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 Spreading
below us (and beneath the pavement we are standing on) is a large
Jewish cemetery. People are buried in the ground; what seem like
stone sarcophagi are grave monuments, each with a niche for a
memorial candle. It is a Jewish custom, on visiting a grave, to
leave a stone (no one knows why).
On the slope of the Haram, opposite, is a Muslim
cemetery, and in the valley between, a Christian one. We may trace the Muslim
presence to the belief that on Judgment Day, the shrine at Mecca known as the
Ka'ba will be transported miraculously to the Haram, and the last judgement will
take place here. The Jewish presence here too, as well as the Christian, hinges
on biblical texts relating the place to the Day of the Lord. The Kidron Valley
below us bears another name as well, that of King Jehoshaphat, meaning "yhwh
judges" (preserved in Arabic as wadi joz). The prophet
Joel (3:1-2) plays upon it:
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Joel 3
1
"For behold,
in those days and at that time,
When I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem,
2
I will gather all the nations
And bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat.
Then I will enter into judgment with them there
On behalf of My people and My inheritance, Israel,
Whom they have scattered among the nations;
And they have divided up My land."
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 The
Mt. of Olives contains ancient Jewish cemeteries, as at
Dominus Flevit. Before the Crusaders arrived, however, most of the
city's Jews were buried
across from the mountain, on the slope near the Gate of Mercy (or
Golden Gate), where the Muslim cemetery is today. In the eastern wall of the
Haram, we can see this grand double-arched gate (filled in), probably built by
the Muslims in the early 8th century as a ceremonial entrance to the Dome of the
Rock. It is not clear who filled it: some say the Crusaders, others Saladin.
There are traces of an older gate beneath, perhaps the Shushan Gate of the
Temple (Mishnah, Middoth 1:3). Despite the obscurity of
its origins and history, this gate has gathered many traditions, which go back
to
Ezekiel 44: 1-3.
Ezekiel's reference to this gate in
connection with the Lord and the prince (Messiah?) combined with the Valley of
Jehoshaphat to exert an enormous attraction. In the 15th century, however,
Jews chose to bury on the east side of the valley and further south. Only in the
18th century did they bury higher up on the slope as in antiquity. Today the
Jewish cemetery winds southward around the Mt. of Olives.
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Jerusalem: An Introduction
Gethsemane
View from the Mt. of Olives
The first Jerusalem
Jerusalem from Solomon to Herod
Jesus' entry into Jerusalem
The Cemeteries, the Golden Gate and Judgment
Day
Dominus Flevit ("The Lord weeps")
The Pater
Noster Church and the Mosque of the Ascension
© 2003
Near East Tourist Agency
(NET)
Text © 2003
Stephen Langfur
Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN
STANDARD BIBLE(r),
(c) Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by
The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)
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