Day 10 - Jerusalem Part I

Hello Friends,

Day 10 was our first full day in this glorious, beautiful, chaotic, enchanting and historic city of Jerusalem. Our trip leaders were wise to leave this til the end. As we have walked the paths of our spiritual ancestors through the deserts, the mountains and the wilderness, they all seem to lead here, to Mount Moriah, to Mount Zion, to Jerusalem.

After breakfast, instead of boarding the bus, we set out on foot. We walked past the Jaffa gate to the south side of the Temple Mount. It was a perfectly clear day, and Rabbi Rod took us to a lookout point, and showed us the footprint of the ancient City of David. We sat in an area where David’s palace would’ve been, and where his mighty men would’ve lived, including his friend Uriah, the husband of Bathsheba. 

From David, the teaching fast forwarded to Hezekiah, one of the few good kings of the southern kingdom. At a time when the Assyrian army was conquering all their neighboring kingdoms, Hezekiah did what he could to prepare. This included rerouting their fresh water supply from outside the city gates to within the city gates, and digging a 533 meter tunnel through solid rock. We got to walk through that ancient tunnel in knee deep water with our flashlights, singing hymns along the way. 

This tunnel, dug in the days of Hezekiah, around 722 B.C., is one of the best examples we have of how ancient Biblical history and modern day archeology line up perfectly. Like so many other things we’ve seen in the past two weeks, it reinforces the authenticity and the reliability of the scriptures. The Bible isn’t just a book full of myths and legends. It’s a true story from start to finish of how God has revealed himself to humanity. And walking through that tunnel helped us to see, feel and experience that story in real time. What a gift!

And BTW… As Hezekiah and his people put their trust in God, against all odds, God fought for them and supernaturally defeated the Assyrian army! (2 Kings 18-19)

Our next stop was the Herodium, one of Herod’s many fortress / palaces just south of Jerusalem. In keeping with everything else Herod did, the Herodium was an engineering marvel, and an artistic masterpiece. But it’s also a grim reminder of how power-hungry and murderous Herod was. From the Herodium, Herod had a perfect view of the little town of Bethlehem, where he could keep a watchful eye. He knew the Scriptures, that a king would rise from Bethlehem, and he wasn’t about to let that happen. When Jesus was born, the king did rise, and Herod was dead soon thereafter. This magnificent structure, built to exalt and protect a king, is now a mausoleum, and lies in ruins. He who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbled himself will be exalted.

We had lunch in Bethlehem, and then did some shopping in a store that is owned and run by Palestinian Christians. With the pandemic, they have not seen many customers for a long time. We were blessed to be there, and they were blessed to have us there. Before we left, we prayed for them and sang a blessing over them.

After driving back to Jerusalem, a group of us took a walk through the City to the Western Wall. The Jewish Shabbat celebration starts on Friday evening, so it was an incredible time to be there. It was jampacked with people, many of whom were orthodox and ultra-orthodox Jews, wearing their black coats and hats, praying and interceding at the wall, while others were singing and dancing and celebrating. It was a beautiful and mysterious scene, and so utterly unique from anything we know or experience as Christians. These Jews pray at the wall because it’s as close as they can get to the original location of the Jewish temple, which was destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D. it’s one of their most sacred sites, where they both mourn and celebrate all at the same time. But on Shabbat, they mostly celebrate!

We’re looking forward to our final day in Jerusalem tomorrow, and our last day in Israel, when we will focus on where Jesus spent most of his time the final week before he went to the cross. 

Shalom.