One of the greatest mysteries surrounding the original nine Templars, was their mission. They weren't on the highway's protecting pilgrims, nor did they fight a single battle. Instead records show that they spent their time under Solomon's Temple Mount.
While speculation is rampant over the years of what is was they looking for, legends have sprung up around those possibilities leading to stories of fabulous treasure. Clearly the Templars were looking for something during those days, but the nature of the search remains unknown.
As a working theory, is it possible that the items they were looking for were of greater value than gold or silver? Was there something else hidden beneath the Temple Mount that the Templars had to retrieve and protect? For this possibility our search must begin before the birth of Christ, in Palestine.
Eusebius, an early historian spoke of a inner battle that existed there between Herod and the Sanhedrin that may have some bearing on our search for this “treasure.”
Herod, the son of Antipater, was named king of the Jews by the Roman Senate. On the other hand the Sanhedrin, ruling body of the Jews, claimed that they were the legal heirs to that land by virtue of their genealogy. They claimed the legal right to rule as descendants from the House of Israel and King David, and marked Herod as the usurper. Eusebius said that Herod, “...goaded by...his ignoble extraction (or birth)...committed all these [families] records ...to the flames. ...No one else would be able to trace his pedigree by public records, back to [the] Patriarchs.”
Then another thorny issue presented itself, Eusebius continues “A few however of the careful either remembering the names, or...[having] private records of their own [preserved] the memory of their noble extraction....” Those private records carried a new threat with the birth of Jesus Christ. Another “King of the Jews” to contend with! Determined this time to end the royal line of the House of David, he signed an edict ordering the death of all male infants from two years old and under to be slain.
Meanwhile, the Sanhedrin were tickled with Herod's dilemma, but they were soon to be faced with a similar situation. As the followers of Jesus Christ grew, the Sanhedrin found themselves on the defense against questions of their authority, which did not carry the strength that the descendant of Mary and Joseph, who were the lawful heirs to the Davidic throne, did. As common men and women began to recognize the authority of Christs lineage, the Sanhedrin and Rome found themselves without legal authority, despite Rome's rule.
Genealogy was of the greatest importance in establishing authority. Rome knew it, Herod knew it, and so did the Sanhedrin. The Templars also knew it, and without it, no claim to Jerusalem's throne in Christ's day, or later in Europe, would anyone be able to garner the support of the general populace without a solid claim from a documented line of descent.
So began a battle for nearly every throne in Europe and the Middle East for the next two thousand years in Scottish genealogy and English genealogy, not to mention places like Spain, France, and Ireland! With the massive force of the Roman Catholic Church claiming not only spiritual authority, but secular; proof had to be found to maintain a King's rightful authority against the Church in Rome. The church was becoming a monumental force in the world, with a desire for power and authority where it didn't legally belong. Were the Templars looking for this proof? Each of the nine Templars came from families associated with those royal bloodlines. What a boon those records would have been; in the end they would be worth more than a room full of treasure.
 |
