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port was. So he was terribly affrightened, and went out, and built a propitiatory monu-
ment of that fright he had been in; and this of white stone, at the mouth of the
sepulchre...(Antiquities 14.7.1).
The physical "Shekinah" put the fear of God in Herod and his surviving men and, frankly,
"scared the hell" out of them!
God's "Shekinah" remained in the Temple all through the life and death of Christ and up to
the year 66 A.D. -- when it was seen leaving the Temple and alighting on the Mount of Olives.
Notice!
There is also another reason why Christians in the first century were very interested in the
Mount of Olives. This is because it was believed that the Shekinah Glory of God which
supposedly dwelt inside the Holy of Holies at the Temple left the sanctuary and went to
the Mount of Olives and hovered over that spot at the time of the Roman/Jewish War
which ended in A.D. 70. The fact that the Shekinah Glory left the old Temple and mi-
grated to the top of the Mount of Olives was an important event to Eusebius [church his-
torian and scholar A.D. 260?-340?]. -- Secrets of Golgotha, by Ernest L. Martin. 1988:
ASK Publications, Alhambra, CA. P. 83.
In Eusebius' book Proof of the Gospel we find this passage --
Believers in Christ congregate from all parts of the world, not as of old time because of
the glory of Jerusalem, nor that they may worship in the ancient Temple at Jerusalem,
but...that they may worship at the Mount of Olives opposite to the city, whither the glory
[the Shekinah Glory] of the LORD [YEHOVAH, YHVH] migrated when it left the for-
mer city. (Book VI, Chapter 18 (288)).
According to Eusebius the "Shekinah" Glory left the Temple and hovered over the Mount
of Olives during "the siege of Jerusalem" (66 A.D. to 70). However, Eusebius was not the only
observer who mentioned that the "Shekinah" Glory left the Temple before the destruction of the
Temple and hovered over the Mount of Olives. A Jewish rabbi named Jonathan -- who was an
eyewitness to the destruction of Jerusalem -- said the "Shekinah" Glory left the Temple and for
three and a half years
"abode on the MOUNT OF OLIVES hoping that Israel would repent, but they did
not; while a Bet Kol [a supernatural voice from heaven] issued forth announcing,
Return, O backsliding children [Jer. 3:14]. Return unto Me, and I will return unto
you [Mal. 3:7], when they did not repent, it said, I WILL RETURN TO MY
PLACE [Hosea 5:15]" (Midrash Rabbah, Lamentations 2:11). -- Secrets of Gol-
gotha, by Ernest L. Martin. 84.
There was yet another writer who recorded the fact of the "Shekinah" presence of God
moving from the Temple in Jerusalem just before the war with the Romans. Josephus mentioned
that in the Spring of 66 A.D. some astonishing events took place within the Temple. He recorded
three miracles associated with God's "Shekinah" and the Temple -- and each one showed clearly
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