Sacred to the three great monotheistic religions, Jerusalem is Yerushalayim – City of Peace – for the Jews, El Quds – the Holy – to Moslems, and Jerusalem for Christians – the city of Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection.
At the center of so much faith, Jerusalem has been marched upon by the armies of all the empires of the western world: Egyptians, Philistines, Babylonians, Greeks, Persians, Moslems, Christians, Mameluks, Turks and British, all have laid claim to the city. But for more than three millennia its heart has surrendered to no empire – for Jerusalem is an eternal city, holy to all of human kind.
Buried so deep in the mists of history that only the Bible records the event, an aged nomad once brought his son to a mountain top, ready to sacrifice him to an invisible God. This act of faith – outstanding in a world ruled by pagan idol-worship – caused the young boy to be spared by God, and his aged father to be granted a covenant that was to last throughout all time. The patriarch, of course, was Abraham, his son, Isaac, and the mountain was Mount Moriah.
This page is part of the book The Holy Land of Jesus
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