“I Heard the Sound of Harpists Playing their Harps”

December 13, 2017

The Apostle John wrote, “And I heard a voice from heaven, like the voice of many waters, and like the voice of loud thunder. And I heard the sound of harpists playing their harps” (Revelation 14:2). I heard this harpist playing her harp in Jerusalem, at the Damascus gate this past April.

Harpist in Jerusalem, Joppa Gate. Photo ©Leon Mauldin.

The context of Revelation 14 is that of the Lamb standing victoriously on Mount Zion with His people, those “having His Father’s name written on their foreheads” (v.1). What joy belongs to those described in the text! — “These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These were redeemed from among men, being firstfruits to God and to the Lamb” (v.4).

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Posted by Leon Mauldin

Damascus Gate in Jerusalem

November 10, 2015

It is fascinating to view the gates of Old Jerusalem!

The Damascus Gate is located on the north side of Jerusalem, so named because this would be the direction going out of Jerusalem to Damascus, ca. 150 miles NNW. The Jews call this gate the Shechem Gate, and the Arabs call it Bab el-Amud.

Damascus Gate Jerusalem. North entrance. Photo by Leon Mauldin.

Damascus Gate Jerusalem. North entrance. Photo by Leon Mauldin.

This entrance gate

along the present north wall dramatically accents the spot that has been the main north entrance to Jerusalem for almost two millennia. R. W. Hamilton’s sounding here in 1937 and Basil Hennessey’s excavations in the 1960s; have revealed, below the modern entrance, layer upon layer of earlier gateways, reaching back through Arab, Crusader and Byzantine constructions to Roman Age foundations. The earliest certain construction here dates to Aelia Capitolina, the second to fourth-century C.E. city of Hadrian, but both Hamilton and Hennessey felt they found evidence that Hadrian’s gateway was built on foundations that went back to the Second Temple period. BAS Biblical World in Pictures. (2003).

Hadrian had built a triple-arched gateway to serve as entrance here. The eastern arch is well-preserved.

Hadrian Gate, eastern arch. ca. AD 135. North wall, Jerusalem. Photo by Leon Mauldin.

Hadrian Gate, eastern arch. ca. AD 135. North wall, Jerusalem. Photo by Leon Mauldin.

The Latin inscription above the keystone of the arch says, “…according to the decurians [the city council] of Col[onia] Ael[ia] Cap[itolina],” Hadrian’s designation for Jerusalem.

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Leave a Comment » | Archaeology, Bible History and Geography, Bible Study, Gates, Israel, Jerusalem, New Testament, photography, Travel | Tagged: , | Permalink
Posted by Leon Mauldin

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