It's All About The Rock

The most recognized site in the Jerusalem is the Dome of the Rock. It towers of the Old City of Jerusalem. It is beautiful. The Dome is covered in real gold leaf and glistens in the sun light. It is one of the most awe inspiring sights I have ever seen. The Dome holds the history of this great city.






The Dome begins with the story of Abraham.





Some time after these events, God put Abraham to the test. He called to him, "Abraham!" "Ready!" he replied.

Then God said: "Take your son Isaac, your only one, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah. There you shall offer him up as a holocaust on a height that I will point out to you."

Early the next morning Abraham saddled his donkey, took with him his son Isaac, and two of his servants as well, and with the wood that he had cut for the holocaust, set out for the place of which God had told him.

On the third day Abraham got sight of the place from afar.

Then he said to his servants: "Both of you stay here with the donkey, while the boy and I go on over yonder. We will worship and then come back to you."

Thereupon Abraham took the wood for the holocaust and laid it on his son Isaac's shoulders, while he himself carried the fire and the knife.

As the two walked on together, Isaac spoke to his father Abraham. "Father!" he said.

"Yes, son," he replied.

Isaac continued, "Here are the fire and the wood, but where is the sheep for the holocaust?"

"Son," Abraham answered, "God himself will provide the sheep for the holocaust."

Then the two continued going forward.


When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. Next he tied up his son Isaac, and put him on top of the wood on the altar.

Then he reached out and took the knife to slaughter his son.

But the LORD'S messenger called to him from heaven, "Abraham, Abraham!"

"Yes, Lord," he answered.

"Do not lay your hand on the boy," said the messenger. "Do not do the least thing to him. I know now how devoted you are to God, since you did not withhold from me your own beloved son."

As Abraham looked about, he spied a ram caught by its horns in the thicket. So he went and took the ram and offered it up as a holocaust in place of his son.

Abraham named the site Yahweh-yireh; hence people now say, "On the mountain the LORD will see."

Again the LORD'S messenger called to Abraham from heaven and said: "I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you acted as you did in not withholding from me your beloved son, I will bless you abundantly and make your descendants as countless as the stars of the sky and the sands of the seashore; your descendants shall take possession of the gates of their enemies, and in your descendants all the nations of the earth shall find blessing--all this because you obeyed my command.''


Genesis 22:1-18




The story of the Dome of the Rock begins with Abraham. You see, Mount Moriah is where the Dome of the Rock is built. And if you could go inside the great dome, which sadly we can’t, you would find a large rock. This is the place where, according to the Jewish faith, Abraham was going to sacrifice his son, Isaac.

Abraham is the father of the three great religions of the world – Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. All three of these religions trace their roots back to Abraham. As we continue the story of the Rock and this great city don’t forget about Abraham, Mount Moriah, and the sacrifice of Isaac.


Abraham lived about 4000 years ago. Abraham’s family grew and grew and grew just like God said. He grew into a people of many nations. 500 years after Abraham lived his ancestors were made slaves for the Pharaoh of Egypt. God intervened for Abraham’s children and through Moses set them free. Do you remember the story of the parting of the Red Sea? Maybe Mom or Dad will read that story for you over the next several days. ( Exodus 1 – Exodus 15)


Once Moses and the Children of Abraham left Egypt they wandered in the desert for 40 years. But this was a very special time for God’s people. They learned to obey God and to trust God to take care of them. It was here in the desert where Moses spoke to God face to face and received the 10 commandments. And it was in the desert where Moses struck the rock and water flowed. We cannot appreciate just what that meant. Today if I need or want water I turn on a facet. But in the desert water is the MOST PRECIOUS thing. You cannot live even a single day without a good water source in the desert. I am beginning to understand that from my time here. The air is very dry and hot. Every time we leave the institute we take water with us. I don’t care how short the trip or even if we are traveling by bus or car, we take water with us. And we drink all of it. If we don’t it doesn’t take long before you get too tired to function. You begin to feel weak and a headache is sure to follow. Within a day or two we learned to drink water and lots of it at every meal.


In addition to water, God supplied his special children with manna. Read Exodus 16. Can you see how the people had to trust that God would take care of them? And he did, for 40 years every day the people had enough to eat and drink. When they reached the Promised Land they settled into cities and towns and the people grew and grew and grew.


Let’s fast forward another 500 years. The Jewish people have become a mighty nation and they ask God for a leader to rule them. And God gives them David as their first king. David and his people built a great city right here where Jerusalem is today. The city at that time wasn’t quite over Mount Moriah. We believe that the city of David was slightly south of what is the Temple Mount and the Old City today. There are excavations of this area which you can tour. David’s son Solomon built the first great Temple for the Jewish people. Do you know where he built it? Right where the Dome of the Rock is today! We call this area the Temple Mount. That temple stood for 400 years until a very terrible event called the Babylonian Exile. God’s special children had forgotten to obey and trust God. They were warned over and over that God wasn’t pleased with them and if they didn’t change their ways bad things were going to happen. But the people were hard-hearted. They didn’t care about God. And God allowed a mighty nation to destroy the city of Jerusalem. Her citizens were taken away from Jerusalem to Babylon which is modern day Iraq.


But God didn’t stay angry long and the people began to rebuild their relationship with God and less than 100 years later the Jewish people returned home to Jerusalem to rebuilt their great city and a new temple. We call this the Second Temple. This temple stood for another 500 years and was the great Temple in Jerusalem when Jesus was crucified. Jesus would teach his disciples on the steps leading up to the great Temple. I visited there today. It was very special to sit on the actual steps where Jesus taught.

But that temple came to a terrible end too. In 70 AD the Roman’s and Jewish people entered a terrible war. But the Jewish people were no match for the great armies of Rome. The Jews were killed or exiled from the great city and the temple was completely burned and destroyed. The massive stones of the temple were actually pushed down into the Kidron Valley and onto the streets below the Western Wall of the temple mount. I was able to touch stones from the Second Temple


It was a terrible day. Tradition says that both temples were destroyed on the same day. That day is remembered on the feast of Tish B’Av which will be celebrated here on July 21.

Over the next 500 years Jerusalem grew to became a Christian city because this is where Jesus taught and died and resurrected from the dead. Eventually another great religion, Islam, would sprout up from the seed of Abraham. Their great leader was Muhammad. As sons of Abraham they too have a connection to Mount Moriah. But they tell the story just a little differently; instead of Isaac who was supposed to be sacrificed they say that it was his brother. The Muslims have their own unique story attached to the Rock. Their tradition has a story of Muhammad being taken up to heaven on his horse, escorted by the angel Gabriel, to have a conversation with God. Can you guess where that adventure left from? Yep, from Mount Moriah .


Eventually, there were more wars in Jerusalem – but these were very sad wars because the children of Abraham were fighting each other. Christians, Jews and Muslim were now enemies. For a very long time the Muslim’s had control of the city of Jerusalem. It was during this time that the Dome of the Rock was built as a shrine and memorial to Muhammad’s midnight ride to heaven.


It is only in very recent history that Jerusalem has changed hands again. The great city is now in control of the State of Israel. But it has citizens from all over the world and from every faith living there. That isn’t always easy. People are afraid of losing their homes and sometimes it makes good people make very bad choices about how to treat their neighbors.


The name Jerusalem means “city of peace.” Oh, how I wish that were true. Maybe someday soon! When you go to bed tonight say a prayer for peace in Jerusalem:


Almighty God,
You are Father to children of Abraham,
 Jews, Christians and Muslims.
Help us to remember that we are all brothers and sisters.
Replace our fear with hope,
Our wounds with charity
And our hate with love.
Amen


Shalom,
Aunt Anne


For more information see
http://www.sacred-destinations.com/israel/jerusalem-dome-of-the-rock