavation immediately north of Wall 17 revealed potsherds dating to MBII (Reich).
The mapped complex of Fig.3 at the City of David. Kidron Valley foreground. Orange line - a potential path across the bedrock escarpment to between Plateau P and upper ridge sections
Kathleen Kenyon's Wall 17 on bedrock north of Temple Complex on upper ridge
The descending section of the east-west corridor marked XVIII, at lower elevation P-XXI appears to have been disconnected such that its eastern end (as it approaches P) terminates as a sheer rock face that rendered the upper part of the corridor inaccessible. The missing section may have once connected this steep corridor between lower and upper elevation. (see image below)
The impassable, disconnected corridor. Lower-eastern section has been reconstructed to connect P with G
Following the logical path from C to E to G (including via external passage at E) a well thought-out plan was implemented to improve upon natural
karstic elements and combine them into an accessible water supply system that became known as Warrens Shaft, (Dan Gill). Although the complex of rooms excavated at G were completed by 2011, no archaeologist report has ever been published, but the temple features of this complex overwhelmingly support its spiritual importance.
Returning to the Rock-cut pool of Figure 1, the MBII channel and Round Chamber preceded the expansion of the pool to its present day boundaries (Reich attributes this expansion to the Iron Age). The eastern stepped access into the expanded pool and more humble Round Chamber suggests the Chambers original elevation may have once been level with adjacent plateau's north and south (as indicated, by red outlines in Figure 4 below).
Figure 4 - Shukron, Uziel, Szandton excavations enhanced and labeled
Looking (south) over the Round Chamber, tourist walkway sunken into Rock-cut Pool.
Fallen boulders (right-west) illustrated green in Figure 4
Figure 5 - Indicative depth of original Round Chamber edge (north-east) level with northern adjacent plateau and entry of MBII Tunnel III
Round chamber entry of Iron Age Tunnel IV (left) and MBII Tunnel III (right)
The expansion of the Round Chamber into the Rock-cut pool, which disconnected the lower section of corridor P-G would have rendered the P plateau and cave dwelling K inaccessible from its opposite northern plateau (that supports the remains of MFC - Fig.5). Further, the high ridge of area G would have become inaccessible from any of the lower reaches on the eastern slope of Mount Moriah and the Kidron Valley. This or any renovation may have occurred at a date later than MBII, perhaps very Late Bronze (LB) or Iron Age (IA) (Reich).
In the video above Ronny Reich confirms that Middle Bronze Age access to water in the Round Chamber would have been via WSS to the MFC plateau (before the MFC was built). The cave’s opening is sealed but may have been accessible in antiquity (Uziel). At the same level, MFC plateau was level with and part of the P plateau. Quarrying the the Rock-cut pool and construction of MFC would have cut internal access between the WSS and plateau P.
It would have been convenient to quarry and extract the rock surrounding the Round Chamber to form the Rock-cut Pool in order to construct the MFC on its adjacent northern plateau. Was this part of their thinking? The deep chasm of the Rock-cut pool cut access and the added MFC divided the entire mountain to the south placing more emphasis on north-west expansion of the city. This is further evidenced by the existence of wall constructs that blocked access along Parker corridor XIX at the point the fortification corridor abutted city walls that were constructed in the Late Bronze or early Iron Age.
Having been slowly established during the Bronze Age on the lower, southern end of the eastern face of Mount Moriah, people, who were now more technically capable were on the move to expand the walls of the city north as the Iron Age was gathering pace. If we accept the hypothesis that this was the pattern by which Jerusalem became more populated then we can understand this atypical development model for a location so prominent in history. Atypical because countless archaeologists who have worked on or studied these excavations coalesce that water protection was the motivation for fortification around the Gihon Spring, but I suggest this was not the case.
The effort to quarry the Rock-cut Pool and construct adjacent fortification corridors that cut the eastern slope, separating south from north was herculean (Boas-Vedder 2001 and Reich 2011). Regional labor, at subsidized cost would have been imported to the city, but only if the ~900 inhabitants (Geva) of MB Mount Moriah had good reason to inspire and undertake such significant development. Note: The Rock-cut pool is cut deeper on the southern, northern and western edge. Storing water was not the reason for these deep cuts because the eastern edge, perhaps as much as ~2m lower dictated the highest water level in the pool.
Given Dan Gill's observation "...that Coming out of the upper tunnel (Tunnel VI) to the eastern slope, a traveler finds himself outside (to the north) of the MFC rather than on a path leading into it...", protecting water does not seem to have been the objective of the MFC construction. Although Early Bronze developments may have cast the die, at any reasonable MB, LB or IA date, geopolitical objectives must have been strongly aligned to inspire regional powers to support the construction of such a substantial infrastructure push to the north.
In summary we have structural evidence of;
1. a deep cut quarry on 3 sides of the Rock-cut Pool leading to Round Chamber
2. access impasse from rock plateau supporting MFC to plateau of cave dwelling K
3. eastern city wall's or foundations but not western
4. fortification corridor blocking XIX and abutting an eastern city wall north of G
5. disconnected corridor joining P with G
6. misalignment of fortification corridor south of and adjacent to the Gihon Spring water source
On the high ridge at G the stone-cut, beam, oil press is juxtaposed with the undisturbed matzevah or massebah and rock frame (see matzevah image below) that was placed directly on the bedrock at some point after the stone-cut rooms had been completed.
A 2013 excavation along XIII west of G unveiled a weight which may have been used for the oil, beam press as depicted
Dating of the rooms carved on the high ridge could be as far back as Early Bronze IV such that the development chronology on the mountain may resemble the following.
1. Early Bronze I
– 3300-3050 B.C.E. – sparse, periodic settlement
2. Early Bronze II-III
– 3050-2030 B.C.E. sparse, prolonged settlement including private dwelling K
3. Early Bronze IV/Middle Bronze I
-2300-2000 B.C.E. - permanent settlement, bedrock chiseling at high ridge
4. Middle Bronze IIA 2000-1750 B.C.E
. – expanded settlement, early use of area G high ridge, expansion of WSS, Gihon tunnels
5. Middle Bronze IIB-C 1750-1550 B.C.E.
– excavation of Round Chamber and expanded area G features constructed on the high ridge
6. Late Bronze I – 1550-1400 B.C.E.
– development on east face, commencement of city walls
7. Late Bronze IIA-B 1400-1200 B.C.E.
– commence construction of city walls, Rock-cut Pool and MFC
8. Iron Age I 1200-1000 B.C.E.
– completion of MFC, expansion along valley floor, tower and city walls
9. Iron Age II – 1000 – 586 B.C.E.
– water system rearrangement, internal city construction, expansion North and eastern outer wall
At some point after the construction of rock-cut rooms at G, perhaps MBI or MBII the matzevah discovered by Shukron would have been constructed on the bedrock at G.
Matzevah at G
An inventory of items located north to south in 4 rock-cut chambers at G (see southwest corner in Figure 4) include;
1. beam, oil press (external east wall of animal pen)
2. small animal pen (room enclosure)
3. altar platform, grain press, liquids channel leading to pit (tunnel exit west)
4. animal ties (thread through rock corners)
5. matzevah (see picture above)
6. grain press, oil press, V markings in bedrock floor (exit tunnel west)
Eli Shukron in the now famous room with V markings exit tunnel west in the north west corner of room
The significant rock-cut and matzevah features in the chambers at G indicate, at least MB use as a temple for high volume worship. Its large scale construction on the high ridge overlooking the Kidron Valley once announced its importance. The scant population of Mount Moriah cannot be have motivated such a significant rock-cut construction, therefore it is more likely it's location and cultural importance attracted people from the region that motivated its construction. Given the dominant nature of this early element of the scheme in Figure 3 especially its relationship to the southern end, it is surprising that the Rock-cut Pool and MFC cut the eastern slope, obfuscating access to area G's rock-cut rooms.
Curiously the next Figure 5 scheme of excavation presents corridor 1,2 and 3. We have discussed corridor 1 previously as the east-west disconnected P-G corridor marked XVIII in Figure 3. However, corridor 2 terminates at the western deep cut edge of the Rock-cut pool and corridor 3 terminates prematurely into an apparent dead-end. The evidence suggests access to the water below from the temple on the high ridge at G was important. As demand for access was growing additional corridor excavation may have been undertaken. Nevertheless, these excavations are incomplete and 1,2,3 defined here as corridors may simply follow the bedrock slope to their termination points.
Figure 5 excavation area scheme with G and matzevah as indicated - click to enlarge
Relying on the structural evidence above and stratum data provided in the references used, we must establish credible reasons why;
1. the Round Chamber was quarried to establish the Rock-cut pool
2. lower vital connecting sections of corridor 1 (P-G @ XVIII) were cut and corridor 2 terminated at the western quarry edge of the Rock-cut pool
3. the MFC adjacent to the Gihon Spring was undertaken.
Therefore, I posit the following chronological hypothesis;
1. That Mount Moriah was settled in accordance with 1-3 of the chronology above during EB.
2. That MB I reasons for permanent settlement began to materialize, but that these were not fundamentally based on demand for water, but on soft-cultural, spiritual demands as evidenced by Geva's population estimates.
3. That cave dwelling K and early features of the temple at G began servicing spiritual demands
4. That the Round Chamber and channel from the Gihon Spring were constructed to service increasing transient demand during MB IIA-B
5. That the matzevah was erected during MB IIB-C
6. That eastern walls, the Rock-cut pool and MFC were constructed toward the end of LB
Finally the reason for MFC and Rock-Cut-Pool were entirely geo-political, they served little practical purpose. At least the MFC and eventually the Rock-Cut-Pool was entirely required by regional leaders to cut the eastern slope and access to the Bronze Age temple on the high ridge at area G. The next video supports my claim.
