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Israel Study Tour with North Coast Church
June 18-29, 2019
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City of David
Today we went to the city of David, located outside the walls of Jerusalem, where we saw a simulated video of what David’s kingdom looked like. While there, we thought about David and his small wrong choice of staying home from the war which led to a multitude of sins affecting his children and their futures. Connor taught “We are all one decision away from a fall.”
Here archeologists found seals, royal stones and decorations. When searching for the water source archeologists found a tunnel underground which lead to the stream nearby to hide the water source from enemies. This engineering feat was accomplished by digging a 1,750-foot tunnel into the mountain. An ancient stone carving found near the entrance describes the incredible operation. “He (hezekiah) blocked up the upper spring of Gihon and brought the water down through a tunnel to the west side of the City of David. And so he succeeded in everything he did.”
2 Chronicles 32:30
City of David
The city of Jerusalem was originally built around the Gihon Spring, on the southeastern hill to the south (left) of the Temple Mount, which is today crowned with the gold-domed Dome of the Rock. Jerusalem has been continuously inhabited since at least 3000 BC, but it was only in the time of Solomon that the city limits expanded beyond the southeastern spur, known today as the “City of David.”
Most of us walked in this dark tunnel filled with knee high water, and ducking to not hit our heads for about 30 minutes. About 10 minutes into the journey, we stopped and turned off our flashlights to sing “hallelujah.” While singing the song, the rocks around us seemed to sing as well. It’s so amazing to worship God with singing in his Holy land where others worshiped thousands of years ago. Jesus says, “if they (his disciples) keep quiet, the very stones will cry out.” Luke 19:40
At lunch today we had a typical Israeli lunch of bagels and several dips such as hummus, olive oil, hyssop, cheese, date honey and chocolate spread. It was a great time to break bread with great friends in which we have evolved more into a family.
Lastly, we went to the holocaust museum. Our tour guide, Ronan explained that half the world doesn’t know what happened in the holocaust. He also said that there is more antisemitism today than there was in Germany. In the museum it was heartbreaking to see that 6 million Jews were so quickly slaughtered. How can people treat others like this? Still to this day, there is so much hate in the world, to Jews and other groups. This made us realize how important it is to follow the second commandment Jesus gave: to love your neighbor as yourself.
Mark 12:31
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