Agony in the garden story5/18/2023 According to the Bible, King David, barefoot and weeping, left the city and went up the Mount of Olives to escape from his son Absalom who was conspiring against him (2 Sam 15:30) King Joshua defiled the “high places” that had been built on the Mount by King Solomon for worshipping the gods of his foreign wives (1 Kings 11:7 2 Kings 23:13).Īfter the first destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem, the Jews began to go there on pilgrimage since, according to tradition, the Glory of the God of Israel had risen from the city and stood upon the mountain which was to its east (cf. The high ground played an important role in Jewish history. The Mount consists of three areas of high ground from which steep roads descend to the valley below: from the north to the south extends "Karm as-Sayyad" (“vineyard of the hunter”), reaching 818 meters of altitude in the center is "Jebel et-Tur" (“holy mountain”) at 808 meters and to the southwest, on the far side of the Jerusalem-Jericho road, is "Bet el Hawa" (“belly of the wind”), also known as "Mount Scandal", at 713 meters high. Starting in the 12th century the Arabs called it "Jebel et-Tur", a term of Aramaic origin signifying “mount of mounts” or “holy mount” today they simply refer to it as "et-Tur". In the Jewish tradition it is also known as the “Mount of Unction”, since the oil made from its olives was used to anoint the king and the high priests. Its name, still used today, comes from the olive trees that for thousands of years have grown on the slopes of the Mount. ![]() From the summit of the Mount of Olives one can enjoy the most evocative panorama of the Holy City, as it can be observed in its entirety from above. Looking towards the north, beyond the Mount of Olives, Mount Scopus (820 m.) comes into view, today the site of Hebrew University. ![]() The Kidron Valley, which surrounds Jerusalem to the east, separates the Mount of Olives from the city and from the nearby Mount Zion, located further to the south, from where Jesus set off on foot after the Last Supper, crossing the Valley to reach Gethsemane. The “Mount of Olives”, rising to the east of Jerusalem, separates the Holy City from the Judean Desert which from here begins its descent to the Dead Sea.
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