Hezekiah's Seal Discovered in Jerusalem by Eilat Mazar

Read about it here.

For more on Hezekiah watch this:

Church of the Pater Noster

Church of the Pater Noster - Central Exterior Staircase

Near the summit of the Mount of Olives there is a partially constructed Roman Catholic Church called the Church of the Pater Noster. The current structure was built atop of the ruins of a fourth century basilica constructed under the direction of Constantine the Great's mother Helena. "Pater noster" is Latin for "our father" and is the traditional location of the "certain place" mentioned in Luke 11:1 where Jesus taught his disciples the Lord's Prayer. It is also the traditional site where Jesus taught his great eschatological sermon found in Matthew 24  (see also Joseph Smith Matthew).

In volume 1, book 2 (of the 3 volume edition), page 274 (excursus 53) of Jeff Bradshaw's commentary on the book of Moses in the Pearl of Great Price, entitled In God's Image and Likeness: Ancient and Modern Perspectives on the Book of Moses, there is a brief discussion of this site which provides some very exciting insights:

Grotto of the Church of the Pater Noster

"According to Eusebius, the Roman Emperor Constantine's mother Helena founded churches at the spot of three 'mystic caves' associated with the life of the Savior. One was located in Bethlehem at the supposed site of Jesus' birth, one in Jerusalem where the Church of the Holy Sepulcher now stands, and a third on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem.

"Englebert argues that the site on the Mount of Olives is 'the most easily shown to be authentic.' He depicts the spot as a safe resort for the Savior during times of persecution, there being 'no other place in Jerusalem where He could "lay his head." After telling of a stormy scene that took place in the Temple, St. John writes: "And they went each to his home, and Jesus to the Mount of Olives" [John 7:53 - 8:1. See also Luke 21:37, 22:39]. It would appear that, for Jesus, "going home" meant returning to his grotto, and that it was here that the Pharisee Nicodemus came for the nocturnal meeting he had requested.' ... Early traditions record that Jesus found a place 'where he could teach His disciples those things that were beyond the understanding of His usual hearers.' More specifically, Eusebius passed on a 'true report ... that in that cave the Savior of the Universe initiated the members of his guild in the ineffable mysteries.' An instance of such an initiation may have occurred on the night Jesus was arrested, before going down to Gethsemane. According to the Acts of John, these instructions were concluded with a prayer in which 'he told us to form a circle, holding one another's hands, and himself stood in the middle.' Initiation into the 'ineffable mysteries' was also a prominent theme in accounts of the teachings of Jesus Christ to his apostles during the forty days following his resurrection."

Jerusalem: Link to the past

For those of you who missed it here is the video on Jerusalem KSL showed between sessions during this past conference:

Herodian Tunnels Recently Discovered in the City of David

This is a video of a really remarkable discovery in the City of David portion of Jerusalem (To see a map of Jerusalem during Roman Times click here). The City of David is the section of the city located on the Ophel Ridge that runs south down from the Harem esh Sharif (aka Temple Mount) and is the location of the ancient Jebusite city that David conquered. During David's time the city was confined to this area and it wasn't until the time of Hezekiah, about 300 years later, that the city wall was extended to the west to incorporate the area known today as Mount Zion. This wall has become known as the broad wall and remnants of it can be seen today.

Today the City of David is not located within the walls of the city. The present walls were built in the 16th century AD by the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. The tunnel shown in the video runs from the southern end of the ridge north toward the Temple Mount.

(N.B. The term "Herodian" refers to King Herod and describes the time from the commencement of his reign in 37 BC until the end of the dynasty he founded in 92 AD.)

Ancient wall found in Jerusalem

BBC - Ancient wall found in Jerusalem

A 3,700-year-old wall has been discovered in east Jerusalem, Israeli archaeologists say.

The structure was built to protect the city's water supply as part of what dig director Ronny Reich described as the region's earliest fortifications.

The 26-ft (8-m) high wall showed the Canaanite people who built it were a sophisticated civilisation, he said.

Critics say Israel uses such projects as a political tool to bolster Jewish claims to occupied Palestinian land.

Excavations at the site, known as the City of David, are in a Palestinian neighbourhood just outside the walls of Jerusalem's old city.

It is partly funded by Elad, a Jewish settler organisation that also works to settle Jews in that area.

Open to the public

The wall dates from a time in the Middle Bronze Age when Jerusalem was a small, fortified enclave controlled by the Canaanites, before they were conquered by the Israelites.

Its discovery demonstrated Jerusalem's inhabitants were sophisticated enough to undertake major building projects, said Mr Reich.

"The wall is enormous, and that it survived 3,700 years - this is, even for us, a long time," said Mr Reich, an archaeology professor at the University of Haifa.

The excavation team said the wall formed part of a structure that protected a passage from a hilltop fortress to a nearby spring - the area's only water source.

Israel's Antiquities Authority said the site would be open to the public on Thursday.

The Father, Mother and the Son

About 50 years before the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians around 586 B.C. King Josiah implemented sweeping reforms to the religion of the Israelites which radically affected their religious practices and doctrines. Among these changes a more stringent form of monotheism was introduced.

Biblical scholar Margaret Barker has written about Josiah's reforms in her book entitled: "Temple Theology: An Introduction". On page seven of this fascinating book she talks about the old religion of Israel prior to the reforms of Josiah:

"The most important result of Josiah's reforms was the introduction of monotheism. The earlier religion had known of God Most High - the deity worshipped by Melchizedek (Gen. 14.19) - El Shaddai, the deity of the patriarchs (Exod. 6.3), and Yahweh [anglicized as Jehovah], who appeared in human form...There is no proof that these were one and the same deity. Only later were all these ancient forms said to be identical...

"In the more ancient names for the deities, however, we glimpse the Father (God Most High), the Son (Yahweh, the One who appeared in human form), and the Mother (El Shaddai, whose name means the God with breasts)."

This resonates with Latter-Day Saints who have similar theology. For example, Apostle Neal A. Maxwell taught:

"Jesus Christ is the Jehovah of the Red Sea and of Sinai, the Resurrected Lord, the spokesman for the Father in the theophany at Palmyra".
(Neal A. Maxwell, Even As I Am [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1982], 120)

Additionally, Joseph Fielding Smith taught:

"We know that Jesus had a Father and that he had a mother, for the scriptures tell us so...

"In Genesis we read:

"'And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.' (Genesis 1:26-27.)

"Is it not feasible to believe that female spirits were created in the image of a 'Mother in Heaven'?"
(Joseph Fielding Smith Answers to Gospel Questions 5 vols. [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1957-1966] 3:143-44)

In transliterated Hebrew Genesis 1:1 reads: "Bereshit bara Elohim et hashamayim ve'et ha'arets". The word "Elohim" refers to God and talks about him bringing forth the heavens and the earth. In Hebrew to make a masculine noun plural an "im" is added. The singular of Elohim is El. There is much confusion surrounding the fact that one of the names for God is a plural word.

Perhaps Margaret Barker has provided an explanation for this anomaly. The word Elohim could refer to both God the Father or God Most High (El Elyon) and God the Mother (El Shaddai), hence El Elyon + El Shaddai = Elohim. If this is true it teaches us of the exalted role of women in "the great plan of the Eternal God" (Alma 34:9) and of their inherent sacred nature.