• THE CITY OF JERUSALEM • J. ATKINSON Presented to The Maryland Masonic Research Society March )0, 198) •
•
THE CITY OF JERUSALEM
• ~~ILLIAM J. ATKINSON
Presented to The Maryland Masonic Research Society
March )0, 198)
•
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• The city of Jerusalem, or more precisely the earliest part called
the City of David, is of great antiquity. Evidence has been found there
of settlements dating back to about 3000 B.C. It existed long before
the Hebrew exodus from Egypt and held out against the Hebrew invaders
until King David succeeded in conquering it. At that time it vas a very
8111&11 city,- actually outside the 1IIOderu c.1ty, located on a spur of rock
between the Tyropoean aDd Kidron Valleys, but strongly fortified and
well situated for defense.
As with all fortified places the one thing it could not do without
during a seige was a reliable source of water. This vas provided by an
unfailing spring, uamed Gihon, located on the side of the Kidron Valley
• but outside aDd below the city walls. No doubt the ex18tance of tha spring
is what brought about the ex:1stance of the city.
The early inhabitants, the Jebusites,had tunneled down to this spring
from inside thMr walls aDd bad c&1llOuflaged the area of the spring
eaabling the iDhabitants to hold out against the Hebrews until, it is
88sumed frOli a reference in the Bible (Samual, chapter 5), Joab, KJ.ng
David' s geDeraI, discovered thia tUDDel aDd led his soldiers up through
it,thereby overcoming the inhabitants who had relied so completely on the
streDrth of their fortifications that they had neglected to guard their
bmne1.
King David and King Sol01llD11 greatly enlarged the perimeter of the
city, extending it to include the area of the palace and the Temple'
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Arclaeo10gists have found that other cities in the Ro1y Land area
had dug down to the water table to provide the inhabitants with water
within thMr valls. Considering the amount of work that had to be done
SDd the tool. available, these were truly Rerculean tasks.
•
At JIl1 iD1tiation as a Select Kaster, when first I heard of the
erect10u of the Secret Vault, I bad no knowledge of the enstaDC8 of
bmDels under the City of David and assumed our degree work vas .ere1y a
matter of ritual. No such tunnel actually has been found and, of course,
no one could seriously consider that a potentate of King SolO1l1011's stature
would actively participate in the physical labor ezceptin8, perhaps, a
care1lOni&l· ground break1Ds· as by our present day politicians. - BowneT,
just because the tUDne1 has DOt been fcnmd does not rule out the possibility
of its exiatance.
Exploratory work in, around aDd under Jerusalem has been goiDa ou
for -.ny years and is very actiw1y beiDa carried out at the present time
despite strenuous objectio1l8 from various couservativa religious groups.
As e:amp1e. of so_ of the more inter_tiDg excavatiousl
In 1867 Captain Charles Warren and Captain Charles Wi1sou sailed from
England for the Ha1y Land hoping to find in Jerusalem the location and
Jll&terial remains of SolO111OD's Temple. Working v1:th the Palestine Exploration
Pund, these two sunk shafts am excavated much fill from the Temple area,
discovering a C01IIplaaof underground tuanela and shafta in the area of the
City of David. Captain Warren also located a vall, completely buried, in
• front of the Golden Gate, which gate, closed for several centuries, recently
baa been found to rest atop another, INCh earlier, gate.
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The most unusual archaeological expedition was that of Captain
Montague Brownslow Parker, son of the Earl of Morley. The origins of
this expedition (1909-l911) are DDt fully mown. It appears that
Valter B. Juvelius, a Swedish "Biblical scholar", cla1Jlled to have discovered
a coded pusage in the Book. of Ezekiel which described the precise 10catiOll
of the long lost treasure·of Solomon's Temple, supposedly concealed at the
time of Nebuchadnezer's conquest of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. deep below the
Temple Mount in a cave connected to the city hy a 8ecret undergrouDd pasaage.
Because of the earlier discovery by Captain Warren of the tuDDels aDd
ahafts beneath the City of David, Juvel1us became convinced that it 1I1ght
be pos8ible to clear the way to the Temple KOUJ?t and unearth this vut
e· treasure. Parker undertook. the raising of funds aDd enlisted the aid of
hi8 friends captain Duff, Major Foley, and Clarence "ilson, the owaer of a
yacht which they fitted out for the voyage. Parker bribed two high raDk1q
Turkish officials for permission to excavate, and later on the goveruor of
the city ad Shaikh Khalil, hereditary guardian of the Mosque. Juveliua
enlisted the services of a DaD1sh clairvOJ1lllJ to direct the search.
Following the inatruc.t1ona of the clairvoyant, Parker re-opened one
of the shafts dug by Charles Yarren in 1867 hoping to find the entrance to
the tunnel leading to the treasure. To quiet the local archeeol'g'cal
c01DlllUl1ity Parker, without divulging his real objective, asked Pere Louis
Vincent of the Dominican ?athers in Jerusalem to serve as archaeological
advisor. Parker' a 1II8n cleared out Yarren, s shaft and Bezek1ah' 8 'l'unnel.
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The work in 1909 produced nothing of value in the form of treasure
and in 1910 Parker was given only until the end of sUDlDer 1911 to complete
his excavations. Although clearing of the tunnels c:ontinued as rapidly
as possible, it soon became apparent the even should the right passage be
found it could not be excavated in the time remaining. Accordingly, Parker
paid the necessary bribes and he aDd his men, at night and disguised as
AraDs, were secretly adDitted to the Temple Mount and started digging in
a section known as "SolOllOn's Stables", where the Danish c:la:f.rvoymt
usured them the treasure lay. Still no treasure was found.
• On the night of April 17, 1911, Parker and his men entered the sanctuary
of the Dome of the Rock and lowered the_elves into the cavern beneath the
Bock where they began to exavate, breaking apart a stone that c:overed the
ancient shaft below. A Mosque attendant,- by chance having decided to spend
the u1ght at the Mosque, investigated the strauge ooues aDd went screa1ll1ng
into the city exposing the sacrilege. Parker and his lien prudently fled
to their yacht at Jaffa and IlUlDAged to escape. Mobs rioted in the city
and even the governor's troop. were unable to restore order.
Soon after the disturbaa.c:es subsided a Turkish C01IDIl1ssion of Inquiry
arrived at Jerusalem. It ordered the appointment of a new sheikh for the
Dome of the Rock, recalled AJ:l1J1!Y Bey as governor, and censured the Turkish
Commissioners who had dealt with Parker.
As we all know, Solomon built the first Temple at Jerusalem which was
destroyed Wh811 Jerusalem was overrun and the tribes carried avay into
captivity. Zerubbabel rebuilt the Temple, but on a mre modest scale,
• be lac1d.ng the resourcea available to ICing Solomon. Herod the Great,
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ruled 36 B.C. to 4 B.C., and his successors greatly enlarged the area of
the Temple Mount by erecting huge walls and filling in the spaces behind
them. Herod rebuilt the entire Temple area, and of Jerusalem's beauty
during the aerodian period the Talmud says: "Whoever has not leen Jerusalem
in its .ple_or has never Men a lovely city."
According to the Gospel of John (2: 20) the building of the Tewaple
lasted 46 years, until abou,t 28 A.D. However, in 66 A.D. the Pirst Jewish
Revolt broke out and in 70 A.D. the Roman legions crushed the revolt and
destroyed Jerusalem.
• Much work is being done at Jerusalem and other sites in the Holy LaDd.
Yigal Shiloh, director of excavatioDa in the City of David, the original
.ite of Jerusalem, 18 s.king 1S0 vohmt.ers for the sixth seasol1, June 20
to August 13, 1983, and academic credit may be earaed. Hinimua stay is
two weeks.
The foregoing information was taken. for the most part, from various
is.ues of The Biblical Archaeo1'sy Baviav, published by the Biblical
Archaeology Society, 1317 , Street Northwest, Washington, D.C. 20004.
•
" ,
Jeri1s.alem HEROD'S
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"l , ~. STitc of"\\ Solomon 5 ~\': .§
" emple ; '2 \. and Royal Palace .' ~
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to U1
Valle"] of Hinnom
The }cbusitc and David's city
The Solomonic Expansion
8th-7th ccctury, B.C. expansion
\Vatcr systems
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LION'S GATE