Day 07 - Jerusalem: Temple Mount, Western Wall, Rabbinic Tunnels, Bethlehem, Herodium

We began our first full day in Jerusalem, overlooking the city with a reading from Luke 19:28-41. This passage describes Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, where his followers praise him, but he weeps over the city. Jerusalem was a challenging place for Jesus. It’s still a challenging place today. With our excitement and appreciation, we hopped on the bus for a short drive.

We entered the Old City of Jerusalem, heading to the most contentious and important holy site in history: The Temple Mount. Today the Al-Aqsa mosque and Dome of the Rock stand on this site. The Temple Mount is under the religious authority of Muslims but the national authority of Israel. (Muslims dictate religious observance, and the Israeli army keeps the peace). After Israel gained its independence, keeping the Temple Mount under Muslim control was a massively important and difficult decision to maintain peace in Israel.

We moved from the beautiful and quiet Temple Mount to the Western Wall of the Temple Mount, the holiest site for the Jews. Divided into male and female sides, many Jewish people prayed passionately towards the wall. They believe this to be the closest spot to the Holy of Holies (the inner sanctum) of the Jewish Temple, which used to stand on the Temple Mount. This has been the closest the Jews can get to the site to worship for hundreds of years. Many of us approached the wall, laid hands on it, and had a moment of prayer or reflection. Several mentioned that praying at the wall and observing the lament and tears of those at the wall was the most powerful and emotional moment of the day.

Then the group divided into two to tour the Rabbinic Tunnels. We walked a 2,000-year-old road in front of the Temple Mount (now underground!). We saw part of the base of the Temple Mount wall that included one rectangular stone estimated to weigh over 300 tons and was 45 feet long. We today don’t yet understand how they moved a stone brick that large and maneuvered it into place!

As we exited the Rabbinic Tunnels, we found ourselves at the location of the trial of Jesus. Today this spot is home to a beautiful and reverent Catholic Church, but a portion of the floor remains from the time of Jesus. We could see a backgammon board etched into the stone by bored Roman soldiers passing the time until their next crucifixion.

Through busy streets (which cars could barely fit on but drove through nonetheless), we exited the Old City through the Lion’s Gate, which is believed to be the site of Stephen’s martyrdom in Acts.

Everywhere we go, we seem to be standing in or near an important biblical site. This is the Old City of Jerusalem after all.

Back on the bus, we headed to Bethlehem for lunch (chicken shwarma!). Bethlehem used to have a strong Christian community, over 70% of the population. However, it is now Palestinian territory and the Christian population has declined to less than 10%. We visited Johnny’s gift shop, which provides an endless assortment of jewelry, olive wood pieces, ancient coins, trinkets, etc etc. People were very excited to finally shop! This is our main souvenir shopping site for two reasons. First, we are so busy moving site to site that we just don’t have much time to shop. Second, and most importantly, the good people at Johnny’s use the proceeds to support the local Christian community in Bethlehem who are in desperate need of support, especially after COVID. They were very hospitable and enthusiastic, and provided great, quality merchandise (and complimentary cups of coffee!).

Nearby we stopped at the Shepherd’s Fields and Caves which gave us a new spin on the nativity story. Was Jesus actually born in a cave beneath the surface? We got to go in one and see where shepherds commonly spent the night, animals included.

Last stop of the day was Herodium, the burial place and fortress of Herod the Great, ruler of Jerusalem decades before Jesus. He died shortly after Jesus’ birth and was the ruler who was threatened by Jesus’ birth. So far we’ve seen a few major architectural accomplishments of Herod: Caesarea Maritima, the fortress on Masada, and the Temple Mount. This didn’t disappoint either. He literally doubled the size of a mountain so that it could be seen from Jerusalem and then built a seven-story fortress on it.

Pastor Brad did well reminding us of our true Ruler and King, who was born not too far away from Herodium. Herod built and built, but eventually died (and his tomb was smashed to pieces by the Jews). Jesus died, but was resurrected, and his kingdom is everlasting.

We have just two days of touring left. It’s hard to believe! Thank you for your continued prayers.