RE:"WHY HAL LINDSEY BELIEVES THE TEMPLE OF GOD'S OUTER GENTILE COURT ISN'T MEASURED (Rev. 11:1-2)"

Hal Lindsey believes that the old Temples were situated just north of the mosque on the Temple Mount. He bases this on the theory of Dr. Kaufman and what he describes as, "one of the most supernatural visitations of my life." I am very pleased to see that Hal now believes that "supernatural visitations" do occur after the first century. The problem is that the "theory" and the "supernatural visitations" are contrary to the Scriptures. The Temples were never on the "Temple Mount," as it is known today. It is amazing how people make this area and the Western Wall into idols. The present day "Temple Mount," is really what remains of Fort Antonio, the Roman Garrison. There is a multitude of evidence, but the final authority is Yashua himself.

Mat 24:1 And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to [him] for to shew him the buildings of the temple.

Mat 24:2 And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.

If the "Temple Mount" has a single stone upon another, it absolutely cannot be the original location of the Temple. The reason that the Roman's dismantled the entire temple (according to the history of Josephus), was that it was made of tons of gold which melted when it was burned (dripping down through the cracks of the stones). The soldiers dismantled it to retrieve the gold. They would not, and did not dismantle their home/Garrison which was connected and to the North of the Temple. They manned that Fort for many years thereafter. You'll find a drawing depicting their relationship at the following link: http://www.askelm.com/

The following are some quotes from this website, quoting Dr. Kaufman's work, demonstrating that as of 1235 C.E. reporting that the Temple site was never built on by any of the nations. This is much after the construction of the Temple mosque.

"This was also believed by the Jewish authority Rabbi David Kimchi who (just after the time of Maimonides) stated that the Jewish Temple was still in utter ruins and that no Christian or Muslim had ever built over the spot where the true Temples stood. This express dogmatism of Rabbi David Kimchi, one of the great biblical commentators of the Jews (otherwise known as the RADAQ) who lived from about 1160 to 1235 C.E., is of utmost value. Rabbi Kimchi said that as late as his time the region of the former Temples still remained in ruins and that NO GENTILES (whether Roman, Byzantine or Muslim) HAD YET BUILT ANY OF THEIR BUILDINGS OVER THE SITE OF THE TEMPLE (emphases mine). He said (and I quote him verbatim): "And [the Temple] is still in ruins, [in] that the Temple site WAS NEVER BUILT ON BY THE NATIONS."^{41 <\l >} These comments of Rabbi David Kimchi are first-class Jewish evidence in about 1235 C.E., and they show in no uncertain terms that the built-up area of the Haram esh-Sharif (long built over by the Christians and Muslims) WAS NOT the Temple site. The real Temple area was located over and around the Gihon Spring on the southeast ridge which was in Rabbi Kimchi'' time outside the walls of Jerusalem and was a derelict area used for a dump."

41 Commentary on Isaiah 64:10 and quoted by Prof. Kaufman in Biblical Archaeology Review, March/April, 2000, p.61 - the letters in capitals are my emphasis.''

http://www.askelm.com/temple/t001211.htm

The temples were originally south of the "Temple Mount" complex near its water source the Gihon Spring, which King David purchased. The following are a few references, because the Truth is established by two or more witnesses.

Major "Keys" in Discovering the Lost Temples of Jerusalem

Medieval Sources Showing the True Location of the Temples in Jerusalem

http://www.askelm.com/temple/t011112.htm

Jews Wanted to Live in the Southern Part of Jerusalem

In Omar's time there were still some ruins from a few Jewish buildings and ruins of an abortive Temple that was attempted to be built in the time of Constantine and Julian. To be near those ruined buildings and Temple on the southeast ridge, the Jews in the time of Omar asked the Second Caliph for permission to move from Tiberias in Galilee to this part of Jerusalem. We have absolute documentary evidence that 70 Jewish families in the seventh century were allowed by Omar to settle in Jerusalem. They specifically informed Omar that they wanted to reside in the SOUTHERN part of Jerusalem so they could be near the Siloam water system and to be in proximity to the site of their former Temple. Omar, who was then beginning to build his Al Aqsa Mosque in the southern extremity of the Haram esh-Sharif, allowed them their request. This historical fact is found in a fragment of a letter discovered in the Geniza library of Egypt now in Cambridge University in England. Notice what it states:

"Omar agreed that seventy households should come [to Jerusalem from Tiberias]. They agreed to that. After that, he asked: 'Where do you wish to live within the city?' They replied: 'In the southern section of the city, which is the market of the Jews.' Their request was to enable them to be near the site of the Temple and its gates, as well as to the waters of Shiloah, which could be used for immersion. This was granted them [the 70 Jewish families] by the Emir of the Believers. So seventy households including women and children moved from Tiberias, and established settlements in buildings [then in ruins] whose foundations had stood for many generations." (emphasis and bracketed words mine) <4 >

This southern area was quite to the south of the southern wall of the Haram (where Omar was building his Al Aqsa Mosque) because Professor Benjamin Mazar (when I was working with him at the archaeological excavations along the southern wall of the Haram) discovered two palatial Umayyad buildings close to the southern wall of the Haram that occupied a great deal of space south of the southern Haram wall. Those 70 families certainly had their settlement further south than these ruins of the two palatial Muslim government buildings. And note carefully, that these seventy Jewish families wanted to establish themselves "in buildings whose foundations had stood for many generations." This is a most important observation. It shows that there were indeed "foundations" of the former Temples that were built in the fourth century still in place in the region. There were no walls remaining on the foundations. In short, their were still Jewish RUINS just as Eutychius stated. It was from those ruined areas that Omar took his stone and placed it in his new Mosque that he was building at the southern end of the Haram esh-Sharif.

Interestingly, in this early document from the Geniza library in Egypt (and in all pre-Crusade records), Jews showed no interest in the "Rock" now under the Dome of the Rock. Their sole attention was to the area SOUTH of the Haram esh-Sharif and even further south from the Muslim government buildings that were built in the Umayyad period. Also, when the Karaite Jews a century after the time of Omar settled in Jerusalem, they also went to this same southern area which was the former site of the City of David on the southeast ridge as well as adjacently across the Kidron into the Silwan area. <5> These first Jewish settlers certainly knew that the former Temple site was well SOUTH of the Haram esh-Sharif. Indeed, their area of interest was even further SOUTH than the palatial Umayyad buildings that Professor Mazar and our students (under my direction) discovered SOUTH of the Haram. The Temple was actually near the "waters of Shiloah" (waters that flowed from the Gihon Spring). All the Jews within the early Arabic period knew that the Temples were located over the Gihon. Anyone who would have suggested any other area would have been laughed at by the Rabbis and by the generality of the Jewish people. The Jewish authorities were then aware the Temples were over the Gihon Spring.

4 See Hammer, Reuven, The Jerusalem Anthology, p.148.

5 Bahat, Dan, The Illustrated Atlas of Jerusalem, pp.81,87.

Professor George Wesley Buchanan: "When I thought of Ezekiel's account of the way the water would flow out from under the threshold of the temple and on down to the Dead Sea where it sweetened the water of the Dead Sea (Ezekiel 47:1), I immediately realized that the Jerusalem temple had to be located on the ridge above the spring of Siloam and not on the dry mound where the Dome of the Rock and Al Aqsa Mosque are now located. Ezekiel was a good geographer. He had lived in Jerusalem, and he knew the topography and geography of the land. Ezekiel was one of the First Testament authors to identify the boundaries of the Promised Land. He was not just imagining the way things had once been."

Another experts statement: "The actual location of all the Temples, however, was over the Gihon Spring immediately to the north of (and abutting to) the City of David. " (The City of David was south of the present day " Temple Mount.")