Israel Study Tour with Joshua Wilderness Institute

April 9-21, 2016

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Tunnels, Palaces and Churches

What another great day in the Promised Land! Today was our first day in Jerusalem and it was amazing. The day started out with us going to David’s City. It’s been incredible to see throughout this whole trip the thousands of years of history through architecture. Jen gave us an incredible teaching on the story of David and Bathsheba. As she was reading the passage to us it was incredible to see the story come alive before my eyes. Jen brought everything back to the necessity of good community. She touched on how David had no one to call him out on what he was doing until it was too late. It was a great reminder to not hide sin but to bring it to light so that your community and God can work through you.

Next, we walked through Hezekiah’s Tunnel. The tunnel is approximately 130 feet below the ground and about 500 yards long. It was used to bring water in to the city when the city was under attack. It was absolutely incredible to see how much work it took to make a tunnel the magnitude of this size without modern equipment and technology.

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.

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Next we went to the Herodium, the palace near Bethlehem that Herod the Great built and was buried in. As usual, when Herod builds something he builds it big and this was the case here. This one even had a pool that some say Herod sailed his boat around. Rich talked a little bit about the history of Herod’s palace, mentioning that Bethlehem was only two miles away and Jerusalem was only six! Rich said something that was really profound and something that I’m continuing to ponder. He said that we obviously didn’t come to study Herod and what he did. Though his palace was great and big, just two miles away there is a small town called Bethlehem, the place where our savior was born. Bethlehem has now become a pretty populated area now and Herod’s palace is just dirt and rocks. It shows me that God is so big and is so evident here. God lives!

Herodium

Herodium is 3 miles southeast of Bethlehem and 8 miles south of Jerusalem. Its summit is 2,460 feet above sea level.

Herod built or re-built eleven fortresses. This one he constructed on the location of his victory over Antigonus in 40 BC.

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After this, we headed into the city of Bethlehem! We ate a super good lunch and then headed to the Church of the Nativity. This is a church that is built on top of where Jesus Christ was born. At first I felt pretty overwhelmed by the huge church built over the site. There was tons of gold and silver and candles, and to be honest it all looked kind of gaudy to someone like me who had never really been to a church like this. But getting over that, it was pretty incredible to see the spot where Jesus was born.

Bethlehem

Biblical scholars believe Bethlehem, located in the "hill country" of Judah, may be the same as the Biblical Ephrath which means "fertile", as there is a reference to it in the Book of Micah as Bethlehem Ephratah.[17] The Bible also calls it Beth-Lehem Judah,and the New Testament describes it as the "City of David". It is first mentioned in the Bible as the place where the matriarch Rachel died and was buried "by the wayside" (Gen. 48:7). Rachel's Tomb, the traditional grave site, stands at the entrance to Bethlehem. According to the Book of Ruth, the valley to the east is where Ruth of Moab gleaned the fields and returned to town with Naomi. It was the home of Jesse, father of King David of Israel, and the site of David's anointment by the prophet Samuel. It was from the well of Bethlehem that three of his warriors brought him water when he was hiding in the cave of Adullam.

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To end the day we went souvenir shopping and headed back to the hotel. Rich tells us that the next two days are going to be fast paced as we wrap up our trip in the Old City of Jerusalem. For now, we are all tucked safely away in our hotel for the night to rest, relax and reflect.

Family and friends who may be reading this, I love you guys and miss you dearly. I cannot wait to get back and share the stories and the things I have learned here. See you guys soon!

Jared Parker

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