Deception and Glory

Three things troubled King David greatly, they were the location of the altar for the temple, the incident with Uriah and the taunts of the Israelite tribes over his marriage to Batsheva. In David's eagerness to decapitate Goliath the Philistine giant, his helper Uriah the Hittite diverted David's divine ‘destiny’ by requesting and receiving a right to marry from among any of the Jewish women of Israel. This misappropriation caused King David tremendous suffering through a series of tragic events that ultimately led to the division of the Israelite nation.

Uriah used his grant to marry Batsheva and became a high ranking officer. Whilst Uriah was fighting Israel’s war, King David and Batsheva had a public and immoral, some say illicit, affair from which she conceived. To deceive the public David recalled Uriah from the war, but when Uriah refused to visit Batsheva David sent him back to the battlefront with a sealed letter instructing David’s General, Yoav, to put Uriah in harms way. In protest, Yoav leaked the letter. Uriah was killed and national confidence in the King waned as some tribes were repulsed by David's indiscretion. Batsheva bore David’s child who died after 7 days. This child was not the immaculate conception. In a way David saw the child’s death as a blessing and behaved accordingly. David had usurped God's plan by giving his marital right to Uriah who used it to marry Batsheva the one destined for the King. Though tarnished by their actions, David married Batsheva who became the mother of Solomon, King David’s ultimate heir and constructor of the nation’s first permanent temple.

Then, toward the end of King David’s life he did something very strange. Against Jewish law and the wishes of Yoav, his most loyal and senior general, the King ordered the army to take a census of the tribes in Israel's North and Yehuda in the South. The commentaries consider this lapse, a transgression of The Kings supreme providential confidence, but this time, in his old age, King David doubted the nation would continue to support him. Perhaps his insecurity developed through punishing events for his impetuous acts. It is said to have caused him to order the census, usually reserved for a holy purpose, but here it may have been to satisfy his nagging desire and to remind his restless nation of his status.

About 35 years earlier King David located the Ark of the Covenant in Jerusalem's City of David. Fragmented political circumstances made him abundantly aware he would not be the one to build the temple, that honor would be left for his son Solomon. Always on his mind King David planned every last detail and gathered materials for the temple construction. He was determined to be associated with the Ark’s final place of rest. Before David was anointed King over all the tribes he studied with Prophet Shmuel (Samuel) to discover where the Ark should be permanently located. Together they learned the book of Yehoshua, particularly the territorial boundary of Binyamin and Yehuda, the critical point that identifies the prescribed location of the altar as required for building the temple and by which the Ark obtains its relative position. He also studied with Prophet Nathan as he continued to plan the temples intricate details and he argued vehemently about its proper place with Do'eg Israel's greatest scholar. Throughout his tenure King David had been unable to deduce the Altar's place and therefore the Ark's ultimate location according to Jewish law.

As a result of the ill fated census, a series of unfortunate events presented King David the political opportunity to finalize the temple location. The nation was punished with severe drought during which the King repented for his actions and those of the nation. In order to release the nation from its desperate state Gad, the prophet and seer, advised the King to make a national choice:- Three years of famine, three months fleeing invading enemies or three days of plague? King David chose the latter and the plague ravaged 70,000 Israelites, but before the allotted time was up God stopped His angel of death as it was about to reign pestilence on the people of Jerusalem (Mount Zion and Mount Moriah - The City of David). The angel challenged God over His broken deal, in response God offered Avishai, Yoav’s brother, the King’s most loyal follower lost his life. In the moment of this national pandemonium, David begged God’s forgiveness and Gad advised the King to make an altar at the site the King had seen the angel was standing poised to destroy^[1] Jerusalem. The site belonged to the Jebusite King Ornan (Araunah) who lived in Jerusalem during David's entire reign, it was his threshing floor on the top of Mount Moriah.

Locating the altar for the temple was no simple matter. The laws are precisely established and every scholar of Israel’s tribes would have known and opined them. King David had struggled with many of the brightest scholars, including Do’eg his most vocal opponent, to determine its location. It is said David wanted to build in the middle^[2] of the mountain, but Do’eg ridiculed him for such thought. Any move by him to ‘force’ this decision would have been pounced on by the most senior tribal scholars and leaders who opposed his leadership. The end of the plague presented the sometimes apparently, impetuous King the perfect national moment to purchase the site, build an altar and make a burnt offering as a sacrifice for himself and perhaps on behalf of his confounded nation. In doing so and against the law of the day, he enabled the status of his private altar (bamah) to become communal thus establishing its location on the top of Mount Moriah.

The law of the temple altar location stipulates it as the site where Isaac was offered by Abraham as a sacrifice. No other location could bestow permanence deserving of God’s Home and indeed the first and second temples at the site Prophet Gad enabled and King David prescribed were eventually destroyed. Maimonides suggested^[3] that Moses wisely chose not to mention Jerusalem. Had he done so, the non-Jewish nations would have realized Jerusalem's singular importance to the Jewish people, and they would have fought fiercely to prevent it from falling into Israel's hands. Did King David know his alternative location would preserve the real site for the future?

King David knew of the prophecies that described and would cause the destruction of the first and second temples, did his deceptive actions follow those of Moses to defend the temples ultimate location? Perhaps they did and perhaps the altars true and permanent location will ultimately be revealed at this City of David site http://israelfact.blogspot.com.au/2013/03/a-hypothesis-for-mizbeach-of-akeida.html 

Immediately after the reign of King Solomon who completed the first temple, the nation was plunged into massive division by the southern tribes of Yehuda under Rehavam and northern tribes of Israel under Yerovam. Any view the nation held of the permanent status of that temple was challenged and eventually twice soundly defeated.

To this very day orthodox Jews around the world say the Nefilat Appayim or tahannun section of their daily prayer of repentance, which was written by King David and recorded as Psalm 25. Here Jews acknowledge their repentance for the tragedy of King David's fateful decision, some begin the prayer "and David said to Gad" from Samuel II 24:14.

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[1] http://israelfact.blogspot.com.au/2012/05/sword-over-jerusalem-sources-from.html

[2] Samuel 2 22:17,18 Yalkut Me’am Leoz

[3] Guide to the Perplexed III:45

Israel's Indigenous Independence and the Philistine Curse

After the post war miracles of 1948 and the establishment of the modern State of Israel, the remnant of three ancient deals continued to affect the nation. Today they are manifest in Gaza - the strip of land that accommodates a people who diminish Israel from its own territory and the capitulation to desire by Jewish people who succumb to other national identities. 

The indigenous rights of Israelis are established, recorded through Judaism and Jewish practices from the descendants of Abraham. No other nation possesses such a record or the rights that emanate from it, no other people can argue continuity or prove their lineage through it. The realization and recognition of Israel’s tribal heritage rights through pacts and deals that date back almost 4000 years must not be relegated by the symbolism of modern Zionism.

Three deals made by Avraham, Yitzchak and David delayed the realization of Zion as a permanent place of peace for Jewish people, of Jerusalem and the complete conquest of the land of Israel. During David’s conquest he shattered the long held inter-nation tribal deals that upheld the honor of Avraham and Yitzchak in the eyes of non Israelite tribes, but he was blinded in the process.

Avimelech - Father King of the Plishtim (Philistines), descendants of Noah's son Ham, realized his tribal future would eventually be lost to Israel, therefore he  requested a treaty that the sons of Yitzchak would not take away Plishtim land. Yitzchak cut an ammah, a strip of his donkey’s leather bridle and gave it over as his oath. The land represented by this ammah on Israel’s modern map approximates Gaza. 

In making this treaty Yitzchak reinforced an earlier pact his father Avraham entered with Avimelech who assisted Avraham to defeat the four mighty kings that conquered Sodom and Gemora. The pact was limited to 3 generations, but Yitzchak extended it.

Avraham had also made a second treaty referring specifically to Jerusalem with other Plishtim tribes. When he wanted to buy the cave of Machpela to bury his wife Sarah, the Jebusites (Yevusi) who were relatives of the Hittites objected. The Hittites demanded a condition that Avraham’s descendants would never conquer the Jebusites who lived in Jerusalem. 

Rivkah (Rebecca) was repulsed by the prospect that Yaakov (Jacob) may marry from the Hittites. They sent him away to find a wife from her brother’s family. As a result, he did not enter a treaty with the Hittites partly because he left the land of Israel to establish his family and fortune and only returned toward the end of his father, Yitzchak’s life.

The Jebusites who entered the covenant eventually made two idols, one a blind man representing Yitzchak who went blind and the other a lame man representing Yaakov who limped. They placed these idols along with seven iron sheep at Jerusalem’s entrance as a reminder to Israel’s future leaders.

Following Israel's return from exile in Egypt, Yehoshua (Joshua) commenced a conquest of the land and attacked Jerusalem, also referred to as Beit El, but Yehoshua was reminded of the treaty once made by his descendants and he honored it allowing the inhabitants to continue their tenure. The same occurred, after Yehoshua’s death, by the army of the tribe of Yehuda. The Jebusite responses on each occasion was to further fortify the city against future attacks. 

Four hundred years later the tribes of Israel were bitterly divided. At the time of King Shaul (Saul - a Benjamite), the shepherd David (a Yehuda-ite) was anointed King by the popular prophet and judge Shmuel (Samuel). In response to a calling by King Shaul whilst fighting the army of the Plishtim, David rose and killed Goliath - the giant Philistine. David wanted to remove Goliath's massive armor to decapitate him, but could not find a way to do it. On the battlefield Uriah the Hittite approached David and offered to resolve the problem. Uriah, who thought David would one day be King over all Israel, requested a Jewish wife. Oblivious to the serious misappropriation, David entered a pact with the Hittite to give away any woman of Israel Uriah chose. The armies of Shaul were amazed at David’s tenacity and bravery and King Shaul’s jealousy was aroused. 

King Shaul’s armies pursued David like a dog for many years. In arguably the most tragic event, David went to Nov (the site of Shmuel and the Mishkan, north of Jerusalem) to seek refuge from the priests that lived there. Do’eg the Edomite, then loyal to Shaul, was studying at the nearby yeshiva and witnessed the high priest provide impoverished David with the Philistine sword of Goliath and 100 loaves of bread for David’s men. Do’eg reported this to Shaul as a brewing rebellion by the priests and Shaul gave permission to massacre the 85 priests killed as a result of Do’eg’s testimony.

David left the proximity of King Shaul’s army and sought refuge from a Philistine regional chief Achish who provided him immunity and land in Ziklag. When all the Philistine nations finally arose against Israel and King Shaul, Ziklag was destroyed and the families of David and his men were kidnapped. David pursued and rescued them, but Israel was defeated under King Shaul. His son Yonatan (Jonathan), David’s closest companion, and King Shaul were beheaded.

King Shaul’s descendant could not hold (Benjamite) power so the tribal elders came to King David of Yehuda in Hebron and appointed him the King and all the tribes of Israel accepted him. David immediately marched to Yevus, Jerusalem, built on the border of Yehuda and Binyamin (Benjamin) to bring the fortified city back under Israeli control. The inhabitants, living under Araunah (Ornan) the King of Yevus, taunted David’s men reminding them of the pact of the lame and the blind. David promised military leadership to the first man that conquered the city. Yoav, entered through a concealed water pipe and provided passage to the others in his party - he became David's general. They occupied the water tower and progressively took the rest of the city. They argued with the inhabitants that the ancient pact was obsolete because the Philistines had once attacked and filled in Yitzchak’s wells, but they allowed the King of Yevus to live among the new Jewish occupants including King David.

Uriah the Hittite was granted the right to marry Batsheva considered to be the most beautiful woman in the land. Uriah was dispatched along with Yoav and his army to fight against the Ammonites. All soldiers provided their wives a conditional bill of divorce in the event of their death. One afternoon David caught a glimpse of Batsheva and sent for her. David lay with her and she conceived. On receiving the news of her conception, David requested Uriah’s return from battle and encouraged him to go home to his wife, hoping he would lie with her and confuse any public identification of the morally illicit conception. Uriah refused to go to his wife and responded to the King - the Ark of the covenant lives in a tent (in the city of David); my Master Yoav and my Masters servants are encamped in open fields. Will I then come to my house and lay with my wife? In response David sent Uriah to the front lines with a sealed letter ordering Yoav to place Uriah in harms way. Yoav did not retain the confidentiality of Davids sealed letter, but carried out his orders. Yoav blamed David for the loss of lives of some of his commanding officers. Against the backdrop of David’s splendid reign, news of his indiscretion spread fast and festered among the tribes, it catalyzed a terrible decay in the kingdom.

Batsheva’s birth was cursed, David did not repent until the prophet Natan highlighted his indiscretion which caused The King to enter a state of great repentance. The baby died, David’s behavior turned (II Shmuel12:21) and he began to lose control over his fragmented nation. Batsheva’s second son was Shlomo (Solomon) who, despite great inter-family upheaval, violence and death among David’s children ultimately became the King of Israel.

The effect of David’s reign was to provide the platform for Shlomo to build the first temple and unify the fragile tribes. It was a wonderful period in the nations history fondly remembered to this day. Each time Jews close the Ark containing the Torah in temples around the world we repeat the words - “Renew us as in times of old”. But Shlomo’s reign, in context of Israel’s history was short and soon after he died the divided nation expressed itself, in all its glory, through the upheaval that resulted from the unpopular anointment of Shlomo’s son Rehavam. Yerovam the leader of the tribe of Efrayim (from Yosef) rebelled using Egypt as his base. He was appointed King over ten of Israel's twelve tribes that split from Yehuda and with it he plunged Israel into the most devastating self imposed period of enduring exile that ultimately led to their near complete banishment from the land.

2744 years passed before the nation Israel returned to their land to establish the modern state of Israel in 1948. Today 65 years on, Israel continues to struggle with its early legacy, but the indigenous rights of its Jewish people are impossible to dispute.

Land for Peace!

Consider the problem the modern segmentation of Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Israel posed for the historical inhabitants of the land. The map below highlights this, by overlaying onto the modern map, Israel’s ancient tribal land map. The ancient map is known because the boundary markers are recorded in the 3400 year old Hebrew bible, which precedes the record of any other identifiable continuing tribal rights in the region.

Map by http://www.accordancebible.com/Shift-Select-To-Combine-Map-Layers

In the years preceding and following Israel’s war of independence in 1948 hundreds of thousands of people were displaced from land on either side of the Jordan river. Ancient rights of Jews who lived on the east bank of the Jordan river (Jordan) were presumed exchanged for the rights of Muslims living on the west bank of the Jordan river (Israel). Each of these communities were severely disrupted during the mass migration that took place as a result of war. Land rights and registration, followed from the Ottoman and British land registries, were handed to the new Jordanian and Israeli governments for management.

From the 1948 war, Jordan became the occupier of adjacent portions of land west of the Jordan river (in Israel) including a significant section of Jerusalem - commonly referred to as the West Bank. Prior to and in response to this state of war, laws were passed in Israel and Jordan in respect of future land rights. Israel offered a right of return to Jewish property owners displaced by acts of war. Jordan confiscated and cancelled rights to possess land by anyone it declared an enemy of their state - including all Jews.

In 1967 Israel, in response to an attack by Jordan and Egypt, conquered back the territory Jordan had occupied since 1948 and soon after began returning properties to Jewish families that could prove ownership prior to 1948. Jordan never returned or recognized the rights of owners of the hundreds of thousands of acres registered to Jews that were confiscated and Israel never recognized the rights of displaced Muslim landowners.

There is little point in dwelling on this much longer, but any so called land for peace arrangement must first reconcile these rights, including recognition of Israel’s ancient tribal land owners in the region. Apparently the truth is inconvenient, but it cannot be ignored by Israel or its proxies when negotiating to reduce further displacement and suffering by the people who have been most affected through violent conflict. Any ambit claims by parties with a vested interest must first be filtered by the backdrop of the ancient map of the indigenous rights of Israeli's.

The Secret of the Seder's Fifteen Steps

The Hebrew calendar is unusual because Nisan is the first month, associated with Passover or Pesach the holiday of redemption. But, its opposite end, the seventh month, Tishrei is the Jewish new year including the holiday of Sukkot. Kabbalah teaches equal in opposites, so what about Sukkot can we learn about Pesach?

There is  teaching that the lower feminine waters (of the Gihon Spring) complained to God, “We too want to be close to You!” God consoled them, saying, “There will come a time when you, too, will be close, when your waters will be poured upon the altar during Sukkot, to celebrate.” At Sukkot the Levite priests sang spiritual songs that kept Jerusalem wide-eyed till dawn as they stood upon the “fifteen steps of descent from the Israelite courtyard to the women’s courtyard, that correspond to the fifteen ‘Songs of Ascents’ composed by King David.  But, the priests descended those fifteen steps?

Rav Chisda asked “a certain rabbi” why King David composed these fifteen Songs of Ascents to begin with. The rabbi replied that when King David began excavating the foundation of the Temple’s altar, the waters of the subterranean deep rushed upwards and threatened to engulf the world. Then, King David composed fifteen Songs of Ascents, and the depths safely subsided. If so, Rav Chisda protested, why are they not called Songs of Descent, to reflect the subsiding waters.

Replied the anonymous rabbi, this is what occurred: When the deep surged upwards, King David thought to inscribe God's Name on a piece of earthenware and cast it into the waters. His teacher, Achitofel, ruled it permissible reasoning; if according to Torah, for the sake of matrimonial harmony, God commands us to write His Name on parchment and to erase it by placing it into a container of water for an alleged unfaithful wife to drink and redeem herself, then it is certainly permissible for King David to cast the divine Name into the surging waters to bring peace to the entire world!

King David immediately wrote and cast The Name into the waters, which then subsided sixteen levels. Surprised, the King realized the earth’s irrigation would be reduced, so he voiced fifteen Songs of Ascents that brought the waters back up to a safe and desirable level.

In his commentary on the Talmud, Maharsha adds that the divine Name King David wrote was with the letters Yud-Hei, which equates the numerical value fifteen. The Name is associated with the final redemption of the Jewish people. The two priests who descended these steps on the way to draw the water on Sukkot would pause on the tenth step, to divide the steps in two parts, ten and five, corresponding to the Yud (ten) and Hei (five) respectively.

Maharal quotes the verse from Isaiah 26:4, “For in God (Yud-Hei) is the strength of the worlds.” Our sages stated that all creation comes into being via these two divine “letters,” Yud and Hei. These letters comprise “form” that comes from the Yud, and “matter” that comes from the Hei. These reflect the spiritual worlds united with the material.

This, then, is the Kabbalistic secret behind the fifteen Songs of Ascents corresponding to the Temple steps that directed people to the higher world, from the more material, “feminine” women’s courtyard, toward the more spiritual, “masculine” aspect, the Israelite courtyard and ultimately the exclusive domains of the high priests. When a redeemed Israel left the entrapment of Egypt (Mitzrayim) they first journeyed through the lowest waters, the bottom of Yam Suf meaning Reed or some say Sea at the End where they cast their souls, comprising God's name, into the waters and from where they ascended as a nation.

Each year Jews the world over renew the months that will follow by ascending through 15 steps of the Pesach seder (the Passover meal). They pause after the tenth step during which they re-enact eating the pascal lamb sacrifice that saved them from disaster. Then, they continue the last of five steps with the festive meal of the seder. From the digestion of the holy Pesach meal, they are infused and elevated. Six months later they descend 15 steps at Sukkot when they unite the Lulav (Palm) and Willow branches of the lower waters. At that time meals are eaten and elevation is by the encompassing Sukkah, the natural hut Jews live in during that week each year.

Christians adjust their calendar to tie Easter to Pesach and Jews dedicate the water festival of Sukkot for all the nations. We are living in the years considered to be the millennial hour, the time of transition, at the doorstep of Moshiach (Mesiah) and Israel's final redemption. The 15 steps of the Pesach seder compliment Sukkot’s 15 holy steps of the Temple. With the realization of this inner beauty, perhaps we will live a peace that is the Jewish dream. Then those who live and celebrate in Jerusalem will no longer need to utter the Seder's redundant concluding words "next year in Jerusalem"!

Searching for the Mizbeach (altar) of Akeidat Yitzchak (Isaac)

Ancient City of David 

There is good reason to believe the area on the high ridge above the Gihon Spring (at the City of David - Jerusalem) is Luz that Yaakov (Jacob) named Beit El. To support this I include links to my research, but it starts with an attack on the conventional view of Ay or Ai, the ancient city or location first associated with Avraham (Abraham).  I propose the Beit El and Ay of Avraham (Bereishit 12:6–8) conforms to the following map of Jerusalem's holy basin (click to enlarge it) and the book of Yehoshua (Joshua);

View north, Temple Mount left of center - click to enlarge

The completed thesis can be obtained here Jerusalem Origin - The Thesis

Looking South East toward Ay - circled in the background

The other, different location for Beit-el and Ay (north of Jerusalem), made popular at the time of King Yerovam ben Nabat (Jeroboam), was a ‘deception’, a duplicate of the familiar geographical names surrounding and preceding the first temple holy basin. Yerovam established these, continuing Micah's Beit el tradition (400 years prior), to heist the northern nation of Israel into believing his priests, temple and idols were a suitable substitute to Jerusalem's. You can read support for this cornerstone including its economic incentives here - http://israelfact.blogspot.com.au/2012/10/solving-riddle-of-beit-el-and-beit-el.html

Once the remnant of Yerovam’s confusion is removed we can focus on essential issues. These include; the geophysical flow of aquifer water from the high valley of Hevron (Hebron) to the low point of Yam Ha Melach (Dead Sea) via the ridge that terminates at Har (Mount) Moriah and the E’ven Ha Shtiya (Foundation Stone) under which the aquifer flows north, u-turns then flows east. [see the Geotechnical-Hydrogeological survey http://www.gsi.gov.il/Eng/_Uploads/163Geotechnical-Hydrogeological-Concern.pdf].

Eli Shukron - room with floor marking 

Now we can review the archaeological site above (west of) the Gihon and the area of Salem, the characteristics of which are highly unusual and detailed in the image below. The most notable of these features is the matzevah (monument or pillar), which has miraculously survived more than 3500 years and is yet to be officially announced. I challenge you or anyone else to find a similar object in any site in Israel – such a perfectly preserved item built onto bedrock and still standing does not exist.

High Ridge above Gihon Spring

Matzevah - Monument Genesis 28:22

My theory, which is described broadly here http://www.scribd.com/doc/120128721/Jerusalem-s-Origin explains this is the site of the matzevah Yaakov anointed (Bereishit 35:14-15). There are many midrashic references to this site including the source of the stones Yaakov used for the matzevah – the mizbeach of Akeida Yitzchak and these can be discovered in the more detailed paper here http://www.scribd.com/doc/76553825/The-Stone-the-Builders-Rejected.

Armed with this information we can progress to the decision David Ha’Melech (King David) made to locate the temple mizbeach (altar), that became the site for the first and second temples on the top of the hill (around the Dome of the Rock). Here you can read about the process he endured to navigate Jewish law and make that very difficult decision - http://israelfact.blogspot.com.au/2012/05/sword-over-jerusalem-sources-from.html. Whilst I don’t fully expose my view in this paper, I believe he prophesied about the final temple at the end of days and as a result made a conscious, albeit very difficult decision, to obfuscate the site of Akeida Yitzchak (the altar site) from nations of the future to protect the true site, which he knew about.

When you look into the sources relating the ‘neck’ to the site of the temple, we find they point directly to the site above the Gihon and the area of Salem - http://israelfact.blogspot.com.au/2012/05/neck-and-site-of-temple.html - also see http://israelfact.blogspot.com.au/2013/05/zion-and-israel-are-one.html

Finally I present the very detailed sources from which I draw the conclusion it is possible to have the third temple at this site without disrupting existing sites on the top of the mountain. http://israelfact.blogspot.com.au/2012/09/israel-and-nations-detailed-sources_18.html

They Never Told Jacob!

I am moved by the dark secret Israel's sons hid from him for 22 years. Yet, it became the final catalyst that healed their deepest wounds and forged brothers to unify into the fledgling, insurgent nation.

It began when Joseph was kidnapped by his brothers, thrown into a pit and traded to the Ishmaelites and Middianites passing on their trade route to Egypt. There he became the country's Viceroy and was permitted by Pharaoh to marry his niece, which set the stage for Israeli nationhood. Although capable of return, he stayed away from his father Jacob, refusing to go back and reveal the crime his brothers had perpetrated. Was he thinking Jacob conspired with them? Was providence sacrosanct, more essential to him than truth? Did he fear the embarrassment he may cause his brothers? Why did he not make contact with his beloved father for 22 years?

During the series of drought driven events that brought his brothers to seek food in Egypt, Joseph imprisoned his brother Shimeon. Then, he did the same to youngest brother Benjamin, which caused brother Yehuda to confess about the collective denial to their father, about their kidnapping Joseph. Joseph realized he had been complicit in the collective deception they portrayed to their father - for 22 years! Joseph immediately became emotional, crying on the neck of innocent Benjamin who was too young during the original travesty, but was now entrapped and stunningly enjoined by the brothers collective silence, their unspoken admission and this moment of realization.

All the brothers were now bonded by their darkest truth, to send their ageing father to his grave absent of their irreconcilable behavior. In this poignant moment Joseph realized deference to the indelible bond of Yehuda and Benjamin. The tears shed by Joseph, as explained by Rashi, were for his future role in the destruction's of the first and second temple, which would occur in Benjamin and Yehuda's territory. Benjamin shed tears over the destruction of the tabernacle (Mishkan) that preceded the temples. This distortion of truth by Israel's progeny sufficiently powerful to cause great destruction and devastation.

Twenty two years later, as he lay on his deathbed, the gurgling abyss of their collective denial continued to bother Jacob. It prompted the brothers most famous rhetorical to their concerned dying father when they said to him "Hear O' Israel, The Lord is God The Lord is One!" Immediately, whilst wallowing in the concealment he (Jacob) responded; "Blessed be the name of His glorious kingdom forever". Finally Jacob could rest in the knowledge their complicit union, despite its dubious origin, would project to the end of history,  in line with Jacob's Utopian vision, that his nation Israel would ultimately be united in the truth of Jacob's House of God (Beit El) because no other edifice would ever stand the test of time.

And after they buried Jacob, the brothers retorted, selfishly asking, how will Viceroy Joseph get his retribution on us? Finally, Joseph's greatness was revealed through his forgiveness, anchoring the honor of Israel's desired union, respecting his fathers memory and establishing a trajectory toward Israel's essential truth at the end of time.

The world lives with this twisted history that probably still turns Jacob in his grave. The sacrifice of truth continues to cause Rachel to lament for her children, entrapped and exiled by distortion. And today, as more Jews return from exile, they perpetuate the paradox when from their homes in the confines of the holy city, each Passover they utter the words - "Next year in Jerusalem!" Until Israel's unrealized Utopian vision is complete the insurgent struggle of this nation continues.

Joseph and the United Nations

Reuven's brothers openly expressed their intent to murder their brother Joseph. Guilt ridden, Reuven ran to repent at the side of his father. He had once disrupted the conjugal rights of his mother Leah, which prevented the conception of Jacob's 14^th child, the one who would have replaced Joseph had his brothers carried out their threat. While paralyzed Reuven was praying, Yehuda convinced his brothers to sell Joseph to slave traders instead. Ishmaelite traders traveling toward them were carrying ‘sweet spices’ among their wares. But, first Midyanites bought Joseph and traded him with the Ishmaelites on their passage to Egypt where he and the 'sweet spices' were sold into the House of Potifar, Pharaoh's high priest and the chief of butchers. What were these ‘sweet spices’?

Years earlier, Jacob's 20 year servitude to his father in-law in Haran was over and he left with his family and entourage. Along the way he hid his only daughter Dinah from an encounter that may have exposed him to marry her to his estranged brother Esau. Jacob was first intent on reaching Beit El, the place he had erected a monument (matzevah) as a covenant to build a House of  God, but was delayed when Prince Shechem raped Dinah who bore Oesnat, the product of her rape. As a result Joseph's brothers Shimeon and Levi massacred 24000 men of Shechem. 

On finally reaching Beit El, Jacob and his 11 sons built walls in Shalem (Jerusalem) on the high ridge above the Gihon Spring, but their effort was interrupted by the death of nurse Devorah, his mother Rivkah and the his wife Rachel as she gave birth to his 12th and final son Binyamin. After returning to Hevron, the brothers wanted to kill Oesnat to eradicate the painful memory, but Jacob insisted they don't. Instead Jacob placed Oesnat in a sneh (bush) in Midyan where she was cared for by the high priest and from where a midrashic source tells us she was miraculously transported to the House of Potifar in Egypt. After staying in Hevron, the home of Jacob's father, they eventually settled around Shechem where he had left his cattle and possessions and from where the string of tragedy continued. 

Reuven had lost his birthright because of his interference in his father's affairs and Shimeon and Levi (the second and third sons) for their rebellion in Shechem; it fell to Yehuda the fourth son. The Biblical account of Joseph is interrupted by Yehuda’s encounter with Tamar because the ‘sweet spices’ allude to Oesnat. It turns out she was carried on the same caravan that collected and transported Joseph to Egypt. Many years after they arrived in Egypt, Pharaoh gave permission for Oesnat (of the House of Leah) to marry Joseph (of the House of Rachel). The marriage united both houses into the united tribes of Israel's (Jacob's) wives. From the marriage of Joseph and Oesnat the penultimate messianic root was born, the 'son of Joseph' preceded by the ultimate root, the 'son of David' from the marriage of Yehuda and Tamar. 

Now we can understand why the section of Vayeishev in which Joseph and Oesnat are unified on their carriage to the House of Potifar in Egypt, is juxtaposed with the story of Yehuda and Tamar. Because, through the latter marriage comes the re-incarnate messianic root of Moshiach (Messiah) son of David. It’s from this point where the nation of Israel is ultimately unified to lead the world. Because of the marriage of Oesnat (the house of Leah) to Joseph (the house of Rachel) Jacob finally regained his happiness - and he lived! At this point he knew his descendants would eventually return from their exile, unified to fulfill his covenant to build the final and permanent Beit El, House of God, The Temple.

Jerusalem's Origin

One of my all time favorite pursuits is the discovery of archaeology that I expect will scientifically validate the high ridge above the Gihon Spring in Jerusalem as the location of the earliest Biblical Beit El, which was Luz, also referred to in Kabbalah as Be'er Sheva. Before we get into the proof you should familiarize yourself with the diagram bellow. It illustrates four primary chambers which were carved into bedrock (the walls are remaining bedrock with spaces hollowed out). The complex on the Upper Ridge of the Gihon Spring served worshipers on or around the ridge ~4000-3000 years ago.

וְהָאֶ֣בֶן הַזֹּ֗את אֲשֶׁר־שַׂ֙מְתִּי֙ מַצֵּבָ֔ה יִהְיֶ֖ה בֵּ֣ית אֱלֹהִ֑ים - This stone which I have set will be the house of God          Genesis 28:22 -  The Upper Ridge

Rendition of the Upper Ridge - a sanctuary for worship

The importance of scientific proof presents a departure from conventional wisdom, which may trigger a re-think by Torah scholars because scientific proof that this is Beit El would challenge everything scholars expect about the location of the 3rd temple. In addition it would cause a re-study as to why the first and second temples were built at locations associated with their ultimate destruction.

There are many unique features of this complex, arguably the most striking (for now) is the discovery of a flimsy (~3cm thick slab) matzevah, monument or headstone (but not a grave marker) constructed on the bedrock in a square frame of rocks. Somehow this vital artifact survived thousands of years whilst everything else around in the City of David, where it is located, was burned and destroyed down to the bedrock leaving only small clay artifacts as tell tale clues. (See 2nd chamber from the south - left). Further, how this stone remains physically erect or connected to the bedrock remains a mystery that archaeologists have not yet determined.

The Matzevah of the Upper Ridge

Its worth noting (at least to my knowledge) that a similar standing matzevah built into bedrock in a frame has never been discovered at any other archaeological dig in Israel. Why this artifact survived may be crucial to the theory of this complex. I've written numerous articles on the subject some of which can be discovered here or in the more detailed thesis of Jerusalem's Origin. In essence, the location and complex are sacred and the most likely inspiration for its construction, but its connection to the Bible and to the origin of the nation Israel is crucial and in my opinion its about to be proven by archaeological science.

In the Biblical narrative, Jacob took 12 stones from this altar and placed them around him during the night. The stones converged to become one, and that one stone became the matzevah, which I believe is located in the chamber illustrated above. In accordance with Jewish literature the matzevah should be adjacent to the mizbeach (altar) on which Isaac was offered as a sacrifice to God by his father Abraham (see the chamber to the right for possible identification). According to all opinions the altar of Isaac is the location by which the Holy of Holy's must be designated around which the Temple is built.

Kabbalah describes the south east corner of the altar on land belonging to the tribe of Yehuda as it points into and penetrates the land of the tribe of Binyamin on which most of the temple is built. In the illustration above you can see that the wall, constructed by King Hezekiah crosses, what may be the altar (table), on the line that divided the tribal land of Yehuda and Binyamin exposing the south east (front left) corner immediately in front of the wall.

I believe Jacob and his son's built the first walls to fulfill Jacobs promise to build a house of God (Genesis 28:22) and to protect the sanctity of this sacred site. After they were exiled to Egypt, the site and the land was overwhelmed by the families of Egypts pharaoh whose direct lineage to Ham, Noah's son, included Kanaan his grandson. This occupation was in familial competition with the descendants of Noah's other son Shem (Malchitzedek) who originally used the site as a place for worship and who named it Shalem after which the city Jerusalem was named. During a period of several hundred years whilst Jacob's family in exile grew to become the nation of Israel in Egypt, this sacred site was constructed upon and buried adjacent to and under buildings including the water tower that covered the Gihon.

Of course none of this is a scientific proof, we will have to wait for that, but there are already important archaeological proofs that this site is connected with the King of Bethlehem, which is King David's birthplace. Its quite probable the site was redeveloped by King David during his reign to house the Holy of Holies that was captured in Shilo by the Philistines. Later King Hezekiah who blocked the waters of the Gihon and who constructed the foundations of a city wall that penetrated the ground at this site may have uncovered this previously buried complex. Its recent re-discovery revealed that soft earth had been packed to purposely preserve the entire site.

Patiently I wait to discover more.

Sharon's Prophecy

During the past US presidential election, President Barak Obama chose Egypt as his first foreign destination and Governor Romney made his election promise to first visit Israel. There could not have been a more starkly defined difference between the prophetic views of these two leaders. Obama believing he possessed the capacity to alter facts on the ground by redefining the Islamic ideal and Romney believing Israel represents the ideal.

In a previous article I emphasized the present day cold war that is masked by the Arab Spring and implored readers not to be fooled by Russia’s role in Syria, Iran or their historical engagement in Iraq and Afghanistan. It struck me that a result of the economic competition between the Soviet Union and the Allied forces at the end of the Second World War was the wall that divided Berlin and Germany for more than 40 years. It also became apparent that the German wall enabled a cultural and political divide that may bear some relationship to the wall built by Israel’s previous Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

For many years I have questioned why Sharon, despite all of his policy statements and political ambitions unanimously reversed everything he apparently stood for to build the wall that today divides Israel and Jerusalem. Was it security, demographics, immigration? I asked these questions over and over again sometimes of his closest advisers. I tried on many occasions to discover the justifications for his action including his resolve as Prime Minister to walk on the Temple Mount in a declaration of Jewish sovereignty over the sacred site. Recently, whilst considering Russia’s role in the Syrian conflict, I found an answer that may just have motivated him to act so boldly and it may have a bearing on Obama, the 44th President.

Notwithstanding Israel’s direct efforts to dispel Iran, Russia’s recent $4bn arms deal with Iraq is indicative of shifting alignments endorsed by the USA to share trading benefits to deter Russian insistence on continuing Syrian and Iranian trade. In return its likely the Russians have agreed to reduce their support to those countries - a fact that may become apparent and pivotal in months to come.

Thinking through the Sharon era, I am increasingly convinced he considered that Russian economic pursuit would fuel Middle East geopolitics including by their using Israel as a scapegoat for improving Russian arms trade. The pent up Muslim fervor orchestrated around the Palestinian issue that fueled Israel’s second intifada and that which inspired and followed 9/11, provoked President Bush to alter the balance of power in the region. Since settlement of such a war would require declaration of land and economic rights for the prevailing parties, its possible "Sharon’s wall", built in advance of the encroaching cold war, would declare Israels future concession before serious conflict arose. Thus, it would take the wind out of the Islamic insurgency's sails.

In actual fact, Sharon’s wall may eventually lead to conditions for unification of Israel and Jerusalem in much the same way East and West German constituents demanded of Reagan and Gorbachev. The 45th President of the USA is likely to preside at a time when future conditions for lasting peace truly emerge. There is an ancient Jewish prophecy and teaching that the 45th King of Edom, considered to be the leader over the people of the USA, will inaugurate over the final process of Jewish redemption. This heralds a time of great hope and lasting prosperity in the world. We hope and pray!

See my most recent article - Israel's Forthcoming Miracle!

Solving the Riddle of Beit-El and Beit-el - Part 2.

At Pesach I wrote an article  explaining the Haftorah of the second day hints at important aspects that could help to locate Beit El, which relates to the final redemption of the Jewish people. The haftorah of last day Sukkot outside of Israel, in many ways the mirror of Pesach in the Jewish Calendar, tells the story of Joshua leading Israel’s return to redeem their land.

Motivated by the deepest convictions, the nation, Israel after enduring 250 years of exile were finally returning. The first alien city encountered, once the nation crossed the Jordan River into the defined borders of its land, was Jericho, which as commanded by God was to be destroyed entirely. Its the second city of Ay (Ai) that Israel was commanded to attack that presents a particular interest to the theory proposed.

As described in the image above, (1) under the cover of darkness Joshua led an army of 30,000 men up the Judean mountains to (2) a camp below, or south of the then Canaanite city home to Beit El. Before daybreak, Joshua moved 25,000 through the valley between Beit El and Ai (today known as the Kidron Valley), where (5) a rear guard ambush party of 5000 troops remained, whilst the balance (3) climbed to the top of the hill (to the north - today known as Mount of Olives) across the valley that separated them from the city of Ai. At daybreak Joshua crossed the valley to taunt the guards and residents of the city, who on a previous occasion had successfully chased Joshua’s, much smaller, first invading party. The gates of the city were open and a similar pursuit soon began, only this time Joshua planned it to be a trap. By the time the army of Ai and Beit El had chased (6) Israel some distance, the ambush party (5) came up the rear attacking the city and setting it alight. Once the pursuers of Ai saw and realized their city was burning, they retreated and in their retreat, Joshua turned his retreating troops on them. In a pincer movement they were trapped between Israel’s main army and Israel’s rear guard ambush troop. The people of Ai were defeated and the city destroyed.

Looking South East toward Ai circled in the background

The suggestion here is a significant departure from the confusion brought by King Yerovam, which has plagued the Jewish people for thousands of years. An adoption of this theory would require a reconsideration of many previous interpretations. Centering the source of Israel’s holy connection to the location at the correct Beit El at the Canaanite city that became the City of David has been a long time coming.