The City of the Great King

Great is the LORD, and most worthy of praise,
in the city of our God, his holy mountain.

Beautiful in its loftiness,
the joy of the whole earth,
like the heights of Zaphon is Mount Zion,
the city of the Great King.
God is in her citadels;
he has shown himself to be her fortress.
Psalm 48:1-3

Great King has great capital which is nothing less than the city of the God of Israel.

Quite a city it is.

Sorry, but it is not West Jerusalem where the State of Israel has the parliament house Knesset, residence of the president, supreme court, main rabbinate and other important buildings. This is a modern city that had its beginnings with Baron Moshe Montefiore who in 1878 founded Mishkenot Sha'anim to provide living quarters for poor outside the Ottoman city walls. These "suburbs of Jerusalem" have since spread with the rapid growth of the city that today has more than 500.000 people.

Sorry, but it is not East Jerusalem which greatly resembles older parts of Amman and grew under the rule of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Despite of the importance of the Dome of the Rock and the Mosque of al-Aqsa king Hussein was determined to maintain the prominence of Amman as the capital of his kingdom.

Yes, it is the Old City. This is the historical and archaeological area including the city within the Ottoman city wall and the Hill of Ophel south of it and Mt Zion with its slopes. The wall was built by orders of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent and was finished in 1548. It is the best preserved Turkish city wall in the Mediterranean region. Ophel is the lower hill south of the temple area and the original City of David which he took from the Jebusites.

Sultan Suleiman was furious that the the wall was not built along the southern gorge of the Valley of Hinnom with its deep slopes and left much of Mount Zion outside. It is said that the two architects were hanged for this and are buried inside Jaffa Gate. However, the wall is mighty and was never broken by an enemy force - it even withstood the special conical explosive built in 1948 to break into the city.

Psalm 48 talks about the city of the Great King in many terms but especially because in the heart of the city stood the Temple of the God of Israel.

Do not swear by the city of the Great King

Rabbi Jesus told the Jewish people in the Sermon of the Mount that they should not swear so much. He gave interesting reasons against swearing by heavens, earth, one's own head or by Jerusalem - all apparently popular witnesses for the truth of the statement in the Herodian period.

“Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but fulfill to the Lord the vows you have made.’ But I tell you, do not swear an oath at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.“
Matthew 5:33-37


Direction of prayer
Jewish people have always prayed towards Jerusalem.
Christians do not care about the direction but their churches are built so that altars are in the east where sun rises as the symbol of resurrection.
Muslims first prayed towards Jerusalem, then towards Mecca, then under the Ummayad caliphate towards Jerusalem and towards Mecca since the rule of the Abbasids.
It is said that the Prophet of Islam, Muhammad, first told his followers to pray towards Jerusalem. But after he noticed that the Jewish people did not accept him as a true prophet of God the direction of prayers was turned towards Mecca where is the holy black stone of Kaaba.
After the Four Righteous Caliphs the leadership of Islam was taken by the powerful Ummayads from Damascus who conquered the world from India to Near East, North Africa and Spain. It has been said that these rulers became worried about the loyalty of the people and that praying towards Mecca and making pilgrimages there would weaken their rule. Therefore, a new holy city was needed. Caliphs Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan, al-Walid I and other Ummayad rulers constructed magnificent buildings to enhance the importance of Jerusalem; Dome of the Rock, al-Aqsa mosque (705 AD), palaces and madrasas, fountains and gardens in this holy city al-Quds. Roads were paved and new ones constructed for pilgrims to al-Quds. (In my opinion, "Hisham Palace" is actually a five star caravanseray on the way from Damascus to Jerusalem to enhance the importance of the city.)
But what theological reasons could the Ummayad rulers give to the holiness of Jerusalem in Islam?

Lailat al Miraj
Glory to (Allah) Who did take His servant for a Journey by night from the Sacred Mosque to the farthest Mosque, whose precincts We did bless,- in order that We might show him some of Our Signs: for He is the One Who heareth and seeth (all things).
Qur'an, sura 17 (Al-Isra), ayah 1.
Hadith Sahih Buhari gives more details about the nightly vision in which Muhammad rode Buraq to a distant mosque ( المسجد الأقصى‎, al-Masğidu 'l-’Aqṣà) and visited Paradise in the companion of archangel Gabriel (English translation here). Since the geographical location is not told Omayyad caliphs were able to chose Jerusalem and the platform where the Temple of God of Israel once stood as the location of that distant mosque. It was told that righteous Caliph Omar himself participated in cleaning the huge platform of the garbage from the city and build a small house of prayer there. Yearly feast of this beautiful vision is the second most important celebration in Islam, Lailat al Miraj, and brings Jerusalem to the minds of over billion Muslims around the world. al-Aqsa Mosque is called the third holiest shrine in Islam after Mecca and Medina.

Saint Paul in paradise
Interestingly, also New testament tells about a vision in which apostle Paul visits Paradise. This visit of a mortal man in third heaven has never had any cult meaning in Christianity and is not even known by many Christians.

"I must go on boasting. Although there is nothing to be gained, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord. I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know—God knows. And I know that this man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows— was caught up to paradise and heard inexpressible things, things that no one is permitted to tell.
I will boast about a man like that, but I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses. Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say, or because of these surpassingly great revelations."
2 Corinthians 12:1-7

Near human sacrifices
The Bible talks about Mount Moriah where Abraham took his son Isaac to sacrifice him to God.
Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love — Isaac — and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”
According to the Jewish tradition Mount Moriah was the location of Arauna's treshing field and the site where king Solomon built the great temple as a dwelling for the God of Israel.
According to Qur'an Ibrahim was about to sacrifice his son to God. Qur'an does not mention Abraham's son by name (sura XXXVII: 100-107) but it is generally believed that it was Ishmael the firstborn from Hagar. This dramatic event is located to Mecca and the feast of Eid el Adha is time of great annual pilgrimage Hadj to Mecca.


Political and religious powder keg
The city of the Great King is quite old. When Rome was established Jerusalem was already two thousand years old.

Yet this old venerable city is today in the heart of world politics, a most modern problem that affects the entire human race.

In nutshell the thing is that the holiest spot on earth for the Jews is under the third holiest mosque in Islamic world.

If the Jews would only have historical and archaeological interest in that spot bordered by the Western Wall (Wailing Wall) there would be no tension and the temple area would not be the powder keg threatening to blow the world into massive world war.

But this is not the case. Judaism today is without temple, without sacrifice, a handicapped religion with the Yavne substitute of prayer for sacrifice.

Royal Judaism in its full glory needs the House of God for the King to enter His capital.



Yesterday 25 May 2011 Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeated to the congress of the most powerful military and political power of today, United States of America, that Israel is not going to divide Jerusalem between Jews and Arabs.

Why he says so?

Not because of West Jerusalem, not because of East Jerusalem, not even because of the Old City.

Because of the temple of the God of Israel he says so.

And the people of Israel say Amen.

Great King has great capital which is nothing less than the city of the God of Israel.

Quite a city it is.

So keep watching world news.


And keep praying for the peace of Jerusalem!

Oseh shalom bimromav!


Because only God can make peace between the Jews, Christians and Muslims all revering Jerusalem as a religious capital..