David's lament has epitomised the deep feelings and aspirations of Jews down the centuries who have come to the Western or "Wailing" Wall to pray (Psalm 79:1,4-5). When the Temple was destroyed in July 70 A.D. the Western Wall became the focus of Jewish religious life in Jerusalem. The Hebrew prophets themselves gave an answer to this lament, although their message has not always been welcomed or heeded. "Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity. Who knows? He may turn and have pity and leave behind a blessing..." (Joel 2:13-14)
The lowest seven courses of stone visible in the Western Wall date back to the Jewish Temple built by Herod the Great between 18 B.C. and A.D. 28. Below the pavement level a further 19 courses reach a depth of 21 metres. Some of these stones which make up the retaining wall of the Temple Mount measure more than 12 metres in length and one is known to weigh 400 tons. The Temple walls were constructed so precisely that there was no need for mortar or cement, the stones simply resting one on top of the other. The entire Western Wall of the Temple Mount is 485 metres long although only 57 metres is accessible today. Above the Herodian foundations, the stone work is made up of progressively smaller and smaller stones which date back to the Roman, Muslim and Ottoman periods.
It is possible that the open area adjacent to the Wall today was at the time of Christ an open plaza used for public gatherings, described by Josephus as the Xystos. It lies on top of some 21 metres of debris built up during the Hellenistic and Roman periods filling in and levelling what was once the Tyropoeon Valley. Archaeology has also revealed that this area was previously the site of a Hellenistic gymnasium built by Jason (2 Maccabees 4:12). Even earlier burial remains discovered here indicate that this area was outside Solomon's walls in the 8th Century BC. before the city expanded west.
Jews were prohibited from entering Jerusalem following the destruction of the city in A.D. 70 and it was not until sometime after the death of Harian in 138 that they were allowed to return annually on the 9th July to lament the destruction of the Temple. Gradually as the prohibition was relaxed Jews began to settle in Jerusalem in small numbers and come to pray near the Temple Mount on other occasions. With the capture of Jerusalem by the Muslims and the construction of shrines on the Temple Mount area Jews were again denied access and the Western Wall became the nearest location for pilgrimage. For many centuries Jews came here to pray, especially on Friday evenings at the beginning of their Sabbath, to lament the downfall of Jerusalem and the Temple. In 1930 the League of Nations declared the area around the Western Wall, known as the Moors Quarter, to be a Moslem holy place, although the narrow ally adjacent to the Wall measuring 47 metres by 4 metres remained accessible to Jews for prayer. However, when Israel occupied the city in 1967 they demolished Arab homes and mosques next to the Wall to create the wide plaza now utilised by Jews as a synagogue for prayer, celebrations and Barmitvah ceremonies.
Faith Lesson...
Today the Western Wall is a vivid reminder that God no longer dwells in temples made by hands (Acts 17:24). Jesus fulfilled and annulled the role of the Temple in the purposes of God. Jesus cleansed the Temple which was originally intended to be for all nations (John 2:13-17; Malachi 3:1). He also predicted the destruction of the Temple because the Jews rejected their Messiah (Matthew 23:37-24:2). Jesus taught that He Himself was greater than the Temple (Matthew 12:6) and when His authority was questioned described His body as the Temple that mattered (John 2:19). Jesus also taught that the Church would be the new eschatological Temple (Matthew 18:19-20; John 14:23) a theme developed by the Apostles (1 Corinthians 3:16; 6:19; 2 Corinthians 6:16). By His death Jesus has opened a new way into the presence of God making the Jewish Temple unnecessary (Ephesians 2:14-22). The New Jerusalem which will one day come down from heaven needs no Temple for we shall see God face to face (Revelation 21:22; 22:4). God's answer therefore to those who still seek Him at the Western Wall may be summarised in Jesus reply to the Samaritan woman, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem... Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth." (John 4:21-24)
- Posted from my iPad
Location:ג'ורג' וושינגטון,Jerusalem,Israel
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