The Huldah Steps

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 The Huldah Steps

In the Jesus period (the first third of the 1st century CE) the Huldah Steps were along the southern Wall of the Temple Mount and they are still there. They were named after one of the great but briefly mentioned women of the Hebrew Scriptures: the Prophetess Huldah. She was the wife of Shallum, who took care of the wardrobe (either the priestly or the royal robes) (II Kings 22 & II Chron. 34). Shallum held a position of honour and trust (in about 621 BCE in the days of King Josiah) but it is Huldah whose name is remembered.

An enormous industry was involved in creating the priestly garments and there were many hundreds of priests whose garments were too remain spotless.

In the photograph of the model of 1st century Jerusalem the broad steps are clearly seen in white. They were the main means by which worshippers entered and exited from Temple Mount. The double gates were on the left for entry and the triple gates on the right for the exit (with an error in the model). Beneath these steps are at least fifty ritual immersion pools (or mikvah’ot) for the compulsory use of pilgrims.

Plate 11.2.
The model of Jerusalem, looking North. Temple (Right) beyond the Huldah Steps with entry gates. David’s city and palaces of the Kings of Adabene (front right), small crowded homes of the Lower City (centre slope). Wealthy Upper City (rear left). Hans Kroch made the original model as a memorial to his son, Jacob, killed in the 1948 war. Photograph: Ian Finnin, 2018.

Some of our old photographs, from 1970, show this slope as grass-covered and unexcavated. When the steps were uncovered they provided a genuine link with antiquity. Jesus footsteps trod up and down here many times but recently the stones have been restored and replaced.

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