Archaeologists unearth 2000-year-old Hebrew ‘Jerusalem’ inscription

October 10, 2018 — The Jerusalem Post reports: “The earliest written inscription of the word Jerusalem written in Hebrew on a 2,000 year old column drum was unveiled on Tuesday at a press conference at The Israel Museum in Jerusalem.

The limestone column drum that dates back to the Second Temple period, was discovered 10 months ago on an excavation site near the International Convention Center in Jerusalem.

The words: ‘Hanania son of Dudolos from Jerusalem’ was etched on the column which was part of a building that stood in a Jewish potters village near the entrance of the Jerusalem some 2,000 years ago…”  (Although its history is one of war and destruction, Jerusalem means “city of peace” or “foundation of peace.”

From the siege of David in 1000 B.C. to the Six Day War of 1967, the sounds of battle have been heard as this city has experienced 46 sieges and 32 partial destructions. It has been burned to the ground five times, always rising from the ashes. It is the site of the most volatile political, religious, and military problems in the entire world.

The Jewish cry for peace in Jerusalem is sincere, finding its roots in the promise given through Moses (Leviticus 26:6). Jerusalem will finally become the city of peace and capital of the world when Christ, who is our peace, returns (Isaiah 9:6).

Having a history of 4,000 years, Jerusalem was first mentioned in Scripture in Genesis 14:18 when Melchizedek was king over the city of Salem. Later, it was called Jebus, named for the third son of Canaan, as it was the dwelling place of the Jebusites (Judges 19:10, 11; 1 Chronicles 11:4, 5).

When David took the city, the fortress was on a hill called Zion, another name given Jerusalem. Somehow, later, Jeru was added to Salem … perhaps a combination of Jebus, changed to Jeru, and Salem.

Since B.C. 400, Jerusalem has passed from one Gentile power to another. From 70 A.D. alone, the transition of power went from the Roman conquerors to the Persians in 614; to Caliph Omar in 637; to the Crusaders in 1099; to Saladin in 1187; to the Egyptian Mamelukes in 1250; the Turks in 1517; the British in 1917, and finally, in 1967, the Jews captured Jerusalem.)

Israel said to fear US peace plan includes Jerusalem as Palestinian capital

October 21, 2018 — The Times of Israel reports: “Israel is reportedly concerned that the Trump administration is considering recognizing Jerusalem as the Palestinian as well as the Israeli capital in a bid to bring Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas back to the negotiating table.

That fear is born of an Israeli assessment that the administration sees getting a deal as a fairly simple task once both sides are at the negotiating table, the Yedioth Ahronoth daily reported Sunday.

‘Trump wants a deal and he’s very serious,’ a senior Israeli official told the paper. ‘To the Americans, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is relatively easy to solve.’

Sources told the newspaper that US-led talks between the two sides will work on a strategy of give and take: Anyone who comes to the table has to ante up a concession, one the other side agrees to. Anyone who doesn’t come to the table has to pay a penalty, and anyone who rejects the draft deal risks being put in a weaker position for the next round…”  (Caroline B. Glick, senior contributing editor to The Jerusalem Post wrote a book in 2014 entitled “The Israeli Solution” where she stated in the preface: “Establishing a Palestinian state, so the thinking goes, would be a panacea for all the region’s ills.  It would end the Arab world’s conflict with Israel, because the reason the Arab world is anti-Israel is that there is no Palestinian state.  It would also nearly erase the Arab world’s anti-Americanism, because the reason the Arabs – and the larger Muslim world – are anti-American is that the United States supports Israel even though there is no Palestinian state…  For the past ninety years, the two-state solution has been tried more than a dozen times, and every time it has failed, abysmally.  Between 1970 and 2013, the United States presented nine different peace plans for Israel and the Palestinians, all based on the two-state solution – and for the past twenty years, the two-state solution has been the centerpiece of the U.S. Middle East policy.  But despite this laser focus, American efforts to implement the two-state solution have all been dismal failures.”)

Jerusalem the capital of ‘Palestine’? Not anytime soon

October 22, 2018 — Israel National News reports: “A US administration official told Arutz Sheva on Sunday that, for the time being, the possibility of Washington recognizing eastern Jerusalem as the capital of a Palestinian state is not being considered nor is it on the agenda.

The official was responding to comments made by a senior Israeli political official, who was quoted in the Yediot Aharonot newspaper expressing concern that if the results of the midterm elections in the US lead to a weakening of the Republicans, the pressure on President Donald Trump to reach a political settlement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) will increase.

The Israeli concern, the senior official said, includes the possibility that Jerusalem will be included in the American political proposal. This could mean defining ‘East Jerusalem’ as the capital of a future Palestinian state parallel to the recognition already given to ‘West Jerusalem’ as the capital of Israel…”  (God’s Holy Word dogmatically states 930 times that Jerusalem was given to God’s chosen people, the Jews, and the place where our Christ, the second member of the Holy Trinity will reign forever upon His return – Matthew 6:10; Psalm 2:6; Isaiah 59:20; Zechariah 2:10, 4:14; Luke 1:32, 33.)