Day 06 - Jerusalem : Temple Mount, Western Wall, Rabbinic Tunnels, Davidson Center, Southern Steps

You will find a blend of cultures unlike anywhere else in the world on top of the Temple Mount. Our guide, Dan, was incredibly helpful in explaining the complex relationships that are at play in this small area. Suffice it to say tension is always there, but there is also peace. There are two places on the entire plaza where real rock of Moriah is exposed. One is in the Dome of the Rock, and only Muslims are allowed inside. The other is under the covered area in one of the pictures.

Next, we headed underground to the Rabbinic tunnels. Current excavations are still ongoing! They keep making new discoveries! The largest stone they have found in the wall so far is over 600 tons (for those at home that is 1,200,000 pounds of rock, pretty big). The kicker is that the Romans chipped large sections of it in AD 70 when they razed the temple to the ground. They were well on their way to tearing down every single stone, but when they got to some of the big ones they couldn't just push over the gave up and just left them in a heap. Some scholars estimate that when this stone was whole it may have weighed up to 1,000 tons (2 million pounds). If that wasn't impressive enough, we also got to see how the stones fit together. There is no cement or mortar here, it's just stones that fit together so perfectly that they won't move. One more fun fact, as the wall rises each successive stone is set one inch closer to the center to ensure that the wall could bear the weight of the temple and thousands upon thousands of people who would be there. It's brilliant!

We had the opportunity to spend some time at the Western (or wailing) wall as well. This is as close as the Jewish people can possibly get to where the Holy of Holies once was. They spend time here praying and studying. It's sobering to come here and spend time with them and it is inspiring to see the dedication they have.

As we headed back to the exit we veered left and went to the Southern Steps. These are the steps most people would have entered through in the first century. It is nearly 100% certain Jesus would have walked on these very steps as he went to the temple daily while in Jerusalem. It is also (I think likely) the place where the disciples when after receiving the promised Holy Spirit to tell the glories of God and where 3,000 people became believers following Peter's incredible sermon in Acts 2. There are a multitude of Mikvah's at the base of the steps. Jewish people would have used these for ritual cleansing before entering the temple and the disciples probably repurposed them and used them for baptisms!

We ended our day at the Israel Museum. It's an incredible museum and one of the best in the world! The model of Jerusalem is incredibly detailed, the Dead Sea Scrolls display is not to be missed, and you could easily spend multiple days there and not see it all!

We have one more day in Jerusalem before heading over to Jordan and I am very much looking forward to what we have lined up for tomorrow. It's going to be amazing!