After the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem was
captured, the destruction, desecration and systematic looting of Jewish
sites began and continued. 57 ancient synagogues(the oldest dated to the
13th century), libraries and centers of religious study were ransacked
and 12 were totally and deliberately destroyed. Those that remained
standing were defaced, used for housing of both people and animals. The
city's foremost Jewish shrine, the Western Wall, became a slum. Appeals
were made to the United Nations and in the international community to
declare the Old City to be an 'open city' and stop this destruction, but
there was no response. This condition continued until Jordan lost
control of Jerusalem in June 1967.
On the Mount of Olives, the Jordanian Arabs removed
38,000 tombstones from the ancient cemetery and used them as paving
stones for roads and as construction material in Jordanian Army camps,
including use as latrines. When the area was recaptured by Israel in
1967, graves were found open with the bones scattered. Parts of the
cemetery were converted into parking lots, a filling station, and an
asphalt road was built to cut through it. The Intercontinental Hotel was
built at the top of the cemetery. Sadar Khalil, appointed by the
Jordanian government as the official caretaker of the cemetery, built
his home on the grounds using the stones robbed from graves. In 1967,
the press published extensive photos documenting that Jewish gravestones
were found in Jordanian Army camps, such as El Azariya, as well as in
Palestinian walkways, steps, bathrooms, and pavement.
The Hurva Synagogue, attributed to Rabbi Moses Ben
Nahman (Ramban), was the main synagogue in Jerusalem in the fifteenth
and sixteenth centuries (and possibly much earlier), until the Ottomans
closed it in 1589 because of Muslim incitement. It was burned by Arabs
in 1721 (Hurva = destruction in Hebrew), but again rebuilt by Zionists
in the 19th century, becoming the most prominent synagogue on the
Jerusalem skyline. For that reason, when it was captured by the Arab
Legion during the battle for Old Jerusalem in 1948, they dynamited it to
show that they controlled the Jewish Quarter. When the Jews in New
Jerusalem saw the Hurva burning, they knew that Jewish life in the
Quarter had ended (again).
This seems to be very important since they
describe the destruction of old Jerusalem, and how it was destroyed. It
also indicates that the international community would not do anything
to stop this destruction either. As you can see this destruction
happened over a period of 19 years and was done by the people over this
time period. You could say that this desolation continued until the end
of the 1967 war. I do not know of any other time that the destruction
of Jerusalem was stopped by a war.
Now if there are 7 weeks or 49 years from the end of
this destruction, it would put the end in 2016 and the start of the
final week of 7 years or jubilee of Jerusalem to begin in 2017. I agree
with Mathman that this could be depressing knowing we would still have
some time to go before the rapture. I still hope for it to happen this
year, come Lord Jesus!
24 “Seventy weeks[a] are determined
For your people and for your holy city,
To finish the transgression,
To make an end of[b] sins,
To make reconciliation for iniquity,
To bring in everlasting righteousness,
To seal up vision and prophecy,
And to anoint the Most Holy.
25 “Know therefore and understand,
That from the going forth of the command
To restore and build Jerusalem
Until Messiah the Prince,
There shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks;
The street[c] shall be built again, and the wall,[d]
Even in troublesome times.
26 “And after the sixty-two weeks
Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself;
And the people of the prince who is to come
Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary.
The end of it shall be with a flood,
And till the end of the war desolations are determined.
27 Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week;
But in the middle of the week
He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering.
And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate,
Even until the consummation, which is determined,
Is poured out on the desolate.”