The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah
Alfred Edersheim
1883
Book II
FROM THE MANGER IN BETHLEHEM TO THE BAPTISM IN JORDAN IN
JERUSALEM WHEN HEROD REIGNED
Chapter 1
In Jerusalem When Herod Reigned
IF the dust of ten centuries could have been wiped from the eyelids of those sleepers, and
one of them who thronged Jerusalem in the highday of its glory, during the reign of King
Solomon, had returned to its streets, he would scarcely have recognised the once familiar
city. Then, as now, a Jewish king reigned, who bore undivided rule over the whole land;
then, as now, the city was filled with riches and adorned with palaces and architectural
monuments; then, as now, Jerusalem was crowded with strangers from all lands.
Solomon and Herod were each the last Je wish king over the Land of Promise;1 Solomon
and Herod, each, built the Temple. But with the son of David began, and with the
Idumæan ended, 'the kingdom;' or rather, having fulfilled its mission, it gave place to the
spiritual world-kingdom of 'David's gr eater Son.' The sceptre departed from Judah to
where the nations were to gather under its sway. And the Temple which Solomon built
was the first. In it the Shekhinah dwelt visibly. The Temple which Herod reared was the
last. The ruins of its burning, which the torch of the Romans had kindled, were never to
be restored. Herod was not the antitype, he was the Barabbas, of David's Royal Son.
1. I do not here reckon the brief reign of King Agrippa.
In other respects, also, the difference was almost equally great. The four 'companion- like'
hills on which the city was built,2 the deep clefts by which it was surrounded, the Mount
of Olives rising in the east, were the same as a thousand years ago. There, as of old were
the Pool of Siloam and the royal gardens - nay, the very wall that had then surrounded the
city. And yet all was so altered as to be scarcely recognisable. The ancient Jebusite fort,
the City of David, Mount Zion, 3 was now the priests' quarter, Ophel, and the old royal
palace and stables had been thrown into the Temple area - now completely levelled -
where they formed the magnificent treble colonnade, known as the Royal Porch. Passing
through it, and out by the Western Gate of the Temple, we stand on the immense bridge
which spans the 'Valley of the Cheesemongers,' or the Tyropoeon, and connects the
Eastern with the Western hills of the city. It is perhaps here that we can best mark the
outstanding features, and note the changes. On the right, as we look northward, are (on
the Eastern hill) Ophel, the Priest-quarter, and the Temple - oh, how wondrously