Leah Davidson Alex Hyrcza Rel 121 September 24, 2013 Jerusalem 10 BCE- 150 CE How does Jerusalem

influence the New Testament during this time period? Well the fact that God chose his people to Israel and in Jerusalem is where most holy events occurred. It was in Jerusalem where Jesus faced his fiercest opponents, was arrested and secured his crucifixion. His disciples regarded him as the Messiah, Gods anointed leader whose coming would bring salvation. And the most Holy places of pilgrimage are in fact connected with Jesus in Jerusalem. Jerusalem was under Rome and Byzantium in 63 BC- 637 CE: Christian pilgrimage seems to go back to the 2nd century, and the holy places are therefore just a century newer than the Bible itself. Four of them are genuine both in the Bible and in pilgrimage and the fifth- Pilates palace- is not. The first two are pools, the one at Siloam, to which Jesus sent the man born blind after this sight had been restored, but the pool was restored in Roman times and it is not possible to say what it looked like in the time of Jesus. The second is the Pool of Bethesda where he cured the paralyzed man. The third place is the Garden of Gethsemane. As a garden it has disappeared ever since the Roman siege of 70 AD. The last place connected with Jesus is Golgotha where he was crucified, and nearby according to the Gospels, the Holy Sepulchre where he was buried. After Jesus had ascended into heaven some of the Christian community stayed in Jerusalem. (Asali 84-85)1 Would you think that Jerusalem would have more developments in the community or had even built more temple s and places of worship if it had not been for the Roman invaders? The Jewish pilgrimage constantly being interrupted could have prevented settling but the Jewish community never

For further information on this point, see Asali 86.

ceased. Jerusalem because of its secular and sacred importance became the major community for pilgrimage. Judea, Transjordan and Galilee were the considerable social tension lands of Jewish settlement in the Holy Land. Freedom of religious worship and culture was sufficient most typical in Jerusalem. Jesus activities was the center of Jerusalem and as a Jew, he made a pilgrimage to the Temple: According to tradition, he predicted the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in a cave on the Mount of Olives; from there he entered the eastern gate of the city and went south to the Temple Mount, which he entered through the Hulda Gates. It was here that he overturned the tables of the moneychangers sitting in the royal portico. A house on the western hill has been identified as the place of his Last Supper with his disciples, before his arrest. (BenDov 129)2 Was it because of such corruption where he preached vigorously against the injustice of the city and the Temple, that they considered him blasphemous? Perhaps a reaction from the Holy Land leaders feeling of discrimination was aggravated by their ideology to compete. After failing to persuade Jesus to abandon his ways, the High Priest and the Jewish leadership urged the Roman procurator, Pontius Pilate, to try Jesus: On the Passover festival of about 30 CE, Jesus was indeed brought before Pilate, who condemned him to be crucified, the customary death sentence at that time. The generally accepted site of Jesus crucifixion and burial is in the Church of the Holy Seplcher, today inside the Old City. This episode was a turning point in the history of the western world and western civilization. A new religion, Christianity, soon ascended the stage of history. In time, it attracted

Maps of the city of Jerusalem and Temples available to view see Ben-Dov 128-129.

tens of thousands of new adherents, mainly pagans, and eventually changed the face of the western world. Jerusalem this became the cradle of Christianity. (Ben-Dov 130) The Gospels show alike details that would show a general idea of the sites in which most events in the life of Jesus occurred, like the first Christian holy place in Jerusalem. The place of holy acts could only be done in Jerusalem (Deuteronomy 16:16). For example, the Passover lamb had to be slaughtered and eaten within Temple walls (2 Chronicles 25:1-9); later the eating was allowed within the city of Jerusalem. It was essential for his followers to go into the city and find a room within Jerusalem to celebrate the feast (Mark 14:3, 12-13). Simply by its walls, Jerusalem had to observe the law for its principles to operate. The accurate detail of Jesus burial place, near where he had been crucified a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, not yet used for burial (John 19: 41). The Roman destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE brought to an end the citys reign as the center of the Jewish world. (Rosovsky 136) Would the Jewish community lose its sacred and secular importance? For religious reasons pilgrimage meant traveling to the Holy Land for the Jews:3 A major factor influencing pilgrimage was the existence and nature of a permanent Jewish community in Jerusalem, and that depended on the rulers of the city- Rome and Byzantium, the early Muslims, the Crusaders, Mamluks, and the Ototomans. Yet Jews did not lose hope of regaining control over the city of rebuilding the Temple. In the second, fourth, and probably the seventh century as well, they tried to re-establish ritual sacrifice in Jerusalem (and perhaps even succeeded), although these attempts were little more than short-lived aberrations in the course of history. Since there was no ban on Jewish presence in the city, and there is some evidence that a small permanent settlement existed there as well, we may assume that pilgrimage continued between 70-135 CE. The center of Jewish life gradually shifted to the Galilee and the

For additional study of Jewish pilgrimage, see Rosovsky 138.

city Tiberias, and there would be no permanent Jewish community in Jerusalem for 500 years. (Rosovsky 137)

Bibliography Asali, KJ. Jerusalem In History. Brooklyn: Olive Branch Press, 1990. Ben-Dov, Meir. Historical Atlas of Jerusalem. New York: The Continuum Publishing Group Inc, 2002. Rosovsky, Nitza. City of the Great King. Cambridge, Massachusetts, and London, England: Harvard University Press, 1996.