new discovery pinpoints Jerusalem temple location

posted Saturday, 22 March 2008

People have been speculating about a large exposed piece of bedrock at the center of the Moslem Dome of the Rock building, a major mystery for centuries-- what was the relationship of the rock to the site of the destroyed Jewish temple building? Incorporated in the location and size of the rock and its overlaying octagonal building, is evidence for this solution.
   The rock also holds the solution of six other mysteries concerning the Jewish temple, by using nothing more then a piece of string: where was the 500 Cubit square in relation to the temple, how was the square first laid out, where did the 187 and 135 Cubit dimensions of the Inner courtyard come from, where were two peripheral building zones and a sacred barrier, where were the gates of the inner courtyards located, and what if anything, was located at the spot marking the exact center of the present Moslem building? The Moslem building of today holds keys for locating the Jewish temple of yesterday.
   First some background: Herod’s Temple stood on the summit of the Temple Mount within the 500C square which fronted on the Kidron Valley. Herod’s temple was a ‘T” shaped structure built within the western part of a 187 (E to W) by 135 (S to N) Cubit Inner Courtyard. The 100 Cubit building centered on the 135C center line with 17.5Cubits remaining on either side. A large central room called the Holy Place was 20 Cubits wide, so that the centerline of the building was 10 Cubits from the northern and southern edges of the room. A Table of Showbread existed within this room. The best place mathematically to put the Table of Showbread would have been 5 cubits north of the center line, half way between the central line and the northern wall. (Likewise a Menorah would have been placed in mirror image 5 cubits south of the center line). Then the distance from the southern edge of the building to the Table of Showbread would have been 55 (C)ubits. The Holy of Holies was a 20C square area west of the Holy Place. A 1C space separated the two rooms. A low stone was at the center of this room on which the Ark of the Covenant once was placed.
   The main building was 60C wide, with two extensions 20C wide at the eastern end, part of the Porch, making the entire width100C. The center line of the northern extension, had a room where the clean knifes used to slaughter the animals were stored. A staircase was built within a 22C space between the Porch and the Altar.
   A barrier and an adjacent narrow zone 10 Cubits wide called the Hal marked the boundary between two differing areas of sanctity. A 40C zone for buildings must have existed between the Hal and the Inner courtyard (not recorded in the ancient literature but the existence of buildings are recorded). Another 135 Cubit square was built east of this courtyard. Both courtyards were within a 500 Cubit square area. Four 40C squares courtyards were built either inside the corners of the 135 Cubit square, or outside but touching the four corners.
    The ancient portico called “Solomon’s Porch”, was built along the eastern edge of the 500 C square. A number of equidistant gates were built between the barrier, and the inner courtyard. There were 3 or 4 gates on the southern and northern sides of the inner courtyard. The barrier had 13 openings. A great 32C altar had to be constructed on an exact location. A ramp and the altar had to measure 62C. A 1C discrepancy was built on one corner of the altar’s base.
    The greatest area was south of the Inner Courtyard, the area east was smaller, the area north even smaller, and the smallest area was to the west.
   The key is in fig.1. A unique isosceles 72° triangle ABC having the ancient sacred golden ratio, 8:8:5 (approximately 1.6 which forms a pentacle and pentagon) was laid out whose short side, a line, was along the edge of the hill overlooking the Kidron Valley. Another long line of the triangle, a cord 8x (500C long) , where ‘x’ is 500/8 or 62.5C, was placed along this edge, so that the point 6x (3/4 the cord’s length) was placed at a precise spot I 11C east of the high western scarp of the rock, the summit of the hill. The intersection of these two lines, AF and BC, located C on the triangle. The right angle measured northward, 2.5x along the valley’s edge, would generate the apex B line of the triangle, and measuring another 2.5x northward would locate point A. Point I fixed the center axis line of the Temple, midway between the Table of Showbread J 5C to the north, and the Manorah (5 in fig.2) 5C to the south.
    On the edge of the valley, the triangle at point A became the northeastern corner of the 500C square. Then the entire square was laid out. This is the square discovered by Leen Ritmeyer (see The Quest; Carta Jerusalem; 2006; p.232.) (The northern edge of the Ritmeyer square is in line with Golgotha Rock in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Discussions of this and other details are beyond the scope of this article, but can be found in my book, Sacred Stones Sacred Stories Vol.1). All lines such as the axis line, would be parallel to the edges of the 8x (500C) square.
     Next the east to west center line of the square OP was created (4x or 250C). (The hole in the ceiling of the cave under the rock in the center of the building is on a tangent to this line) The distance from I to the closest point on this line was 50C. This located the southern half of the building. A mirror image created another 50C, giving the building a width of 100C. Point J at the center of the Rock (and the present building) was 5C north of the I, agreeing with the location of the Table of Showbread being 5C north of the center line which helps confirm this the actual location of the Temple. The line 2x (125C) measured south of the northern edge of the square, was taken as the northern edge of the Inner Courtyard. The distance from this line to the northern edge of the temple building, was 17.5C. A mirror image to the south, gives the length of the Inner Courtyard as 135C, (17.5+100+17.5). The apex line of the triangle BB` ran through the clean knife room in the Porch (see fig.2), and the slaughter/ butchering area north of the Altar.
    The North- South center line (MN 4x or 250C) became the eastern edge of the Inner Courtyard. They measured from here 3x (187.5 or 187C if the remainder is discarded) to get the east-west length of the courtyard. Another 135C square was laid out east of the Inner Courtyard, (where V marks the center of the square).
    A natural cave ( Below the Temple Mount in Jerusalem; Shimon Gibson, David Jacobson, BAR international Series 637; 1996; p.119) which was enlarged into an artificial cistern, was taken to become an area under the Chel and Barrier. This cistern 1, is archeological proof of the temple’s location. This bedrock ceiling cistern has the size (6C of stairs, 4C flat zone for a total 10C), placement, and orientation of the Barrier and Chel (at the end of the 10C Chel). Other cisterns also are important in the discussion, but is beyond the scope of this article. I would point out, cisterns 2, 3, 4, 5 are all recorded in ancient sources, 6 runs under a temple gate, and 7 is at an important location. Notice the off center well hole in 2 would have been under the flat area of the Chel which would be expected.
    The distance from the northern Barrier, to the northern edge of the Inner Courtyard is about 40C. This became the size of four little courts by the corners of the 135C square, which most likely were outside 135C square. An identical 40C distance was measured along the eastern, southern, and western edges to create a 40C zone on all sides which had buildings along the northern and southern sides of this zone. The Chel and Barrier would be just outside this zone. Three gates on the northern and southern parts of this zone opening into the Inner Courtyard, would be equidistant from each other. An additional two gates not opening onto the Inner Courtyard would make a count of four gates on these two sides. Asterisks mark the locations of 13 openings in the barrier on Fig.1.
   (See Fig.1.D) The 3x distance from B to C marked out the western edge of the 32C altar H. Note how the western edge was in a direct line with the intersection of the center line OP and the triangle DC`B`, the point labeled H2.
   Another identical mirror image triangle DB`C` could also have been laid out as shown. No Altar can be erected at any other site as this would violate the geometry. The length of the altar (32C) and ramp was 1x (62C). If we divide1x by 2, we get 31C. The difference is 1 cubit. The base of the altar was not a perfect square but had a discrepancy at its base of 1 cubit.
     The center of the rock J, which became the center facing direction in the Moslem Dome of the Rock building, which was originally the Jewish facing direction for prayer, the first kiblah of Mohammed, was the location of the Table of Showbread in the Holy Place.
    Figure 1 is my determination for the location of Herod’s Temple with its various courtyards. A detailed description of this figure is beyond the scope of this article, but I shall point out some important facts. The line from B to C in Fig.1 is shown superimposed on Fig.2. In fig.1 note the S.E. corner of the 135C square is at cistern 5. Point B was in line with one of two gates at the western end of the Hal. A trench dug on the temple mount has revealed the remains of a portion of a wide wall. Point G marks the exposed location of this wall. The line BC can be divided 2x,3x,3x where I marks 2x, and G is the center point of 3x, 3x.
    On the temple mount is an irregular shaped flat area called the Inner Platform upon which is a domed octagonal structure centered over the outcropping of bedrock discussed previously. The exact center of this building marked by the center of the dome is J.
     The Inner Platform’s N.E. corner, Z occupies a very special spot: it is on the E-W running line marking the northern edge of the 500 Cubit square exactly 3x from the N.E. corner at A (187.5C the Jewish court’s E-W length). A right angle taken from Z reaches point G, and if we measure along the eastern edge of the platform, from Z, we would reach K at the top of the staircase in front of the Dome of the Rock putting K on the building’s midline axis. Other Moslem features are at critical Jewish locations such as the distance G to W, the top of the southern staircase going up to the building, is 3x or 187.5C, the same distance G to J.
   Fig. 1 shows four areas within the 500C square adjacent with the edges of the Inner Courtyard, shown in shading around the unshaded inner courtyard. Note that the largest area is to the south where there was most service such as the main gateway (the Double Gate but not the Triple Gate and two ritual washing cisterns (9), followed by east, then north, then west. Mathematically we can state: [S]>[E]>[Center]>[N]>[W] where Center is the central Inner Court area. Note this area is midway between the four directional areas (Calculations of areas can easily be done by reader. Example: [Center] = 187C*135C or 25245 square Cubits).
    If an identical parallel triangle ( C``, B``, A`) were placed so that it crossed the southwest corner of the altar (H3), Point A` falls on the location of the Golden Gate in the Eastern Wall. Then another gate of the Temple Mount could have been laid out using these triangles.
   Two gates on the periphery of the square could have been located by measuring from two corners A, and F, the distance 8x, 8x, 5x. These gates are the Triple Gate tunnel exit, and the point on the square opposite Wilson’s Arch C``.
   Fig. 2 details how the lines in fig.1 ran across the rock and the Dome of the Rock building. The rock was purposely cut to reflect the following: The low western edge of the rock would have been directly under the eastern edge of the Holy Place. A slight bend in the high western edge of the rock (1), as well as the northern edge of the hole cut in the rock 7 both were on the temple’s axis line. Distances between 2, 1, 3, and 4 all are 10 cubits long. The distance 1 to 6 was 15C. This distance has special properties in a 60 by 20 C rectangle, since the numbers 15, 30, 45, and 60 are all significant distances in this rectangle.
    The Holy Place located just to the north of the southern inner dome piers 10 and 11 was composed of two 20 by 20 squares (20 by 40C total area). The high edge of the rock at 1 is 11 cubits west of I. A number of other 11 or twice 11C distances existed in the measurement of the 187C court from east to west (not discussed). A 1 Cubit space marked the veil 8 separating the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies. Point 13 marks the calculated spot where the Temple’s Center (axis) Line intersected the veil. Point 9 marked the center of the Holy of Holies. Here a stone whose height protruded 3 finger breadths above the pavement, marked that spot on the hillside marking the ground of creation.
    In fig.2 you will note three related measures: J to 1, J to 13, and J to 9 which all tend in an easterly to westerly direction. It is very significant that the size and orientation of a second Moslem building, the Kabba in Mecca incorporates these same exact sizes. The distance from the inner eastern corner to the center of the room is the same distance as from J to 1, and the distance from the inner eastern corner to the opposite diagonal western corner of the building is the same distance from J to 13, while the total distance from outer eastern corner of the Kabba to the outer western corner is the same distance from J to 9 in the temple. What is very significant are the facts that all alignments in both structures strike in an easterly to westerly direction, and both locations have something in common: they both involve “a Qiblah”, a direction to face when worshiping. The first qublah being either point I, which the Moslem building highlights– the temple’s Table of Showbread (the word actually means to ‘face’ panim in Hebrew ie bread of face), or point 13 which is analogous to the center of the Kabba, the second Qiblah. It also is very significant that this same eastern corner of the Kabba where similar temple measurements can be seen is marked by a landmark : a black stone set in the very same outer edge we have been discussing.