SHEYIBANEH BEIT HAMIKDASH...
A series of articles on Beit HaMikdash-related topics by Catriel Sugarman intended to increase the knowledge, interest, and anticipation of the reader, thereby hastening the realization of our hopes and prayers for the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the Beit HaMikdash.

Yehoshua bin Nun's Mizbei'ach! (Yehoshua 8:30,31)
(Do you know that it still exists? Have you seen it?)
To those of us who take the Tanach seriously, it can come as a great shock that most of the members of the "Israeli archeological community" have contempt for the veracity of our Kitvei Kodesh. How do archeologists read the Tanach? Do they see the Tanach - at the very least - as a book that contains valuable historical data or do they simply dismiss it as "metaphorical fiction"? In an article in Smithsonian Magazine, Jennifer Wallace points out that many Israeli archeologists are "so-called biblical minimalists, who argue that the Old Testament is literary rather than historical - the work of ideologues - who wrote it between the 5th and 2nd centuries b.c. (sic.) - and that Moses, Joshua, David and Solomon never even existed." Perhaps the most prominent propagandist of this "school of thought" abroad is Keith Whitelam, author of The Invention of Ancient Israel: the Silencing of Palestinian History. Required reading in all schools of archeology, the title of this nasty diatribe says it all.

In Eretz HaKodesh, one of the most outspoken representatives of this trendy "post-Zionist" sentiment is Israel Finklestein of Tel Aviv University. In his book, The Bible Unearthed, Finkelstein claims that David and Solomon (if they existed at all CS), were simply "hill-county chieftains".(The myth of King David ruling a united Israel was the creation of a coterie of "priests trying to create for themselves a glorious history …concocted by the authors of Samuel and Kings to validate Judah's expansion into the northern territory of Israel.") The left-leaning "chattering classes" immediately realized the usefulness of such a book to those who - for reasons of their own - strive to negate any link between Am Yisrael and Eretz Yisrael. The widely wined and dined Finklestein quickly "became the darling of a sympathetic media". Promoted by an unprecedented multi-media publicity blitz, the sales of The Bible Unearthed soared. Not surprisingly, it made the New York Times best-seller list.

Over the years, I have written quite a bit about the "Mikdash Mizbei'ach" but the brutal truth is that not a recognizable pebble of it remains. All we have are the bare-boned reminisces of the Sages. Perhaps as a result of Kings Chezkiyahu and Yoshiyahu's zeal in destroying the Bamot - the notorious "high places" that were declared illicit after Shlomo HaMelech built Bayit Rishon (II Melachim 18:4,23), archeologists have succeeding in unearthing only two "field altars" in Israel. However, in 1985, archeologist Adam Zertal, after an extensive survey centering on Mt. Ebal north of Shechem, was able to announce the unearthing of the very altar that Yehoshua bin Nun erected on Har Eival when Am Yisrael entered Eretz Cana'an. Zertal comments, "The cultic site on Mt. Ebal satisfies the three criteria necessary to identify a biblical site: chronological (beginning of the Israelite settlement), geographical, and the nature of the site (a cultic center with a burnt-offeringaltar). In view of this analysis, the identity of the biblical story and this site as the first inter-tribal center of the Israelite tribes can hardly be doubted." Before his death, Moses charged Joshua and Bnei Yisrael to build an altar on Har Eival upon crossing the Jordan (Devarim 27). After Am Yisrael crossed the Jordan,"Then Joshua built an altar unto the Lord, the G-d of Israel, on Mt. Ebal, as Moses the servant of the Lord commanded the Children of Israel, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses, an altar of unhewn stones, upon which no man has lifted up any iron; and they offered thereon burnt-offerings unto the Lord, and sacrificed peace-offerings…" (Yehoshua 8:30, 31). (Centuries earlier, Avraham and Ya'akov had previously built altars in near-by Shechem [Ber. 12:6,7; 33:18-20]).

Zertal writes, "The central feature of the site, found under the heap of stones, is a rectangular, nearly square structure. Today it stands to a height of almost nine feet. Since it is so beautifully preserved, we conclude that this is probably close to its original height. It is constructed of large, unhewn field stones.The outside measurements are 24.5' by 29.5'. Its walls are 5' (1.5m) thick… The strangest feature of the structure was the filling, which, together with the structure, formed a kind of stage. When we excavated the fill within the structure, we found that it consisted of deliberately laid strata or layers of field stones, earth and ashes, one layer on top of the other. The earth and ashes contained pieces of pottery, all from Iron Age I, and animal bones. A sort of terrace about a yard lower than the structure was built adjacent to it, surrounding the platform on three sides… Attached to the structure on the southwestern side were two adjacent, stone-paved courtyards. In each courtyard were stone-built installations, three in one and four in the other.

Some of these installations were paved with crushed chalk. They contained either ashes and animal bones, or complete pottery vessels … one or the other, but not both. … What at first glance appears to be a wall separating the two courtyards outside the rectangular structure actually rises from the far side up to the main structure at an incline of 22 degrees. This is in fact a ramp leading up to the stage on top of the main structure. This ramp is a bit over 3' wide and 23' long. It is made of medium-sized field stones. The highest point of the ramp indicates that the main structure was one layer of stones higher than its present elevation, rising to a height of approximately 10'… Adjacent to the northern side of the ramp is another small, narrow wall, somewhat lower than the one beside it. It turned out that this smaller ramp, which greatly intrigued us since we could find no constructional logic for it, was intended as a means of ascent… to reach… the above mentioned terrace…"

Zertal continues, "A friend of mine, a young archaeologist named David Etam visited the site, and I gave him a tour, I was explaining the site to him, especially the difficulty we were having understanding the function of the strange central structure that had been filled. David interrupted me: 'Why don't you think the opposite? Why don't you think that the filling is the important part, rather than the building?' For months, we had been trying to understand the structure by thinking of the filling as secondary. We were concentrating on the outside structure. David's insight stunned me. I grabbed a Bible and opened it to Exodus 27:8,which describes the portable Tabernacle altar the Israelites were commanded to build in the wilderness: 'Make it hollow, with boards. As you were shown on the mountain, so shall it be made.' … "That evening, after a long day of excavating and washing pottery, I took a piece of paper and pencil and drew a rough sketch of what I thought the structure would have looked like, assuming it was an altar. I showed my sketch to one of the staff. He was dumbstruck. He ran from the room and soon returned with a Mishna. He opened the Mishna to a passage in tractate Midot that minutely describes the Second Temple and surrounding structures. The particular edition he was using contained a drawing of the Second Temple altar as it was described in Midot. The drawing in the book was almost identical to the sketch I had drawn. Now it was I who was dumbstruck." <to be continued>

Catriel's book in progress: The Temple of Jerusalem, A Pilgrim’s Perspective; A Guided Tour through the Temple and the Divine Service