Day 11 - Temple Mount, Israel Museum, Holy Land Model, Shrine of the Book, St. Anne's & Pool of Bethesda

TEMPLE MOUNT

Today was Israel’s Independence Day, and we started it with a truly unique experience: visiting the Temple Mount. Recently, tensions had been heightened between Muslim and Jewish groups in Jerusalem, and it wasn’t clear that we’d be able to include this site on the trip. But with Yehuda’s experience and guidance we were able to visit the Temple Mount early in the morning with very few people around other than worshipers inside the Al Aqsa mosque and Israeli security personnel.

We spent most of the time viewing the Dome of the Rock, which sits on top of the peak of Mount Moriah, where Abraham went to sacrifice Isaac in the Book of Genesis. It is also the location where the Jewish Temple stood during the time of Christ. Around 950 B.C., King Solomon built the first Temple, as outlined in 1 Chronicles 28. No longer nomads, the Israelites could establish a permanent temple and an abode for the Ark of the Covenant. The temple was destroyed by the Babylonians several hundred years later when the Jewish people were sent into exile. When the Jewish people returned (roughly 538 B.C.), the temple was re-constructed and then Herod the Great completed a massive renovation in which the Temple Mount was doubled and surrounded by retaining walls, and the Temple square was enlarged to serve as a gathering place. The temple was again destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D.

Muslims later conquered Jerusalem and constructed both the Al Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock starting in the late Seventh Century. Since Israel was founded as a Jewish State and expanded during the Six Day War, both have been left as places of Muslim Worship. As the holiest site in the Jewish religion and the third holiest site for Muslims (outside of Mecca and Medina), it remains an occasional site of tension. And today we witnessed a little of that tension first hand.

ISRAEL MUSEUM, HOLY LAND MODEL, and the SHRINE OF THE BOOK

After the Temple Mount we went to the Israel Museum and began with Holyland Model of Jerusalem, which is a model of Jerusalem just before the Second Temple was destroyed. The model provided a lot of additional context for the sites we’ve viewed (and will view) within the city. We then went to the Shrine of the Book, which is a mid-century building designed and constructed specifically to house fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls for viewing by the public. The central white dome is meant to evoke the jars in which the scrolls were found, and in its center is a facsimile of the single scroll that contains the entire book of Isaiah. But surrounding that are cases containing portions of the actual scrolls, which are on rotation to limit their exposure and preserve them. And today, one of the genuine fragments on display was part of the book of Isaiah. The dome also has a lower level which houses exhibits about the Aleppo Codex, which had been the oldest complete copy of the Hebrew Bible until it was smuggled out of Aleppo during anti-Jewish riots in 1947. Unfortunately, when it resurfaced in Israel several years later some portions were and remain missing. In the lower level, we were fortunate enough to also see a portion of the scroll of Exodus.

We then went to the Archeology section of the Israel Museum, Jerusalem. We were able to view several of the actual artifacts from the other sites we’d visited all over Israel. These included the Holy of Holies from the temple at Arad, portions of Herod’s mausoleum at the Herodium, and the 9th Century B.C. stele from Tel Dan that refers to the House of David. We also saw a stone from Caesarea Maritime honoring Pontius Pilot and another stone from the Soreg, which was a barrier surrounding the Second Temple bearing an inscription warning pagans, other gentiles, and the unclean that entry into the temple would lead to their death. Seeing these artifacts and others in such a brief period of time really made it difficult to truly appreciate the history that they represent. But such a problem is the mark of a truly world-class, encyclopedic museum.

THE OLD CITY

After lunch we walked through the Arab Quarter of the old city and saw portions of the traditional Via Dolorosa, which according to Catholic tradition marked the route that Jesus carried the cross prior to crucifixion. The route goes from the former site of the Antonia Fortress to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The Church is located on a site established by early Christian tradition, and is most likely in the correct place. However, it’s not clear that the trial of Jesus took place at the Antonia Fortress and many of the buildings and roads along the route either did not exist or were in a different location at the time of the crucifixion. So, it’s unlikely to say the least that Jesus bore the cross on this exact route. But, it wouldn’t have been far, and the tradition of the route has a cultural significance of its own.

ST. ANNE’S and the POOLS of BETHESDA

We finished the day at the Church of St. Anne and the Pools of Bethesda. The Church building dates to the time of the crusaders, but was not destroyed by the subsequent Muslim conquest of the city. It’s a beautiful building and it’s acoustics are fantastic, which we experienced as our group sang the Common Doxology and Yehuda led us in Amazing Grace.. We were most fortunate on this trip to have several gifted vocalists, and this quintet performed a beautiful rendition of We are Standing on Holy Ground. It was such a treat to experience. Even a video recording wouldn’t do it justice

And if the church weren’t a treasure all it’s own, it sits mere feet from the Pools of Bethesda, where Jesus healed a man as recorded in John chapter 5. Unlike the Via Dolorosa, this is an exact location, where Jesus is sure to have visited. The superstition during the time of Christ was that if the pools were stirred up the first person in the pool would be healed because the water was stirred by angels. The man in this story, an invalid, had been coming to these pools for 38 years in hopes of a miracle. Jesus approached him and asked if he wanted to be healed. It was obvious that he did, so Jesus granted him that miracle and told him to get up, pick up his mat and walk. Later, Jesus saw the man in the Temple worshipping and the man told of Jesus making him well.

Laura spoke to the group and pointed out that according to John, Jesus heals the man and then appears to see him shortly thereafter in the temple. Thus, as soon as the man could walk, he went to the temple. The man had been lame for 38 years. In that time, no doubt there were countless things he would have wanted to do. Upon being healed he could have done anything, but he ran to the Temple. This should be our immediate response when God heals us.

In this same setting, Terry reminded us of the story of the ten lepers that are healed by Jesus in Luke 17, yet only one returns to give thanks. Are we going about our business like the 9 lepers, or are we doing God’s work like the man healed at the pools of Bethesda, the blind man healed at the Pool of Siloam, and the one leper who returned to praise Jesus and give thanks? What will our response be?