Table of Contents
1.
Rabbis to Burn Red Heifer in Holy Land
2. Where I First Heard About This, and Where I First Reported on It
3. Background on the Red Heifer and its Ancestors
4. Why I Am Writing About This Now, and When Will the Heifer Will Be Burned?
5. Background on the Third Temple and al-Aqsa Mosque and the
Dome of the Rock Temple
6. Significance of Al-Aqsa Mosque
and Dome of the Rock Lost on Christians and Westerners
Content
1.
Rabbis to Burn Red Heifer in Holy Land
Over the last five months, there has been increased
discussion of the prospects that a red heifer will be ceremonially burned by
rabbis in the Holy Land.
For example, in December 2023, podcaster Tim Pool posted a video
titled, "Reports Say the Red Heifer Was Born, ANOTHER Sign Pointing to the
END OF DAYS", and a shorter version of the same video,
titled "Why is the Red Heifer So Important?".
Those videos can be viewed at the following links:
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lrCG2QyqUE
- http://www.youtube.com/shorts/FtTDmqB1-xI
On April 9th, Al Jazeera reported that there are five red
heifers which could possibly be selected for burning: "They have come from
halfway across the world and are kept under tight security and raised according
to the strictest rules. They are five pure red heifers without blemish who have
never worked, given birth, been milked or worn a yoke."
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/4/9/what-do-texan-red-heifers-have-to-do-with-al-aqsa-and-a-jewish-temple
The "blemishes" referred to include black and white hairs.
2. Where I First Heard About This, and Where I First Reported on It
In my July 2011 article "A
Jewish and Democratic State", I reported that red heifers from America had
already been procured, for the purposes of establishing a breeding line of
heifers from which a perfect heifer may be selected for future burning.
[Note: That article is available at the following address:
http://aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2011/07/jewish-and-democratic-state.html]
I
wrote:
"The Temple Institute has made and procured several items
which are to be used in ritual services in the Temple. Such services would
involve the use of sacred vessels, a mock-up of the Ark of the Covenant, and a
red heifer bred to have attributes specifically outlined in the Bible. This red
heifer is to be sacrificed, becoming only the tenth or eleventh in history, and
its ashes are to be used in order to purify the souls of those who have come
into contact with the corpses of the dead, or with their graves.
"In the last two decades, Christian cow farmer Clyde Lott of
Nebraska has assisted the Temple Institute to obtain hundreds of heifers from
which the sacrificial animal is to be bred. A candidate for slaughter named
Melody was even produced back in 1996, and another was born in 2002, but both
were subsequently found to be unsuitable for sacrifice. However, in March 2010,
a representative of the Temple Institute claimed that there was [']definitely a
kosher red heifer here in Israel.[']"
The article from Al Jazeera states that, in 2022, "five red
yearlings were donated by an evangelical farmer from Texas, United States, and
flown to Israel as [']pets['] to get around restrictions on importing live
animals as livestock at the time."
That article did not mention Clyde Lott by name, but considering that
Lott is from Nebraska (and also has ties to Mississippi) rather than Texas,
it's possible that either a second farmer donated red heifers, or else that the
article from Al Jazeera simply got the home state of the farmer who provided the cows incorrect.
But there are also several sources which specifically name Texas as the home state of the cows. One source was Bashem Youssef, and the other is the following article from CBSNews.com, titled "What these red cows from Texas have to do with war and peace in the Middle East""
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/israel-war-hamas-red-heifers-from-texas-jerusalem-jewish-temple-al-aqsa/
I became aware of the plans to burn a heifer and rebuild the Temple in either 2010 or 2011, when I saw a video on YouTube by a young Christian man (who was at that time about 20 years old) saying that he had interviewed a rabbi whom had told him that rabbis in Israel were interested in procuring red heifers.
I read a rumor, somewhere online - after that video was posted - alleging
that the young man had not been heard from since coming out with the news about
the heifers. I did not mention that young man, in my original article, because
I was unable to find his name, or the video. But that is how I became aware of
this story.
As would be expected, when it comes to a news story steeped in biblical
history, some background will be necessary here, to explain what is going on,
and why these red heifers are being procured.
The burning of the heifer would be the tenth in history; from the
Jewish perspective. But according to the article "The Tenth Red Heifer:
The Superiority of Yeshua's Sacrifice" (by John J. Parsons, writing for
Hebrew4Christians.com), the Christian view is that Jesus was
(or at least symbolized) the tenth heifer.
The article at the following link contains some information about
the first nine red heifers that were burned (the last of which was burned in
the first century A.D.):
While that disagreement exists, there are also people - some of
whom describe themselves as "Jews for Jesus" or "Messianic
Jews" - who would say that Christians have an obligation to attempt to
fulfill as much of Jewish law as possible, red heifer and rebuilding the Third
Temple included.
This perspective is justified by, and exemplified in, the passage
Matthew 5:17, in which Jesus said, "Do not think that I have come to
abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill
them."
Based on the information that I gathered while writing "A
Jewish and Democratic State" - as well as the articles that I am reading
today - the burning of a red heifer is supposed to precede the
construction of the Third Temple of Jerusalem.
According to John J. Parsons's
article - quoting "Mishnah, Parah 3:5" - this tenth red heifer will
be the final red heifer, and will be burned by
Mashiach himself "at the time of the rebuilding of the future
Temple".
However, Tennessee-based Christian evangelical preacher Perry
Stone cautions that the burning of a red heifer "does not mean the
immediate rebuilding of the Temple". According to Stone, the red heifer
"must remain unblemished until it is three-and-a-half years old".
[Source: http://mycharisma.com/propheticrevival/40-year-old-warning-amid-red-heifer-false-prophecies/]
Moreover, the following article from the Temple Institute
clarifies that the heifer will not be slaughtered in the
Temple, specifying that it is to be slaughtered and burned at
the "Mount of Anointment", which is located on the Mount of Olives.
http://templeinstitute.org/red-heifer-numbers-19/
Evidently, this means that the Temple does not need
to exist - in whole or in part - in order for the red heifer to be slaughtered.
4. Why I
Am Writing About This Now, and When Will the Heifer Will Be Burned?
The reason why I am writing about this now - on April 11th, 2024 -
is that there seems to be a dispute regarding exactly when such
a red heifer will be burned.
In Tim Pool's reporting from December 2023, he stated that the
burning will occur on or before Passover (called Pesach in
Hebrew, which occurs on April 22nd this year).
A woman using the username "karressmarie4" posted a video to TikTok in March, saying that she had heard that March 29th was a potential date for
which the burning was scheduled. However, I have not seen any information that corroborates that claim.
Egyptian-American surgeon-turned-comedian Bassem Youssef stated in
a recent interview that the red heifers being considered for burning were going
to turn three years old on April 10th.
[Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbsYrZapzqA; see 27-minute mark]
Views should note that, after making this statement - from 27:30 to 27:35 - Youssef refers to the new Jewish Temple potentially being built "over" al-Aqsa Mosque.
If the article for Charisma.com quoted Perry Stone accurately,
then he believes that the heifer must be three-and-a-half years
old, and go unburdened for that entire period of time. Stone cites the Book of
Numbers, Chapter 19, when pointing to how such a heifer is to be prepared for
burning.
According to the Temple Institute, the very organization which is
making preparations for the burning of the heifer and the rebuilding of the
Temple, "The heifer must be three years old and perfect in its
redness." However, this same article goes on to say that "The
Commandment calls for the animal to be a [']heifer,['] that is, 3 or 4 years
old; although an older animal could also be used."
[Source: http://templeinstitute.org/red-heifer-numbers-19/]
The article linked above does not
contain any mention of Pesach / Passover; nor of any
particular date on which the heifer can or must be burned. [Note: The article
clarifies that the heifer is not viewed as a sacrifice, saying
"...the red heifer is not a sacrifice per se, for it is not
slaughtered in the Temple...".]
What this all means is that, unfortunately, it's possible that -
even if we knew which heifer is due to be burned, and knew its precise birth
date - we might not be able to figure out even the approximate timing
of the ceremony.
However, according to the article from Al Jazeera,
Christian preacher Michael Samuel Smith says that, in his opinion, "the
first successful red heifer sacrifice will take place in the spring of 2024
around the Passover to Pentecost timeframe".
That estimate would put the timeframe at between Monday,
April 22nd and Sunday, May 19th, 2024.
Granted, that span of time is nearly a month long. But it's
a more specific estimate than is the guess of Passover and Passover alone; and
considering that March 29th and April 10th have passed with no reports of
heifers having been burned, it's probably accurate.
As I explained above, for the red heifer to be slaughtered and
then burned, does not require the rebuilding of the Third
Temple, nor is such a ceremony supposed to take place inside such a temple.
Moreover, as noted above, Bashem Youssef refers to the new Jewish Temple potentially being built "over" al-Aqsa Mosque. So, presumably, this possibility is being discussed in the Muslim world. And, if I'm not mistaken, Bill Clinton may have considered the possibility of building over the Mosque as part of his role in the negotiations between the State of Israel and the Palestinian Authority in the year 2000 [Note: I wish I could provide a source for this, but unfortunately, I can't remember where I heard or read it.].
So if the red heifer doesn't require the Temple, and the Temple doesn't require the destruction of al-Aqsa, then why is there this controversy about al-Aqsa Mosque. Why are people worried that al-Aqsa may have to be destroyed (either in whole or in part) in order for the Jewish Temple to be built, if another option exists?
Perhaps it's because "building the new Temple on top of al-Aqsa" could easily be used as code for "building the new Temple on top of the ruins of al-Aqsa, after it's been destroyed". I say this because it is a concern, amongst Palestinians. In 2012, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said that Israeli authorities "were preparing models of what they call the Temple, in order to build it on the ruins of al-Aqsa."
[Source: http://jcpa.org/article/abbas-temple-denial/]
Additionally, controversy and worry arise from the supposition that the
burning of the heifer foretells the rebuilding of the Temple,
or at least that its burning precedes the rebuilding of the
Temple in the order of exegetic events in the Jewish tradition.
On March 5th, Chris Livesay of CBS News reported that "fervent believers" "insist" that the temple can rise again "only with that offering".
[Source: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/israel-war-hamas-red-heifers-from-texas-jerusalem-jewish-temple-al-aqsa/]
In my article "A Jewish and Democratic State",
the burning of the red heifer and the rebuilding of the Temple are both listed
as part of the seventh of sixteen sets of events prophesied in the Bible. That
seventh set of events is titled "Chapter 7: The Rebuilding of the Holy
Temple", in Transubstantiation, the second part of that
article. [http://aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2011/07/jewish-and-democratic-state.html]
As I explained in that chapter, the First Temple (Solomon's
Temple) began construction in 954 B.C.E., and was destroyed by the Babylonians
in 587 B.C.E.. The Second Temple (Herod's Temple) was renovated in 19 B.C.E.,
and destroyed by the Romans in 70 C.E..
Those temples were located on the Temple Mount in the Old
City of Jerusalem, in the eastern part of the center of the city. The Temple Mount is located on top of Mount Moriah, and is referred to in Hebrew as Har HaBayit.
[Source: http://www.ajc.org/news/what-to-know-about-jerusalems-temple-mount-and-the-status-quo-agreement#:~:text=The%20Temple%20Mount%2C%20known%20in,central%20to%20the%20Christian%20Gospels.]
Currently located at that site are the Dome of the Rock
Temple (which was completed in 691 C.E.) and al-Aqsa Mosque (completed
in 705 C.E.).
Image created by Jerusalem Story in 2022
[http://www.jerusalemstory.com/en/article/where-jerusalem-uncertain-and-unfixed-boundaries-city]
Administrative control over the Temple Mount is currently wielded by the Jordanian Islamic Waqf, a religious endowment and trust. Each the Waqf, the rabbinic authorities, and the Israeli Defense Forces wield some degree of influence and control regarding people's behavior while visiting the site (for example, the manners in which they may dress, whether they may pray openly, and at what times and locations, and depending on whether they are a tourist or a citizen, and depending on their religion).
Here are some links that explain the conditions for visiting the Mount:
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_Mount_entry_restrictions#:~:text=a%20religious%20duty.-,Israeli%20restriction%20policy,can%20visit%20at%20a%20time.
One purpose which the rabbis have in policing behavior at this site is to ensure that people do not trample on the Qodesh Ha-qadashim. This refers to what is called, in Latin, the "sanctum sanctorum" (which translates to "Holy of Holies"), the Tabernacle where the Ark of the Covenant is believed to have once rested. According to Britannica.com, the Holy of Holies was located toward the West end of Solomon's Temple.
[Source: http://www.britannica.com/topic/Holy-of-Holies]
That spot may only be visited by the High Priest (the Nasi) and only on Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement). Since 1967, the Chief Rabbinate of Israel has ruled that Jews must not be permitted to walk on that ground.
This is the reason why open prayer upon the Temple Mount is a hotly-debated topic; especially before the restoration of the Temple, at which time the significance of its being "a house of prayer for all nations" (Isaiah 56:7) would truly be fulfilled, since humanity would be instantaneously converted to Judaism via an obvious miracle; hence, their prayers would share the same significance, all being directed toward the same god.
Simply put, it's unclear whether Isaiah 56:7 implies that everyone praying at the Temple will be Jewish, or else that people will be free to pray in the Third Temple even if they're praying to a god other than the god of Abraham. After all, it says "for all nations", not "for all faiths".
Unfortunately, that is a discussion which lies beyond the scope of this article. But you can read "A Jewish and Democratic State" if you would like to know more about my views regarding how to geo-politically interpret these ongoing attempts, by Israelis, to fulfill Jewish prophecy.
Back to the mosques.
The Al Jazeera article mentioned above, is titled "What do Texan red heifers have to do with Al-Aqsa and a Jewish temple?". Written by Mersiha Gadzo, the articles answer to the question in its headline, reflects and summarizes the unease felt by Muslims at the prospect of the red heifer's burning:
"These red heifers [-] and the archaic ritual they were brought to
Israel for [-] stand at the heart of a convoluted effort by a segment of
ultranationalist Jews to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, the third holiest
site in Islam that has stood on a hill in the Old City of Jerusalem for more
than 1,000 years, and replace it with a [']Third Temple[']".
To be specific, Jewish law obligates the Jewish people to build the Temple, if and when they are able to do so, and the group of people who participate in the rebuilding of the Temple are called the zemach, which means "branch". The zemach is (or are) an expression of the Messiah (Mashiach), and Mashiach is to supervise the construction of the Temple.
Of course, the difficulty comes when we have to figure out how a Third Holy Temple of Jerusalem is supposed to appear atop the Temple Mount, while the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa are already standing there.
From the Muslims' point of view, the burning of the red heifer constitutes a threat to destroy those mosques, because that is apparently the quickest and easiest way to make room for such a Jewish temple.
This is why the discussion of the prospect of the potential upcoming burning of a red heifer, worries Muslims so much. This is a a time of inflamed violence between Israelis and Palestinians (especially since October 7th, 2023 since which time some 1,300 to 1,500 Israelis, and over 30,000 Palestinians, have been killed). And a number of other events are happening simultaneously; including the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan (as well as a solar eclipse over the United States on April 8th, N.A.S.A.'s ionosphere experiments which involved firing three rockets at the eclipse, and an experiment by C.E.R.N. in Europe).
And the potential for an escalation in violence - surrounding the current events as well as the potential upcoming ceremony - should worry us, too; whether we are Muslim, Jewish, Christian, or even secular or atheist. And here's why.
6. Significance of Al-Aqsa Mosque and Dome of the Rock Lost on Christians and Westerners
Originally published under the title
"Sacrifice of Red Heifer May Require Destruction of
al-Aqsa Mosque and/or the Dome of the Rock Temple"
Edited and expanded on April 12th, 2024.
