The Temples in Jerusalem, that were the meeting place between YEHOVAH God and His people Israel, no longer exist. Solomon’s Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians and burned to the ground. Herod’s magnificent Temple was destroyed by the Romans, and not one stone was left upon another, just as the Messiah had predicted it would be. The Romans even plowed up the very ground on which it stood. Nothing was left of what had once been built. But through all this, there was yet one thing that neither the Babylonians nor the Romans could destroy or remove. YEHOVAH God had placed it there when He re-created the earth, and it is still there. It is the Gihon Spring.

But one might ask, “What has that to do with the Temple?”

From studying the geology, the history, and the function of the spring, I would answer the question by merely saying, “It has everything to do with the Temple!” In fact, it has to do with the creation of Adamic man and his future on planet earth.”

With a subject so comprehensive, where do we begin? Let’s start with today. The Gihon Spring is still pouring forth water. In the era of the Temples it was pure water, but today, through earthquake activity and man’s misuse of his environment, the water has become slightly contaminated.

Geographically, the Gihon Spring is at 31.77 degrees north latitude and 35.2 degrees east longitude. That’s where it has always been. It hasn’t moved. It is about a third of a mile south of the Dome of the Rock which is on a higher hill.

For most of my life I thought that the Dome of the Rock now sits on the rock that was once the foundation of Solomon’s Temple. However, the historian Josephus, who lived in Jerusalem during the lifetime of the Messiah, said that the Gihon Spring was beneath the Temple. But because the Gihon Spring is actually not under the Dome of the Rock, today’s theologians tell us that Josephus didn’t know what he was talking about, because anyone can plainly see that the Gihon Spring is not under the Dome of the Rock! Talk about circular reasoning! And so the controversy goes on. Did Josephus make a mistake, as they say?

This controversy boils down to one of two options: 1) that Josephus was wrong, or, 2) the Dome of the Rock is not the original site of the Temple. Josephus was describing what he had actually seen. He lived there! The theologians are trusting to centuries of hand-me-down tradition. In fact, that concept has been handed down for so long that nearly everyone believes it (and so did I until researching into this question). Tradition is almost always the enemy of truth.

If we cannot prove what tradition has told us, then perhaps we can trust what the ancients, and the Bible, had to say.

The Evidence of Aristeas

We have an eye-witness description from an ancient writer named Aristeas. The exact date of his writing is unknown, however, the events of his “letter” took place circa 300 - 270B.C., during the time of the Second Temple (Zerubbabel’s). Here is what Aristeas said about the Temple:

"The Temple faces the east and its back is toward the west. The whole of the floor is paved with stones and slopes down to the appointed places, that water may be conveyed to wash away the blood from the sacrifices, for many thousand beasts are sacrificed there on the feast days. And there is an inexhaustible supply of water, because an abundant natural spring gushes up from within the temple area. There are moreover wonderful indescribable cisterns underground, as they pointed out to me, at a distance of five furlongs all round the site of the temple, and each of them has countless pipes so that the different streams converge together. And all these were fastened with lead at the bottom and at the sidewalls, and over them a great quantity of plaster had been spread, and every part of the work had been most carefully carried out. There are many openings for water at the base of the altar which are invisible to all except to those who are engaged in the ministration, so that all the blood of the sacrifices which is collected in great quantities is washed away in the twinkling of an eye."

Note here that he said, “There is an inexhaustible supply of water, because an abundant natural spring gushes up from within the Temple area.”

There is no such spring within the area of the Dome of the Rock!

And, note also, that this abundant spring of water was used to wash away the blood of the sacrifices that were being offered on the altar.

This description was written by an eye-witness who was there.

The Roman Historian Tacitus

Again, we have an eye-witness description from the history of Tacitus (The Histories, Book 5, par. 12):

"The Temple resembled a citadel, and had its own walls, which were more labourously constructed than the others. Even the colonades with which it was surrounded formed an admirable work. It (the Temple) contained an inexhaustible spring.”

The spring is still there, but it is about a third of a mile south of the Dome of the Rock.

The Anointing of Solomon

Before Solomon built the Temple, King David had the Ark of the Covenant brought to Jerusalem. David built a special tent to house it, so that sacrifices could be performed. They erected the tent on the terrace just above Gihon Spring. This is why Solomon’s coronation took place at the spring, because that was where the Ark of the Covenant was -- and David knew that the place of the Ark of the Covenant was the dwelling of YEHOVAH God. Therefore, Solomon was taken before YEHOVAH’s dwelling place to be officially crowned king (I Kings1:33-35):

“He (David) said to them, ‘Take your lord’s servants with you and set Solomon my son on my own mule and take him down to Gihon. There have Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him king over Israel. Blow the trumpet and shout, Long live King Solomon! then you are to go up with him, and he is to come and sit on my throne and reign in my place. I have appointed him ruler over Israel and Judah.’”

So Solomon was anointed before YEHOVAH God at the Ark of the Covenant above the Gihon Spring, about a third of a mile south of the Dome of the Rock.

In Psalm 72 we have a prophetic picture of the time of the reign of the antitypical Solomon:

“He will be like rain falling on a mown field, like showers watering the earth. In his days the righteous will flourish; prosperity will abound till the moon is no more. He will rule from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth” (verses 6-8).

Could that “River” be the water of life flowing from beneath the Temple (Gihon Spring) that Ezekiel saw in vision (Ezekiel 47)?

In II Chronicles it is called “the Gihon, in the valley.” Notice: "After this he [Manasseh] built a wall outside the City of David on the west side of Gihon, in the valley, as far as the entrance of the Fish Gate; and it enclosed Ophel, and he raised it to a very great height" (33:14).

It is from YEHOVAH God that the water of life flows from beneath the Temple -- as Ezekiel saw in the vision. It begins as ankle deep water, but then becomes “waters to swim in.” It flows down to the Dead Sea and heals its waters. The Dead Sea is a picture of the great reservoir of death into which all of Israel have gone. But those waters will be healed, and life will flourish.

Today we have an organization called “Gihon Spring Foundation.” On their website (www.gihonspring.org/gihon_spring.html) can be found the following statement:

"Later King Solomon took on and completed his father’s wish to build the Temple in Jerusalem and did so over the Gihon Spring."

I’m sure that the member of that organization who wrote the above statement, knows that the Gihon Spring is NOT beneath the Dome of the Rock.

“Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden...” (Genesis 2:8).

“A river watering the garden flowed from Eden, and from there it divided...” (Genesis 2:10).

"The name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one which encompasses the whole land of Cush (Genesis 2:13).

Going back to Genesis 2:6, we read:

"...but a MIST went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground" (NKJV).

While most English versions of the Bible translate the Hebrew word ed as "mist," a number of versions render the word as springs, streams, water or fountain -- notice!

New Living Translation: "Instead, SPRINGS came up from the land and watered all the land."

NIV: "...but STREAMS came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground."

Berean Study Bible: "But SPRINGS welled up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground."

Contemporary English Version: "But STREAMS came up from the ground and watered the earth."

Good News Translation: "...but WATER would come up from beneath the surface and water the ground."

Douay-Rheims Bible: "But a SPRING rose out of the earth, watering all the surface of the earth."

NET Bible: "SPRINGS would well up from the earth and water the whole surface of the ground."

GOD's WORD Translation: "Instead, UNDERGROUND WATER would come up from the earth and water the entire suface of the ground."

International Standard Version: "Instead, an UNDERGROUND STREAM would arise out of the earth and water the surface of the ground."

In the Holman Bible Dictionary we find the following: "Mist: Translation of several Hebrew and Greek terms with a combined range of meaning including subterranean water, fog, and clouds. The KJV frequently has vapor(s) where modern translations have mist. The mist of Genesis 2:6 refers to subterranean waters welling up and watering the ground..."

In an article written by Lawrence E. Stager in the Biblical Archaeology Review of May/June 2000, he states that,

"the soil is watered not by rainfall but by the flow of freshwater that rises from below: 'A flow would well up from the ground and water the whole surface of the soil' (Genesis 2:6). God then plants a garden in Eden...(E.A. Speiser's translation, in Genesis, Anchor Bible 1 (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1964), p. 14)."

Peter Michas adds that this "meaning is also confirmed by the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) that was used by Greek-speaking Jews at the time of Messiah Yeshua. The Hebrew word [ed] is translated into the Greek word pege" (The Rod of an Almond Tree in God's Master Plan (Online Edition).

According to Mounce's Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words, we find that,

"Pege usually refers to a SPRING OF WATER (Jn. 4:6 [2x]; Jas. 3:11; Rev. 8:10; 14:7; 16:4), though it can include any flow of liquid. In Mk 5:29 pege refers to the woman's flow of blood that miraculously stops after the woman touches Jesus' garment."

"Significantly," concludes Michas, "the Word of God describes this flow of water from an underground source in the context of God forming man from the dust of the ground, planting a garden, and placing the man He had formed in it."

The first thing to notice in the above is the location. It is called “east.” In our terminology, that does not even describe a location unless we speak of it as relative to some other place. But if we look at the Hebrew word from which “east” is translated, we find that it does not even mean east as we understand the word. Its Hebrew meaning is “first place, or foremost.” That changes things.

Thus it becomes easy to recognize the fact that the Garden in the "east" was a place that was first and foremost, and a place where Divine Government ruled.

Note that the river began in, and first watered, the Garden. Then it flowed out of the Garden and from there it divided into four heads. This would be an addition of three rivers. And because the names of two of these rivers today exist in what was called Mesopotamia, most people think that the Garden of Eden had been placed there. In years past, I had what I thought was a very logical explanation of the location of the Garden -- I had supposedly “proved” that it was now submerged beneath the Persian Gulf. I won’t go into detail as to my reasoning and “proof” because now I can see that I was dead wrong.

One important fact must be recognized when attempting to locate the Garden of Eden by the names of the rivers -- whatever the terrain of the land was at that time, the simple laws of physics tell us it would be drastically changed by the action of the great Flood of Noah’s day, whose waters were upon the land for more than a year. The Bible indicates there was also seismic and volcanic action at the time of the Flood. This earth-changing action, in combination with the power of the water could change the location of rivers, which gravity pulls through the valleys in search of the lowest place. Thus, obviously, we cannot rely on the location of today’s rivers in the attempt to find the location of the Garden of Eden prior to the Flood.

So what other clues do we have? May I suggest we have the name Gihon!

We have the identification that the Garden was in the “east” which means the front, or the foremost. Also, we have a spring, or underground water source, that appeared in the Garden. The description in Genesis does not say in what part of the world it was, but it sounds like it would be in the center. But where do we find the center of the surface of an orb? I would suggest we find the center by the most important place on its surface, for whatever use the orb exists.

The Center of the Earth

The prophet Isaiah said that Jerusalem was in the “center of the earth.” Jerusalem was the place where YEHOVAH God revealed His Presence and made Himself known to Israel, His chosen people, the natural seeds of Abraham. When YEHOVAH wanted to reconfirm His covenant with Abraham, He commanded Abraham to take his son, Isaac, to "the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of" (Genesis 22:2b).

The word "Moriah" bears these meanings: "high place, awe, light, Lord." The Jews even believe that this place is located at the center of the earth and that it was here that light first shone upon the line of Adam. And didn't the Shekinah Glory of YEHOVAH God came shining upon Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden when YEHOVAH God came for fellowship with them in the cool of the day, at evening time? (cf. Genesis 3:8). The Psalmist declared: "For the LORD hath chosen Zion; He hath desired it for His habitation. This is My rest for ever: here will I dwell; for I have desired it" (Psalm 132:13-14).

The city, Jerusalem, on Mount Zion, is YEHOVAH God's habitation forever. The Psalmists (in Psalm 48:1-2) describe the holy mountain as "beautiful for situation" ("fair and beautiful for elevation" -- Amplified Bible) or beautiful in its loftiness. It was the "perfection of beauty" (Psalm 50:2).

It seems fitting that the Garden -- the most important place on earth at that time -- would be in the center, the “foremost” place. Placing it in Mesopotamia has no relevant connection with history. We also have really nothing in the scriptures to indicate that the Garden was in Mesopotamia or that Mesopotamia was in the center of the earth. We do have the scriptural statements which suggest that one of the rivers flowed out from a spring or underground water source in the center of the earth.

The only water source that flowed out from Jerusalem (the center of the earth) was the Gihon Spring. And isn’t it strange that the only other mention of Gihon in the Bible is in connection with the Garden of Eden. Is it just a coincidence, or is it vital information? (There are other springs in the general area today because the area that encompasses the city has grown considerably, but we are talking about Jerusalem at the time of the building of Solomon’s Temple, and the Gihon was the only spring within that city. The Temple was built in the center of the earth, directly over the Gihon Spring.)

The Gihon Spring flowed from beneath the Temple, in the middle of the earth. The hill of Zion, on which the Temple was built, was the meeting place between YEHOVAH God and His people Israel. (Not to be confused with the hill that is called Zion today, where the Dome of the Rock sits.) Mount Zion in Solomon’s day was the hill where he built the Temple. It is only logical that the meeting place between YEHOVAH God and His people would be in the center of the earth, just like Isaiah proclaimed.

The Nile River and Cush

At the time of creation, a river flowed from within the Garden of Eden, and then after it left the Garden it divided into four “heads.” If unimpeded by the works of Hezekiah, or by other diversions of today, the water from the Gihon would flow through the Kidron valley and eventually find its way down to the Dead Sea. Yet, many have suggested that the Gihon, mentioned in Genesis, is the Nile river.

The Bible informs us that the Gihon River originally flowed through the land of Cush. According to the Insight On the Scriptures, "The 'land of Cush [is] referred to at Genesis 2:13 as the land originally encircled by the river Gihon, one of the four heads of the river issuing out of Eden'....The translators of the Septuagint rendered the Hebrew word for 'Cush' by the Greek name Ethiopia in this text. The name Cush did become more or less synonymous with ancient Ethiopia at an early time...Josephus, following the rendering of the Septuagint, associated the Gihon River with the Nile. (Antiquities of the Jews, I, 39 [i, 3]."

Today, the Aswan High Dam is located at the first cataract of the Nile in southern Egypt, while the third cataract lies in present-day Sudan -- south of Egypt. As a result, it would be fair to assume that the Gihon River was located in the area of what is today southern Egypt and northern Sudan.

The late 2nd century B.C. Book of Jubilees also portrayed the Nile as being the Gihon. The first century A.D. Judahite historian Flavius Josephus, in his Antiquities of the Jews, written after 70 A.D., apparently followed the Septuagint and Book of Jubilees in identifying the Nile with the Gihon. The early Church Fathers of the Christian Church accepted these identifications. The Gihon is described as flowing about or through the land of Cush (Genesis 2:13) which may have suggested to the 3rd century B.C. Judahite authors of the Septuagint that Egyptian Cush or Kush (modern-day Sudan) was meant.

To the degree that Gihon might refer to the Nile "in" Cush, it is worth noting that several maps on the Internet appear to label a village on the Nile as Wadi el Gineina or Wadi al Junaynah -- south of Lake Nasser and the Aswan Dam. In antiquity Cush's northern border began at the first cataract of Nile which is near Aswan (Greek Syene). So the village of Wadi Gineina south of Aswan in antiquity apparently lay in Cush. Does Gineina (Junaynah) preserve in Arabic the Gihon which flowed through Cush? And, surprisingly, the Muslims teach that the Nile was one of the rivers of Paradise!

A map, made in 1831 by Daniel Lizars, shows that the second cataract, which would have lain in antiquity in Cush, is called el Gianadel (the cataract is north of Wadi Halfa). It is conjectured that Gian[adel] preserves, in Arabic Hebrew, the word Gihon. To the degree that Strong's Hebrew and Chaldee Dictionary defines Gihon as derived from a root meaning "to gush" as in "water gushing," this is an apt name for the gushing waters of the Nile at the Cushite second cataract of el Gianadel. It is likely that Genesis' Gihon River in Cush is then preserved in the regional land area's name of Wady Kenous and the second cataract of el Gianadel. Titled Arabia with the Adjacent Countries of Egypt and Nubia, the map is available on the internet at the David Rumsey Historical Maps Archive.

The Septuagint Bible, written in Greek by Judahites for Judahites at Alexandria, Egypt circa 275 B.C. in the reign of Ptolemy II, renders Gihon as Geon. Christians used the Septuagint so it is possible that when Islam conquered Byzantine Christian Egypt in the 7th century A.D., the Septuagint's Greek form, Geon, passed into Arabic possibly as Gian (Gianadel).

Translators used the same Greek word in Ecclesiasticus 24:27 in the Catholic version of the Bible when speaking of the Nile. For those who cannot read Greek, the word is pronounced ghi' hon -- Geon or Gihon.

Why would the scholars who translated the ancient Hebrew texts into Greek, use the Greek word Gihon when speaking of the Nile? Perhaps they knew something we don’t.

The people of Ethiopia have long insisted that the Nile River is actually the Gihon and, because of this and through their Christianity, have also claimed “historical rights” over the Nile. They claim that Mary, the mother of the Messiah, declared that the Nile, the biblical Gihon, was Ethiopia’s.

The only way this could be true is if the terrain had been changed by the great Flood. And it probably was!

Linking the Gihon Spring to the Nile

If these ancient sources identified the Gihon as being the Nile, then perhaps we should take another look. Today the Nile flows from the equator north to the Mediterranean Sea. The Gihon Spring is directly north of that entrance into the Sea. The Nile flows through a branch of the Great Rift Valley, being evidence that the terrain had at one time changed, forming the great gash in the earth that runs from Lebanon down into southern Africa.

Geologists have suggested that there was a time, prior to the opening of the “Gates of Hercules” by seismic forces, when there was no Mediterranean Sea. So, if we eliminate the water from the Mediterranean, we have the flow from the Gihon matching the northern end of the Nile. This permits the possibility, and even likelihood, that the Gihon as mentioned in Genesis actually had its beginning at the Gihon spring, which was beneath Mt. Zion, the center of the earth.

Now, what is highly significant to this discussion is the possibility of an underground waterway or channel that exists between modern Israel and Egypt. Notice what Peter A. Michas says:

"According to the first-century Jewish historian Josephus, there was a popular belief at that time that an underground river joined the Nile River and the Sea of Galilee. An unusual catfish (Clarias lazera) called 'the water raven' by Josephus, is the only representative of its African family found in both the Nile and the Sea of Galilee. Apparently, this underground channel provided a conduit by which this catfish migrated from the Nile to the Sea of Galilee" (The Rod of an Almond Tree in God's Master Plan, p. 67).

Also, according to Mendal Nun in The Sea of Galilee and Its Fisherman in the New Testament, "This is a unusual fish, the sole representative of its African family....Josephus Flavius refers to the catfish by its Greek name of 'Korakinos,' meaning Water Raven; he notes that it is found in the Nile. In his opinion, this fact supports the popular belief that there was an underground connection between the Nile and the lake, and that it emerged from below the ground at the largest spring at Tabgha" (p. 10).

Evidently fishermen today, in the area of the Sea of Galilee, believe that this underground channel or river does indeed exist, and that it emerges from the largest spring at Tabgha on the northwestern shore of the sea. If there is an underground river linking the river Nile to the Sea of Galilee, then it must pass underground somewhere near to or under the city of Jerusalem -- is there any evidence of this?

Jerusalem's Underground River

If the Gihon Spring, as the Bible indicates, is the source of life-giving water, is there any evidence to show that it fed an underground river beneath the city of Jerusalem? Writes Peter Michas:

"According to an Israeli Defense film (1990), there is a vast amount of water under Israel. It is also known that an underground river runs under the city of Jerusalem. Local Arabs are aware of this water source. Five such individuals, ranging in age from mid-thirties to about mid-eighties, confirmed to one of the authors (RVM) that a river runs from the north side of the city, under the [so-called] Temple Mount, and to the Pool of Siloam (unto which the Gihon Spring flows). Even so, no one knows the river's origin or final destination" (The Rod of an Almond Tree in God's Master Plan, pp. 69-70).

One of the local Arabs interviewed by co-authors of the above book in 1991, who makes his living by digging for hidden treasures around and under the city of Jerusalem, described this river "as a tremendous, powerful source of water" that he has both seen and heard and that is located far below the streets of the city. This was verified in an article by Arieh O'Sullivan posted on the Internet on June 13, 2011 under the heading, New Train Points to Underground River in Jerusalem:

"Excavators digging for a new railway station deep under the surface of central Jerusalem have discovered what geologists say is the largest underground river ever found in Israel. And while its deep canyons and waterfalls may be an impressive find for scientists, it doesn’t contain a significant amount of the precious fluids to affect the water balance in this traditionally parched city.

"We found a nice but small underground river," Professor Amos Frumkin, head of the Cave Research Unit of the Hebrew University’s Department of Geography, told The Media Line.

"In terms of Israel, it’s the longest underground stream that we have ever seen. It is a kind of a canyon that has been cut by the stream of the water over a long period of time, maybe millions of years," Frumkin said.

"Frumkin and his team were called upon by Israel Railways after its engineers chanced upon the cave while excavating an 80-meter (260-foot) shaft close to the city’s main convention centre and central bus station that is being drilled for a huge, underground station that will serve the high-speed Jerusalem-Tel Aviv railway.

"When they reached the depth of 75 meters they cut into this cave accidentally. The water started flowing into this shaft and they had some problems until they found some engineering solution and called us," Frumkin said.

"We were the first humans ever to set foot inside this cave. However, it wasn’t very easy. It meant crawling in mud and some rappelling on ropes was required. So you needed some spelunking techniques," he said. "It was beautiful. One canyon was over 200 meters long and we never reached its end. We found some waterfalls inside, which was nice for our arid country."

"Jerusalem is not known for its water sources and there is only one major spring in the city, the biblical Gihon, which has been gurgling since before King David’s time. With a population of some 700,000, Jerusalem gets its water pumped up from the coastal aquifer.

"Frumkin said the cave appears to have developed after water seeped in from the surface and dissolved the underlying limestone. While other major caves have been discovered in Israel, this was the only one with running water.

"This is the longest one with an active stream flowing through it. All the other stalactite caves in Israel are without any stream of water today. They are just dripping water from the ceiling and the stream that formed the cave have long vanished because of geological and hydrological changes in the mountains," he said.

"This one is still active in terms that the stream which was forming the cave is still active and this is not very common in Israel. It is much more common in other countries that are wetter like Europe and America and tropical countries," Frumkin said...

"The study of the cave can help us understand the precise mechanism by which water flows through the aquifer in the Jerusalem area," he added.

"He said that efforts were underway to reseal the cave entrance so that the water channel could be preserved without compromising the railway project.

"The train station will be built, but I believe that we can also preserve the cave by building some doorway to seal the cave but to allow the entry to anyone who needs to get into it for one reason or another. So the cave won’t be lost," he said.

Summary of Information

We have shown that an underground waterway flows beneath the land of Israel -- including the city of Jerusalem. In addition to this, it has been shown that an underground channel connects the Sea of Galilee to the Nile River in Egypt. "In this regard," writes Peter Michas, "the underground waterway fits the description of the Gihon River which flowed throughout the land of Cush." He goes on to say that "it has been shown that the Bible designates the 'mountain of God,' Mount Moriah in Jerusalem, as the focal point of the Garden of Eden. In fact, a spring located near Mount Moriah is called the Gihon and represents an essential link to the Gihon River" (The Rod of the Almond Tree in God's Master Plan, p. 73).

As we have seen, this is entirely consistent with the description of the river that watered the Garden of Eden. Therefore, without a doubt, this underground waterway represents the Gihon River, and that it originally shared a common source with the other three rivers in eastern Turkey.

The City of David and the Garden of Eden

The only Biblical references for the name Gihon are in reference to the spring in Jerusalem and the Gihon River in the Garden of Eden. So if the Gihon River does indeed flow beneath Jerusalem, and its water is provided by the spring of the same name, does YEHOVAH's Word give us any clue to link Jerusalem with the original Garden of Eden?

The answer to this intriguing question may be found in Ezekiel's reference to Lucifer's presence in the Garden of Eden on "the holy mountain of God" -- notice!

"You [Lucifer] were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.

"You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was you covering...on the day you were created.

"You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; you were on the holy mountain of God..." (Ezekiel 28:12-14, NKJV)

Going, now, to Ezekiel 20:40, we read:

"For on My holy mountain, on the mountain height of Israel,' says the LORD God, "there all the house of Israel, all of them in the land, shall serve Me; there I will accept them, and there I will require your offerings and the firstfruits of your sacrifices, together with all your holy things."

The "holy mountain of God" is a direct reference to Mount Moriah in Jerusalem! Regardless of the erroneous view that Mount Moriah forms the platform for the so-called Temple Mount in the north part of the city, the Bible clearly indicates that Mount Moriah is to be found in the old City of David to the south. Here YEHOVAH God selected Mount Moriah as the site of His Temple, the first one of which was built by Solomon. After its destruction by the Babylonians, the second Temple was also rebuilt on this same site, to be later enlarged by Herod and destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D. The Bible prophesies that a third Temple will be established by the Messiah when he comes to set up his Father's Millennial Kingdom. Both the prophets Ezekiel and Zechariah foretell that a tremendous amount of living (flowing) water will issue forth from under this Temple -- the "house of God."

In 2 Chronicles 3:1 we read that "Solomon began to build the house of the LORD at Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the LORD had appeared to his father David, at the place that David had prepared on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite" (NKJV).

This passage identifies that Mount Moriah was within the ancient city of Jerusalem and at the location of Ornan’s threshing floor. Modern archaeology has verified that the Jebusite city (and the original City of David) was limited to the 12-acre crescent-shape hillside south from the traditional Temple Mount. Today this location is called City of David National Park (also called Jerusalem Walls National Park). The Jerusalem of today, including the Temple Mount, did not exist under David or Solomon.

There was one change under the reign of Solomon regarding Jerusalem proper. The Bible records in 1 Kings 11:27 that Solomon filled in the Millo and by so doing, connected the City of David with the Ophel. When this occurred, the Ophel became part of the City of David. According to scholars, threshing floors were susceptible to theft. Therefore, besides the fact that 2 Chronicles 3:1 confirms that Mount Moriah was within the ancient city of Jerusalem, it is highly unlikely that Ornan’s threshing floor would have been unprotected on the traditional Temple Mount -- not to mention a third of a mile away from the Jebusite city.

In addition to this, the Bible is clear that Zion is where the Temple was located. Consider the following:

Psalms 76:2: "In Salem [i.e., Jerusalem] also is His tabernacle, and His dwelling place in Zion."

Psalms 102:16, 21: "For the LORD shall build up Zion, He shall appear in His [shekinah] glory…. To declare the name of the LORD in Zion, and His praise in Jerusalem."

Psalms 132:13: "For the LORD has chosen Zion; He hath desired it for His habitation. This is My resting place forever; here I will dwell, for I have desired it."

We find that Zion is synonymous with the ancient City of David:

2 Samuel 5:7: "Nevertheless David took the stronghold of Zion (that is, the city of David)."

1 Chronicles 11:5: "Then the inhabitants of Jebus said to David, 'You shall not come in here'. Nevertheless David took the stronghold of Zion (that is, the city of David)."

Based on these and many other facts, the Bible and archaeology overwhelmingly confirm that the ancient City of David was limited to the 12-acre plot of land a third of a mile south from the traditional Temple Mount; and that Mount Moriah and Mount Zion were both located within the City of David, possibly on the Millo that Solomon filled in and expanded.

The biggest hurdle for the traditional Temple Mount being the location of the temple is the prophecies and historical accounts of the temple’s destruction and the existence of Fortress Antonia. Josephus writes that the only thing that remained after Titus destroyed Jerusalem was the monument of the Romans, i.e., Fortress Antonia. The only ancient monument remaining from this time is the foundation and walls of the Roman fort now known as the Temple Mount.

According to the historian Eusebius in Proof of the Gospel, Jerusalem, along with the temple, was so utterly destroyed that it appeared as Sodom, i.e, nothing remained: "Their ancient holy place, at any rate, and their Temple are to this day as much destroyed as Sodom" (Bk. V, ch. 23, sect. 250).

While the Bible clearly connects Jerusalem to the site of the original Garden of Eden, where YEHOVAH God fellowshipped with Adam and Eve, it is fascinating to learn that, according to Jewish legend, Adam was created from the dust of Mount Moriah (see Dictionary of Jewish Lore and Legend by Alan Unterman, p. 141). Furthermore, the Bible also shows that YEHOVAH God will establish Jerusalem as the seat of His and the Messiah's Throne during YEHOVAH's Millennial Kingdom.

YEHOVAH's "Pattern"

Let’s look back for a moment at the Garden of Eden. It was a special place called a Garden, which was within a larger area called Eden. And if, as we have seen, the river that flowed from the Garden was indeed the water gushing forth from the Gihon Spring, then it is telling us that the Gihon Spring was in the center of the earth. This is a completely logical deduction, with much evidence for its support. Then how much area was enclosed within the Garden, and how much area was enclosed within the land of Eden? And what was the ground plan?

YEHOVAH God had told Moses to make the Tabernacle “after the pattern” which had been shown him on Mt. Sinai. When YEHOVAH God had called Moses up into the mountain, He had shown him a pattern by which the Tabernacle would be designed. We are not specifically told what that pattern was, but by seeing the dimensions by which it was built, it becomes evident that it basically consisted of a square and a rectangle, both of which were surrounded by a much larger rectangle. The entrance to each of these was on the east.

When Solomon was being instructed as to the construction of the Temple, he was told to make it after the “pattern.” What pattern? The pattern that was given to him by YEHOVAH God. It was the same pattern by which the Tabernacle was built. And, if the theory is correct, then it would have been the same pattern by which YEHOVAH God designed the Garden of Eden.

The central area of the pattern is a square. It was a square in the Tabernacle, it was a square in Solomon’s Temple, and I believe it was a square that was called “the midst of the Garden” when describing the Garden of Eden. In the Temple this square was 20 cubits, by 20 cubits. Using the Temple Cubit of 1.98 feet, this would translate to 39.6 feet on each side, and a perimeter of 158.4 feet.

The Holy of Holies in the Temple was 39.6 feet on each side, making the perimeter 158.4 feet, suggesting that the center of the earth, the Holy of Holies, the Midst of the Garden, occupied a surface square whose perimeter was 158.4 feet.

Just beyond the “door” that was on the east side of the Holy of Holies, was another larger room, called the Holy Place. It was 20 cubits wide, aligning with the width of the Holy of Holies, but its length was twice the length of the Holy of Holies, that is, 40 cubits.

These cubits were according to the “old standard” which was the Summerian cubit of 1.98 feet (II Chronicles 3:3). This made the combined perimeter of the Holy of Holies and the Holy Place to be 3,168 feet.

In the Holy of Holies was the Ark of the Covenant, placed in the center, from which the Shekinah light shown forth. It represented the presence of YEHOVAH God. The tree of life, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil were in the Midst of the Garden. Adam and Eve ate from the forbidden tree of the knowledge of good and evil, but they never ate from the tree of life. Instead, they were banished from the Garden and an angel was placed at the “door” to prevent them from returning.

To the east of the Midst of the Garden was the rest of the Garden in which Adam and Eve had dwelled. The “door” to these two areas was on the east, just like the “door” of the Holy of Holies and the “door” of the Tabernacle were facing east. Outside the second door, going east, was the Land of Eden. Probably the Midst of the Garden, and the Garden, were of the same pattern as the Holy of Holies, and the Holy place. That was probably the “pattern.” If so, then it would have looked something like the diagram below.