Feb 22

As one of our folks said at dinner tonight, "We're not sure if we spent more time underground or above ground today." We also heard a lot of information from our excellent guide, so if today's summary seems a little cloudy, you will know why.

We started early, so that we would not have to wait long to go to the Temple Mount. Thanks again to our guide, Yehuda, we were able to get right in, but the rules are very strict up there. Visitors must be quiet and must not touch. No bags are allowed, but cameras are. There are also certain things guides cannot talk about (mostly Jewish and Christian things, unfortunately).

From there we went into the City of David, where David's palace once stood. The walls of Jerusalem's Old City do not surround that area, as they once did.

One thing some of us did not know was the scale of the modern city of Jerusalem, compared to the old city, where so much biblical history is. It would kind of be like hearing about parts of downtown Oklahoma City, then arriving and seeing how far the city now reaches. Jerusalem is like that: the old city, surrounded by walls, is only a small part of what is now Jerusalem.

Much of our morning was spent under the City of David, as we explored Hezekiah's tunnels, an elaborate water system that allowed citizens to get water from springs, without having to leave the walls of the city.

Once we left there, we spent some devotional time at the Pool of Siloam. In John 9, after Jesus rubbed mud on a blind man's eyes, he said to him, "Go wash in the Pool of Siloam." Such was no ordinary task, as the man would have had to descend hundreds of steps down a steep hill to arrive at the pool. Nevertheless he did so, then ascended back up to the Temple.

Imagine what it must have been like for the man's first sight to be the glorious temple of God! Seeing the geography here gave us a real appreciation for that image.

Back at the temple, we spent some time at the Western Wall, where thousands come each day to pray, and many write prayers on paper and stick the prayers in the cracks of the wall.

From there we went underground once again, to the Rabbinic Tunnels. Again, so much information, so this writing cannot give a fair explanation, but much of what we saw were parts of the old city now under the Temple Mount, many parts dating centuries before Christ.

As the day was winding down, we visited St. Anne's church, where we formed a choir and sung a couple of songs, just to get a feel for its marvelous acoustics. We were awestruck at how our voices seemed to carry on above us after we finished each verse. Terry commented that this is one of his favorite parts of the tour.

Just outside St. Anne's are the Pools of Bethesda, where Jesus healed a man who had been crippled for 38 years. Terry started our devotional there, but was interrupted by the Muslim call to prayer, coming from the Dome of the Rock. Once the call ended, Terry and Laura provided some insights on the John 5 passage. Laura asked two interesting applicational questions in light of how the man changed in the story: 1) Do we live like we're still sick, focusing on our own needs?, or 2) Do we live like we've been healed/saved, telling others what the Lord has done for us?

Tomorrow is our final day, as we will head back to Jerusalem and visit the Mount of Olives, Gethsemane, and several sites that mark the most important three days in world history.

After we see the sites, we will come back to the hotel for a couple more things, before heading to the airport. We are scheduled to leave Tel Aviv late Thursday night. Hopefully we can get one more blog post up before we head out.