Day 07 - City of David, Hezekiah's Tunnel, Johnny's, Yad Vashem

Today we spent the first of 3 days in the City of David. We started at an active excavation site in old town Jerusalem that is believed to be the palace of King David. An ornate stone carving found at this site indicates that the structure can be identified as a royal “House of Cedar.” This emblem can be found Israeli coins still today.

The palace looks out toward the Mt. of Olives and Mt. Moriah where Abraham obeyed God by taking his only son as a sacrifice (Genesis 22). David chose this area of Jerusalem for his palace because it was defendable, close to Gihon springs for a water source and because it was close to Mt. Moriah where the people could remember their heritage, God’s covenant with Abraham.

At the same area we were taught about King Hezekiah’s cunning idea to build a tunnel under the city to allow water from the Gihon spring to flow the entire width of city while diverting it from inquiring eyes of potential enemies (2 Kings 20:20, 2 Chronicles 32:20). Then, we actually walked through this tunnel in the water of the Gihon springs that still flow to this very day. What an amazing experience!!

Our next adventure was a “dipping meal” experience. We were treated to lunch in the home of a dear GTI friend, Johnny. We dipped pieces of an outstanding bagel into olive oil with hissop, sour cream with date honey, goat cheese with olive oil, chocolate hazelnut spread, and hummus with olive oil! Delicious!!

Our final stop for the day was a very sobering and impactful experience. The Holocaust History Museum. The Hebrew name for this museum is Yad Vashem which means “a memory and a name.” Proof positive that we as a human race must NEVER forget our history…..

Liz Samoylenko