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A Historical Prophetic Day of Calamities – The Ninth Day of Av!

July 26, 2007

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

I have guesstimated, for some time now, that at some point in time between 2008 and the end of 2012 it is likely Israel will be attacked from the north by Islamic nations, at which time Jerusalem will fall to their armies, and Israel will be driven into the Negev Wilderness. The five year time window is a guess on my part, no more and no less. But when the attack does occur, whether or not it falls within the time window I have guesstimated, is not nearly as important as the fact the Scriptures say IT WILL HAPPEN, and they are quite clear that Jerusalem will fall to the Islamic hoard as they push Israel south into the Negev. My guess, as to the timing of the attack, is based on the way Middle East events have merged toward an anticipated climax since the beginning of this century.

Zechariah 13:8 to 14:2 – And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the Lord, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein. [9] And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The Lord is my God. [1] Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. [2] For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.

Revelation 12:6 – And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.

I am fully cognizant that the timing of this event is speculative, and readily recognize it to be so, but as long as I am speculating, I might as well give you my opinion as to the date I believe Jerusalem will fall – Not the specific year, mind you, but the date befitting the historical time of great calamities – My speculative time is that, when Jerusalem does fall, it is likely to fall on the Ninth of Av, at some point in time between 2008 and the end of 2012.

The following information from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, gives an excellent account of the calamities associated with the Ninth of Av.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Tisha B’Av, or the Ninth of Av, is an annual fast day in Judaism that falls in July or August.

Its name denotes the ninth day (Tisha) of the Jewish month of Av. The day has been called the “saddest day in Jewish history”. When the ninth of Av falls on the Sabbath, the observance is pushed off until Sunday the tenth (although that day is still referred to as Tisha B’Av).

Destruction of the Temple

The fast commemorates the destruction

of the First and Second Temples.

Those two events occurred about 656 years apart, but on the same date

In connection with the fall of Jerusalem, three other fast-days were established at the same time as the Ninth Day of Av: these were the Tenth of Tevet, when the siege began; the Seventeenth of Tammuz, when the first breach was made in the wall; and the Third of Tishrei, known as the Fast of Gedaliah, the day when Gedaliah was assassinated (II Kings 25:25; Jeremiah 41:2).

From Zechariah 7:5, 8:19 it appears that after the building of the Second Temple the custom of keeping these fast-days was temporarily discontinued. Since the destruction of Jerusalem and of the Second Temple by the Romans, the four fast-days have again been observed.

THE FIVE CALAMITIES

According to the Mishnah (Taanit 4:6), five specific events occurred on the ninth of Av that warrant fasting:The twelve scouts sent by Moses to observe the land of Canaan returned from their mission. Two of the scouts, Joshua and Caleb, brought a positive report, but the others spoke disparagingly about the land which caused the Children of Israel to cry, panic and despair of ever entering the “Promised Land”. For this, they were punished by God that their generation would not enter the land. Because of the Israelites’ lack of faith, God decreed that for all generations this date would become one of crying and misfortune for their descendants, the Jewish people. ( See Numbers Ch.

13–14)

The First Temple built by King Solomon and the Kingdom of Judah were destroyed by the Babylonians led by Nebuchadnezzar in 586 BCE and the Judeans were sent into the Babylonian exile.

The Second Temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE, scattering the people of Judea and commencing the Jewish exile from the Holy L

and.

Bar Kokhba’s revolt against Rome failed in 135 CE. Simon bar Kokhba was killed, and the city of Betar was destroyed.

Following the Roman siege of Jerusalem, the razing of Jerusalem occurred the next year.

According to the Talmud in tractate Taanit, the destruction of the Second Temple began on the ninth and was finally consumed by the flames the next day on the Tenth

of Av.

Later calamities on the ninth of Av

A large number of calamities also occurred on the ninth of Av:

In 1290, King Edward I signed an edict to expel the Jews from England

Sabbatai Zevi, the false Jewish messiah, was born on Tisha B’av in 1626.

In the First World War, Germany declared war on Russia on August 1, 1914, Tisha B’av.

On July 31, 1941 coinciding with Tisha B’Av, under instructions from Adolf Hitler, Nazi official Hermann Göring ordered SS general Reinhard Heydrich to make all the necessary preparations for the Final Solution.

The first transports reached Treblinka and the extermination of the Jews of the Warsaw Ghetto began on July 23, 1942.

Some calamities that occurred shortly before or after the ninth of Av:

The Alhambra decree expelling the Jews from Spain went into effect on July 31, 1492, the 7th of Av 5252, two days before Tisha B’av.

In 1955, El Al Flight 402 was shot down over Bulgarian airspace on the 8th of Av.

The AMIA Bombing (Asociación Mutua Israelita Argentina) by terrorists in Buenos Aires, which killed 85 and wounded more than 120, occurred on July 18, 1994, the 10th of Av.

The Gulf War began on August 2, 1990 – the 11th of Av – with the Invasion of Kuwait by Iraq.

It ended on Purim.

The Second Lebanon War began on July 12, 2006, the 16th of Tammuz, and continued until 14 August 2006, the 20th of Av.

Israel’s unilateral disengagement plan from the Gaza Strip and northern [[Samaria] began on 15 August 2005, the 10th of Av. This event is sometimes described as a “calamity”, although many would disagree. It was originally due to commence the day before, on the 9th of Av, but was deliberately postponed to avoid coinciding with Tisha b’Av.

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from which we extracted it.

Main Reason for no Major Middle East War this Year!

July 26, 2007

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

As long as significant numbers of American troops are in Iraq between Syria and Iran, accompanied by an armada of naval power capable of launching missile, gun, and air power on Islamic forces, I do not believe a major Middle East War will break out between the

Islamic nations and Israel.

This has been my primary reason for saying there will not be a major war this year, and why I chose the period 2008 to the end of 2012 as the most likely time for such a war. Once our troops are pulled out of Iraq, the attack will be launched, with the most favorable time being in the latter half of the aforementioned period from 2010 to the end of 2012.

Begin UK Guardian Unlimited

US Plan sees role in Iraq until 2009

Haroon Siddique

Tuesday July 24, 2007

UK Guardian Unlimited

The US government anticipates a significant role for its forces in Iraq until 2009, despite growing congressional pressure to set an early withdrawal date, it was reported today.

Details of the plans to bring “sustainable security” to the country emerged as police said a suicide bomb killed 26 people and wounded 70 in a crowded market south of B aghd

ad.

The attack, which took place close to a maternity hospital in the Shia town of Hilla, about 60 miles from the Iraqi capital, destroyed 14 shops and set more than a dozen cars ablaze.

Police also reported the discovery of 24 bodies, all with bullet wounds and showing signs of torture, around the Iraqi capital over the past 24 hours

Against the background of the latest violence, the US ambassador, Ryan Crocker, began a second round of talks on Iraq with his Iranian counterpart.

Meanwhile, details of a classified campaign plan drawn up by Mr Crocker and General David Petraeus, the top US commander in Iraq, emerged in the New York Times.

The pl an, covering

a two-year period, does not explicitly address troop levels or withdrawal schedules. It anticipates a decline in American forces as the “surge” in troops runs its course later this year or in early 2008.

None the less, it assumes continued American involvement to train soldiers, act as partners with Iraqi forces and fight terrorist groups in Iraq, American officials told the Times.

The paper reported that the plan identifies two phases, the first involving a near-term goal of “localised security” in Baghdad and other areas, with a target date of no later than June 2008. Former insurgents would be accommodated into the political process in order to achieve this.

One military official told the newspaper: “You are out there trying to draw them into a negotiated power-sharing agreement where they decide to quit fighting you.

They don’t decide that their conflict is over.

The reasons for conflict remain, but they quit trying to address it through violence.”

The intermediate goal would be to use the local arrangements to achieve nationwide security no later than June 2009.

The New York Times quoted the summary of the joint campaign plan as saying: “The coalition, in partnership with the government of Iraq, employs integrated political, security, economic and diplomatic means, to help the people of Iraq achieve sustainable security by the summer of 2009.”

Begin DEBKAfile Exclusive

DEBKAfile Exclusive: USS Enterprise Strike Group and French Charles De Gaulle carrier

hold their first joint maneuver in Mediterranean

July 26, 2007, 10:00 AM (GMT+02:00)

The USS nuclear carrier USS Enterprise (CVN 65), en route for the Persian Gulf, entered the Mediterranean Sea Monday July 23 for joint maneuvers with the French Charles De Gaulle carrier. Rafale M fighters took off from its deck, touched down briefly on Enterprise runways and returned to the parent ship.

This is the first time ever that French fighter-bombers have landed on an American carrier and used its facilities.

DEBKAfile’s Middle East and Washington sources say that the closely integrated maneuver is part of the growing cooperation between the Bush admin

istration and the new Nicolas Sarkozy presidency on burning Middle East issues.

DEBKAfile’s sources have previously pointed to a dramatic opening-up of interchanges between Paris, Tehran and Hizballah. They now affirm that this new track was launched with tacit approval from Washington.

Saturday, July 28, on the heels of the joint naval-aerial exercise, French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner is due in Beirut for a visit prepared by France’s former ambassador in Damascus, Jean-Claude Cousseran.

Early next week, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates arrive in Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Rice will also visit Jerusalem and Ramallah.

The contours are thus emerging of a division of labor whereby the United States concentrates on Iraq, the Persian Gulf and the Israel-Palestinian dispute, leaving France to deal directly with Iran, Syria and Lebanon.

Sarkozy and his emissaries move into position as the potential go-between for Washington and Tehran, while Britain’s Tony Blair acts for the Quartet to mold Palestinian institutions of government.

The gambit on which Washington and Paris have embarked together takes into account Iran’s elevated standing as a topnotch Middle East power. This partnership and the new horizon opening up are explored in detail in the next DEBKA-Net-Weekly out on Friday.

The evolving Washington-Paris track has a negative potential for Israel, which the Olmert government has not yet appreciated.

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Earthquakes and the Last Jewish Attempt to Rebuild the Temple!

Earthquakes do have a History of affecting Temple Buildings!

Should Jews Rebuild the Third Temple before Messiah Comes?

July 25, 2007

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

The following article by Stephen Gabriel Goldberg in the Jerusalem Post is an interesting read, and one worth considering in the midst of the never ending bug-a-boo about the necessity of the Temple having to be rebuilt before the Messiah will return.

You might consider making a copy of this blog to keep with the blog that preceded it. The one before it gives an excellent account of the Temple Mount events prior to its destruction in 70 A.D., while this blog gives an excellent account of what has occurred since 70 A.D.

Begin Jerusalem Post Article

Should Jews build the Third Temple?

STEPHEN GABRIEL ROSENBERG, THE JERUSALEM POST

July 24, 2007

Traditionally the Temple Mount Faithful attempt to set up a foundation stone for the Third Temple on Tisha Be’av, and the police routinely prevent them from doing so. The occasion for this street theater is the anniversary of the destruction

of the First Temple in 586 BCE and that of the Second Temple in 70 CE, both said to have occurred on the same calendar date.

It is certainly right that the date be commemorated; but would rebuilding the Temple be an appropriate act for the State of Israel today?

Assuming there were no Dome of the Rock and no Muslim presence on the Temple Mount, no Wakf and no Aksa Mosque, the pressure to rebuild the Temple would be enormous – but would it, in historical terms, be sound?

The last time such an opportunity occurred was in the time of Julian the Apostate, in 362 CE. That Roman Emperor, who succeeded Constantine, reversed his predecessor’s decision to turn the empire into a Christian state and returned to the former pagan religions, which were permissive of other cults, including the Jewish one. It seems that he gave permission for the Temple to be rebuilt, and then went off to fight his enemies.

In Jerusalem work commenced on reconstructing the altar, but hardly had a few stones been put one on another, when a massive earthquake hit the area and the work collapsed. Worse still, Julian was killed in Persia and his place was taken by the Emperor Jovian, who reinstalled Christianity as

the official religion. Any hope of rebuilding the Temple ceased, never to return.

IN 638 CE, the hordes of Islam conquered Jerusalem and by 692 the Caliph Abd al-Malik had completed the Dome of the Rock, which stood on the mountain inviolate for the following 1,315 years.

During the Crusader years it was converted to Christian use, and most Crusaders thought it had been built originally as the Temple of Solomon, but it was not changed structurally and returned to the Muslims on expulsion of the Crusaders in 1187. However, it did not return as a mosque, as it had never been one.

As the Dome was not a mosque, why did Abd al-Malik build it? It may be that he was attempting to set up a place of pilgrimage in competition to Mecca, which was controlled by his rival, Ibn al-Zubayr, but it seems more likely that, probably advised by an ex-Jewish companion, he recognized the historic significance of the site and in particular of the rock, the foundation stone, the even shetiya, that carried so much religious baggage. It was the scene of the Mihrab of Dawood (shrine of David) and the Bayit al-Makdis of Sulayman (Temple of Solomon) so al-Malik may have selected the site as a kind of location

of ultimate holiness, maybe even for the Day of the Last Judgement.
The unique design of the building, a circular dome over an octagonal base, emphasized its concentration on the central feature, the Rock.

Unlike any mosque, the building had no directional focus and was entered by four doorways, one to each of the cardinal points, as if to encourage access to persons or, indeed, their souls coming from the four corners of the earth.

LATER THE Muslims observed that the Rock was the mythical arrival and departure point of Mohammed on his white steed Buraq, but Abd al-Malik had recognized the precedence of Solomon and even Abraham on the site.

This makes it clear that the sanctity of the site stems from its Jewish origins, though the Muslims, of course, claim Abraham as one of their own, and venerate Solomon as divine. Now, even if the Muslim attitude would be to allow a Jewish presence, and even a rebuilding on the site, would it be in the Jewish interest to proceed with a third Temple?

WHEN HEROD decided to rebuild the Temple in 19 BCE, 18 years after having been handed the throne by the Romans, there must have been much trepidation among the population, the priests and others, about his intentions. He managed to calm their fears by employing only priests on the Temple itself and by enabling the Korban Tamid, the daily sacrifices, to continue without interruption.

The resources that he used were vast and would have pleased the local craftsmen, who were provided with employment for many years. The end result pleased even his rabbinic critics, though well after the event: “Whoever has not seen Herod’s building has never seen anything beautiful,” they crowed.

This was a surprising reaction, as very few rabbis were yet around to see the Temple in its glory. Additionally, modern reconstructions show a rather high, lopsided building with an overblown classical front sitting on a vast platform that completely ignores the beautiful mountain it covered. Such an oversize terrace must have intimidated anyone venturing on to it.

The huge expanse of uncovered space would not be conducive to our weather, be it sunshine or rain. For all its glory, the structure was not completed until 60 CE, well after the death of Herod, and it only stood another six years before its service was embroiled in the revolt against the Romans.

So what did Herod’s great work really achieve? Did it achieve unity among the Jewish people? Did it achieve harmony between our different factions? Did it achieve reconciliation with our governors, the Romans, who admired the structure built on classical lines by their favorite Jewish ruler? Did its presence give us protection against our enemies or absolution for our sins?

QUITE THE contrary. The daily sacrifices were used by the zealots to exclude the offering of the Roman emperor, which led to reprisals and insults by the occupying army. Different parties saw different ways of resolving the crisis, but could find no unanimity among themselves. The High Priest, who might have been a potential leader, was just another political appointment, as he had been under the Seleucids; even his sacred clothing was held hostage in the hands of the Roman governor.

The priests were divided in their loyalties and unable to conduct the divine service in a dignified manner.

When it came to the actual revolt in Jerusalem, th

ings turned perilous, and civil war reigned. The zealots, led by John of Gischala, got the upper hand and the peace party was unable to stop them. Another zealot leader, Simon bar Giora, was welcomed into the city to oppose Gischala, but the two soon joined together against the moderates. That union did not last and within a short time there were three “gangster” parties (in the words of Josephus) who burnt each other’s grain supplies, not realizing that they would all suffer in the end.

Only the Romans could benefit from the chaos, and so they did, in spite of the brave efforts put up by the separate parties, one of whom used the Temple precinct for a heroic, if vain, last stand.

The magnificent Herodian Temple, as finally completed, had stood for only 10 years.

THIS WAS not so different from the vicissitudes of

the First Temple. Solomon completed it with forced labor shifts, directed by his chief taskmaster, Adoniram. On Solomon’s death, the majority of the tribes revolted against his successor Rehoboam, put the hated Adoniram to death by stoning, and set up the Northern Kingdom, which had no use for the Temple.

In the south, the Temple was sacked by Pharaoh Shishak in about 925 BCE, and all its gold was stripped away and taken to Egypt. Rehoboam was forced to present to the people shields of polished brass to simulate the looted metal.

The golden glory of Solomon’s Temple had lasted for just 40 years.

Not long after, king Asa had to use the replaced Temple treasures to bribe Ben-Hadad of Aram (Syria) to help him fight against Baasa, king of Northern Israel. Worse than all that loss of treasure was the fact that the First Temple, as described in our sacred books, became the focus of idol worship in the reigns of the Judahite kings Asa, Jehoram, Amaziah and the queen Athaliah, who gave its treasures to the House of Baal.

The timely restoration under Hezekiah was undermined by his son Manasseh, and the renaissance initiated by Josiah was sabotaged by the desecration of his successors that culminated in defeat by the Babylonians in 597 BCE, followed by destruction 11 years later.

What happened to the glory of the First Temple? It lasted 40 years. The Second Temple never achieved glory until its rebuilding by Herod, and that lasted 10 years.

Will a Third Temple fare any better? The records of history are against it.

The writer is a Fellow of the Albright Institute of Archaeological Research, Jerusalem.

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The Next Temple will be Built only after Messiah comes at his Second Advent!

July 24, 2007

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

Many year’ s ago, while

studying Western Civilization at ATU, I first encountered the Roman Emperor Julian. The particular characteristic of his personal disdain for the new religion of worshipping Christ, which his predecessor Constantine had introduced in mass proportions across the Empire, was what intrigued me. Consequently, I studied whatever materials I could find on it in University and Community libraries, because this was the pre-internet era. I became convinced the Jewish Temple would NOT be rebuilt before the return of Jesus Christ because of the two words translated “temple” in the Apostle Paul’s writings, as you can find in our Prophecy Update Archives. But the account of Julian gave me a secondary insight as to why it will not be rebuilt – I do not believe God will let it be rebuilt until His Son returns to rule and reign on this earth.

Chapters 40 to 48 in Ezekiel give a detailed narrative blueprint of the structure that will be the next temple built on Mount Moriah AFTER Messiah returns to direct its building.

Ezekiel 43:1-9 – Afterward he brought me to the gate, even the gate that looketh toward the east: [2] And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east: and his voice was like a noise of many waters: and the earth shined with his glory. [3] And it was according to the appearance of the vision which I saw, even according to the vision that I saw when I came to destroy the city: and the visions were like the vision that I saw by the river Chebar; and I fell upon my face.

[4] And the glory of the Lord came into the house by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east. [5] So the spirit took me up, and brought me into the inner court; and, behold, the glory of the Lord filled the house. [6] And I heard him speaking unto me out of the house; and the man stood by me. [7] And he said unto me, Son of man, the place of my throne, and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for ever, and my holy name, shall the house of Israel no more defile, neither they, nor their kings, by their whoredom, nor by the carcases of their kings in their high places.

I advise you to make a copy of this particular blog for future reference. The account by Alexander Zvielli is correct historically in every detail, and very well written. It is worth keeping.

Begin Jerusalem Post Article

Tisha Be’Av: The Third Temple that wasn’t

Alexander Zvielli, THE JERUSALEM POST

July 23, 2007

On this day, as we mourn the destruction of both the First and Second Temples, it seems fitting to recall a little-known story of how a Roman emperor stood ready to rebuild the third temple. He acted not out of love for the Jewish people, but because he was a pagan who – despite its ascendency – despised Christianity.

The Roman Emperor Julian, who ruled 361-363 CE, called on the Jews to return to the Land of Israel and rebuild their Temple in Jerusalem. Whatever his motives, he showed our ancestors unusual respect and understanding.

Julian was hardly an ordinary emperor, though history has failed to pay sufficient attention to his policies. In Julian, the Romans had a just ruler and brave soldier. He was a modest man who labored to relieve the distress of his subjects while endeavoring to connect authority with merit and happiness with virtue.

As a young soldier Julian subdued, against the odds, the German threat in Gaul with a small force. He ruled ancient Gaul with wisdom and authority, hardly ever seeking a personal gain. He slept on the ground with his legionnaires, earning their respect. Julian was an excellent organizer, an honest judge, a writer and a philosopher.

Brought up as a Christian, Julian rejected the religion and turned back to the paganism of Greek and Roman days. He argued that Christianity would weaken and ultimately destroy the Roman Empire. As a result, he

attempted to restore Hellenism, which earned him everlasting Christian disdain.

Known to Christians as Julian the Apostate, the emperor restored pagan temples and the cult of the old Roman gods. These were to be served by a reform-minded pagan clergy with high moral character, who would compete with the Christian clergy in meeting the religious needs of the people.

Julian remains famous for having declared absolute freedom for all religious beliefs – making him perhaps the first leader to extend

toleration of religion to all Romans.

ON THE July 19, 362 C.E., Julian left Constantinople and arrived in Antioch to prepare for the invasion of Persia. However busy he must have been, he met with “the chiefs of the Jews.”

The details of this fascinating meeting, preserved only in Christian sources, are cited in Michael Avi Yona’s “The Jews under Roman and Byzantine Rule – A Political History from the Bar Kochba War to the Arab Conquest.”

Julian, who wanted to form a common cause with the Jews against Christianity, asked: “Why do you not sacrifice to God, as required by the laws of Moses?”

The Jews replied: “We are not allowed by our laws to sacrifice outside our Holy City. How can we do it now? Restore to us the City, rebuild the Temple and the altar, and we shall offer sacrifices, as in days of old.”

He promised: “I shall endeavor with the utmost zeal to set up the Temple of the Most High God.”

THE RESTORATION of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem would, in Julian’s opinion, defeat the Christian argument of replacement theology – that the Church was the true Israel, and that the Temple’s destruction and the subsequent exile was the just punishment suffered by the Jewish people for the Crucifixion.

The Temple’s restoration, Julian figured, would persuade Christian converts that God still favored the Jewish people.

As an army commander, embarking on a war against a formidable Persian enemy, Julian could also expect that the Jews of Mesopotamia would assist his legions.

But there can also be no doubt that Julian’s attitude of fairness and his respect for the stubborn stand of the Jewish remnant played a role in his desire to achieve a Jewish restoration.

In his “Four Letters” addressed to the Jewish people, Julian recognized their dire situation and appealed to them to join him in his campaign. That’s a vast difference from the Persian ruler Cyrus, who had only allowed the Jews to rebuild the Temple; Julian virtually ordered them to do so, and perhaps, upset by their initial hesitation, appointed Alypius, a pagan native of Antioch and his best friend, to supervise the work.

In a letter to the Jewish Patriarch Hillel II, residing in Tiberias, Julian abrogated the entire gamut of anti-Jewish legislation and recognized Jewish authority in Israel, including the right to levy taxes.

ACCORDING TO the Christian sources, there was considerable initial enthusiasm among the Jews of Diaspora. Many purses were opened. But other leading Jews were confused and apprehensive. The community had only recently suffered yet another painful defeat in the failed uprising against Gallus (351 C.E.), which erupted in protest against discriminatory anti-Jewish legislation. The Patriarchate had lost Lydda, the few remaining settlements in Judea and several vital Galilean villages.

The people quoted a verse from Daniel (11:34): “Now when they shall stumble, they shall be helped with a little help; but many shall join themselves unto them with blandishments.”

The Jews were doubtless divided between those who believed that Julian was a savior and those who remembered Rabbi Simon Ben Eliezer’s warning against the youthful enthusiasm of the second generation after the Bar Kochba disaster: “If children tell you: ‘Go, build the Temple – do not listen to them.'”

Above all, could Jewish hopes depend on the fortunes of one man?

In the end, no attempt was made to set up a temporary altar and offer sacrifices on the former Temple grounds, as the Maccabeans had done.

While the Jews could not oppose the will of the Roman emperor, they could drag their feet. Apparently the majority did.

They remembered Rome as Amalek, not as a benefactor.

THE WORK ordered on the Temple’s foundation advanced slowly. It took time to provide silver spades and pickaxes, since no iron was allowed to be used. And then, according to the Roman writer Ammianus, “balls of fire” supposedly erupted from the foundations and rendered the place inaccessible.

The Christian majority of Jerusalem described this fire in glow

ing terms, as a splendid miracle, a further proof of the rightness of Christianity. The Jews suspected Christian arson. Meanwhile Alypius, Julian’s pagan friend, seemed hardly in a hurry to carry out the emperor’s order.

At any rate, the opportunity to rebuild the Temple was lost. Notwithstanding the lack of Jewish sources for this fascinating episode, there can be little doubt that Julian’s failure resulted in yet another deep national trauma, traces of which can be found among anti-Zionist circles in our own time.

Moreover, the failures of the 67, 112 and 135 CE Jewish uprisings, other bloody skirmishes with the Roman and Byzantine Christian regimes, and the further trauma of Julian’s endeavor were more than the Jewish nation could bear for many generations.

With Julian’s death came the Emperor Jovian, a faithful Christian, and a Church-led assault on Jews and Judaism.

And so it was that by the time of the Persian and finally Arab conquests

of Jerusalem, the local Jewish population was a mere remnant of a once-thriving society.

The writer, a veteran Post staffer, edits the daily archives column.

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http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml.

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Why are Hizbullah, Syria, and Iran having a Council of War

?

Two Haaretz Articles that Compliment one Another!

July 24, 2007

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

Although Israel denies the claim by Hizbullah Leader Nasrallah he has missiles that can strike any part of Israel, I am quite convinced he does, and that Israel denies his claim in order to alleviate the fears of the part of Israel lying south of the latitudinal line passing through Tel Aviv.

I suspect the reason the UN forces have been unable to find any hidden missiles catches inside their patrol zone along Lebanon�

��s southernmost border is a very simple one – They are not hidden there as they were prior to last year’ s conflict between I

srael and Hizbullah.

Since last year’s conflict, Hizbullah has received thousands of missiles across the eastern border of Lebanon from Iran via Syria.

This flood of missiles has included many different types made in Russia, China, Iran, Syria, and North Korea.

Most of them are concealed north of last year’s Hizbullah dug-in cave complex, which began at Israel’s border and extended northward for about 20 miles.

The new missiles received by Hizbullah can be launched from further north in Lebanon because of their much greater range.

As an analyst, my guess is that Hizbullah, Syria, and Lebanon want to control Lebanon before launching a future consolidated attack against Israel. I believe that is the number 1 priority on their agenda at this moment, and they are now planning the best way to go about it, without getting Israel or the United Nations troops involved in their Lebanese takeover.

If Hizbillah was to attack the Lebanese Army from the east, being very careful not to enter the buffer zone between themselves and Israel, it is quite likely that Israel would not pour its troops through the United Nation’s buffer zone to help Lebanon. Such a scenario would see the quick defeat of the Lebanese Army by Hizbullah and the fall of Lebanon’s present government.

It would get Syria off the hook on the trial it is facing for the assassination of several Lebanese leaders over the last three years, and allow Syria and Iran to turn all of northern Lebanon north of the United Nations Buffer Zone into a secure arsenal of Hell for a future consolidated attack of 10 Islamic nations against the land from Dan to Beersheba.

Begin Two Articles by Haaretz from Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs Daily Alert

Article 1

Hizbullah: We Can Strike at Every Part of Israel

Yoav Stern and Amos Harel (Ha’aretz)

July 23, 2007

Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah told Al-Jazeera Sunday that his organization is able to strike at every part of Israel, and had the same capability during the Second Lebanon War last summer.

Article 2

IDF Says Hizbullah Hiding Rockets from UN Forces

Amos Harel (Ha’aretz)

July 23, 2007

Since its reinforced deployment last August, UNIFIL has carried out extensive searches in more than 90% of southern Lebanon’s open areas, where UN patrols have found and destroyed Hizbullah arms, including Katyusha launchers, Katyusha rockets and explosives.

As an alternative, Hizbullah is trying to transfer significant numbers of its short-range Katyusha rockets into built-up areas, mostly in the dozens of Shi’ite villages south of the Litani, to hide them from UNIFIL.

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