Ophel - The Location of

King Solomon's Temple

by Eulalio Eguia Jr.

Ophel - The Location of

King Solomon's Temple
by Eulalio Eguia Jr.
May it be Thy will that the Temple be speedily rebuilt in our days . . .
"May it be Thy will that the Temple be speedily rebuilt in our days . . .
"May it be Thy will that the Temple be speedily rebuilt in our days . . .

That plea to God, is recited three times a day in Jewish prayers. But how does one
go about rebuilding the Temple of God, if its divinely appointed location is not
known?
Over the years, since the Temples destruction in 70 A.D. by Roman legions under
General Titus, many have speculated as to where exactly the Temple is to be found.

The most popular opinion is that it

is located where the Dome of the
Rock in the Temple Mount
currently stands.
Other theories place the location
elsewhere inside the Temple
Mount, while others place them
outside:
The different theories on where
the Temple is located are the
following:

1. North of the Dome of the Rock

2. Dome of the Rock
3. Between the Dome of the Rock
and the Al-Aqsa Mosque
4. Al-Aqsa Mosque
5. Ophel, also known as the
Jerusalem Archaeological Park
(which is also my theory)
6. City of David.
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Ophel - The Location of

King Solomon's Temple
by Eulalio Eguia Jr.
I have a reason to believe that the Temple is not located inside the Temple Mount
(which is surrounded by walls of equal height in the North, South, West, and East),
and this is because it is known that the Eastern wall of the Temple is lower than the
rest of its walls.
Middot 2.4 All the walls there were high, save only the eastern wall, because the [High] priest
that burns the [Red] heifer and stands on top of the Mount of Olives should be able to look
directly into the entrance of the Sanctuary when the blood is sprinkled.

In contrast the ancient walls of the Ophel region/Jerusalem archaeological park are
lower than the walls surrounding the Temple Mount.

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Ophel - The Location of

King Solomon's Temple
by Eulalio Eguia Jr.
Due West

<?TC

Now why do I believe

that the Temple is
located at the Ophel
region, which is also
known as the Jerusalem
archaeological park?
The reason is, the Ophel
region is due West of the
summit of the Mount of
Olives.
Now why is this
important?

According to the following passages of the Middot, the Eastern gate of the Temple is
where the High Priest went forth to the summit of the Mount of Olives, to sacrifice the
Red Heifer.
Middot 1.3 There were five gates to the Temple Mount: the two Huldah Gates on the south, that
served for coming in and for going out; the Kiponus Gate on the west, that served for coming in
and for going out; the Tadi Gate on the north which was not used at all; the Eastern Gate on
which was portrayed the Palace of Shushan. Through this the High Priest that burned the [Red]
Heifer, and the heifer, and all that aided him went forth to [the top of] the Mount of Olives.

The highest point on the Mount of Olives is Altur, at 818 m (2,684 ft). However, the
Bible specifically says that the sacrifice of the red heifer should happen in a clean
place:
Numbers 19:9 And a man that is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer, and lay them up
outside the camp in a clean place, and it shall be kept for the congregation of the children of Israel
for a water of separation: it is a purification for sin.
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Ophel - The Location of

King Solomon's Temple
by Eulalio Eguia Jr.
Now what would a clean place in the Mount of Olives be like, where an altar can be
built?
If we are to base Gods selection of where he wanted His altar to be built, then there
is no doubt that it will be on a threshing floor:
2 Samuel 24:18 On that day Gad went to David and said to him, Go up and build an altar to the
Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. 25 David built an altar to the Lord there and
sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. Then the Lord answered his prayer in behalf of
the land, and the plague on Israel was stopped.
2 Chronicles 3:1 Then Solomon began to build the temple of the LORD in Jerusalem on Mount
Moriah, where the LORD had appeared to his father David. It was on the threshing floor of
Araunah the Jebusite, the place provided by David.

Why a threshing floor?

Because a threshing floor is
a place clean enough for
farmers to thresh their grains.
Outdoor threshing floors are
usually located near a farm or
farmhouse, or in places easily
accessible from growing areas.
They are usually paved with
material that may be of various
kinds, for example round stone
cobbles about the size of a fist;
slate; tile; or sometimes the
underlying bedrock itself is
exposed.

-. -...

'
4,..

The floors usually have a slight slope, to avoid water standing on them after rain. Threshing
floors are often in a high place, to take advantage of soft and steady winds to facilitate the work
of winnowing, or separating the grain from the chaff, once the threshing had been completed.
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Ophel - The Location of

King Solomon's Temple
by Eulalio Eguia Jr.
Now there is an area in the Mount of Olives that is made up of oceanic sedimentary
rock from the Late Cretaceous that contains a soft chalk and a hard flint. This
material, together with the mountains slope, and soft and steady winds due to its
high elevation, makes this part of the Mount of Olives ideal threshing floors.
Now Altur, the highest point in the Mount of Olives, is located at the fertile soil area
of the Mount of Olives (this makes Altur ineligible to be used as a threshing floor):

So in order to find the clean place where the red heifer is sacrificed in the Mount of
Olives, we have to look for the highest elevation of the mountain inside its
sedimentary rock area. Now Google Earth can be used to know the elevation of a
point, and I was able to identify the highest elevation inside the sedimentary rock
area of the Mount of Olives this way.
Now notice the following, the highest point in the sedimentary rock area is closest to
Altur, which is the highest peak of the Mount of Olives (and this should be expected).
Secondly, it is very close to the fertile area of the mountain, which makes it very
accessible to the farmers who want to thresh their grains. And finally, the highest
point in the sedimentary rock area, is directly in the line of sight of Ophel, where I
believe the Temple is located.
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Ophel - The Location of

King Solomon's Temple
by Eulalio Eguia Jr.
Now here is a close-up picture of the Ophel region also known as the Jerusalem
archaeological park, which I believe to be where Herods temple is located:

It is argued by others that Herod's temple occupied a square area of 600 feet. So I
used Google earth to measure the ground distance of Ophels southern wall, and
found out it was approximately 600 ft.

I then measured 600 ft. of Ophels western wall starting from its southern wall to
define what I believe to be Herods 600 ft. x 600 ft. temple area:
J0!1' 0\,11

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Ophel - The Location of

King Solomon's Temple
by Eulalio Eguia Jr.

I Mcl>surc the <tstMoe bc,v,..,cn two pon:, on the ,;round

Hao 1.erv,ilh:
Ground~:

HMdlng:

~Length:
G,ou,d Leng111:

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598.01 [F<!et

599.89
82.19~$

59 7. 35 [Feet
600.73
167.06 ~-

Ophel - The Location of

King Solomon's Temple
by Eulalio Eguia Jr.
After this I made a floor plan of what I believe Herods temple looked like using this
600 ft. x 600 ft. area.
The green lines represent the original walls surrounding Solomon's temple. The red
lines are the walls made by Herod to extend the area of Solomons temple, where
he added walled areas for the court of gentiles, the inner court, and the court of
women. The blue lines are the walls made by Herod for the Fort Antonia.

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Ophel - The Location of

King Solomon's Temple
by Eulalio Eguia Jr.
Several remains of Herod's stately temple have by recent explorations been brought to light. It
had two courts, one intended for the Israelites only, and the other, a large outer court, called
"the court of the Gentiles," intended for the use of strangers of all nations. These two courts
were separated by a low wall, as the historian Josephus states, some 4 1/2 feet high, with
thirteen openings. Along the top of this dividing wall, at regular intervals, were placed pillars
bearing in Greek an inscription to the effect that no stranger was, on the pain of death, to pass
from the court of the Gentiles into that of the Jews.
Within this partition wall stood the temple proper, consisting of, (1) the court of the women, 8
feet higher than the outer court; (2) 10 feet higher than this court was the court of Israel; (3)
the court of the priests, again 3 feet higher; and lastly (4) the temple floor, 8 feet above that;
thus in all 29 feet above the level of the outer court.

Consistent with my belief that Ophel is the location of Solomons temple, several
excavations have unearthed amazing structures related to the second temple
including ritual baths, cisterns, and even a large pool used for purification of the
visitors before entering the temple.

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Ophel - The Location of

King Solomon's Temple
by Eulalio Eguia Jr.
A 3000 year old first temple
water reservoir was
discovered in the Jerusalem
archaeological park,
underneath Robinson's arch
on the southwest corner of
the Temple Mount and
below the drainage channel
recently uncovered in the
same area. It was dug
sometime between the time
of Solomon and the
Babylonian captivity and
shows the expanding city's
need for water.
The enormous water reservoir can hold more than 66,000 gallons or 250 cubic
meters of water.

The so-called excavated Ophel treasure includes thirty-six gold coins, as well as
jewelry and other precious goods. The Byzantine coins date from the fourth to the
early seventh centuries.

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Ophel - The Location of

King Solomon's Temple
by Eulalio Eguia Jr.
The Ophel inscription is a
3,000 year old inscription on
a fragment of a ceramic jar
found near Jerusalem's Temple
Mount by archeologist Eilat
Mazar.
It is the earliest alphabetical
inscription found in Jerusalem.
Eilat Mazar has dated the
pottery to the 10th century BC.

The fragment comes from a pithos, a large neckless ceramic jar, discovered
together with pieces of 6 other large jars which the archaeologists excavating the
site identify as contemporary with the biblical period of David and Solomon, in the
10th century BCE.
In my next document I will be discussing more about the highest point in the Mount
of Olives where the sacrifice of the Red Heifer takes place, and where I believe
Calvary or Golgotha is also located.

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