Walls

Walls. Walls everywhere today. Put a few blocks on top of each other and you have a wall. What could be easier?

From ancient times, Jerusalem had walls to protect its people from those who would invade. Today they slow the traffic in a city of nearly a million and endless streams of tour busses. Miles from the ancient stone walls, at the edge of the Palestinian city of Bethlehem, a new white concrete wall separates Bethlehem from the outskirts of Jerusalem. Signs are posted forbidding Israeli citizens from crossing the checkpoints because to do so is “dangerous to life.” We crossed over with no problem mainly to help Christian businesses.

With tensions and the wall, more and more Christian families have moved away. Those who remain need all the help they can get.

Today we saw the Western Wall, one of the retaining walls that Herod the Great built to enlarge the Temple Mount. For over thirty years, Herod had stones weighing hundreds of tons cut from quarries and hoisted and pulled by oxen to be laid on top of each other to make the largest construction of the ancient world. It’s bigger than the Empire State Building in terms of volume.

When the Temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD, the retaining walls remained, but often covered over. A portion of the western retaining wall stands exposed, and Jews in black hats and prayer shawls recite their morning prayers while swaying or pressing their foreheads against the wall. They seek access to God through a wall that is as close as they may come to the temple that was destroyed nearly two millenia ago.

Herod built other walls. At Herodium we saw another of his palaces, this one dedicated to himself and constructed on a mountain he ordered to be built. From Herodium, Herod could see Bethlehem. Perhaps he looked out at this small village on the edge of the desert when magi came bearing news of a new king of the Jews. Such a threat filled Herod with murderous intent, yet God would protect his Son, even from a king who could command walls and mountains to be built.

Written by Michael H.