VALE DE JOSAFÁ EM JERUSALÉM! Onde será o Juízo Final?

Shalom and welcome back to ‘Israel with Aline!’ We are today in Jerusalem in front of the Kidron Valley, one of the most important places in the Bible, this is where the most important kings of Judah and Israel passed, this is where King David passed, King Hezekiah and so many others. This is also where Jesus spent some of the most dramatic moments of his life; a place undoubtedly full of history! But also with a very important future, because according to the Bible this is the valley of judgment of the nations. So let’s dive together into the past, present and also the future of this place. So if you are ready, let’s get started! Back here we can see the Valley of Judgment, it’s known as the Kidron Valley, or the Valley of Josaphat, or the King’s Valley and it’s between the two most important places in Jerusalem; it’s between the Mount of Olives, where we are now and on the other side the Old City of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount. And what we’re going to do now is we’re going to go down the Mount of Olives, enter the Valley, and literally walk into the judgment seat, let’s go! [Suspense music] We are now at the beginning of the valley, but don’t let its appearance here fool you, because it goes on for 20 miles until it flows into the Dead Sea, which is the lowest place in the world. And so, in addition to its length it goes down 393,700 ft in height. Here in the valley and on the side of the Mount of Olives, we see the oldest Jewish cemetery in the world that is still in operation, it is 3,000 years old and dates from the time of the first Temple in Jerusalem. But why turn such a beautiful place like this into a cemetery? The reason that people wanted and still want to be buried here is because of some Biblical passages from the book of Zechariah: “A day of the LORD is coming, Jerusalem, when your possessions will be plundered and divided up within your very walls. I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it; the city will be captured the houses ransacked, and the women raped. Half of the city will go into exile but the rest of the people will not be taken from the city. Then the LORD will go out and fight against those nations as he fights on a day of battle. On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south.” Zechariah14:1-4 And as we have just heard, this is the place of the Messiah’s arrival and also the place of the judgment of the nations at the end of time. So people are buried here because they want to be in the box, in the vip box for the end times. So let’s take a look at some of the oldest and most important tombs that have here! Now look at this colossal tomb! Who is buried here? According to tradition, this is the tomb of Zechariah, but we don’t know if it is really Zechariah from the Bible. Who we do know who are buried are the people in that tomb up there, and that is where we are going. And just to let you know, they are also mentioned in the Bible, let’s go! This tomb is not open to the public, and today they opened it especially for us, and for this reason I am very excited, because for me it is the first time that I enter here. And you can already see this colossal tomb that is carved out of the rock. And who is buried in this gigantic tomb? We know from the construction that it was a wealthy family, a very rich family. And for years it was a mystery who this family was, until an inscription was found up here that says that the family of Benei Hezir is buried here, who are they? We know them from the Bible itself, they are one of the 24 families of Cohens, the priests of the Temple of Jerusalem. This means first, that they are descendants of whom? From Aaron, Moses’ brother, and they are part of the Tribe of Levi, we are literally now going to enter together into the tomb of a family of Levites that served in the Temple of Jerusalem two thousand years ago! Fantastic! So we are inside a cave, inside the inner part of the cave, and we see here even deeper into the cave. Why, how were people buried two thousand years ago, in Jesus’ time? Most people didn’t have that kind of money and were buried in the ground in simple tombs, but people of wealth were buried in the following way: they built a cave and in it they made niches, exactly like the ones you see. The body was placed inside and left for a year and a stone was placed at the entrance to close it, also because of the smell of the body, and after a year they came back here, opened the stone, took out the bones and placed them in the ossuary. And after the bones were removed, the same cave was reused generation after generation, And now we also remember how Jesus was buried, when Joseph of Arimathea gives the tomb to Jesus; he was a very rich man, so he had a tomb like this one. And that is also why it is written that it was a new tomb, because most of the tombs were old and used for generations. And it makes perfect sense that a family of Temple priests would be buried here, since we are very close to where the Temple in Jerusalem was and also that they had knowledge of the Biblical prophecies. I am feeling like a real Indiana Jones here going on adventures and going into these tunnels, but it is really a time travel, a little bit tiring as you are seeing, but it is really amazing, an unique opportunity to be able to be in here! And in this very valley is where Absalom is going to build a pillar, he who was one of King David’s sons. It is written in Second Samuel 18:18 During his lifetime Absalom had taken a pillar and erected it in the King’s Valley as a monument to himself, for he thought, “I have no son to carry on the memory of my name” He named the pillar after himself, and it is called Absalom’s Monument to this day. Now, where is this pillar? Perhaps here, this gigantic monolithic construction, it is known until today as the “Pillar of Absalom” and the local tradition says that this is the same pillar that is referred to in the Biblical passage. This is not a normal stone-on-stone construction as we are used to. This here, folks, is dug out of the rock, this here literally was a mountain that they dug out in the shape of this monument, this pillar. And right next to it there is a burial cave, which again, maybe Absalom himself is buried in. King David undoubtedly went through many difficult moments in his life, but perhaps no moment as difficult as the rebellion of his son Absalom. David decides to inherit the throne for Solomon, who was not the first-born son. And who doesn’t like this story at all is Absalom, who tries to k1ll his own father. David fought against Goliath a giant, he fought against so many people but the pain of fighting against his own son is a pain without equal. And that is why he will flee and he will flee through the Kidron Valley, as we see in this passage: “The whole countryside wept aloud as all the people passed by. The king also crossed the Kidron Valley and all the people moved on toward the wilderness. […] But David continued up the Mount of Olives weeping as he went; his head was covered and he was barefoot. All the people with him covered their heads too and were weeping as they went up.” 2 Samuel 15: 23 and 30 So the Kidron Valley is where David begins his weeping and mourning over the struggle against Absalom, and it is interesting that a thousand years later, another descendant of King David will arrive here, which is Jesus of Nazareth and he will also choose a place here in this valley which is called “Dominus Flevit” and there he will weep. Not for his son, but for the city of Jerusalem it will be the place where he cries and mourns and predicts the destruction of the city that will happen in the year 70. But this was not the only time Jesus passes by here, as we know, Jesus came fulfilling the Old Testament prophecies; of course, this also includes the prophecy of Zechariah and so when he makes his Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem on the Sunday before Easter Sunday, he comes down the Mount of Olives, crosses through the Kidron Valley and enters Jerusalem through the Golden Gate that we can see him here in the background. This is the gate that is sealed, but in Jesus’ time it was open and through there he enters the Old City of Jerusalem, And why does he choose that gate? First, because it is in front of the Mount of Olives, so it is the closest by that way, and also through that gate whoever entered, was facing the Temple of Jerusalem, the most important place for the people of Israel! And Jesus came once again to this valley after the Last Supper, “When he had finished praying, Jesus left with his disciples and crossed the Kidron Valley. On the other side there was a garden, and he and his disciples went into it. “Jhon 18:1 He came to the garden of Gethsemane, where we are entering now and here He will pray, sweat blood and spend his last moments in freedom, because here in this garden inside the valley, Judas came and gave the kiss of betrayal to Jesus. Then he was arrested and taken away to be judged. It is interesting to think that the valley of the judgment of the nations is the place where Jesus was taken to his judgment. But now let’s continue our walk through the valley and understand a little more about the judgment of the nations that will take place here. One of the names of this valley is the Valley of Josaphat, or in Hebrew Emek Yehoshafat, and I think this is the best name that represents what is going to happen here, Yehoshafat is the junction of two words: “Yeho” is a part of God’s name, the tetragrammaton and “Shafat” means to judge or will judge. So the name of this valley means “Yehoshafat – God will judge” and here according to the book of Joel Chapter 3 is the place of the judgment of the nations. Let’s look at the verse: “In those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather all nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat.There I will put them on trial for what they did to my inheritance, my people Israel, because they scattered my people among the nations and divided up my land.[…]Let the nations be roused; let them advance into the Valley of Jehoshaphat for there I will sit to judge all the nations on every side. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.” Joel 3:1- 2, 12 and 14. What God is saying through the prophet Joel is that God will judge here all the nations according to how they treated the people of Israel. And here are more than 150,000 tombs, among them tombs of Levites from the Temple in Jerusalem, prophets like Zechariah, Malachi and Haggai, and also ordinary people; all waiting for the moment of judgment of the nations and the final battle. So the Bible tells us that in this valley the nations will be gathered together and here the final judgment will begin. So don’t be fooled by the appearance of this valley as it is today, today the cemetery is so quiet, it’s a green place and practically nobody comes here, even when there is tourism in Israel, practically nobody goes down to visit the valley, but one day this valley will fill up as the book of Joel tells us. So watch the stage where so many things are going to happen and where so many things have already happened. I hope you enjoyed today’s video, don’t forget to subscribe to the channel because there are videos every Wednesday and Sunday, regards from Jerusalem and see you next time!