Day 07 - City of David, Herodium, Bethlehem, Shabbat Dinner

Shalom from Jerusalem!

We started our day in the ancient City of David.

When David became the second king of Israel, the capital was at Hebron - the place where Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are all buried. It was a fitting site for the capital, but David, upon retrieving the Ark of the Covenant, moved it to Jerusalem (Mount Moriah), built his palace in what became known as the City of David, and established Jerusalem as the new capital.

The City of David is also the setting for the David and Bathsheba story. If you’re standing there, you can see how the palace would have been built above the rest of the city. The houses typically had flat roofs for collecting water and, well, bathing.

Now, we weren’t there to study that story, but the vantage point gives you an idea as to the context of what happened.

Our purpose, really, was to see where the story of Jerusalem - the city that became the focal point of Israel - began.

We then visited the Herodian - an absolutely fascinating site.

Herod the Great was a complicated figure. He was a master architect, a brilliant businessman, and a cunning politician. He left his mark all over the region.

He established the incredible port city of Caesarea Maritima. He ordered an elaborate rebuilding of the Temple of which even the Jewish rabbis said, “Whoever has not seen Herod’s Temple has never seen a beautiful building.” He set up palace-fortresses at Masada and Machaerus. But his favorite was the Herodian.

The Herodian sits atop a partially man-made mountain. From the top, you can just make out the Mount of Olives and, just a bit to the north, the little town of Bethlehem. It’s where Herod chose to be buried because, even in death, he wanted to be able to look out over his vast kingdom.

You really can’t go to Israel (or Jordan) and not talk about Herod. You practically trip over him.

But here’s what’s interesting. Jesus didn’t leave a single building. Instead, He left a people.

And, this morning, the people of the kingdom of God stood on the ruins of the kingdom of Herod.

The kingdoms we build for ourselves are nothing but houses of cards. Our lives, like Herod’s, are just a tick in the timeline of eternity. But the truth is that we’re building something. The question is what are we building and will it endure? If it’s anything other than God’s kingdom, the answer is no. So, let’s build, let’s contribute to, something that will.

Our next stop was Bethlehem.

We enjoyed the hospitality of a Palestinian Christian man, named Johnny, and his family. Johnny owns a souvenir shop where they sell the most beautiful, handcrafted olive wood items (their nativities are absolute works of art). They welcomed us into their home and served us lunch before we went to their store for a bit of shopping.

From there we went back to the hotel to get ready for a very special dinner.

We thought we were going to the home of a Jewish family we didn’t know who would host us for Shabbat (since that’s what other groups have done in the past).

However, when we arrived, we got a wonderful surprise when Ronen opened the door!

He and his wife, Sharon, welcomed us into their home and gave us an incredible Shabbat dinner. We laughed a lot, told stories, laughed some more. The food was amazing - and all prepared by Ronen and Sharon while we had a bit of downtime at the hotel this afternoon. It was hospitality at its finest.

It’s not what any of us were expecting, but I think it will turn out to be one of the best memories we take with us.

We made it back to the hotel late in the evening for a (hopefully) good night of sleep.

Tomorrow is our last day together. Ronen tells us there are still a few surprises left.

While we all are looking forward to seeing our families and friends and telling the stories of what God has done in the last week, I don’t think any of us are really quite ready to leave.

It’s been an amazing time here in Israel and we look forward to seeing what God has for the time we have remaining!