Day 09 - City of David, Hezekiah's Tunnel, Pool of Siloam, Israel Museum, Yad Vashem

Our first stop was the City of David. The City of David was separated from Jerusalem by steep terrain which has been softened by time, sediment and rubble. There are new buildings and houses built on top, so excavation is performed horizontally underneath with massive engineered structures to support earth and buildings above.

The Maccabees held the territory 100 years and there is a lot to uncover and someday you may be able to see it all.

The Muslims snuck bulldozers in near the Golden gate onto the Temple Mount and cut a deep staircase for a woman’s entrance In violation of agreements. Instead of starting a big conflict, the decision was made to let them continue but all dirt was to come to Israel to sift. They found marble from all over the world and eventually figured the whole Solomon plaza was covered with it. The marble was so fine that only the best craftsman could be used. They believe the pictured sample is what Herod’s plaza looked like.

Usually archeology departments supply people to dig and answer specific questions. Digging horizontally to bedrock requires special tech and has it’s own challenges.

A column capitol was found that many thought was of the Ionic type but it was not. That type exists only in Lebanon. In the Bible, the king of Lebanon sent in craftsmen to build David’s palace as a favor to the powerful warrior king. That column was found where it should have been and proves the Bible again.

In answer to what happened to the land while the Jews were in exile, the Canaanite’s crept in with their herds while the Jews were in Egypt. They were shepherds in the hills and the Canaanite’s were tribal and came in with herds.

Megiddo and daughters
Joshua came back to take the land all except for Jerusalem. It was felt Jerusalem was too tough to crack. It waited 100-150 years until the event described in 2 Samuel 5.

David took the stronghold by coming through the secret water tunnel. Tel Aviv will say we can’t find David here but he was a warrior not a builder. More research will need to be done.

Walls of the Jebusites became City of David.

The rooms at the beginning were important and lead to proving the Bible. This was a rich person because there was an indoor toilet. The wall was near the outer wall and near King David.

A burned layer matching the correct time period with molten glass, iron and pottery matching the destruction of Jerusalem by Babylonians.

They found many scrolls that were sealed with clay. It was Gmariahu son of Shafan the scribe’s post office.

There was the same problem as Meggido where the water was outside the main wall, but excavation shows there was a heavily fortified path to it.

Then came the fun part of following the spring through the rock looking at what used to be thought of as the secret tunnel. It was a project by King Hezekiah mentioned in 2 Chronicles 32:30 to transfer the waters of the Gihon to the west side of City of David. At one point we split. Most of our group went on the wet path and others to the dry path. Quite an experience - running through a passage with flashlights, ankle to thigh deep in refreshing running water. The path was 0.325 miles or 1700 feet. My wife is 5’ 2” and rarely ducked at all. Songs were sung and the acoustics were very good. We emerged to pass through our friends under their bridged arms with a lot of laughing.

To rest after we explored the tunnel, Joey talked about 2 Samuel 11 and David’s sin with Bathsheba.

David was not where he was supposed to be which allowed temptation. He saw her bathing. Then he sent out to find out who she was. He took her and she got pregnant. She sent word to David.
David sent for Uriah the Hittite and tried to send him home. Uriah wouldn’t go to his wife. David plotted to get him drunk and sent him home. Then he put him on the front lines and had him killed along with others. Bathsheba mourned her husband. God was displeased with the things David had done. Nathan was sent to confront David and David pronounced his own punishment.
Nathan told him his child would die.

Randy talked about witnessing and John Chapter 9 where a man blind from birth was healed by Jesus.

Wherever you are at with your walk with God, you can answer questions till blue in the face but until you get them to the foot of the cross you’ll get nowhere.

His simple testimony was that I was blind now I see.

The model is amazing. It was built with proper stone to scale based on excavation. Where further excavation is done that changes it, the model is changed. Sadducees were rich and lived in Roman insulas with tile roofs.

Inside were samples of the Dead Sea scrolls. The handwriting was so small and very precise. They sure could have used a printing press. It was awesome to see the message from so far in the past unchanged.

The Holocaust Museum was sobering with an extremely loud message. Never let this happen again.