You shall not flee to Azal - Zechariah 14:5

[seventysevens]

3 comments

The phrase ונבקע הר הזיתים מחצין טזרחה literally means “and mountain of the olives is torn from his eastward half”. That is just how Josephus described the landslide that buried the kings' gardens:

"This prodigy was followed by another: near a certain place before the city, named Eroge, the one half of a mountain that looked westward was torn from the other half, and rolled for the space of four furlongs, till it stopped to the eastward of it, by which means the road was blocked up, and the king’s gardens covered with rubbish."​

The word בְקַע is used in 1 Kings 1:40 to describe the earth rending from the loud noise. This indicates either an earthquake or landslide.

I highly recommend the interlinear you are using to all. It's free > Scripture4All - Greek/Hebrew interlinear Bible software

Context is most important
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consider the word 'read' it's proper definition will be found in the surrounding text it is found - just like all other wording especially if it is of a controversial matter
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[Biblewriter]

I've also stated that Azal is the river/valley at the southernmost point of the Mount of Olives. All of these concur:

Israeli government
"המועצה הרעה" בהר אצל

Israel Antiquities Authority
Volume 129 Year 2017 Jerusalem, Nahal Azal

Archaeologists
"This will be about my first field trip in Archaeology of Jerusalem class [at Hebrew University] that occurred last Wednesday October 20th... This is the Azel Valley mentioned in Zechariah 14:5 in reference to the earthquake that occurred during King Uzziah's reign around 760 B.C."
An American Girl in Jerusalem: Geography of Jerusalem

Israeli society
“At the foot of the ridge is the deep channel of Atzal [sic] River (Zechariah 14:5), which advances toward the Kidron Valley. Its Biblical name was preserved by the Arabs as Wadi Yasul.”

Google
Google Maps

I have more confidence in scripture, than in the conclusions of mere men.

 

[συνείδησις]

In 1873-74 when Charles Clermont-Ganneau discovered Azal at Wadi Yasul at the far southern point of the Mount of Olives, there were no ruins there. However, Cyril of Alexandria wrote in his commentary on Zechariah 14 (5th century AD) that Azal was known to be “a town situated at the far point of the mountain [of olives]”. Four hundred years later (808 AD) a document prepared for Emperor Charlemagne mentioned a church in a town named Yason that is claimed to have been located in Wadi Yasul. So there is some indication that a town did exist at Azal in prior times.

In 1867 Sir Charles Warren discovered an aqueduct 80-90' underground that was 1/3 mile long and 4' wide by 6' high, that ran down the Kidron Valley from an underground cistern near En Rogel to the mouth of Azal Valley. The existence of this aqueduct virtually guarantees that there was a village or town at its southern terminus at Azal. An Arab peasant (fellahin) told Warren that the aqueduct's southern access point was used to collect water until about the mid 1800s, when the Egyptian government filled it in because women were being raped there. This suggests that a village of some sort existed there then.

 

[LittleLambofJesus]

I have more confidence in scripture, than in the conclusions of mere men.

That is good to hear

 

[LittleLambofJesus]

What is it about Jesus standing on the Mount of Olives (which definitely happened) requires its immediate splitting?

Interesting thread. Do you see Jesus pointing at a specific mountain in the passage of Matthew? If so, which one would it be?
[There is a similar event shown in Reve 8:8.]

https://www.christianforums.com/threads/faith-mountain-and-sea-matt-21-21-mark-11-3.8070820/
Faith, Mountain, and Sea Matthew 21:21/Mark 11:3

Matthew 21:21
Jesus answering, said to them, "amen I am saying to ye, if ever ye may be having faith, and no ye may be doubting, not only the of the fig-tree ye shall be doing,
but even-ever to the Mountain, this-one, ye may saying, 'Be being lifted up! and be being cast! into the sea', it shall be becoming"; [Revelation 8:8]

Hebrew 12:18
For ye came not near to the Mountain touched and scorched with fire, and to blackness, and darkness, and tempest,

Revelation 8:8
And the second messenger did sound, and as it were a great Mountain [OC/Mt Sinai?] with fire burning was cast into the Sea,.......