Water From Under Temple Mount

Afterward he brought me again unto the door of the house; and, behold, waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward: for the forefront of the house stood toward the east, and the waters came down from under from the right side of the house, at the south side of the altar. Ezekiel 47:1

Some problems are created by certain enigmatic aspects in Ezekiel. Chapter 47 relates in detail that one day water will come out "from under the threshold of the temple towards the east" and will rise until it is "deep enough to swim in", causing "a great number of trees" to grow on each of its banks. The Dead Sea, at that appointed time only about two kilometers from Jerusalem at its nearest point, will be full of "fish of many kinds–like the fish of the Great Sea [the Mediterranean]."

This, according to scientists, is possible at any time, if the so-called "East African Rift", which begins in far-off Tanzania and comes up through the Red Sea to the Dead Sea depression, were for some reason to split. I have myself seen detailed maps which show how the situation is being followed by seismographic and other methods. There are channels in the Red Sea basin in which the water temperature is as high as 50 degrees centigrade because of the thinness of the earth’s crust, and the shores of the Aqaba bay, for example, are continually moving away from each other at a significant rate. Joel 3:18 and Zechariah 14:4-8 offer similar descriptions of mystical water-miracles in the Last Days. Geological research shows this all to be quite possible.

(Santala, Risto. 1992. The Messiah in the Old Testament in the Light of Rabbinical Writings. Jerusalem: Yanetz Limited., pg 178)

Death at the Hands of Heaven

Another wonderful quote by Karen Boren:

In The Shocken Book of Mystical Testimonies a selection from The Zohar tells about a chain with scarlet thread wound through it which was attached to the High Priest: “Rabbi Isaac said: A chain was tied to the leg of the Priest as he went in so that if he died there they could pull his body out.” Remember, no one except the High Priest was allowed to enter the Holy of Holies, even to remove the body of the current High Priest should he be striken dead there.

It was no small thing to approach the Lord in the Holy of Holies if you were not worthy. What would happen to the man who had “purchased” the office of High Priest for wealth and prestige? Rabbi Judah Nadich notes that the high priests who served in the First Temple period were righteous so there were only 18 to hold this office. But during the time of the Second Temple wealthy men bribed their way into office so there were many more who held this position—Nadich estimates between 80 and 85. After deducting 141 years of service for four righteous High Priests (about 35 years each, a number fitting for what was supposed to be a lifetime position), Nadich suggests

…it can be seen that none of the rest completed even one year of service. This was because they rose to the office not through merit but through bribery. For example, Martha, the daughter of Boethus, brought a measure full of dinars to King Alexander Yannai to persuade him to nominate her husband Joshua ben Gamla, for the high priesthood.

And Abarbenel notes: “Many unworthy Kohanim met their death by the hands of Heaven in the Holy of Holies.” The priests officiating in the Temple had every right to suspect that their High Priest might have been killed if he tarried too long after entering the Holiest Place! And now that you know that the office of High Priest, which was supposed to be a lifetime job, was rolled over to the highest bidder, can’t you detect a wee note of sarcasm in John’s remark about Caiaphas being the high priest “that year”?!

(Boren, Karen, Messiah of the Winepress Christ and the Red Heifer, Beit Parah Publishing, Provo, UT, 2002, pgs 138-139)

The Temple and Missionary Service

I love the connection between missionary work and Temple service that Alfred Edersheim makes in this quote.

Other Rabbinical ordinances, however, are not so easily explained, unless on the ground of the avoidance of every occupation and undertaking other than worship. Thus ‘no man might go on the Temple Mount with his staff,’ as if on business or pleasure; not yet ‘with shoes on his feet’–sandals only being allowed; nor ‘with the dust upon his feet;’ nor ‘with his scrip,’ nor ‘with money tied to him in his purse.’ Whatever he might wish to contribute either to the Temple, or for offerings, or for the poor must be carried by each ‘in his hand,’ possibly to indicate that the money about him was exclusively for an immediate sacred purpose.

It was probably for similar reasons that Jesus transferred these very ordinances to the disciples when engaged in the service of the real Temple. The direction, ‘Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses, nor scrip for your journey, neither two coats, neither shoes, nor yet staves,’ must mean, Go out in the same spirit and manner as you would to the Temple services, and fear not–‘for the workman is worthy of his meat’ (Matt. 10:9, 10). In other words: Let this new... service be your only thought, undertaking, and care.

(Edersheim, Alfred. 1994. The Temple: Its Ministry and Services. Updated edition. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers., pg 40)

Priestly Garments

And you shall make sacred garments for Aaron your brother, for honor and for beauty. And you shall speak to all who are wise hearted, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they may make Aaron’s garments to consecrate him, that he may minister to me in the priest’s office. And these are the garments which they shall make: a breastplate, and an ephod, and a robe, and a quilted undercoat, a mitre, and a girdle; and they shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother, and his sons, that he may minister to me in the priest’s office …” (Ex. 28:2–4)

"Moses was instructed by [God] that the garments of the priests were to be both dignified and beautiful; as precious as the garments of royalty. Indeed, the Talmud informs us that when the wicked Persian king Ahasuerus made a feast for his advisors and officers and sought to impress them with his greatness (as recorded in the scroll of Esther, which tells the story of Purim) he put off his own royal vestments and donned the uniform of the High Priest…which was more precious than his own. These priestly garments were in his possession since the First Temple had been destroyed by the Babylonians. ...

The Garments Possess An Intrinsic Holiness

No priest, neither lay nor the High Priest himself, is fit to serve in the Temple unless he is wearing the sacred garments. As the Talmud states, “While they are clothed in the priestly garments, they are clothed in the priesthood; but when they are not wearing the garments, the priesthood is not upon them” (BT Zevachim 17:B). Conducting the service without these garments would render the priests the same as those who are not descendants of Aaron—all of whom are unfit for service in the Temple. ...

Actually, the Hebrew expression which we are translating as “sacred” or “holy” garments also means “garments of the Temple;” that is, the garments themselves show that their wearers are standing in the Divine service.

See rest of the article at (http://www.lttn.org/R5_Article2_TemplePriestlyGarments.htm)

Heartbreaking Put-down

In the Fourth Century, after the Church took over the Empire, the Christian rulers thought of a graphic way to demonstrate Justin Martyr's claim that God's covenants were under new management. They began forcing the Jerusalem residents to dump their daily garbage on the Temple Mount.

When the Moslems took Jerusalem in 638, the Omayyad caliph Abd al-Malik wanted to build a monument on the Temple Mount, but the mountain of rotting refuse rose so high and spread so far that they could not find the ruins of the Temple. An old Jew living nearby promised to show him the exact spot if the caliph would swear to preserve the Western Wall. "So the king straightway put his hand on the thigh of the old man and swore by oath to do what he demanded." The caliph personally helped clean up the ruins and then built the Dome of the Rock directly over the spot the old man pointed out.

Hammer, Reuven. The Jerusalem Anthology. The Jewish Publication Society, Philadelphia, 1995.

A Drink Offering

For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. 2 Timothy 4:6
For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. 2 Timothy 4:6 [NIV]

"Twice Paul refers to himself as a “drink offering,” here and in Philippians 2:17. In the Old Testament, a drink offering was a small portion of wine poured around the base of the altar of the animal sacrifice. It was a small thing compared to the carcass of the animal that was being sacrificed, but it expressed the worshiper’s thankfulness to God.

Paul sees himself in the same way, particularly as he knows his life is ending. His service to God is an insignificant thing in comparison to the sacrifice of Christ, but it is freely offered to God in gratitude."

(General Editor Jean E. Syswerda, NIV Women of Faith Study Bible, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Mischigan, 2001, pg 1980)

The Scapegoat

A wonderful quote by gifted LDS author and researcher, Karen Boren:

And he shall take the two goats, and present them before the LORD at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the LORD, and the other lot for the scapegoat. And Aaron shall bring the goat upon which the LORD'S lot fell, and offer him for a sin offering. But the goat, on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before the LORD, to make an atonement with him, and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness. Leviticus 16:7-10

The special service for atonement and forgiveness is described in Abarbanel’s commentary where he writes there were two goats “for a sin offering, belonging communally to the nation, one of which was sacrificed and one of which was sent to Azazel, the wilderness.”

Before the scapegoat (and that’s just exactly where this term came from) was sent out to die (carrying the sins of Israel), scarlet wool was tied to the goat’s horns and also to the door of the sanctuary. Abarbanel writes of this scarlet wool tied to the goat’s head and notes that rather than the door of the sanctuary, the wool was tied to the temple gate from which the goat is sent out. Regardless of which door or gate it was on, this scarlet wool was key to Israel knowing if their sins had been forgiven them for that year.

In the Mishnah (Yoma 6, 8) it says: They said to him – to the High Priest – “The he-goat has reached the wilderness.” And whence did they know that the he-goat had arrived at the wilderness? — They used to set up sentry stations and wave with cloths, and thus they knew that the he-goat had reached the wilderness…R. Ishmael says, “And did they not have another sign?—A strip of crimson wool was tied to the door of the sanctuary and when the he-goat reached the wilderness [and was killed] the strip turned white; as it is said, ‘Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as the snow.’”

(Boren, Karen, Messiah of the Winepress Christ and the Red Heifer, Beit Parah Publishing, Provo, UT, 2002, pg 138)