Search For The Jewish Altar
Jews in Israel have recently constructed an altar according to ancient biblical specifications, and are now eager to find the location of the original altar, so they can place this new altar in the ancient location of the altar. The interest in placing the new altar so precisely is based on a belief that the location of the altar had ancient historical significance, and was the place where Abraham the Patriarch of the Jewish race was about to sacrifice his son Yitzchak, until an angel appeared to him and prevented him form carrying out the act. Traditionally, this marks the beginning of the end of human sacrifice and the source of the great reverence for human life which exists in the Jewish religion.
All serious archeologists agree that the altar of the First and Second Jewish Temple were located on the Temple Mount. Virtually all serious archeologists agree that parts of the large eastern wall of the Temple Mount, which still stands today, was a part of the Eastern wall of the second temple. Since the exact proportions of the Second Temple are known, it is a matter of simple mathematics to determine where the altar stood.
There is some minor disagreement as to how to convert the biblical measurement the “amas” (roughly corresponding to the size of a human forearm), to the modern meter. And, there is some minor disagreement as to where the Temple stood in the North-South axis. However, the altar was roughly 15x 15 meters in size, and so locating it within a few meters is no problem at all.
Examination of dirt excavated from the Temple Mount, by Muslim authorities, revealed another important clue that will aid archeologists to pinpoint the location of the Jewish altar. When the dirt was examined by archeologists they found it was full of second temple period treasures. This proved to the archeologists that after the Romans destroyed the second temple, many of the stones and rubbish from the destruction ,was left in place on the Temple Mount. Therefore, while the Romans reputably tore down the altar, which stood at a height of approximately 5 meters, other findings on the Temple Mount, would suggest that the altar rubble may still exist as an underground pile of stone and chunks of tar like pitch, which were used to hold the stones in place.
The depth of the bedrock, in the area where the altar once stood, is believed to be only 1-3 meters. So putting all the clues together, we expect there is a pile of rubble consisting of stones, and other material 1-3 meters below the surface concrete.
Israeli altars were built with stone that was never hued by an implement of iron, and so the stones would not be distinctive looking. On the other hand, the altar had 4 corner stones or horns, and one or more of them may be lying close to where they were toppled to earth. The mid-section of the altar was painted with a bright red stripe to delineate the upper and lower portion of the altar, and traces of that stripe might be found. Another distinctive marker will be the location of an ancient drainage cistern which stood under the southwestern corner of the Altar. This piping system carried blood, water and wine from the sacrifices down to a brook located in a nearby valley.
The area where the altar is believed to have stood is under an open part of the central, Temple Mount plaza area. The area is covered with a thin layer of concrete. The concrete might prove an impediment for commercially available infrared investigation, which is of interest to researchers. Whether or not infrared investigations are successful in locating the altar, the definitive information about the altar’s exact location can only come from an archeological dig, and archeologists are already interested in requesting permission to make a small dig over the area of the altar. While religious authorities in Israel have traditionally opposed such research in the past, the archeologists can now claim that their investigations serve a permitted religious purpose. Religious Jews and Jewish priests are determined to reestablish the altar so they can bring a certain class of communal sacrifice at fixed times, which can be brought even without congregational ritual purity, which cannot be achieved today.
Thanks to A-1 Plumbing of Baltimore, a Baltimore Plumbing company, for sponsoring this report. A-1 specializes in sewage line replacement and excavation and all areas of general plumbing.
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