The Mosque of Omar from the South
On the eighth day after the birth of Christ the ceremony of circumcision took place, when he received the name of Jesus. Forty days after his birth the family went from Bethlehem to Jerusalem to present him in the temple in accordance with the requirements of the Jewish law. It is probable that the ceremony of the redemption of the first born son and that of the purification of the mother both took place at this time.
The first pilgrimage, therefore, of the little wanderer was to Jerusalem—a sleeping babe in his mother’s arms. It was a journey of five or six miles.
The Mosque of Omar is to-day on the site of the old Jewish Temple. As you look from one of the southern gates of the city you see the dome of the Mosque rise beyond. We shall visit it again and again during our journey in the East. We shall study the area of thirty-five acres on which the Mosque stands and recall some of the associations in connection with it, for it is here, according to tradition, that Melchisedec offered sacrifice and that Abraham presented Isaac as an offering to God, and here was the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite, and here the Moslems say that their prophet Mohammed prayed, declaring that “a prayer from this spot is worth a thousand prayers elsewhere.” It was on this visit of Jesus and Mary and Joseph that they met in the temple that “just man” whose name was Simeon, who taking the infant in his arms praised God and said: “Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: For mine eyes have seen thy salvation.”
Comments