On The Location of the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem
by Lambert Dolphin and Michael Kollen
The Site of the Ancient Jewish Temples
The Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem measures today approximately
45 acres in extent. It is surrounded by a trapezoidal wall: The South wall
measures about 910 feet, the North about 1025, the East wall about 1520
and the West wall about 1580 feet in length. The average height above sea
level on the platform is about 2400 feet above sea level. Most of the buildings
and surface features are Islamic--no visible traces of the First or Second
Temples can be found on the platform today.
The Platform area of the Temple Mount lies just below the peak of a Jerusalem
ridge system known as Mount Moriah. This is the site David purchased from
a Jebusite named Ornan late in his reign. King David prepared the area in
order build a permanent House of God to replace the Tabernacle of Moses
which accompanied the Jews after their Exodus from Egypt to the Promised
Land. David had the plans drawn up for a building whose dimensions were
twice those of the Tabernacle, and he amassed great quantities of building
materials: stone, cedar, and much gold and silver. However, it was his son
Solomon who actually built the First Jewish temple (1 Chronicles 22:14-15,
28:11-20).
The ridge system where the Temple Mount is now located is believed by many
reputable sources to be the site where Abraham was told to sacrifice Isaac
(Genesis 22:1-2). While Solomon built the First Temple about 3000 years
ago, Abraham's visit to Mt. Moriah was about a thousand years earlier.
Consecrated Ground
According to Rabbinical sources both the First and Second Temples were built
on the same foundations, at the same location somewhere on the Temple Mount.
The site had to be consecrated ground that had not been previously used
for tombs and that was not a previous pagan worship site ("high place").
The innermost sanctuary of the Temple, the Holy of Holies, or Kodesh Hakodeshim,
where the Ark of the Covenant was placed, marked the exact center of the
world, and was the innermost zone in holiness or sanctity in Jewish thought.
The manifest presence of God, the Shekinah, was centered between the cherubim
of the Ark and especially noted at the dedication of the First Temple,
When Solomon had ended his prayer, fire came down from heaven
and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the
LORD filled the temple. And the priests could not enter the house of the
LORD, because the glory of the LORD filled the LORD's house. When all the
children of Israel saw the fire come down and the glory of the LORD upon
the temple, they bowed down with their faces to the earth on the pavement,
and worshiped and gave thanks to the LORD, saying, "For he is good,
for his steadfast love endures for ever." (2 Chronicles 7:1-3)
Moving outwards from the Holy of Holies one came to The Holy Place, and
then to the Courts of the priests, and of the women and of the Jewish people,
then the Court of the Gentiles, and so on, out into the world in decreasing
degrees of holiness.
The long history of the First and Second Temples is detailed both in the
Bible and in many extra-biblical sources. For more details on the history
of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount see the separate historical essays listed
on the main menu.
Both Temples are of interest to Christians as well as to Jews. The Second
Temple was modest in size and furnishing until Herod the Great began his
grand remodeling plans which went on for 40 years. It was in this enlarged
and expanded Second Jewish Temple and its grand courts where the naming
and circumcision of Jesus took place (Luke 2:21-39). Later, Jesus astonished
and religious leaders with his understanding and insight as a twelve-year-old
boy (Luke 2:41-50). On two separate occasions Jesus entered and cleansed
the temple by throwing out the money changers and commercial vendors from
the courts, (John 2:12-25; Matthew 21:23-26).
In one of his final discussions with his disciples (Matthew 24), Jesus predicted
the destruction of the Second Temple. It was in fact leveled to the ground
on the 9th day of the month of Av in 70 C.E. The temple was thoroughly razed
and the site has been so extensively modified during the late Romans, Muslim
and Crusader eras that considerable doubt exists as to where the temples
actually stood.
(Insert graphic from page 127)
Map of the Temple Mount Today
Where did the Temple stand?
Among the numerous controversies about the Temple is the precise location
of the original. There are three primary conjectures under active discussion
in recent years. These three areas of interest on the Temple Mount have
been the focus of intense investigation, much debate and discussion, and
growing controversy---as discussions about the building of a Third Jewish
Temple have been brought forward in recent years. The areas of are:
- The present site of the Dome of the Rock. This is the so-called "traditional
location."
- North of the Dome of the Rock. Physicist Asher Kaufman proposed the
Northern location about two decades ago.
- South of the Dome of the Rock. Tuvia Sagiv, a Tel Aviv architect has
proposed a Southern location for the Temples with extensive documentation
and research during the past five years.
(Insert Aerial View of Temple Mount, page 126)
Aerial Photo of the Temple Mount Today
The Traditional Site
The traditional site of the Temple is where there is presently a Muslim
shrine known as the Dome of the Rock. Ostensibly built by the Muslims to
overlay the location of the original Jewish Temple(s), most rabbis in Israel
today associate the original Temple location with this site.
Recent journal articles still support this view. (1)
Former Jerusalem District archaeologist Dr. Dan Bahat vigorously defends
the traditional location drawing on his years of experience and study of
the entire city and its history. His lectures on the subject are thorough,
convincing and captivating. However, so also are the alternative theories
currently proposed!
(Insert graphic from page 129)
Traditional Site the Temples
The Northern Conjecture
Based on the number of topological and archeological considerations, research
by Dr. Asher Kaufman over the past two decades has resulted in serious consideration
being given to a site 330 feet to the north of the Dome of the Rock.
The Mt. Moriah bedrock outcrops within the Dome of Rock, as is well known.
Although the bedrock elevation drops sharply to the South in the direction
of the City of David, the level of the bedrock is just beneath the paving
stones for over 100 meters to the North of the Dome of the Rock shrine.
One particular level outcropping of this bedrock lies under a small Islamic
shrine known as "The Dome of the Tablets" or "The Dome of
the Spirits," to the Arabs. Both names suggest an association with
the Jewish Temples. It is under this small, unimpressive canopy supported
by pillars that Dr. Kaufman locates the Temple site. (2)
(Insert Graphic from page 131)
The Northern Placement of the Temples
The Southern Conjecture
Many people who have been following these developments may not yet be aware
of a third view, which might well be called "the Southern Conjecture."
Since this model is less well known, it will be more fully described here
and on these web pages. This view has been championed in the past five years
by Tuvia Sagiv, a prominent Israeli architect.
There are a number of problems with each of the previously mentioned locations.
To fully appreciate some of the difficulties, it is necessary to visualize
the topography of the Temple Mount area.
(Insert topo map of Mt. Moriah from page 108 of Missler Study
Guide for 96 Tour)
Topographic Map of Jerusalem (Contour interval 10 meters)
The bed rock rises when going northward from the base of the City of
David to highest ground north of the Temple Mount area. (This is obscured
on site since the Temple Mount Platform itself is a large flat area surrounded
by retaining wall.) The Southern end of the Platform is actually built up
on tall underground pillars and arches.
To the East of the Temple Mount lies the Kidron Valley, and the Mount of
Olives. To the South, the City of David and the Hinnom Valley. To the West,
the famed Western Wall ("Wailing Wall".) To the north was Antonia
Fortress, and then, further, the high ground outside the city walls, which
many believe was the site of Golgotha. The bedrock of Mt. Moriah continues
to rise to the North--outcroppings in the Northern wall reveal road cuts
that have been made in the bedrock at the North end of the Old City outside
the Damascus Gate and along the main road to the East. The crest of Mt.
Moriah is just above the present Garden Tomb.
Critical Issues in Locating the Temple Site:
When one compiles all the known factors into a three-dimensional computer
model of the Temple Mount area, several problems emerge:
1. Where was the Antonia Fortress?
Ancient Jerusalem was protected on the east, south, and west by valleys.
The Antonia Fortress was located to the north to protect the weaker north
side of the city. (In fact, it was from the north that Titus Vespasian breached
the walls in his famous attack in 70 C.E.)
According to ancient sources, the fortress was on a hill about 25 meters
high. The current El Omriah school building is on a rock only 5 meters high.
From many stratographic and other considerations it is doubled by some experts
that his was the actual location of the Antonia Fortress. Tuvia Sagiv's
papers discuss the critical issue of the actual location of the Fortress
Antonia, which he believes was well to the South, perhaps at the location
of the Dome of the Rock.
2. The Location of the ancient North Moat (the Fosse)
Traditional renderings show a deep, filled-in fosse (moat), north of the
Temple Mount, lying south of the Antonia Fortress, between the fortress
and the Temple Mount.
According to ancient sources, however, the Antonia Fortress and the Temple
Mount were adjacent to each other. The moat should be to the north of the
Tower for protection, placing the Antonia about where the Dome of the Rock
stands today! Asher Kaufman's location of the Temples places the moat immediately
to the North of the spot where the Temples stood. In fact Dan Bahat jokes
that Kaufman's temple would "fall into the moat!"
3. The Hulda Gates
The Hulda Gates were the primary access to the Temple area from the south.
According to the Mishna, the difference in heights between the Hulda Gates
and the Holy of the Holies was approximately 10 meters, with about 39( between
the entrance to the Temple mount and the level of the Temple itself. The
traditional Dome of the Rock proposals require 20 meters and 80( separations.
The current assumptions regarding Hulda Gate tunnels are not mentioned in
the ancient sources. The discrepancies suggest a lower, and therefore, more
southerly, location. Tuvia Sagiv in his essays discusses the problem of
the Southern Gates and their elevation with respect to the Temples.
4. The View from the North
Josephus Flavius describes the fact that the Bizita Hill (Golgotha?) was
located north of the Temple Mount and obscured the view of the Temple from
the north.
If the Temple stood at the Dome of the Rock, it would be visible from as
far away as the town of Ramallah. In order to obscure the view from the
north, it would have to be at a lower level, that is, to the south.
5. King Herod Agrippa's View of the Temple from the West
Josephus, in The Jewish Wars, describes the fact that King Herod
Agrippa could look out from his Hasmonean Palace (at our near the present
Citadel at the Jaffa Gate), and view the sacrifices at the Azarah, at the
altar of the Second Temple. This incensed the Jews who then built a wall
extending the height of the Western rear wall of the Temple proper in order
to block the view. Roman soldiers, patrolling the western threshold---thus
unable to view the Azarah---demanded that the wall be demolished. The Jews
objected, and even obtained the consent of Emperor Nero to leave the wall
in place.
If the Temple were at the location of the Dome of the Rock, it would have
required a Palace tower height of 75 meters to view into the Azarah. There
never was a building of such a height in Jerusalem. This all implies a lower,
more southern location of the Temple.
6. The Jerusalem Water Aqueduct
The water canals that supplied Jerusalem began in the area of the Hebron
mountains, passed through the Solomon's Pools near Bethlehem, and flowed
to Jerusalem. The lowest canal reached the Temple Mount through the Jewish
Quarter and the Wilson Bridge. According to the ancient authorities, the
water conduit supplied water to the High Priests' mikveh (ritual bath) located
above the Water Gate, and it also supplied water for the rinsing of the
blood off the Azarah. Portions of this aqueduct are plainly visible to this
day.
"Living water," that is fresh, flowing water, not water from a
cistern was required for the ritual bath (mikveh) used by the temple priests,
and for the washings of the temple in connection with the sacrifices.
A survey of the level of the aqueduct reveals that if the Temple had been
located at the same elevation as the present Dome of the Rock shrine, the
aqueduct would be over 20 meters too low to serve either the Azarah or the
Water Gate. From this survey, it appears that the Temple must have been
20 meters lower, and, thus, to the south.
7. Electronic Measurements
Preliminary ground penetrating radar probes by Tuvia Sagiv, while not conclusive,
suggest vaults, perhaps "kippim" (rabbinical arches), and other
structures which one would expect below the Temple, to the south. The northern
sites are virtually solid rock.
More recently Sagiv has conducted thermal-infrared scanning of the walls
and the platform. During the day the sun heats the Temple Mount uniformly,
but at night the cooling (by conduction and radiation) is not uniform, this
revealing subsurface anomalies. In the images shown below "hotter"
areas are bright indicating massive foundations beneath the paving stones.
The radar and IR research is discussed in Sagiv's third paper Penetrating
Insights Into the Temple Mount.
(Insert Figures from pages 141, 142)
Thermal Infrared Imagery, ( Pre-dawn) of the Dome of the Rock
8. Research into Later Roman Temple Architecture
After the Bar Kochba revolt in 132 C.E., the Romans leveled the entire city
of Jerusalem and a built a Roman city, Aelia Capitolina, on the ruins. To
obliterate any Jewish presence on the Temple Mount, they built a temple
to Jupiter on the site.
A similar temple, built by the same builder at about the same time, has
been discovered at Baalbek, Lebanon.
The Roman architectural practices of the time featured a rectangular basilica,
and a polygon structure opposite a courtyard. When this architecture is
overlaid on the Temple Mount, it matches the Al Aksa Mosque and the Dome
of the Rock exactly.
This unique architectural similarity suggests that the Roman Temple to Jupiter
may have been on this very site, converted for Christian purposes in the
4th Century, and then served as the foundation for the present Muslim structures,
the Al Aksa Mosque an the Dome of the Rock, which were built in the 7th
Century.
(Insert Figure from pages 136)
The Roman Temple at Baalbek, Lebanon
(Jerome's commentary on Isaiah mentions an equestrian statue of the Emperor
Hadrian being placed directly over the site of the Holy of the Holies. If
the Baalbek architecture is the correct model, this would place the Holy
of the Holies somewhere beneath the present El Kas foundation.)
When a map of the Baalbek Temple is overlaid on the present structures of
the Temple Mount a striking similarity can be seen:
(Insert Figure from page 137)
Baalbek Temple plan overlaid on the Temple Mount
Which Conjecture is Correct?
In Israel it is often said that if you have two Jews you will have three
opinions! Only time will tell which of the above views is correct. These
conjectures will continue to be debated until Israel is able to conduct
a thorough archaeological investigation beneath the Temple Mount itself.
(3)
Unfortunately, the Temple Mount presently remains under the supervision
on the Waqf, the Supreme Muslim Council, and they have presented any archeological
studies. In fact, the Waqf has gotten increasingly resistive to investigations
of any kind on the Platform which they consider to be a huge outdoor mosque
sacred to Islam.
Who knows what events developing in the history of Jerusalem will one day
change the status quo allowing scientific investigation of the entire Temple
Mount, below ground as well as above. The, according to the hopes and dreams
of devout Jews for centuries, a Third Temple can be built on the foundations
of the First and Second Temples and temple worship according to the Torah
restored.
Addendum: Personal Notes
For more than twenty years this writer has maintained an active interest
in archaeology in Israel, and especially in the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
Dr. Asher Kaufman, retired Professor of Physics at the Racah Institute of
Physics of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and I began corresponding
in the early '80's and have been good friends ever since.
I have followed with great interest Asher's hypothesis that the First and
Second Temples were located 110 meters North of the Dome Rock on the Mount.
The area in question would put the Holy of Holies and the Foundation Stone
under a small Islamic structure known as the Dome of the Tablets or the
Dome of the Spirits. Exposed bedrock outcrops beneath this small structure.
Dr. Dan Bahat, former District Archaeologist for Jerusalem, and now Professor
at Bar Ilan University is also a good friend. His arguments, vast knowledge,
and experience convince him that the First and Second Temples are located
in the immediate vicinity of the Muslim Dome of the Rock. His case is also
a persuasive one!
Several years ago my friend (since 1982), Stanley Goldfoot introduced me
to Tuvia Sagiv, a talented and enterprising Tel Aviv architect. Tuvia has
spent hundreds of hours and many thousands of dollars of his own money researching
the temple locations and has now built a strong and convincing case that
the Temples were immediately East of the present Western Wall, with the
Holy of Holies probably located under the El Kas Fountain. This fountain
lies approximately midway between the Dome of the Rock and Al Aqsa Mosque.
The bedrock drops rapidly just South of the Dome of the Rock. If Tuvia's
model is correct the Temples would be lower that the outcropping bedrock
under the Dome of the Rock. In fact Tuvia's recent research suggests the
Dome site may have been originally a Canaanite High Place with tombs beneath,
and later (until the reforms of Josiah) the location of an Ashoreh pillar.
Until I have time to complete this chapter, please order the outstanding
briefing package The Coming Temple by Chuck Missler, available
from Koinonia House. This briefing
package contains two audio cassette tapes, 22 pages of notes with 30 diagrams.
Each year for four years Chuck Missler and I co-hosted an annual International
Conference on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem in conjunction with Chuck Missler's
tour group visit to Israel. Video and audio tapes of speakers at these outstanding
meetings are also available from Koinonia House and are highly recommended.
Endnotes:
1. Leen Ritmeyer, Biblical Archeological Review,
March/April, 1992.
2. Dr. Asher Selig Kaufman, Biblical Archeological
Review, March/April 1983; Tractate Middot, Har Yearíeh Press,
Jerusalem, 1991.
3. Tapes, videos and reports of Temple Mount
Conferences featuring speakers defending all three proposed locations for
the Temples may be obtained from Koinonia
House, PO Box D, Coeur d'alene, Idaho 83816-0347.
On the Location of the First and Second Temples
by Lambert Dolphin and Michael Kollen
Email: lambert@ldolphin.org
Web Pages: http://www.ldolphin.org/
Created July 21, 1995. Updated, May 15, 1996.