Dee Finney's blog December 24, 2013 - page 615

THE BEGINNING OF THIS BLOG WAS GENERATED BY A PREVIEW OF A MOVIE COMING OUT PRODUCED BY PREACHER JOHN HAGEE ABOUT THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF JERUSALEM PROVING THE BIBLE CORRECTNESS OF THE PLACES AND PEOPLE INVOLVED IN ITS DEVELOPMENT.

THE FUTURE OF JERUSALEM HAS BEEN PROPHESIED MANY TIMES IN THE BIBLE AS WELL - INTO OUR OWN FUTURE TO BE CERTAIN.

JOHN'S HAGEE'S MOVIE IS COMING OUT ON DVD - TITLED 'THE CITY OF DAVID'. YOU CAN PURCHASE IT AT HIS WEBSITE:

IT TRACES ALL THE BACK TO 4,000 BCE, AND IS ONE OF THE OLDEST CITIES IN THE WORLD.

DURING THAT TIME, ITS BEEN DESTROYED TWICE, BESEIGED 23 TIMES, ATTACKED 52 TIMES, AND CAPTURED AND RECAPTURED 44 TIMES.

WITIH LAYER UPON LAYER OF HIDDEN ARTIFACTS, IT IS AN ARCHOLOGIST'S DREAM AND A NIGHTMARE.

ONE CAN HARDLY MADE A STEP WITHOUT LIETERALLY AND FIGUARTIVELY STEPPING ON HOLY GROUND.

STARTING IN THE 19TH CENTURY, ARCHOLOGISTS BEGAN AT THE WESTERN WALL AND DISCOVERED ALL KINDS OF HISTORY ALL THE WAY TO EASTERN JERUSALEM.

IT PICKED UP AGAIN IN THE 1980'S. SINCE THEN SEVERAL NEW SITES HAVE BEEN OPENED TO VISITORS.

KING DAVID WAS A MAJOR STATESMAN, ALSO A POET, AND A PROPHET. HE BROUGHT SCATTERED TRIBES TOGETHER AND PRODUCE A GOLDEN ERA OF ISRAEL.

HE BEGAN BY CONQUERING JERSALEM FROM THE JEBUSITES, BOUND TOGETHER THE NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN TRIBES, AND BROUGHT TOGETHER THIS NATION, AND JERUSALEM BECAME ITS CAPITAL CITY LIKE WASHINGTON D.C. IS IN THE UNITED STATES.

A CORNER OF DAVID'S HOUSE WITH TWO PILLARS STILL STANDS AT THE BOTTOM OF A HILL.

THE WELL THAT SUPPLIED THE WATER FOR DAVID'S HOUSE IS NOW THREE STORIES BENEATH ANOTHER HOUSE THAT WAS BUILT OVER IT.

Jerusalem had its origins in the late fourth or early third millennium BC, with small settlements in the Chalcolithic and early Bronze I and II periods. By the early second millennium BC (Middle Bronze II), archaeologists have found evidence of a sizeable 12 acre walled town with a three foot thick wall with towers to protect the Gihon spring, as well as an underground water channel bringing water from the spring into the settlement at times when the city was under siege. The city also begins to show up in Egyptian texts as a small and minor part of Egyptian colonial rule, governed by a mayor rather than a king.

A "stepped stone structure" as part of the citadel apparently dates from the time of Jebusite rule in the late thirteenth to early twelfth centuries BC, at the end of the Late Bronze Age.

During the time of the Conquest under Joshua, Jerusalem had remained in Jebusite hands. Neither the tribe of Judah nor the tribe of Benjamin could dislodge them (Joshua 15:63; Judges 1:21), though at one point Judah had a successful raid against it (Judges 1:8). In David's time, the Jebusites and Israelites probably coexisted with some kind of state of truce between them, the Jebusites controlling the city and Judah controlling the land around the city.

We don't know much about the Jebusites, members of the Canaanite clan of Jebus. While they were considered Canaanites because they lived in Canaan (Genesis 10:16), they may have been a non-Semitic people related to the Hurrians or the Hittites. We may see a trace of this in Ezekiel's prophecy:

"Thus says the Lord God to Jerusalem: 'Your origin and your birth were in the land of the Canaanites; your father was an Amorite, and your mother a Hittite.'" (Ezekiel 16:3)

Conquering Jerusalem through the Water Shaft (5:6-8)

Because of the Jerusalem citadel's natural strength as a fortress, defended by walls as well as a steep slope on either side, the city felt impervious to attack. The narrator records that the Jebusites had taunted David's men:

"You will not get in here; even the blind and the lame can ward you off." (5:6b)

You can also read David's words to his men as a response to this taunt, as he laid out his strategy:

"Anyone who conquers the Jebusites will have to use the water shaft to reach those 'lame and blind' who are David's enemies." (5:8a)

Trying to piece together David's strategy is hindered because the nounṣinnôr, has been translated variously as "water shaft" (NIV, NRSV), "gutter" (KJV), and "grappling iron" (New English Bible).But I think that "water shaft" or "water supply" is probably correct, since the use of grappling hooks would mean scaling the impregnable fortress in full view of its defenders.

Ancient walled cities needed access to a water supply in order to survive in time of siege. Jerusalem relied on a single source, the Gihon spring, which was outside the Canaanite city walls, near the bottom of the Kidron Valley to the east of the city.

In 1998, excavations by Israeli archaeologists Ronny Reich and Eli Shukron demonstrated that the Gihon spring outside the city had been heavily fortified by the Canaanites with a massive tower (termed the "Spring Tower"). A complex system of underground passages, entered from within the city walls, took people to the edge of a pool fed by the spring, where they could draw water by letting down a bucket.

Of course, we don't know exactly how Joab and his men got into the city, but I expect that it reads like an episode from "Mission Impossible." Here's my attempt at a possible scenario, based on what we've learned from Reich's and Shukron's excavations:

Joab and his men somehow breach the massive Spring Tower and overcome its guards. They creep along a narrow water-filled channel (Channel II), then move up a narrow water-filled tunnel (Tunnel III) to get into the large underground water-storage pool. Here, they scale its walls to get to the cave-tunnel above, creep along a curved tunnel, its pitch blackness lit only by flickering lamps. Now they climb the tunnel's steep steps into a guard tower inside the city and overcome the guards. From there they creep out secretly, overcome more guards, and open the city gates so that David's troops can flood into the city and overwhelm it.

David laid out the strategy, and Joab volunteered for the assignment, with the promise that, if he succeeded, he would become David's commander (1 Chronicles 11:6).

Of course, we can only speculate on how the city fortress was entered. Perhaps they simply forced the city to surrender because they were able to cut off its water supply. But we know that David indeed captured it. Apparently, the existing Jebusite population was neither slaughtered nor displaced, for later David purchased a threshing floor from a Jebusite named Araunah (24:18-25), land that eventually became the site of Solomon's temple.

David's Palace in Jerusalem (5:9-16)

In addition to "Zion," its Canaanite name, Jerusalem is now called "The City of David," probably because David captured it with his own personal troops, rather than with an army gathered from levies on the various tribes. It becomes David's capital.

"David then took up residence in the fortress and called it the City of David. He built up the area around it, from the supporting terraces inward. And he became more and more powerful, because the LORD God Almighty was with him." (5:9-10)

The narrator explains that David "built up the area around it, from the supporting terraces inward." The word translated "supporting terraces" (NIV) or "the Millo" (NRSV, KJV, from Hebrew millōʾ), apparently means "what is full" or "what fills the gap," or both. British archaeologist Kathleen Kenyon contends that this complex of terracing on the eastern slope of Ophel is a Jebusite structure built to support houses on the incline of the hill, retaining walls with leveled filling. David, Solomon, and later kings repair and extend these terraces.

David's palace is built by Hiram, king of Tyre, who sends timber from the cedars of Lebanon, as well as skilled carpenters and stonemasons. This aid no doubt represents a treaty that David has made with the descendants of the Phoenicians, Israel's neighbors to the northwest along the coast.

ON THE SIDE OF THE HILL ACROSS FROM DAVID'S HOUSE ARE STILL GRAVES FROM TEH ERA OF KING DAVID.

A LITTLE FURTHER OVER IS THE ORIGINAL WALL OF ANCIENT JERUSALEM. ON THE SLOPE NEXT TO IT IS WHERE ABRAHAM B BROUGHT IS SON ISAAC TO BE SACRIFICED TO THE LORD ON MOUNT MORIAH.

MELCHIZEDAK'S WALL STILL STANDS HIGH UP ON A SLOPE WHERE ABRAHAM GRAZED COWS. HE DID THAT AFTER HE CAME BACK FROM RESCUING LOT WITH 300 OF HIS SERVANTS. ABRAHAM ALSO FOLLOWED THAT WALL TO MOUNT MORIAH TO SACRIFICE ISAAC TO TE LORD.

NOTE: ALL THESE SITES CAN BE SEEN FROM THE SAME VANTAGE POINT ON THE CURRENT TOUR IN JERUSALEM. THESE SITES ARE THAT CLOSE TO EACH OTHER.

HEZEKIAH'S TUNNEL BECAME A WEAPON OF WAR AND A VITAL COMPONENT TO THE CITY OF JERUSALEM. NOT ONLY WAS IT IMPORTANT IN HEZEKIAH'S TIME, BUT HELPED CREATE A MIRACLE TO A MAN IN THE NEW TESTAMENT.

TWO GROUPS OF MEN STARTED ON OPPOSITE SIDES OF THE MOUNTAIN AND DUG TOWARD EACHOTHER. IT WAS ONLY THE VIBRATION OF THE CHIPPING OF THE ROCK TAHT GUIDED THEM TOWARD EACH OTHER.

IT BROUGHT THE WATER FROM THE WPRING OF GIHON ALL THE WAY TO THE INSIDE OF JERUSALEM TO THE POOL OF SILOAM.

THE PEOPLE OF JERUSALEM COULD HAVE ALL THE FRESH WATER THEY WANTED FROM THE POOL WITHOUT LEAVING THE CITY.

THE FINDINGS OF THE ARCHEOLOGICAL DIGS ARE CLEARLY SUPPORTED BY THE WORD OF GOD IN THE BIBLE.

It is 3850 years old. It is one of the most famous places during King David's reign. He used this tunnel to go under the city.

Every famous person had to walk through this tunnel to get water delivered including Bathsheba.

Charles Warren was sent to Jerusalem by the Queen of England. When he was in Jerusalem, some children ran up to him and offered him some water from the pool and while he was drinking it, he saw an opening in the wall on the other side of the pool.

So he lit his torch and walked through the water and when he went through the hole in the wall, on the other side there was a shaft that went upward. So he climbed up the shaft and wondering where he was, he remembered the Bible verse about King David conquering the city by crawling through the underground tunnel under the city.

In order to get thruogh the city, they had to build this place and Warren discvoered it because these children had offered him some water to drink.

This tunnel was built before the Iron Age. How did they manage to get through the solid rock? Without picks of iron?

They followed a fissure in the rock. It took several generations of people to dig this tunnel because they knew that if they didn't do it, Jerusalem couldn't survive. That's what kept those people going.

In the Bible - in 1 Kings, King David tells his people to take his son to the key hole down which they could see Gihon Springs.

When they anointed Solomon, they yelled, "Long live King Solomon, Long live King Solomon."

Just a few hundred yards away, Solomon's brother was trying to usupr the throne. He could ehar the people yelling, "Long live King Solomon and he realized that his brother had been chosen King and that's when the family feued began.

The discovery of this tunnel validates the Kingship of David and Solomon and all the major players in the Bible of that time period.

Warren's Shaft is an archaeological feature in Jerusalem discovered in 1867 by British engineer Sir Charles Warren (1840–1927). It runs from within the old city to a spot near theGihon Spring, and after its 19th-century discovery was thought to have been the centrepiece of the city's early water supply system, since it would have enabled the city's occupants to safely reach fresh water in times of siege. In 2005, archeologists discovered the ruins of a pair of walls that would have protected the overland path to the spring prior to the tunnel's construction.

The narrow and tall shaft was demonstrated to be traversable when a member of Warren's excavation climbed from top to base. Since in the Books of Samuel it states that David conquered Jerusalem from its prior inhabitants due to Joab sneaking up a similar water shaft and launching a surprise attack on the city from inside, it was long thought that Warren's shaft was the shaft in question (with Hezekiah's tunnel having too late a date, and there being no other known candidates).

According to a number of archaeologists, the shaft is simply a widening of a natural fissure in the rock. The 14 metre high shaft, which has a pool of water at the base, is now not actually thought to have been part of the system. In 1998, while a visitor centre was being constructed, builders discovered that there was an additional passageway, about 2 metres higher and starting from the horizontal curved tunnel, that skirted the 14 metre vertical shaft, and continued to a pool much nearer the Gihon spring. The 14 metre shaft is too narrow, and the pool at its base too shallow, to have been functional, and archaeologists now believe that it is merely a natural fissure that the original excavators happened to breach during their dig towards the other pool. The higher passageway was not originally higher—at some point Warren's shaft was lowered (cutting into a geologically distinct type of rock), and ran into the 14 metre vertical shaft.

The pool reached by the higher passage was protected by a large tower, which was also discovered by the visitor centre builders, and is located outside the former city. The pool connects to the Gihon spring via a narrow channel, and the Gihon was itself protected by a large tower (also recently discovered). The pool itself may have been protected by a second tower, but this is uncertain as excavation of the southern side of the pool has not yet been carried out, since it lies under a current residential area.

Ceramics found in the tunnels by these more recent archaeological excavations firmly date the Warren's shaft system, and the tower defences, to at least the 18th century BC. This expressly places it as having been developed in the time when Canaanites controlled Jerusalem.

Zedekiah wants a blessing from the prophet. The messenger goes to the prophet to get the blessing and comes back with a curse.

The curse says they will all die unless they give up to the Babylonians. Instead, Zedekiah wants to kill the prophet.

The messenger and three men take Jeremiah and throw him down into the cistern, thinkiing it has a mud bottom.

A seal with the name of the messenger was found at the site by archeologists and it can be clearly read.

Ancient First Temple of Solomon Seal found in Jerusalem

The Seal of Mattaniah – Photo by Clara Amit, courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority.

Where in the world can you go to find a seal that could be over 3,000 years old and was used to document important official papers be discovered? Where else in the world could you then find a seal and discover the same name of that person already written in historical documents preserved in that era; the Hebrew TaNaKh or the Old Testament? There is none other than Jerusalem located near to the Temple Mount where Solomon’s Temple once stood.

These are not archeological objects of significance of Egyptian origin, or Babylonian, Assyrian, Persian or Greek origin. Neither are they of ancient Arabic, Bedouin, or Islamic origins that go back only 1450 years. They are of Hebrew origins more than likely of the Jews of the House of Judah.

It was announced in early May 2012, that a small seal, more than likely worn by an official of the Jewish temple or royal court was discovered bearing a Hebrew name that was discovered adjacent to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The name of the owner of the seal was Matanyahu (meaning “gift of G-d” who was the son of a Jewish man with the letter “Ho” because the rest of the seal appeared to be obliterated, where intentional or not.

Since the 1800s, about twenty five seals have been discovered in the excavations surrounding Jerusalem and the Temple Mount. According to the Israeli archeologist Eli Shukron of the Israeli Antiquities Authority;

Israeli archeologist Eli Shukron – “Finding something like this is like getting regards from a real person who lived here thousands of years ago.”

Reconstruction of Robinson’s Arch on the Southwestern Side of the Temple Mount

Located at an excavation site that was exposing a Roman-era drainage tunnel on the western side of the Temple Mount, the archeologist discovered a “structure” and while sifting the remains within the “structure” the seal was discovered. One thing is certain; this “structure” came from the Solomon Temple Era from 1000 BCE to 586 BCE when the temple and Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonian army of King Nebuchadnezzar. According to BiblePlaces:

BiblePlaces – “The remains of a building dating to the end of the First Temple period were discovered below the base of the ancient drainage channel that is currently being exposed in IAA excavations beneath Robinson’s Arch in the Jerusalem Archaeological Garden, adjacent to the Western Wall of the Temple Mount. This building is the closest structure to the First Temple found to date in archaeological excavations.

In the excavations, underwritten by the Ir David Foundation, a personal Hebrew seal from the end of the First Temple period was discovered on the floor of the ancient building. The seal is made of a semi-precious stone and is engraved with the name of its owner: “Lematanyahu Ben Ho…” ("למתניהו בן הו..." meaning: “Belonging to Matanyahu Ben Ho…”). The rest of the inscription is erased."

The Southwest Corner of the Temple Mount looking Towards the Wailing Wall with the Ramp Entrance for Jews and Christian Visitors to Visit the Temple Mount – Destination Yisra’el’s Photo Archives (2006)

Two people with the name Mattaniah are mentioned in 1 Chronicles 25:4, 16 and 2 Chronicles 29:13:

I Chronicles 25:1,4-5,8-9,16 (parts) – “David and the officers of the service corps set aside the sons of Asaph, Heman and Jeduthaun who prophesied while using harps, lyres, and cymbals…Of Heman: The sons of Heman: Bukkiah, Mattaniah, Uzziel, Shebuel, Jerimoth… All these were sons of Heman, the king’s seer for the words of God, to exalt (David’s) prestige…

The shifts cast lots with one another, minor and major alike, teacher as well as student…The first lot fell upon Asaph, upon Joseph;…ninth upon Mattaniah; his sons and brothers were twelve.

2 Chronicles 29:1,3,13 (parts) – “Hezekiah was twenty-five year old when he became king, and he reigned for twenty-nine years in Jerusalem…In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he opened up the doors of the Temple of HaShem and restored them…So the Levites stood up...Zechariah and Mattaniah of the sons of Asaph…"

The Wailing Wall and Ramp Entrance to the Temple Mount – Destination Yisra’el’s Photo Archives (2006)

So from Robinsons’s Arch on the southwestern side of the Temple Mount one can view the Temple walls all the way up to the Wailing Wall where the ramp entrance to enter the upper levels of the Temple Mount where the Dome of the Rock resides.

Just one more living evidence of the Hebrew-Jewish presence in Jerusalem for as long as 3,000 years since the United Monarchy of Kings David and Solomon.

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The Hebrew-Jewish presence has been a dominant culture in Jerusalem for the last 3,000 years. The G-d of Israel foretold also of the ages in which the Jews would not be ruling in Jerusalem, the land would be dormant and fallow. Those Lost Tribes of Israel with spiritual eyes to your future destiny, the Jews of the House of Israel have begun their aliyah, which has not been completed. Soon it will be your time to make the decision to return and live in the land of your forefathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Let us not forget that the God of Israel is purposefully bringing the forces of evil for the whole world to behold and to understand its catastrophic affect upon all mankind. Only then will we be able to choose goodness over evil. If you are interested in connecting to your Lost Israelite roots, Destination Yisra’el is inviting you to support the Kol Ha Tor Vision.

If the G-d of Israel is touching your heart to support directly the Pioneering Settlers of Shomron and Judea preserving these lands for the Return of the Lost Tribes of the House of Israel, we invite you to Click on the “Donate to Kol Ha Tor” link in support of the joint Orthodox Jewish and 10-Triber Mission to bring awareness of the imminent fulfillment of the Biblical Prophecies regarding the Redemption of all Israel (12 Tribes Re-conciled and Re-United). This supernal Event of all Times will entail Establishing the Shomron (the Ancient Bible Heartland of the Patriarchs) and the Judean Wilderness as part of the Land of Israel, and preparing the “Land” for the Return of the Lost Tribes of the House of Israel and then the Redemption of All Israel.

For inquiries about Kol Ha Tor Vision for the Lost Tribes of Israel, Visit – “Shomron Lives!”, a Spiritual Retreat and Guest House in Samaria, that hosts Shomron (Samaria) Tours to reacquaint the Returning Lost Tribers of the House of Israel.