The Location of Christ's Crucifixion: From Siloam to Azal

From the Siloam Gate to Azal

“And you shall flee into the Valley of My mountains, for the Valley of My mountains shall reach unto Azal.” (Zechariah 14:5a)

In the Day that Jesus returns to set His foot on the Mount of Olives as YHVeH Messiah revealed, He will set His foot upon the Mount, and cleave it in two: from east to west. This very activity reveals the location of the Cross and the Garden Tomb near which He was crucified. The northern half shall move north, and the southern half shall move south (Zechariah 14:4).

The locality of YHVeH Messiah’s contact with Olivet will be in a section in which a secret fault runs directly from the gate of Siloam in an easterly direction to Azal. Azal, in the Aramaic, is translated as “went”. The prophecy of Zechariah 14:5 tells us that the fault begins to split in the Kidron, and opens to wherever the remnant of Israel, who were pinned down and under fire in the Kidron, are said to have “went” at the time of Christ’s return on Day 2625, which is Azal. In all likelihood, the fault will run in such a way, so as to go between the second and third peaks.

In Tosefta’s Baba Batra 1:11, and the Jerusalem Talmud’s Nazir 57(d), we are told that the Tomb of David has a rock fissure access from the Kidron Valley on this Eastern Mount.

In Nehemiah 3:16, David’s Tomb is described as being (de facto) on the Mount of Olives, at the Hill of Offence, directly near to and opposite the Pool of Siloam. In the Roman History of Dio Cassius, .69, we are educated that the tomb of David survived beyond the 70 A.D. siege by Titus, but did not stand upright as far as the Second Revolt of 132 A.D.

From what the Biblical markers appear to me to be: if archaeologists wish to find David’s sepulcher, all they need do is locate the Pool of Siloam, move due East or Southeast across the Valley, locate the rock fissure, and trace it into Olivet.{1} The sepulcher of David will lie immediately north of the fissure, while Christ’s resurrection tomb will lie south of the fissure, and some distance from it (probably 144 cubits or 216 feet from the position of where the Romans erected Christ on the Cross).

How ironic, that those who gazed on Messiah’s crucifixion, could also in the same field of view see David’s tomb, and miss the messianic implication of Jesus Christ as being both David’s Lord (Heb. -“Adonai”) and “son”. In the last days, if David’s tomb is not revealed before YHVeH Messiah cleaves open the fissure with His foot at the end of the Great Tribulation, then those Jews who flee through this Valley to Azal will see the remnants of David’s Sepulcher as they take flight to safety through a new valley of Olivet. Therefore, when we picture Christ Crucified, looking East from the Lower City and upon Him, up stream to our left on the mount of Olives-- we see David’s Sepulcher, and downstream upon the mount south-most base -- we see the Well called En Rogel.

We are erudite that archaeologists have unearthed some 900 burial caves in and around Jerusalem that date to the Second Temple Period.{2} Of these, only four elaborate tombs meet a like description of the Resurrection tomb. Of these four, guess what…only the Kidron Valley tomb is ignored in any and all of the tomb discussions among the scholarly publications and lectures. We truly need to follow up on the 1932 excavations in the Kidron by E.L. Sukenik with modern digs in this vicinity.

Now, in the Bible, the northern part of Olivet, in the Hebrew, takes on the connotation of “the rolling ascension”, which is descriptive of Christ’s resurrection and deliverance of souls at the tomb; while the southern part of Olivet takes on the undertone of “the rejection of the prophets”. The similarities of these two halves of Olivet are as the choices between life and death, between truth and falsehood, between the blessings and the curse. They become a type of co-covenant with Mt. Sinai/Horeb (Deuteronomy 29:1, 30:15,19-20). These two portions of Olivet will be the future covenant that will also be like a renewal of that with Mounts Gerezim and Ebal, which reads:

“And it shall come into being, when YHVeH your GOD
has caused you to come into the Land
where you are going to displace and occupy,
that you shall put forth and fasten the blessing upon Mount Gerezim,
and the curse upon Mount Ebal.” (Deuteronomy 11:29, translation mine)

The location of those two mounts of “Gerezim and Ebal”, as found in Deuteronomy 11:30, are against Gilgal (the place of rolling, or repentance - the place of liberty) and the plains of Moreh (the archer who instructs with the razor’s edge): the same inferences as the names of the two northern peaks of Mt. Olivet. Repetitively, these names of instruction teach us about passing between the choices of life and death. They also teach us about Messiah, and of His Cross and Resurrection; as well as the Judgment and separation of the redeemed and the evil in the Last Days. Case in point: good king Josiah.



King Josiah points to Messiah
Josiah (who ruled Judah from ca. 639-608 B.C.) chose Life. In turn, his actions pointed to the location of the coming Messiah. The Bible tells us that there was never before a King who turned to the LORD with all his heart, soul, and might -- according to the Law of Moses -- nor was there one arising after him (2 Kings 23:25). However, despite all his best efforts, Josiah by himself could not stave off the coming Judgment upon Jerusalem. He could however, set an example that was followed by four young men of Judah in the coming years: by Daniel and his three friends (Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah / aka., Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego - Daniel 1:6-7 ff.).
King Josiah chose to destroy all the idols of Jerusalem, and rid those dedicated to their promotion. In doing this, he did the LORD’s work. Then, as today, those hostile to GOD’s unadulterated Word attached themselves to the House of the LORD, and set up shop in order to neutralize its threat from within. But Josiah would have none of it. He took the idols brought into the House of YHVeH, took them East into the Kidron Valley, and burned them in the “fields of the Kidron” (2 Kings 23:4). He broke down all the altars and idols of Jerusalem, and beat them to dust. If the Kidron brook was dry -- he took the ashes to Bethel (“the House of GOD”). When the Kidron was running because of recent rains, he scattered the ashes into the Kidron torrent, so that it could be washed away by Living Waters.{3} By destroying the three idols upon the Mount of Olivet’s mount of Corruption, we have a prophetic confirmation of both the Trinity of GOD, and that this location is to be that under which Christ must be crucified.{4}

For Josiah, as a type of Christ and forerunner of Messiah, he was also the keeper of the greatest Passover Israel had ever seen from the days of the Judges to those times after him (2 Kings 23:21-23). Even so, the righteous actions of one man, was still not enough to stave off the Judgment of an entire nation. But it is through Josiah, that we are again directed south and east, to the Kidron, -- and to the area, we now know as Golgotha, by the fissure that leads to Azal, -- through which the eternal Covenant of Christ is erected for us. The Covenant of Christ is everlasting, past - present - future (Hebrews 13:20, 8). Still, at Azal, we are directed to still yet another New Covenant, an end of days New Covenant that is still yet to come, set for the Kingdom Age and the Millennial Reign of Messiah.{5}



Gematriac insights to Azal and the Cross

“And you shall flee into the Valley of My Mountains,
for the Valley of My Mountains shall reach unto Azal.” (Zechariah 14:5a)

The word Azal {Alef-Tzaddai-Lamed) is valued at 121 in the Hebrew, and the holder of a pil’ly (Pe-Lamed-Alef-Yod), that which is “a remarkable, and wonderful secret.”

That secret concerns an "unripe" (or aphiyl {Alef-Pe-Yod-Lamed}),
"pressed or urged" (alats Alef-Lamed-Tzaddai),
"Oak of the king" (allom melek Alef-Lamed-Mem-Lamed-Kaf)
that is "slender like a lotus tree" (a tse’el Tzaddai-Alef-Lamed).

The Cross also is unripe and slender like the lotus, upon which a King was hung, which also acts as a shade tree of sorts to which all the nations press upon (cf. the Cross with Lamentations 4:20). And yet, the Cross, the slender and unripe oak of the King, (revealed by Scripture as the acacia,) which is pressed, and holds a remarkable and wonderful secret.

Through Gematria, in the word Azal, we see that Messiah is given to us by GOD, through His Holy Word, a value through the descent of YH (being a yod י of 10) as Ya’ala (Yod-Ayin-Lamed-Alef), which divided means “the wild goat (Yod-Ayin-Lamed) of GOD (א).” This is the sacrifice of the Scapegoat, whose life is to be given for the sins of all Israel (cf. Leviticus 16:20-22; John 11:49-53). This activity directly links with the Torah’s example of the sacrifice of Isaac by Abraham, in which a ram (or wild goat prophetically) was provided in his place. From this "base” to the non-believer, but "pedestal” to them that believe (the mekownah Mem-Kaf-Vav-Nun-He), there rested Nineveh (Nun-Yod-Nun-Vav-He, "the one of offense"), who in Gematria is “The Son”, i.e., "the perpetuation" (Nun-Yod-Nun) “of VeH” (וה) - the Spirit of GOD.

It was from the west-most portion of this valley of Azal, at the gate of Siloam, in which the "bereaved" Messiah was "discarded and forsaken" (alman (Alef-Lamed-Mem-Nun), and to which the bride of Jerusalem, by way of a few corrupt rulers forced "widowhood and bereavement" (almon - Alef-Lamed-Mem-Nun) upon the nation of Israel. The Cross is a hammenek (He-Mem-Vav-Nun-Kaf), it is "a necklace or ornament " of faith to the believer, but a chain of bondage to the unbeliever.

The word Azal indeed holds a pil’ly or "wonderful secret", for it is the combination of the Hebrew letter Alef (א), and the word for "shade" in Hebrew, being "Zal" or "Tsal" (צל). Therefore, GOD's "shade", or the "Shade of the Right Hand" as told by Psalm 121:5, is directly and prophetically linked to this passage from Zechariah 14:5.

And what is the "wonderful secret"? "Zal" or "Tsal" is the shortest form of "Tselah" (צלעה ): "a rib", or "the side" of a person. This refers to Adam, to which Christ is the “Second Adam”, whose “rib” (as it were) is to be His Church.
It is through this Valley of the mount of Olives that the river of YHVeH shall flow until it reaches the Jordan, and then will flow both north and south from there (Ezekiel 47:1-8). This river from in origin from the Throne of YHVeH: from the throne of YHVeH Father and YHVeH the Lamb (Revelation 22:1). Jesus tells us that it shall flow forth from the innermost part of His being (John 7:38). The waters that flow out of the city of Jerusalem will teach us to trust in the Salvation (literally "Yeshua" or "Jesus" in Psalm 78:22) of GOD: Psalm 78:20,22. To not acknowledge Jesus as the True Messiah, IN THAT DAY, will be to provoke the immediate wrath of GOD (Psalm 78:21).

Jerusalem truly belongs to the Jews, and the Jewish people: the sons and daughters of Israel. In the phonetic form, Jerusalem is pronounced as YaH - RuaH - SHALOM. Translated, this means, “YH’s shout and proclamation of Peace.” The word Shalom can also be pronounced after an alternate dialect as Šālēm. I Kings 11:4 and 15:3 will have this translated as being “perfect” and as “wholly devoted to”, in the sense of being complete and finished in wholeness (or as an accomplishment of work). Shalom can be divided into two words: Shay שי and Laham לומ. Shay means “gift”. Laham means “a burning”. The burning gift perfectly described the burnt offering or sacrifice which Christ, at the Cross, represents. The Cross is all about Jesus paying for your and my sins, and all you need is to by faith, receive this gift of grace. It is not by your works, it is a gift which like all gifts, is to be happily and trustfully received, knowing the good intent of the one giving the gift for our best: that's one demonstration of what an "act of faith" is.

Now, "Zal" or "Tsal" is related to "Zalaph", which means, "wound", because they are phonetically joined as being synonymous in Gematria. They are of the same hallway, and simply parallel doors of definitiveness to our understanding. Gematria also opens up to us the significance of what "the wound" which YHVeH Messiah suffered in His "side" is to be represented by. In the Kingdom, when the waters proceed from the Throne of GOD, they are actually issued from this spear lance wound in YHVeH Messiah’s left side. From this wound in His side, the "issues of Living waters will gush forth": one of the soldiers, with a lance, pierced the side of Him, and at once, came out blood and water”(John 19:34). That amount probably being the equivalent to the gold Water Libation pitcher of “three logs” (30 ounces), which was dipped in the Pool of Siloam only during the Feast of Tabernacles (Babylonian Talmud: Sukkah 4,9). This occurred only during Tabernacles, and even the Mishna repeats that the waters of Siloach are “the well-springs of Salvation”(Sukkah 5). That is, these represent “Yeshua”, and they are carried with joy and with the mass waving of Palm Branches to mimic the sound of a rushing and mighty wind -- to be brought up festively and welcomed into the Temple.

Hence, when the First Priests beheld the living fulfillment of the Water Libation on Palm Sabbath (Saturday), they were supposed to welcome their King and have a fire-torch dance ceremony in the Temple that evening (Sukkah 4). Instead, He would leave the Temple quietly that evening, the last one through the Eastern Gate before it was shut for the day (Ezekiel 46:2). By remaining at the threshold of this gate, as Ezekiel 46:2 shows, we know the precise location where Jesus stood to within a matter of feet; and where the Apostles would fervently stake out in the first year after His death, burial, resurrection, and ascension.


Living Waters from the Spear Wound of Christ

In Jeremiah 2:13 and 17:13, we read that YHVeH is the source of Living Waters. In these passages, YHVeH is not only the "source" of Living waters -- He is the "Maqor" or "mountain artesian-wellspring" of Living Waters. This means, that from within the innermost part of His being, the flow of Living waters come. The Living Waters that flow out from the Throne of GOD in the Temple at Jerusalem, will pour forth as a mountain artesian-well-spring, and find their origin from a trickle that dribbles forth from the side-wound of Messiah. From a trickling of drops, the water expands and expands over the course of distance, as if by the distance of 70 rods to the power of 7, until passing through Azal; it becomes a rushing and mighty river (Ezekiel 47:1-5). This teaching is what Jesus infers upon Himself (John 7:37), and reveals about Ezekiel 47:1-5, saying:

" “As the Writing (has) spoke(n),
'out of His inner hollow, (from His heart), will flow rivers of Living Waters'.” " (John 7:38 - Translation mine)

Again, that inner hollow, through which "Living Waters" will flow from the throne of GOD{6} is from the same wound as the burst heart and pierced side of YHVeH Messiah, Jesus the Christ. In the Kingdom, the very heart of Messiah will continuously flow forth with waters, as a perpetual side of the Covenant of the Cross; and why we should place so much emphasis and believe into His atoning work there.

“All the saints shall sit at Thy feet, and shall receive of Thy words.
…and all thy children shall be taught of YHVeH, and great shall
be the comforting peace of thy children.”
(Deuteronomy 33:3, Isaiah 54:13 - KJV)


YHVeH Messiah thus teaches us all, both the Heavenly and earthly alike, that by the heart and loving-kindness of YHVeH is all life based, depended upon, and sustained. Daily, and everlastingly, we will be reminded of the Cross, and the sacrifice He made for us at the center-point of all of time and space, in 30 A.D. outside the walls of Jerusalem, in the Kidron and Hinom Valley. When John the Baptist declared,
“Behold the Lamb of GOD which taketh away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29 - KJV) he spoke of an eternal Victory by an eternal being, whom, by means of a Cross and your Faith into Him, will remove sin forever. Adam’s fall came because of a failure to continue in his active trust of what GOD said. As the brother, evangelist Jimmy Swaggart of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, loves to say, “Christ is (our) source, and the Cross is (our) means” to eternal life, joy, bliss, and restoration to His original intention for mankind. To which we say, “Amen, brother. Amen!” YHVeH Messiah’s shed blood atones for our sins and sin nature. Without the immersion of ourselves, by faith, into His death, there can be no resurrection to eternal life -- only a second death. It is that crucial that we understand this.

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1 The pool of Siloam is a known site, and its excavation can be read in Biblical Archaeology Review, Volume 31, No 5, Sep/Oct 2005, pp. 16-23: “Where Jesus cured the blind man.” by Hershel Shanks.

2 Biblical Archaeology Review, Volume 25, No. 5, Sep/Oct 1999, pp.23, 25: “Did a Rolling Stone Close Jesus’ Tomb?” by Amos Kloner.

3 Those ashes then would be merged into the salt and water of the Dead Sea; even as “holy water” is salted, and sprinkled on the people entering the Temple Courts, mixed with the ashes of the red heifer. The Epistle of Barnabas, .8, tells us that 3 boys are to sprinkle all the people entering the Temple, using a stick wrapped with purple wool and hyssop, dip it with the ashes of the red heifer, and sprinkle the people. The only effective way is by the mixture of “holy water” and “ashes”. The ashes would comprise a ratio of about 1:600 parts of water (to make it kosher), and thereby be effectively sprinkled upon the masses. The nicknames of these three boys are “Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” Therefore, by beating and grinding up the idols of gold and silver to dust, and casting into the Kidron -- Josiah was sprinkling the land of Judah with the ashes of faith, and pointing to a coming One who would sprinkle and cleanse all nations from this location of the Kidron in centuries to come.

4 2 Kings 23:13 describes these three idols as Ashtoreth (Phoenician deity of sexual appetite), Chemosh (“the subduer”), and Milcom. By placing these 3 idols on Mt. Olivet at the peak of Corruption, we guarantee a prophetic necessity for Christ to be crucified here to atone for the 3 sins of Adam in the Garden of Eden (I John 2:16, Genesis 3:6). The number 3 is also significant in relation to verification of the Trinity of the GOD-head as marking this spot for the Cross.
Ash-toreth in Gematriac understanding, is descriptive of the destination of this way of life, leading to a “moth-gate” or the “gate of the dead”. This is the lust of the flesh. In the next idol, we see the second sin of the pride of life: for Chem-esh in Gematriac understanding, is the activity of pride, of the desire “to stand out in existence”, as noteworthy, as someone to be noticed. Mil-kem is to see with the eyes, and “to be full by pining after”; rounding out the three sins of Adam with “the lust of the eyes”.

5 There is another new Covenant coming, which is simply for the duration of the Millennial Reign of Christ. It will be a Covenant of the Valley of Azal, that in the Kingdom, will be one of which the New Testament calls “palaios” παλαιος. It is to be “old” and useful for a specified period, -- such as the Law of Moses was. It is a covenant of Living Waters where one is free to choose life, and death is made dormant. It is a coming Covenant that is set-aside for the future: for those who have gone through -- and those children descended from those who have gone through -- the Tribulation and Great Tribulation Periods. It is not a Covenant that is “archaios” αρχαιος, “old from the very beginning”, such as from the time of the First Man in the Garden with GOD; even though we can, we see the similarities (e.g. Genesis 2:15-17). When the Millennial Reign ends, it may be that with the coming of the New Heavens and the New Earth that even this Azal Covenant Valley will be “put off” in the same way that the Old Testament Covenant is put off with the New. 2 Corinthians 3:14 expresses that the Old Covenant is not smashed and discarded, but rather it finds a fulfillment in the New. However, as with the “old man” or “ho palaios anthropos” of Romans 6:6, we are called to find then, that our old nature is to no longer to be of use, and to put it off.

A raincoat is no longer of use “as being worn” when one is on a trek through the Sahara on a cloudless and scorching- hot day. The body of corruptible flesh will be alien to us when we put on the new for a while, the next dimension and the next body being both of substance and ethereal. We are called to put the old off, because it was meant only for a set time, and even to discard any desires of it -- once we have put on the new, but not before. We find an Old Testament allegory in Josiah incinerating all Jerusalem’s idols. In effect, we will one day do even as Josiah did with the ashes. He dumped them into the running Kidron River-Torrent, as he looked forward to the coming of the Cross -- and he obtained a new day of freedom and liberty from GOD, which he had never heretofore known. We likewise, are to baptize our old nature of death into the Passion of Messiah, immersing it completely into Him by means of faith; that by means also, of His Resurrection; we might be raised up eternally, in newness of life (Romans 6:1-10).

6 Ezekiel 47:1-8, Revelation 22:1.