Day 06 - Temple Mount, Western Wall, Bethel, Shiloh

Shalom again from Israel!

We woke up this morning in the beautiful city of Jerusalem and headed first to the Temple Mount.

Unfortunately, unbeknownst to us, the Temple Mount was closed for a Muslim holiday. In case you don’t know, the Temple Mount is geographically located in Israel but is controlled by the nation of Jordan.

So, instead, we took a bit of time to pray at the Western Wall and then Ronen simply taught from a vantage point where we could at least see the Mount.

The Temple Mount is, of course, a holy site in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

It’s where God told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac (though stopped him before he could, and God Himself provided the sacrifice). It’s where David brought the Ark of the Covenant and moved the capital of his kingdom from Hebron to Jerusalem. It’s where Solomon built a Temple to the Lord. It’s where, after the destruction of the Temple, Zerubbabel returned from exile to rebuild the House of the Lord. It’s where, not long before the birth of Jesus, Herod the Great built and even larger and more ornate Temple than either Solomon or Zerubbabel. It’s where Jesus, like every other Jew in Israel, came to worship.

In other words, a lot happened here.

The theme of our day, though, really is “the house of God” - those places where God’s presence once resided.

Our day was not chronological, but the Temple is particularly important because it’s the last place the presence of God dwelt. That is, prior to Pentecost.

It’s fitting that it was at the Temple where the Holy Spirit first descended upon the believers. Now, the presence of God resides in every believer. Listen to what Paul writes:

“Don’t you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16, NLT)

That’s unbelievable. God has always wanted to dwell among His people. He did so first in the Garden of Eden, then in the Tabernacle, then in the Temple, and then the fullness of His presence dwelt in the person of Jesus.

But now, God not only dwells among His people, but in His people. So, if you are a disciple of Jesus, that means you.

We continued on with our theme of the house of God at Bethel - which literally means “the house of God.”

Truthfully, there’s not a lot to see at Bethel, but for hundreds of years it was an incredibly important site. Abraham was here. It shows up in Joshua and as a central point for Elijah and Elisha. It’s where, eventually, Jeroboam will set up a golden calf and lead the northern kingdom into idolatry. But the most famous story had to do with Jacob.

Meanwhile, Jacob left Beersheba and traveled toward Haran. At sundown he arrived at a good place to set up camp and stopped there for the night. Jacob found a stone to rest his head against and lay down to sleep. As he slept, he dreamed of a stairway that reached from the earth up to heaven. And he saw the angels of God going up and down the stairway. (Genesis 28:10-12, NLT)

God then appears to Jacob and identifies Himself as Yahweh - the God of Abraham and Isaac - and reiterates the promises of the covenant.

The word “el” is a generic word for “god.” So, all of the surrounding nations had an “el”: Baal, Asherah, Molek.

But, here, God says the “el” of this place, the “el” of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is Yahweh.

We live in a world that worships a lot of different gods, or wants us to believe that all of those gods are basically just different names for the same being. God Himself says, “No! This is who I am. We are not all the same. You are not in covenant relationship with Baal, but with Me - Yahweh.”

Who (or what) is your god? Who (or what) do you put first in your life? Where do you find your hope, your confidence, your security? There’s only One who can rescue and redeem. Anyone or anything else is an idol.

We closed out our day at Shiloh.

Shiloh served as Israel’s first capital and was where the Tabernacle stood for 369 years. It’s where the Ark of the Covenant was captured by the Philistines. It’s where something of a civil war broke out when the Benjamites took wives from the women of Shiloh (which was in the tribe of Ephraim).

Shiloh was also the setting for an incredible turning point in the history of Israel.

A woman named Hannah was barren and desperately longed for a son. She traveled with her husband, Elkanah, to worship at Shiloh and while she was there, prayed fervently that God would give her a child. Her prayer is striking. She begs God to look upon her affliction – the same language God himself uses when speaking of the Israelites enslaved to the Egyptians. In essence, she asks God to be for her who He was for Israel – a God who sees and cares about the affliction of His people. She calls upon His character of compassion and mercy towards the broken-hearted. God answers her prayer and blesses her with a son. She names him Samuel. She couldn’t have possibly imagined the God-ordained destiny of her child.

Samuel was not only the first prophet since Moses (interesting, given Hannah’s prayer), but would also serve as a bridge between the period of the judges and the period of the monarchy. He would, at God’s command, anoint not one but two kings of Israel – first Saul and later David.

But let’s go back to Hannah’s prayer. She prayed that God would do in her present what He had done in the past. The God who saw the affliction of the Israelites in Egypt saw the affliction of Hannah in Shiloh. The God who saw the affliction of Hannah in Shiloh sees your affliction, your heartbreak. He is still a God of compassion and mercy. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever – and that should give us both confidence and hope.

Tomorrow we’ll be in Jerusalem and Bethlehem and wrap up our day with a Shabbat dinner. We can’t wait!