Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. –John 5:2
Reading this verse, one may wonder why there were five colonnades rather than four. Isn’t a pentagon an odd shape for a pool in the Holy City?
Jesus spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. “Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam.” –John 9:6-7
On an October day at Jerusalem’s Feast of Tabernacles, a man who had been born blind gazed in wonder at a new world. The first thing he saw, bending down to wash mud from his eyes, was his own reflection in the water of the Pool of Siloam.
Then Solomon began to build the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord had appeared to his father David. –2 Ch 3:1
The most outstanding landmark in all of present-day Jerusalem is neither a Christian nor a Jewish site, but Muslim.
“The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former,” says the Lord of hosts. “And in this place I will give peace.” –Haggai 2:9
The Temple Institute in Israel is an organization devoted to establishing the Third Temple, a new Jewish temple to be built on the site of the Second Temple, precisely where the Muslim Dome of the Rock now stands.
As He was leaving the temple, one of His disciples said to Him, “Look, Teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!” –Mk 13:1
This poor disciple takes the prize for the New Testament’s Most Ill-Timed Remark.
In my family we traditionally refer to the day before Christmas Eve as Christmas Adam. Similarly, Boxing day is Christmas Cain (or sometimes Christmas Candy Cane) and the day after is Christmas Abel, and so on.
On a terrifically windy day last August, I watched the trees rock and bounce as if shaken by giant hands.
Some of His disciples were remarking about how the temple was adorned with beautiful stones and with gifts dedicated to God. –Luke 21:5
The disciples who made this remark might have been anywhere in the Jerusalem Temple, for it was all beautiful. But my guess is that they stood before the enormous front door, 164 feet high and equally wide, that opened into the sanctuary.
Walk about Zion, go around her, count her towers, consider well her ramparts, view her citadels, that you may tell of them to the next generation. –Ps 48:12-13
These verses exhort us to take a good look at the walls of Jerusalem and realize how secure they are.
You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. –Mt 5:13
While we’re on the topic of rocks, let’s not forget salt. It’s a rock which, strange to say, we eat. Arguably it is the only edible rock.