Arches, Haram Esh-Sherif

‎The Jews’ Feast of Tabernacles was at hand. Jesus sent His disciples on before Him to Jerusalem and afterward went up Himself, “not openly, but as it were in secret.”—John 7:2–8–10. Then He Himself came to the Holy City and taught.—John 7:14–l7. We look in the picture above at the site of the temple as it appears to-day. The Haram esh-Sherif, the “Noble Sanctuary,” is the pride and ornament of the City of Jerusalem.” The massive and lofty walls that surround it, the broad, elevated platform, encircled by graceful arches, its pulpits and prayer-niches and cupolas; and the beautiful Mosque of Omar, rising above all and glistening in the sunbeams; the marble fountains, groups of olive and cypress trees, all together form a picture which is scarcely surpassed in the world. Fergusson proves the arch to have been used in the time of Sargon, 721 B. C., but there are “too many Herodian signs to permit us to indulge the dream.” One writer relates: “With no other escort but our Mohammedan guide, we entered the jealously guarded precincts of the Haram, and were conducted down a gradual decline for some distance over smooth rock, and then upon the sward or green grass to the foot of a flight of steps which led up to the lofty and pointed arches which stood on the paved platform of the mosque called el-Mawâzin, or “the Scales,” because on the day of judgment the scales are to be suspended there to weigh the evil and the righteous. In the picture we are looking toward the north, and beyond the walls see the hills of Judea. One can almost hear the echo of Christ’s words spoken here: “If any man will do His will he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God or whether I speak of Myself.”