The Temple and Christ's Return #3
The Oil of Anointing?
THE NEW TEMPLE AND CHRIST'S RETURN From a book by Grant Jeffrey RECOVERING LOST TEMPLE TREASURES On page 49 J remembers the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls back in 1947, and the light they gave on life in the first century and the fall of Jerusalem. Then in 1953 another curious scroll was found in Cave 3 at the village of Qumran on the West side of the Dead Sea. It was a rolled up scroll of three copper sheets riveted together. It was 8 feet long and 1 foot wide. And so it became known as the Copper Scroll. The Copper Scroll J says revealed 64 secret locations where the Jewish Essene priests had hidden gold and silver treasures from the Temple. Among the 64 listed sites, we are told that locations include places near Qumran, southern Jerusalem centered on Mount Zion, and in a area on the east of the Jordan River in present- day Jordan. All sounds very nice, right? Well, not just as easy as that. J points out to us that details of the topographical descriptions are subject to interpretation. One problem is that a great deal of wind and occasional water erosion has transformed some of the features of the Qumran area. So, it is not easy to match the described landmarks to the present-day terrain, due to the physical features of the land over the past two thousand years (pages 49-51). Ah but we are told many scholars believe there are additional Essene manuscripts that remain undiscovered. Now if God is planning that this new Temple has these "hidden" treasures from the old Temple, you'd think they would have come to light by now, especially with modern space age tech equipment. And J then tells us about a few of the NASA technology to analyze features that lie hundreds of feet beneath any given target area. J says that using this technology, archaeologists can locate underground caves, rooms, tunnels, and even objects within those spaces. Then J tells us such things are detected already and the Israeli government has given the okay to dig down for them, but "It will take several years for archaeologists to dig down to the largest cave, fifty feet below the surface." But according to J the Israel government will release whatever is found to the wider scholarship community to examine (page 52). Well time is always being used by the fundamentalists. Jesus could come any second (albeit in a "secret" way to rapture the church to heaven), then again they teach that a physical Temple must be built by the Jews before Jesus can come in open glory. They say the prophecies "demand" it! It's now as I upload this in 2022---- have you heard anything from anyone in the State of Israel about these finds, if found? J does go on to say that some scholars accept the "hidden treasure" of the Copper Scroll as nothing more than a fanciful tale. The scroll would say there is 3,282 talents of gold and 1,280 talents of silver, and according to J an ancient Hebrew talent varied from 75 pounds to 125 pounds, at current prices (2007 when he wrote this book) the value would be $2.5 billion, with a "B." He figures the old Temple was full of treasure that could be worth that amount of money today (page 53). J tells us that the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus wrote that when General Pompey captured Jerusalem in 63 BC, Crassus demanded and received a immediate tribute of "more than 10,000 talents" from the Temple treasury. J gives the facts that there was a Temple guard and if that guard fell asleep while on duty, his clothes would be set on fire as punishment (Jewish commentary Middoth 11:12, a part of the Mishnah). there was a captain of the Temple (Acts 4:1) J says Jewish records "suggest" that 240 priests from the tribe of Levi, plus as many as 24 additional priests, served on security duty every night. I find that "suggestion" a little hard to believe. If such treasure from the Temple is hidden, with modern tools we should expect it to be found. Personally I will not hold by breath waiting for it to be discovered. And anyway, if it is, what has it to do with the building of a third Temple before Jesus comes. But it all adds "glamor" and "pomp" to the idea that a Temple must be built by Jews before the Messiah can return in triumph and glory to set up the Kingdom of God on earth. Now J goes on to tell us that the Copper Scroll lists artifacts including "items that hold great significance for the rebuilding of the Temple and the resumption of Temple worship and sacrifice." A copper scroll he states was found in 1952 in Cave 8 at Qumran. This scroll is supposed to be in Amman, Jordan, the ashes of the last sacrifice of the red heifer was AD 68, just before Jerusalem fell in 70 AD. It is sated by J that the priests took the heifer's ashes from the Temple in a clay vessel and buried it with other sacred objects "so they could be recovered in the last days" (page 55). J tells us that if the ashes could be recovered they could be used in the ritual cleansing of the Temple Mount and a rebuilt sanctuary. The ashes are needed to create the "water purification" (see Numbers 19) that are needed to purify the priests, the sacred worship vessels, and the Third Temple. A place location is supposed to be given on the scroll, but as J admits "it is difficult to match this description with current location, but several investigations are being conducted under the auspices of the chief rabbi and the Israeli museums" (page 55). Now, this book by J was written in 2007, or published in 2007. Have you heard any breaking news that they have discovered this vessel with the red heifer ashes? With all the modern space age tech stuff from NASA, you would think they would have discovered something by now, especially since the Israeli museums are said to be involved. It sure seems like the Jews are making it very hard on themselves to build this third Temple, if they really have the over-powering desire to go back to the days of Moses. and re-instituting the days of Moses, and the average person in the State of Israel could care less, they just want peace and to have a prosperous life. The vast vast majority are secular. J finishes this page 55 by saying, "Recovering these sacred artifacts is KEY (my emphasis) to re-building the Temple." Again, how hard these fundamentalists and few Jews make it for themselves in getting to rebuild this Temple. You wait for another ten years, and this new book by J will be given away by the stores that may have a few copies left, and his theories and hidden treasure stuff, will be so out of date, he'll have to come up with another book to keep perpetuating this fundamental teaching that a temple MUST be built before Jesus can return. Sure enough in 2022 as I upload, J's book has disappeared into the sunset to vanish away to another galaxy. DISCOVERING THE OIL OF ANOINTING J tells us that an archaeological team and one of his friends, with information from the Copper Scroll set out to discover the oil of anointing lost since the first century. They reached Cave 11 in Qumran and found a clay vessel that contained oil that had solidified as a jelly like substance. J tells us that there was 5 ingredients used in the oil for anointing kings. The technical word for this oil is "shemen afarsimon." The 5 ingredients are found in Exodus 30:23-26, 30-31). Apparently, says J, when this solidified oil was analyzed, it was shown to be composed of the exact 5 ingredients as given by God to Moses. He claims Carbon-14 radioactive dating put this oil at nearly 2 thousand years, from the time of the Second Temple of Herod's day. J tells us that intensive testing by the Pharmaceutical Department of the Hebrew University established that the oil inside the clay vessel was the ancient oil of anointing. It was supposedly given to the two chief rabbis of Israel for safekeeping (pages 56-57). Then we see again from J how hard the Jews have made it for themselves, to ever build this Temple and re-establish the laws of Moses regarding Temple service and sacrifice. We are led to believe the Jews WANT to build this temple, yet at the same time we are told all the nitty-gritty, one, two, three, and more things needed to re-institute this Temple and its services. J says that some Jewish scholars argue that the inability to create the legitimate oil of anointing would prevent the Jews from ever resuming legitimate Temple worship. Supposedly without the oil of anointing it would be impossible to anoint the sacred objects and the priests. But as J puts it, "However, the discovery of this ancient sample of the oil of anointing makes it possible to anoint the Temple, the sacred vessels, the Cohanim [priests descended directly from the sons of Aaron], and the Messiah-King of Israel" (page 58). J then goes on to say that with this oil found, the Temple can be rebuilt, and all in it can be anointed. He finishes this section with "When the Lord returns, the oil of anointing will be used to usher in His messianic rule" (page 58). Hummmmm .... all sounds kinda nice, you would say. well we have only J to say all this as to what he states is TRUE! I think I'll do a check on the Internet, maybe you can do the same, and see if there is anything, or anyone in Israel, who can verify what J has told us. Quite frankly, the fundamentalists have lied before to uphold their teaching on a "must have a physical Temple before Jesus can return" teaching. In the early 1980s some reports were circulated that the stones for the Temple were at dock-side in the USA waiting to be shipped over to Israel. It turned out to be just one big lie, as there never was any stones at any sea-port in the USA, going to be shipped over to Israel. Or the ship sank in the Atlantic and never reached Jerusalem. The oil of anointing does not have to be there to be used on the coming Messiah. I do not think God needs to be anointed with physical oil to take His position as King of kings and Lord of lord, as ruler of this world, when He comes again. Now the reader may like to go on the Internet and learn more about the Copper Scroll than J tells you about. I suggest "Vandyl Jones Research Institutes" on the Copper Scroll. You can type in also Archaeology/Discoveries - the Copper Scroll. We have gone for 57 years since this Copper Scroll was discovered in 1952, and with modern space-age technology this Scroll has not produced the "theological message" that J would like you to believe. Secondly, the bottom line is that it is not some Copper Scroll from the Essenes or whoever wrote it, that gives the truth of the Word of the Lord. The Bible only is the inspired Word of God. And its prophetic messages tell you the future. The coming of the Messiah in glory is NOT RELATED in any way to the "must have a physical Temple in Jerusalem" teaching, BEFORE Jesus can return to establish the Kingdom of God on earth. THE EZEKIEL TABLETS J goes into some detail from pages 58-61 on the so-called "Ezekiel Tablets." "There is a theory that stone tablets containing the text of the book of Ezekiel were buried in the tomb of the prophet, which still exists in Iraq" (page 59). You will notice please the word "theory." J goes on to relate stories about people taking or trying to take, books or scrolls from the supposed tomb of Ezekiel. A close friend of J's was allowed to view these mysterious Ezekiel Tablets in 1952, which contain the major portion of the text of Ezekiel. Well to cut a long story short, J was in the dark corner of a special library in Jerusalem and discovered an elusive reference to the Copper Scroll in "an enormous group of documents and volumes that covered the entire wall of the library" (page 60). Some leading Dead Sea Scroll scholar at the end of his text gave a photo of marble tablets in ancient Hebrew script containing a history of the treasures lost six centuries earlier from Solomon's Temple (586 BC) and the secret hiding places of those treasures, said to be near Mount Carmel in northern Israel. J says, "Prudence forces me to refrain from providing the topographical details of the secret sites the priests used to hide these treasures from Solomon's Temple" (page 61). Of course J hopes from these two tablet texts that more treasures from Solomon's Temple will be found. Don't hold your breath, we are in 2009, with many space-age tech stuff and the glories of Solomon's Temple have still to be found. Even if they were to be found, it all has nothing to do with the truth of Bible Scripture that does NOT TEACH a physical Temple with Jews sacrificing animals, MUST come to be, before Jesus can return to earth. The lengths and depths fundamental "scholars" will dig up (excuse the archaeological pun, which was intended) to try and "amplify" with buried treasure stuff to enhance their "temple must be built" teaching, is truly amazing at times. ................... To be continued |
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