When archaeologist Charles Warren dug in front of this gate in the
1860's, he discovered a heavy wall that formed a courtyard identical to
those at Megiddo which was constructed by King Solomon. Additionally,
the masonry of the lower courses on either side of the East Gate has
been identified by Dr. Leen Ritmeyer as being identical to that of
the, nearby, "Projecting Tower" which also was explored by Charles
Warren. This tower was excavated, later, by Dame Kathleen Kenyon in the
1960's and she described the stones used in its construction as being
"of the character identified as Phoenician at Samaria, with irregularly
projecting bosses having unequal margins on one, two, or three sides.
Solomon's use of Phoenician masons is undoubted." I Kings 9:15 says,
"And this is the reason of the levy which King Solomon raised; for to
build the house of the Lord, and his own house, and Millo, and the wall
of Jerusalem, and Hazor, and Megiddo, and Gezer."
I Kings 9: 15
The
gate at Megiddo includes a courtyard in front which is created by
heavy, angular walls. A heavy, angular wall was discovered in front of
the eastern gate of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem by Charles Warren in
the late 19th century.
THE SOLOMONIC NATURE OF THE EAST GATE OF THE TEMPLE MOUNT
I Kings 9:15 says, "And this is the reason of the levy which King Solomon raised; for to build the house of the Lord, and his own house, and Millo, and the wall of Jerusalem, and Hazor, and Megiddo, and Gezer." The East Gate was built into Solomon’s Temple Mount retaining wall directly east of where the Temple once stood. Is it possible that Solomon would have built his typical six-chambered gateway at that point in the wall as he did at Megiddo, Hazor, and Gezer? Who would ever dare to mention such a possibility? The answer is - the Prophet Ezekiel: Ezekiel 40:6 Then he took me over to the passageway that goes through the eastern wall… 7 Walking on through the passageway I saw that there were three guardrooms on each side… “TLB”10 And the little chambers of the gate eastward were three on this side, and three on that side. KJVThree guardrooms on each side! That’s a six-chambered gate just like the others Solomon built. Not only do we find a six-chambered gate on the east of the Temple but Ezekiel also describes another one on the north at the Sheep Gate: Ezekiel 40:20 As I followed, he left the eastern passageway and went over to the passage through the northern wall and measured it.21 Here too there were three guardrooms on each side, and all the measurements were the same as for the east passageway… “TLB” The King James Bible translates verses 21: And the little chambers thereof were three on this side and three on that side.Verses 10, 20 and 21 are also translated with the same six-chambered gateway in the Masoretic Text of the Hebrew Bible. The three inner wall gates were also the same (vs. 28, 32, 35 “TLB”). Although Ezekiel is here describing the Millennial Temple, walls and gates, the vision is patterned after God’s instructions (I Kings 6:11, 12; I Chron. 28:11-21) given to David and Solomon for the literal building of the First Temple complex of which Ezekiel and all the people of Jerusalem had intimate knowledge. Israel lost Solomon’s Temple because of sin but was promised another if she would repent (Deut. 30:1-10). It would be essential that the two Temples be the same in order to assure the people of the fulfillment of the promise. Inasmuch as the Holy Place, Holy of Holies, courtyards and other measurements in Solomon and Ezekiel’s Temples are the same we conclude that Ezekiel’s Temple is Solomon’s Temple with a few adaptations to fit the new enlarged Kingdom. Both were inspired by the same Divine Designer, "Then David gave to Solomon the pattern... And the pattern of all that he had by the spirit... (I Chronicles 28: 11, 12), "All this, said David, the Lord made me understand in writing by his hand upon me, even all the works of this pattern." (I Chronicles 28: 19).
In the 1860's Charles Warren explored a large tower south of the Temple Mount. This same tower was excavated by Dame Kathleen Kenyon in the 1960's (SII). The construction of the tower and its attatched wall is of ashlars with roughly hewn bosses and irregular margins and the ashlars in the stone courses are laid in a header-and-stretcher fashion. Kenyon described the ashlars as being "of the character identified as Phoenician at Samaria,with irregularly projecting bosses having unequal margins on one, two, or three sides. Solomon's use of Phoenician masons is undoubted." The lower courses on either side of the East Gate in the Eastern wall are identical to the courses of the tower. The monolithic gate posts inside the East Gate belong to Solomon's original gate!
While visiting the Temple Mount in 1984, I took a picture of the back side of the East Gate of the Temple Mount. While examining the picture, my brother Bill noticed some scaffolding that had been set up during reconstruction of the gate and he suggested that we compare the standard measurements of the scaffolding with the width of the current guardhouse. This allowed us to get an approximate measurement of the width of the existing structure - 48 feet, the same width as Solomon’s six-chambered gate in Megiddo and The Ophel Gate (Horse Gate) in the City of David. To prevent the enemy from a direct assault, Solomon constructed a wall in front of the East Gate, similar to the one at Megiddo. The wall formed a courtyard in front of the gate and changed the direction of entrance ninety degrees. The Ophel Gate (Horse Gate) also has a wall in front of it (attached to the tower constructed with huge, Phonecian, ashlars). Because of the topography, the courtyards varied in shape; however, the area of each is about the same. The Horse Gate and East Gate courtyard walls were both discovered in 1867 by the eminent British archaeologist, Captain Charles Warren, and date to the time of King Solomon.
I Kings 9:15 says, "And this is the reason of the levy which King Solomon raised; for to build the house of the Lord, and his own house, and Millo, and the wall of Jerusalem, and Hazor, and Megiddo, and Gezer." The East Gate was built into Solomon’s Temple Mount retaining wall directly east of where the Temple once stood. Is it possible that Solomon would have built his typical six-chambered gateway at that point in the wall as he did at Megiddo, Hazor, and Gezer? Who would ever dare to mention such a possibility? The answer is - the Prophet Ezekiel: Ezekiel 40:6 Then he took me over to the passageway that goes through the eastern wall… 7 Walking on through the passageway I saw that there were three guardrooms on each side… “TLB”10 And the little chambers of the gate eastward were three on this side, and three on that side. KJVThree guardrooms on each side! That’s a six-chambered gate just like the others Solomon built. Not only do we find a six-chambered gate on the east of the Temple but Ezekiel also describes another one on the north at the Sheep Gate: Ezekiel 40:20 As I followed, he left the eastern passageway and went over to the passage through the northern wall and measured it.21 Here too there were three guardrooms on each side, and all the measurements were the same as for the east passageway… “TLB” The King James Bible translates verses 21: And the little chambers thereof were three on this side and three on that side.Verses 10, 20 and 21 are also translated with the same six-chambered gateway in the Masoretic Text of the Hebrew Bible. The three inner wall gates were also the same (vs. 28, 32, 35 “TLB”). Although Ezekiel is here describing the Millennial Temple, walls and gates, the vision is patterned after God’s instructions (I Kings 6:11, 12; I Chron. 28:11-21) given to David and Solomon for the literal building of the First Temple complex of which Ezekiel and all the people of Jerusalem had intimate knowledge. Israel lost Solomon’s Temple because of sin but was promised another if she would repent (Deut. 30:1-10). It would be essential that the two Temples be the same in order to assure the people of the fulfillment of the promise. Inasmuch as the Holy Place, Holy of Holies, courtyards and other measurements in Solomon and Ezekiel’s Temples are the same we conclude that Ezekiel’s Temple is Solomon’s Temple with a few adaptations to fit the new enlarged Kingdom. Both were inspired by the same Divine Designer, "Then David gave to Solomon the pattern... And the pattern of all that he had by the spirit... (I Chronicles 28: 11, 12), "All this, said David, the Lord made me understand in writing by his hand upon me, even all the works of this pattern." (I Chronicles 28: 19).
In the 1860's Charles Warren explored a large tower south of the Temple Mount. This same tower was excavated by Dame Kathleen Kenyon in the 1960's (SII). The construction of the tower and its attatched wall is of ashlars with roughly hewn bosses and irregular margins and the ashlars in the stone courses are laid in a header-and-stretcher fashion. Kenyon described the ashlars as being "of the character identified as Phoenician at Samaria,with irregularly projecting bosses having unequal margins on one, two, or three sides. Solomon's use of Phoenician masons is undoubted." The lower courses on either side of the East Gate in the Eastern wall are identical to the courses of the tower. The monolithic gate posts inside the East Gate belong to Solomon's original gate!
While visiting the Temple Mount in 1984, I took a picture of the back side of the East Gate of the Temple Mount. While examining the picture, my brother Bill noticed some scaffolding that had been set up during reconstruction of the gate and he suggested that we compare the standard measurements of the scaffolding with the width of the current guardhouse. This allowed us to get an approximate measurement of the width of the existing structure - 48 feet, the same width as Solomon’s six-chambered gate in Megiddo and The Ophel Gate (Horse Gate) in the City of David. To prevent the enemy from a direct assault, Solomon constructed a wall in front of the East Gate, similar to the one at Megiddo. The wall formed a courtyard in front of the gate and changed the direction of entrance ninety degrees. The Ophel Gate (Horse Gate) also has a wall in front of it (attached to the tower constructed with huge, Phonecian, ashlars). Because of the topography, the courtyards varied in shape; however, the area of each is about the same. The Horse Gate and East Gate courtyard walls were both discovered in 1867 by the eminent British archaeologist, Captain Charles Warren, and date to the time of King Solomon.
The East Gate of the Temple Mount
This
existing guardhouse may be built directly on the foundations of
Solomon's Eastern Gate of the Temple Mount. It measures 48 feet across,
which can be seen here by comparison to the scaffolding. The Ophel Gate
(Horse Gate) measures 48.5 feet across and the Solomonic Gate at Megiddo
measures 48 feet across. According to Dr. Leen Ritmeyer, the monolithic
gate posts inside this gate have the identical characteristics of the
Phoenician ashlars used by Solomon in the construction of the nearby
tower at the Ophel Gate (Horse Gate).
Captain Charles Warren's chart
The
East Gate area was excavated by Captain Charles Warren in 1867 and his
chart clearly shows the characteristic courtyard wall in front of the
gate, identical to that found in Megiddo. Captain Warren also found a
similar courtyard wall in front of the Horse Gate to the south.
Solomon's Gate in Jerusalem
Chart by Charles Warren showing Solomonic characteristics of the eastern gate of the Temple Mount.
Bliss and Dickie's chart
This
magnificent courtyard wall, found by Warren, had a tower connected to
it's northern end. This tower incorporated huge Phoenician ashlars in
its construction and is dated to the time of King Solomon. The gate and
city wall here have been shown to be older than the tower and therefore
could have been counstructed by Solomon's father. Eilat Mazar
uncovered a four-chambered gate in the city wall which is protected by
the courtyard wall. This is the Horse Gate and it is unfortunate that it
has been mistakenly identified as the Water Gate which is located to
the south above the Gihon Spring.
Report on First Temple Period wall found in Jerusalem - http://www.ritmeyer.com/2010/07/31/first-temple-period-wall-found-in-jerusalem-revisited/comment-page-1/#comment-33954
From Biblical Archaeological Truth
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