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This
mount, which rises 141 feet above the valley of Kidron, and 2280 above the level
of the sea, appears as a mount only on the east and the south sides, on which it
is bounded by the valleys of Kidron and Rephaim; but on the north and west sides
it is level with the other ground near it. This is owing to the many
destructions which Jerusalem has had to endure, which caused the depressions on
these two sides to be filled up with rubbish and ruins.
According
to Middoth, ii., § 1, it was 500 cubits, say 1000 feet long and broad. But I
found, by actual measurement, the present breadth from east to west 995 feet,
and the length from north to south 1498 feet. The discrepancy is, however,
easily accounted for; since the present place includes the space once occupied
by the fort Antonia, which was to the north, and which being now united and
included in the temple mount, makes this a third longer than it originally was.
This
mount, therefore, now forms on its summit a flat and roomy place of the above
dimensions, i.e. 1498 feet long by 995 in breadth. It is called
MEKOM
HAMIKDASH, מקום המקדש
That
is, the site of the ancient temple, in Arabic, Al Charim, "The Holy." It is
enclosed on all four sides with a high wall and buildings; and the southern and
eastern parts of this enclosure form, at the same time, the city wall in these
directions. The western part is the well-known and revered fragment of the wall
of the holy temple mount, and is named the כותל
המערבי Kothel Hama'arabi, i. e. the
west wall. It is sixty feet in height, and has twenty-three rows of stone.
The nine lower rows consist of large stones, three to four cubits long, and two
cubits broad and high. The upper fourteen rows, however, consist of smaller
stones; and hence it would appear that this upper part belongs to a later
period, and was perhaps built by Caliph Omar. It is also called "the mourning
wall," since thousands of Israelites constantly deplore there and weep for the
fall of Jerusalem. It is touching to see how every Jew bends his head, moaning
and reverentially, at the foot of this holy wall, and lifts up his tearful eyes
to heaven, and exclaims, sobbing, "How long yet, O Lord!"
This spot is
visited by travellers of all nations; and no one can ever quit the place
unmoved, and with indifference. It is no vain fancy! I have indeed often seen
there non-Israelitish travellers melt into tears. No one can describe the
feelings experienced on this sacred spot. One paints to himself in spirit the
former exalted state of the Israelitish people in the highest degree, and then
feels suddenly that it is sunk into the dust and robbed of its glory; but his
imagination places again before him the future exaltation--he feels himself
inspired, and exclaims, "Surely this is the gate of heaven!" (Gen. 28:17.)
This wall is visited by all our brothers on every feast and festival; and the
large space at its foot is often so densely filled up, that all cannot perform
their devotions here at the same time. It is also visited, though by less
numbers, on every Friday afternoon, and by some nearly every day. No one is
molested in these visits by the Mahomedans, as we have a very old firman from
the Sultan of Constantinople that the approach shall not be denied to us, though
the Porte obtains for this privilege an especial tax, which is, however,
quite insignificant.
In
the midst of this plain מרום
המקדש is a square platform, fourteen feet in
height, in the middle of which stands the large mosque Al Sachra, i. e. the hard
stone, referring to the אבן שתיה which
is in the midst of it. It was built in 4397 (637) by Caliph Omar. This octagonal
building is sixty feet in length, and has on four sides entrances and outer
halls. On each of these four sides there are six windows, but seven on the other
four. A large cupola is extended over the whole building, and is ninety feet
high and forty in diameter; it is covered over with square leaden plates. In the
walls, near the windows, there are introduced glazed bricks, green, red, black,
and whitecoloured, which reflect in many beautiful rays the solar light, and
give the building a magnificent appearance. The inner walls are painted white;
and there are in the interior twenty-four columns, each twenty feet in height,
and sixteen of which support the great cupola. The interior middle portion of
this mosque is enclosed and barred off by means of an iron railing. The
Mahomedans go as far as this railing to perform their devotions, with their
faces turned to the south. Within this railing is a small wooden enclosure,
wherein is the Temple Stone אבן שתיה
Eben Shetiyah, or "foundation stone" (Yoma v., § 2). It is a large, round,
white stone, which is about thirty feet in circumference, and is covered over
with red satin cloth. It is only fastened to the floor on one side, and is
propped up below with pieces of wood, that it may not fall down; but beneath it
the soil is dug away, and it appears to hang in the air. Its elevation from the
floor is about ten feet. (Compare with Yoma v., § 2, where it is said that it
was elevated but three fingers' breadth from the floor, which affords,
therefore, a clear proof that the temple mount has been dug down about ten
feet.)
The Mahomedans reverence this stone as a holy object, alleging that it
came from the garden of Eden, and that Abraham sat upon it when he was about
sacrificing his son Isaac. They even go so far as to point out the traces of
five of Abraham's fingers. Beneath this mosque there are in all directions
subterraneous caverns and passages; but no one ventures to investigate, or even
to enter them.* One large subterranean passage leads from this mosque to that of
Al Achsa, i. e. The Farthest, the most northern mosque, since the Arabs have
three especially sacred mosques, one in Mekka, the second in Medina, and the
third in Jerusalem, which is the farthest to the north. Under the term Al Achsa,
or the most northern mosque, that of Al Sachra is included, as they are
considered to form but one mosque. Al Achsa is situated in the southern end of
the temple place, and is a large and very long building, and is called by the
Jews מדרש שלמה "the School of
Solomon," though I could not ascertain whence the name is derived. Near this
mosque is a very large cavern, wherein are found columns and ruins, equalled
only by those of Baal-bek and Tadmor (Palmyra). There is also met with there a
large stone sarcophagus, having a large and broad stone cover. No one knows what
it contains, and none have yet ventured, or rather been able, to open it. It
appears that all these ruins and remarkable monuments of antiquity date from the
period of King Solomon.
*
If we note carefully the position of the mosque Al Sachra, we shall find that it
is situated nearest to the west end of the temple mount, somewhat more distant
from the northern end, farther yet from the eastern, and the farthest from the
southern part of the same. See Tosephoth Yome Tob to Middoth, commencement of
chap. ii.
On
all sides of the temple place, are seen Mahomedan dervishes, who come from
Barbary, in Africa (who have this prerogative above all the dervishes, owing to
a distinction which they once obtained in a siege and battle at Jerusalem),
armed with spears, standing sentinel day and night, to prevent any profane
person, i. e., any one but a Mahomedan, from entering on this holy spot.
The
Mount of Olives or Olivet הר הזתים
also הר המשחה Arabic, Djebl Tur, forms
the highest elevation of the whole environs of the holy city, from which it is
separated only by the valley of Kidron. It is 2555 feet above the level of the
sea, and it has three summits. On the acclivity of the southern summit, near the
village of Selivan, which part is called in Scripture הר
המשחית "The mount of vexation or corruption" (2 Kings 23:13), is a spot which the Arabs call Beth-Hana,
probably the בית הינא Beth-Hina, of
Pesachim, 23a, also called כפר
הינו Kefar, i.e. village of Hinu, in end of Ketuboth.
Some consider the village Azaria, which is half a mile southeast from the Mount
of Vexation, as Beth-Hina or Bethaniah; but it is unquestionably the same with
Azal,* as I have stated in the description of Benjamin; whereas BethUhana marks
more correctly the ancient Beth-Hina. Not far from this Beth-Hina (Bethania) was
Beth-Pagi, which partly belonged yet to the city, as appears clearly from
Pesachim, 63b, and Menachoth, 95b, and Sanhedrin, 14b;
and that the city wall extended partly also as far as this spot, was said
already above. A spot a little to the south of this is called, by the Bedouins
and Arabs who reside there, Dir Zini, probably identical with the Zini of the "iron
mount" of Sukkah iii., § 1, referring to a species of palm which grew
there on the Mount of Olives, and synonymous with Caphnatha, also denoting a
palm tree, as was also stated above. According to the passage cited from Talmud
Sukkah, there grew also a species of hard palm ציני
הר ברזל near the valley of Ben-Hinnom.
*
This gives me an opportunity to explain a passage in the Bible which many
learned men have attempted, but not succeeded to elucidate satisfactorily. It is
Zechariah 14:5, ונסתם גיא
הרי כי יגיע גי
הרים אל אצל
ונסתם כאשר
נסתם בימי
הרעש בימי
עזיה מלך
יהודה We find in several Oriental copies instead
of וְנַסְתֶם
Venastem, "you will
fly",
וְנִסְתָם
Venistam, "and it shall be stopped up." Jonathan has the same reading, and
explains it in the same manner in his Chaldean Paraphrase (see also Kimchi). If
this be assumed, however, we cannot explain the גיא
הרי "valley of my mountain," nor what relation the
splitting of the Mount of Olives in twain has to do with the earthquake in the
time of Uzziah. But I think I have found the key to this passage, and will quote
for this end the following passage from Josephus, Antiq., book 9., chap. 10.,
being a part of the history of Uzziah: "The king was highly nettled at this,
and threatened to put them to death if they spoke a word more. Immediately the
earth trembled, and the roof of the temple opened, through which a beam of the
sun darted full upon the face of the king, who from that instant became a leper.
This prodigy was followed by another: near a certain place before the city,
named Eroge, the one half of a mountain that looked westward was torn from the
other half, and rolled for the space of four furlongs, till it stopped to the
eastward of it, by which means the road was blocked up, and the king's gardens
covered with rubbish." I do not doubt but that this remarkable event is
alluded to in Zechariah, and that גיא הרי Ge
Harai, is by transposition nothing else than the Eroge for Ge-ore, of
Josephus, Hebrew Ge Harai, or that it was called both Ge Harai and Harai Ge;
and I actually once saw an edition of Zechariah which read
ונסתם הרי גיא,
and if we could depend on this, it would argue in favour of the correctness of
Josephus' legend of the mountain of Eroge, i. e. Harai Ge having been split
and closed up the king's gardens. We should then translate: "And it (the
way) shall then be closed up through GeHarai; for Ge-Harai shall come to
Azal; and it (the way) shall be blocked up as it was blocked up in the days of
the earthquake, in the days of Uzziah, King of Judah." Azal is, as said above,
the modern Azaria, and the distance from Olivet agrees exactly with Josephus'
legend; 4 furlongs, stadia, being half a mile, which is the distance between
Eroge on Olivet and Azal, to which it was carried by the earthquake.
 At
the foot of the central Mount of Olives, just opposite the temple mount, and
where the Jewish burial-place is, there is pointed out an uncommonly large
square stone, covered over with a roof, supported on columns, which marks,
according to popular opinion, the grave of the prophet Zechariah (2 Chron.
24:21). I could, however, find nowhere any proof for the correctness of this
tradition, which appears to me the more singular, since this monument appears to
belong to the Gothic style of the middle age, and not to that gray period of
antiquity. Near this is found a large cave with tall columns, which represent
windows, by which I mean that through the space between the columns, which are
placed close to the sides of the cave, the light is shed into the interior from
without. This cave is called בית
החפשית, English version, the "several house" of 2 Kings 15:5. Near this, again, is a very handsome square structure,
hollow within, and cut out of the rock; the upper part gradually diminishes till
it forms, so to say, a pointed roof. It is called יד
אבשלום "Absalom's Monument" (2 Sam.
18:18);
 but I can scarcely adopt this traditional nomenclature; since the "King's
Valley" עמק המלך where
Absalom actually constructed his own monument, was not near Jerusalem, but in
the plain of Jordan, as, according to Bereshith Rabbah to Genesis 14:7, the
valley of Siddim, Sukkoth, ha-Melech (King's), and Shaveh, are all one and the
same, or the modern Al Gor; wherefore we must look for Absalom's column in
that neighbourhood. I also found in Josephus, Antiq., book 7., chap. 9., that
this monument was a marble column in the King's Valley, and two stadia* from
Jerusalem. But this monument, now called that of Absalom, has nothing in common
with that of Josephus, for it is neither a column nor is the material marble.
*
I presume it ought to read two hundred, and Al Gor is actually 200 stadia or 25
English miles from the holy city.
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