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Israel Study Tour with Josh Weidmann Ministries
October 14-26, 2019
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The culture, diversity and the history
Jerusalem is such an amazing city. The culture, diversity and the history all blend together making for one of the most incredible cities on earth. Today we had the opportunity to explore both within and outside of the walls of the Old City. We began the day by touring the Temple Mount. Today, the Temple Mount holds the Al Aqsa mosque, considered the 3rd most holy site in the Muslim religion. Next to the mosque is the southern corner of the Temple Mount which we gathered to talk about the temptation of Jesus. We know the story of how Jesus used scripture to combat Satan but it was really cool to see how high the top of the Temple Mount really is.
From the Temple Mount, we walked down to the pools of Bethesda. This is the site where Jesus heals a man who hadn’t walked for 38 years. After seeing the man’s faith, Jesus heals him and secretly sneaks away through the crowd. Josh taught us about how “secretly incredible” Jesus often was with his miracles.
After the the pools of Bethesda, we hopped back in our big bus to navigate some small streets and made our way to the City of David just back across from the Temple Mount. This, we learned, is one of Israel’s newer excavation sites and was really interesting to witness in person. Under the city is some incredible tunnels including the famous Hezekiah’s tunnel. This impressive tunnel was a secret passageway under the walls of Jerusalem. This tunnel led us to the Pool of Siloam. This is the place where Jesus sent the blind man after spitting in the mud and rubbing it on his eyes, ultimately healing his sight.
After this, we were back at the Temple Mount and sat on the southern steps to hear more about the teachings of Jesus, the same place where he did so much of his teachings.
Southern Steps
An enormous flight of steps leads to the Southern Wall from the south. They were excavated after 1967 by archaeologist Benjamin Mazar and are the northernmost extension of the Jerusalem pilgrim road leading from the Pool of Siloam to the Temple Mount via the Double Gate and the Triple Gate, collectively called the Huldah Gates. These are the steps that Jesus of Nazareth[2][3] and other Jews of his era walked up to approach the Temple, especially on the great pilgrimage festivals of Passover, Shavuot and Sukkot. [2] The stairs that lead to the double gate are intact and "well-preserved."[4] The steps that lead to the triple gate were mostly destroyed.[4] / The risers are low, a mere 7 to 10 inches high, and each step is 12 to 35 inches deep, forcing the ascending pilgrims to walk with a stately, deliberate tread.[2] The pilgrims entered the temple precincts through the double and triple gates still visible in the Southern Wall.[5][2] Together, the double and triple gates are known as the Hulda Gates, after the prophetess Huldah.[2]
Our last stop of the day led us Yad Veschem, a Holocaust museum/memorial. This beautiful location on top of a hill was such a physically beautiful location that unfortunately holds so much ugliness in its walls full of history. Again, today was another amazing day. So many amazing memories are being made. Thanks for following along, God bless.
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