Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Day 11
While visiting the Temple Institute, we were shown the components of the Menorah. Spike is holding a reconstruction of the top of one of the seven candles. The actual 6 ft. version is shown on the right!
We visited the Western 'Wailing' Wall. Visitors can place their petitions to God on a small piece of paper & tuck it into a crack.The prayer area is divided into men & women sides
Below is a video clip of the Wailing wall on Shabbot. The Jewish worshipers are nicely dressed for this festive evening.
The narrow streets through the Muslim district of Jerusalem are lined with shops that display their colorful wares. This was along the Via Dolorosa.
The Church of the Holy Sepulcher, is one of two sites thought to be where Jesus was laid to rest.
Day 10
There were two Hezekiah tunnels, a wet one & a dry one.... Tim lead the Wet tunnel team! Both Teams ended up at the Pool of Siloam.
Rick is sitting on the same steps that Jesus taught from. About 30 feet below the current street level the street paver stones are found where Jesus carried His cross.
We finished up the day with a visit to Abraham's Tent. It was a delightful re-enactment of what life would have been like 4000 years ago.
Day 10 Redux:
We started our day at the south end of the temple mount on the teaching steps. According to Jewish tradition this is where the “just” shall enter on Judgement Day. The Umayyads (Muslims) blocked the Hulda gate in the 8th century to prevent such an occurrence, but I don’t think they’re accounting for the “chance” of an earthquake or some other such handiwork of God.
After a short visit, we went down into the City of
We had the opportunity to go on adventure here as we descended into the water source of
In the afternoon we went into the old city through the Herod’s Gate (aka the Flower Gate, aka the Crusader’s Gate) and walked to the Struthion Pool. It was through this gate that Godfrey de Bouillon entered the city in 1099 during the First Crusade – the only crusade that captured
But enough about the crusaders … as I said we were heading to the Struthion Pool. This is the water source inside Herod’s Apolonia fortress. Herod was a pretty smart, albeit paranoid, guy. He felt he needed his own mercenaries nearby the temple because he knew the people hated him and might try to take him out at any moment. He also knew that having a personal guard that could be besieged without water was as good as having no guard at all so he built a cistern to hold plenty of water in the fortress.
The Romans garrisoned soldiers at the Fortress and they left behind evidence of a macabre game they liked to play: the King’s Game. In this game they would choose a “king” and would pretend to follow his orders and pay homage to him for a period of time. Then the “king” would have to take his own life. The Romans realized this wasn’t such a wise idea for the soldiers to be killing themselves off so they modified the game to select prisoners to be “king”. It was a poignant reminder of the royal robe and crown and the taunting that the Roman soldiers gave our Lord.
We closed the day by returning to the temple to walk the tunnels at midnight! No, it wasn’t anything spooky or mysterious about doing it at midnight, it was just the only time we could get a reservation. We walked underneath the western wall and at one point were very close to where the Holy of Holies would have been up above. This is a highly venerated site by the Jewish people and they have set up a small prayer enclave here complete with candles and censers. We walked most of the length of the wall and stopped at a broad paved street that was being constructed at the time of the death of Herod. We saw the base of the wall go all the way down to bedrock and the amazing precision construction that Herod used with massive blocks of solid rock. Thus ended a very long but rewarding day.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Day 9 Israel
Just before we went to Gethsemane, we drove to a scenic overlook at the Mt. of Olives and took a group photo overlooking the ‘Old City’, Mt. Moriah (where the Temple mount is located), and scores of other important sites. As we looked down on the ancient city below, we saw a gate in the wall beneath the Temple Mount, sealed up with stone blocks and mortar. This was an attempt by a rule centuries ago to prevent the return of Christ because it had been prophesied in Ezekiel that the Messiah would return through the Eastern gate (also known as the Golden or Beautiful Gate). We pondered what that moment will be like when Christ indeed does return and enters through that gate—and how no one or nothing will be able to stand against him as he fulfills prophesy and heralds in his millennial reign!
It was sheer chaos getting to the Gethsemane—there are so many tourists here to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Israel. If there is a question in anyone’s mind about Israel being too dangerous for the world to visit—it’s certainly not keeping tourists away! Tour groups are here in what must be record numbers! But despite all the throngs of people, we were able to find a quiet place in the olive gardens of Gethsemane and enjoy a time to reflect on Scripture, pray, and meditate on the events of Jesus’ final hours before his arrest and execution. The Fransicans have built a church in the middle of one olive garden in the area to commemorate Christ’s night of prayer. We briefly toured the church, then ate lunch at a nearby kibbutz.
Next, we drove across Jerusalem to the Israeli Museum. We were able to walk through collections of century old Israeli artifacts, including the Dead Sea Scrolls. This was a very important moment for us all—to actually see the scrolls preserved for the world to see was so validating to our faith and moving to our hearts. God’s faithfulness to allow these scrolls to be discovered and protected for so many years is an amazing story (I won’t go into all the details here, but you really must read about it for yourself!). Next to the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit is a detailed model of biblical Jerusalem. The creators of this site had recreated the city of Jerusalem as it existed during the time of Christ. Everything was built to scale—even according to the elevation of the land—just on a much smaller scale (approximately 50:1). It was so helpful to see the entire city, spread out in a way that we could take it all in at once.
Our last stop for the day was at a site many believe was the site of Jesus’ crucifixion and burial—the Garden Tomb. The traditional site where many believe these events happened is now housed under the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, in the Jerusalem’s Old City. At any rate, it was a wonderful visit and our guide (Ken) explained why many believe that this is the actual site where Christ died. He reminded us that wherever it all occurred, either way, both tombs are empty!
We came back to the hotel and some of us walked down to Ben-Yehuda Street—a local open air mall that’s really just a closed off street. The Sabbath was just ending and so people were coming out to socialize and shops & restaurants were opening up—at 8:30 at night! We enjoyed just walking the streets and taking in the local flavor of the city. Continue to pray for us—for our safety, our energy, our witness to the unsaved among us and to the Israelis and Palestinians that we encounter each day.
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Day 8 - Mount Zion & Yad Vashem
The Upper Room is right above the traditional site King David’s Tomb (how convenient!) and has changed hands from the early Christian church to the Persians back to the Church to the Crusaders and the Franciscans to the Muslims and finally back to the Franciscans. So we now have the remnants of a mosque on top of a Jewish holy site that is supposed to be the Christian holy site of our Lord’s Last Supper – most confusing.
Further on down
I forgot to mention that our hotel, the King Solomon, is right next to the
This gave us more time for Yad Vashem, the
We left Yad Vashem emotionally drained and some returned to the hotel to end the day early while others ventured on to Bethlehem. I did not go, so you will have to hear about
- Colin for Tim
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Day 7 - Nazareth, Megiddo, Mt. Carmel & Caesarea
Our first stop is in Nazareth to see a recreation of a village at the time of Christ. Our guide told us about life in the village and related many of Christ's parables along with the way including the Parable of the Sower, the Woman and the Lost Coin, and the Wise and the Foolish Builders. We learned that the reason you crush the grapes with your feet and not with the millstone, is the millstone would crush the grape seeds and give bitter wine - how clever. We saw an ancient olive press where we learned about the various grades of olive oil: extra virgin, virgin, and plain old diesel (I made the last part up). Of course the best was reserved for ceremonial uses in the synagogues and the temple which is a nice segue to what we saw next: the synagogue. Here, Tim read from Luke 4:16-21 recounting the time when Jesus came into the synagogue in Nazareth and read from scroll of Isaiah 61 summarizing it with, "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."
From here, we went to Tel Megiddo, the site of many historical battles and one big one to come. We also went to Mt. Carmel where Tim did his rendition of Isaiah taking on the prophets of Baal and then on to Caesarea to see the incredible building and subsequent ruin of King Herod's city. I'll write more about all of this later but now it's time for dinner.
Oh, and for Don, a sneak preview of things to come:
- Colin for Tim
Friday, May 16, 2008
Day 6 - Israel
Our first stop today was a visit to the excavation site of Tel Hazor. This ancient city is located in the Hula Valley at the foot of the Galilee Mountains. The area around Hazor is very fertile as the streams in the nearby Hazor stream provide ample water supplies. This city was one of the greatest cities in the land of Israel and one of the most important cities in the Canaanite period. The biblical account of Hazor is found in Joshua 11:1-12. King Jabin of Hazor aligned himself with other Canaanite cities in an effort to attack the Israelites led by Joshua. However, the Israelites were victorious and they burnt Hazor to the ground. Recent archaeologists have confirmed that the ruins of Hazor were indeed burned.
While there were no major walls or structures that have survived, the site is mostly comprised of the original stone walls which gave us a good understanding of the layout of the city. One interesting aspect of this city was the intricate water system. The Canaanites developed a cistern and a tunnel shaft measuring over 45 meters which led down to an underwater spring. This spring provided an ample water supply within the walls of the city--very important if an enemy laid siege to the city.
From Tel Hazor, we traveled to the ruins of the ancient city of Zippori. Zippori was a large and sprawling city located on a hill in the lower Galilee and is currently under extensive excavation by archaeologists. The city has a system of streets, public buildings, houses, a huge theater, bathhouses, a synagogue and several churches dating back to the Roman and Byzantine periods. In addition, this city was occupied by the Crusaders around 1178 AD. They built a huge citadel which served as a lookout over the valley below. The structure still exists, and we were even able to climb to the top of it to take in the view.
Upon conclusion of our “taxi” ride, many of us were introduced to what may be considered the “Disneyland” of Israel. Each of the taxi’s can hold 8 people. Imagine a small minivan from the 80’s, with no seat belts and squeaky breaks. Our local driver pleasantly greeted us, and then the ride was on. He took off at a high rate of speed, rounding corners at every opportunity, apparently not wanting to waste any time for our journey by applying the breaks. We held on for dear life as we sped up the hill, swerving often to avoid the taxis driving down the hill with the same vigor. Roberta, Cathy and Cheryl weren’t sure whether to laugh or cry, while Tom tried to take advantage of the swerving car to snap a few photos out the window.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Israel and Jordan Day 4
We drove down to the Plains of Moab, said good-bye to our Jordanian guide, Aladdin, our driver, Hassim, our security guard, Ramadan, as we crossed the border to return to Israel. Our Israeli guide, Pilar, was there to greet us and we were all very glad to see her and continue with our journey toward Galilee.
Once we arrived in the area of the Galilee, we came to the Jordan River and several folks from our tour decided to be baptized! The experience was not what many of us expected (unfortunately being baptized in the Jordan has become highly commercialized), but it was still very special. Earle and Tim baptized Candy Walhood (OR), Debbie and Jayne Mercer (Earle and Julie’s daughter and granddaughter), Tim and Tiffany Thompson (WI), Lena (Christine) Satterlee, Flo Shiroma, Barb Benda, Pat Robinson (Marla Hazen’s sister), and ‘Spike’ Smith (who came to faith in Jesus this week!). After the baptisms, we all sang “How Great Thou Art” and enjoyed such a sweet time of fellowship and celebration with one another.
We drove to the northern end of the Sea of Galilee, up into the high country (near Lebanon and Syria) and settled in at our accommodations for the next three days—a kibbutz (sort of a Jewish commune established by Israel allowing people to live, work, and volunteer to serve the nation and provide services like growing crops, providing education, caring for livestock, etc.,…) called The Hagoshrim. This has been the lodging that we’ve all been most excited about. It’s set in a wooded area with streams, waterfalls, wildlife, and absolutely delicious food! What a blessing this day has been! Just listening to the stories of all the folks being baptized made this trip MORE than worthwhile. The power of Jesus to save and change lives never ceases to touch our hearts deeply and challenge us to continue to boldly and compassionately share the ‘good news’ of the gospel.