Jerusalem

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Panorama with view from the Mount of Olives to Jerusalem and the Temple Mount with the Dome of the Rock

Jerusalem (Hebrew: יְרוּשָׁלַיִם Yerushalayim; Arabic القدس al-Quds (ash-Sharif) "the Holy"; Greek: Ἱεροσόλυμα Hierosólyma, the "Holy Salem") is a town situated between the Dead Sea, 428 m below sea level, and the Mediterranean Sea at an altitude of 606-826 m above sea level in the mountains of Judea in the Holy Land in present-day Israel. It is of central spiritual and religious importance for the monotheistic Abrahamic religions. Jerusalem is first mentioned in the Old Testament. However, the oldest traces of human settlement date back to around 5000 BC.

Jerusalem as the spiritual centre

In the Bible, in the Book of Ezekiel, Jerusalem is mentioned as the centre of all the countries of this Earth (cf. also Ez 38:12):

„Thus says the Lord God: This is Jerusalem. I have set her in the center of the nations, with countries all around her“

– .: Ez 5:5

According to Jewish tradition, Adam was created here, or rather, his feet entered the Earth here, and he was also later buried here (→ Wood of the Cross Legend). In the "Cave of Treasures" of Ephrem the Syrian it says:

And God formed Adam with his holy hands.
    in his own image and after his own likeness.
And when the angels beheld his glorious appearance,
    they were moved with the beauty of his sight;
for they beheld the form of his countenance,
    while it was lighted with a splendour like the orb of the sun,
    and the light of his eyes like the sun,
    and the image of his body like the light of the crystal.
And he spread himself out and stood in the midst of the earth,
and he set his two feet upon the place
    where the cross of our Saviour was set up,
    because Adam was created in Jerusalem.
And there he put on the robe of kingship,
    and the crown of glory was set upon his head.
And there he was made king, and priest, and prophet;
and there God set him on the throne of his glory.
And there God gave him dominion over all creatures,
and there were gathered together all the wild beasts...
    and the cattle and the birds, and came before Adam,
and he gave them names, and they bowed their heads before him,
and worshipped him all their natures, and served him.

Cain and Abel offered their sacrifices to Yahweh here (Gen 4:1–16) and Abraham laid his son Isaac on the altar there on the later Temple Mount in the land of Moria to sacrifice him (Gen 22:2), and was received in Salem (by which Jerusalem is probably meant) with bread and wine by the great Sun Initiate Melchisedec (Gen 14:18). Jerusalem thus formed in a certain sense the spiritual centre of human development up to the Mystery of Golgotha. The construction of Solomon's Temple was of particular importance.

The gorge of Gehinnom (Hebrew: גֵי-הִנֹם), which is located in the south of the Old City of Jerusalem and extends from the foot of Mount Zion in an easterly direction to the Kidron Valley, is traditionally regarded as the entrance to the underworld, to hell. The term is also used in this meaning in the New Testament in the Greekised form Gehenna. The Arabic equivalent in the Koran is Jahannam.

Emil Bock, co-founder of the Christian Community, writes about this:

„Providence has arranged it in such a way that the cross and the grave are located at a place which thousands of years ago was already experienced as a centre of the Earth. Between Golgotha, the rocky hill that continues in the moon-like rock mass of the Temple Mount, and the tomb, the surroundings of which form the beginning of the garden landscape on the Mount Zion, there was once a primordial fissure in the surface of the Earth. Ancient mankind saw the tomb of Adam in this horrible maw. Here, for the first time, death came upon humanity. And so, from very ancient times, this primeval gorge, which tore the face of the city of Jerusalem in two, was associated with the idea that this was the gateway to the underworld. At this place the cross rose yesterday and the grave stands today.“ (Lit.: Bock, p. 361)

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Panorama Jerusalem and Temple Mount by night.jpg

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Literature
References to the work of Rudolf Steiner follow Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works (CW or GA), Rudolf Steiner Verlag, Dornach/Switzerland, unless otherwise stated.
Email: verlag@steinerverlag.com URL: www.steinerverlag.com.
Index to the Complete Works of Rudolf Steiner - Aelzina Books
A complete list by Volume Number and a full list of known English translations you may also find at Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works
Rudolf Steiner Archive - The largest online collection of Rudolf Steiner's books, lectures and articles in English.
Rudolf Steiner Audio - Recorded and Read by Dale Brunsvold
steinerbooks.org - Anthroposophic Press Inc. (USA)
Rudolf Steiner Handbook - Christian Karl's proven standard work for orientation in Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works for free download as PDF.
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