Israel Study Tour - Cornerstone

January 2-12, 2017

Subscription options are no longer available for this tour.

Help support our friends in Israel in their time of need.

The Temple

The Temple Mount or Mt. Has many amazing features the western wall, southern steps, the dry tunnel and the wet Hezekiah's tunnel and so many things that I may have forgotten. However, one of the most intriguing things for me is the construction. It's another design out of the genus mind of Herod. It's a fact that he was a master visionary. This is known by all of the massive structures that he built. But this structure has some special features such as the 220 ton 31 ft long and 15ft deep block. Furthermore, from the bed rock to its apex it was 90 ft high. The mystery is how did they place those block in the proper places without cranes? In fact,It's known how the block were brought over and that was on rolling logs. but still to this day no one knows how they got stacked so high without the proper tools.
--Khi Guy

Today, we went to Hezekiah’s Tunnel! The tunnel was built by King Hezekiah and was chiseled (by hand!) for the sake of rerouting water from the Gihon Spring so that it would flow under the City of David. During his reign, Hezekiah wanted to protect the water source from foreign enemies by keeping all of the water within the protection of his city’s walls. Therefore, he ordered his stone masons to start on both ends of the city with the intention of them meeting halfway underground. However, due to the lack of any effective navigation systems, stone masons tunneled their way through the bedrock relying mostly on guesswork and enduring many wrong turns. Eventually, both parties met in the middle and successfully created a 1600 ft. waterway that still flows today!
--Eric O’Dell

Hezekiah's Tunnel

A 1750-foot (530m) tunnel carved during the reign of Hezekiah to bring water from one side of the city to the other, Hezekiah’s Tunnel together with the 6th c. tunnel of Euphalios in Greece are considered the greatest works of water engineering technology in the pre-Classical period. Had it followed a straight line, the length would have been 1070 ft (335m) or 40% shorter.

Learn More

Today we submerged beneath the streets of Old Jerusalem, deep into a subterranean ancient place where we were amazed by the ruins of ancient cisterns, aqueducts, and many other archeological treasures. Many went by the watery way of the King Hezekiah tunnel that was dug to protect against the Assyrian attack in the 8th century B.C.! (II Kings 20:20, II Chronicles 32:30)
Others of us chose a drier route.

We all came out onto a Herodian road that ran along the path of the Temple Mount. Women can enter a place of prayer underground that is said to be the closest place to the Holy of Holies. We all came to the western wall where we were able to place prayers into the cracks of the wall, along with many other pilgrims. This has been an awesome spiritual adventure, one to be considered a once in a lifetime!
--Janet Williams

Western Wall

The Western Wall is the most holy place accessible to the Jewish people because of Muslim control of the Temple Mount. Known in recent centuries as the “Wailing Wall,” this was built by Herod the Great as the retaining wall of the Temple Mount complex. The plaza was created as an area for prayer when Israel captured the Old City in 1967. At times tens of thousands of people gather here for prayer.

Learn More

Upcoming Signature Tours

With 30 years of experience creating trips for other ministries, we've prepared our own signature study tours featuring some of our favorite itineraries and compelling teachers! If you've never been on a GTI Study Tour, take a moment to learn more about what you can expect.

GTI Signature Germany Study Tour
Sep 11-19, 2024
Learn More

Turkey / Greece Signature Study Tour
Sep 15-25, 2024
Learn More

Egypt / Jordan Signature Study Tour
Mar 5-17, 2025
Learn More